Need new tires anyone have any advice?

[ScaryFatKidGT]

I need new tires really bad and I would like to get a set of summer extreme performance tires and a set of winter tires but I can only afford one set right now, not to mention another set of rims, so I'm probably going to have to go with some really high performance all-seasons. I would want an extra pair of all seasons anyway for those days its 60 degrees out in the middle of winter here in MN and if I was going on a long trip and didn't wanna wear down my treads on my performance or winter tires to much, or have to try and guess what the wether would be like on spring and fall trips.

Another thing iv been wondering is should I go to 195s for winter tires instead of 205's? or even go to a 15" rim would it help that much?

Also my dad doesn't seem to think winter tires are worth the trade off due to them not lasting as long as all seasons in the winter and because I have a AWD car (his and my moms are too). I'm buying the tires id just like him to understand tires do every thing brake, stop, turn and go and that winter tired are better even if you have a AWD car. He always just gets all season mud and snow tires and says that there the best. I think I'm just going to make him drive my car when I get some winter tires on it.

So about the tires I'm going to get I'm looking for 205/55R16. Going to 215s wouldn't help at all on a 6.5" rim would it? There are way to manny choices for tires I want something pretty light weight with a speed rating of H or better, preferably better, I don't really care how noisy or comfortable they are my main focus is on performance, handling and grip but I would want to stay away from something ridiculously noisy or with a really low life/tread rating. Also it looks like most tires are $90-$120 a tire and I would like to stay there no $180 a piece tires. They will see a little Auto-X/Rally-X but I would ultimately like to get some summer tires for Auto-X.

Any advice or suggestions?

[SpeedmanRC]

I have Eagle GT's on my Legacy and I love them, a very good grip tire for any weather any time.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Yeah I almost bought some WRX rims with GT's on them and a few people on Nasioc liked them. I haven't heard good thinks about Good-years in general though.

Also I like the look of performance tires where the sidewall and treads meet closer to 90 degrees where the tire looks more like ] than rounded like ).

[jey]

The Continental ContiExtremeContacts I had were really good for being an all-season tire.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Does anyone know what the difference is between High Performance all season tires and Ultra-High Performance A/S tires? Like I know Ultra-high performance summer tires are suppose to have good dry grip while maintaining hydroplaning resistance where Extreme Performance summer tires are designed only for DRY grip, even though most do pretty good in wet, but how do High performance A/S tires fare compared to Ultra High Performance A/S tires?

[Huffer]

Depends ENTIRELY on what tires you are comparing.

One manufacturers UHP All Season does not equal anothers. Don't make the mistake of thinking "oh, they're in the same classification so they must have the same characteristics". They don't.

An ALL SEASON rated tire is designed to perform in all seasons. Some are better at wet than dry, some wear faster, some ride harder. You have to determine what is best for your needs and your driving style and buy accordingly. No-one else knows how you drive or where you drive.

[lozanoa11]

BFG's have always been good for me.

[97legacyGT2.5]

not sure if you have tried looking at tirerack.com. they have good selection of tires. they have a page to help you figure out what size you want/should go based on your car. link here

http://www.tirerack.com/snow/changeover.jsp

just put in your car and it should help you figure out rim size, aspect ratio, and width. granted this link will mainly help you with selecting winter tires.

if you have any other questions you can ask me (i work at a tire warehouse, i know a little bit). i will try and answer your questions to the best of my ability.

hope that link helps

as for me i am running dunlop direzza Z1's in summer and just touring all season general altimax HP's for winter/off season

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Depends ENTIRELY on what tires you are comparing.

One manufacturers UHP All Season does not equal anothers. Don't make the mistake of thinking "oh, they're in the same classification so they must have the same characteristics". They don't.

An ALL SEASON rated tire is designed to perform in all seasons. Some are better at wet than dry, some wear faster, some ride harder. You have to determine what is best for your needs and your driving style and buy accordingly. No-one else knows how you drive or where you drive.OK thanks iv been thinking they were about the same if they were in the same class.

And as far as driving I'm looking for something with good dry grip that will be average/I wont die in the wet and in winter, I dont usually try to push the car when its been raining or wet and Il probably get winter tires around X-mas to use in snow but its snowing here already and I'm at the wear bars and I can't drive over 50 in the rain so I need new ones now.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

not sure if you have tried looking at tirerack.com. they have good selection of tires. they have a page to help you figure out what size you want/should go based on your car. link here

http://www.tirerack.com/snow/changeover.jsp

just put in your car and it should help you figure out rim size, aspect ratio, and width. granted this link will mainly help you with selecting winter tires.

if you have any other questions you can ask me (i work at a tire warehouse, i know a little bit). i will try and answer your questions to the best of my ability.

hope that link helps

as for me i am running dunlop direzza Z1's in summer and just touring all season general altimax HP's for winter/off seasonfor winter tires I'm just wondering if putting 195's on the stock GT rims would help and how much it would improve snow traction to go to 15" rims

So I went to discount tire, closest tire store besides fleet-farm or wal-mart or something, and asked for some high performance tires but said I can really only afford 1 set so there going to have to be all seasons and that I want performance, I don't really care about noise or ride quality cuz I'm the only one in my car 90% of the time and the guy told me all the All Season tires I asked about where basically summer only and that they just say there A/S cuz they have an "open sidewall so they can be called all season but that there horrible in winter???

He Said that
Kumho Ecsta ASX's
AST's
Goodyear Eagle F1 all seasons
Goodyear Eagle GT's
Pirelli PZERO Nero M/Ss
Yokohama ADVAN S.4.s
wouldn't work in the winter? even though they say ALL SEASON OR 4 SEASON in the name and he suggested

Yokohama YK 570's
some off brand goodyear silver edition something he said was really good but wouldn't tell me how it was better
Kumho Solus HP4 716's (when i asked about kumhos)
and some continental Procontacts....which are all Grand Touring tires not high performance all season tires but when he said continental I asked about Extreme Contact DWS's and he said they were on back order so I asked about ContiExtreme Contacts and he said they were good SO being the only High performance Directional tread tire I could get the guy to tell me was ok in winter (plus they were mentioned earlier in this post) I ordered 4 of them....I'm confused

[greenspeed]

dunlop sp60's ran them in the UP during the winter, was driving through 12 inches of fresh snow and never an issue, however performance wise there mah...Move to alaska so you can run studded tires then you'll wanna get winter tires for sure cause they are SO TITS!

[jamal]

bridgestone RE960 is probably the best performance all season
Falken ZE-912 is the best cheap performance all season

[ScaryFatKidGT]

bridgestone RE960 is probably the best performance all season
Falken ZE-912 is the best cheap performance all season

RE960's will work in snow?

[jey]

when he said continental I asked about Extreme Contact DWS's and he said they were on back order so I asked about ContiExtreme Contacts and he said they were good SO being the only High performance Directional tread tire I could get the guy to tell me was ok in winter (plus they were mentioned earlier in this post) I ordered 4 of them....I'm confused

You should be happy with the ContiExtremeContacts. It is true, a lot of performance all seasons are garbage in the snow.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

ok thx the only bad thing is the contacts are only a 30k mile tire, the others were 50-70k tires.

The only think is I know he was lying about the pirelli's because, he said "NO PZero will work in winter only the P6 series will" when the PZero Nero M/Ss say M/S! and they make a Pinna version that has extra sips cut in it to be even better in snow and ice, so I don't know if every thing else he said was true.

[jamal]

pzero nero is a pretty good all season. toyo proxies 4 also.

I would still buy re960s or ze-912s depending on budget. I have the falkens and they're pretty great all-around tires. Grip in snow and ice good enough to get me through utah, idaho, montana, and wyoming when I go home for christmas and ski.

[d1giPhux]

Best all season tires i have ever owned.. sumitomo htr + .. they are ultra high performance all seasons.. and trust me.. they can take some beating. Not to mention.. they are GREAT in deep snow as well (ive driven in close to 2ft of snow) as well as rain.. etc.. etc. Best tires i've ever bought for the price. In fact I liked them so much, I always take the opportunity to tell people about them. I will be buying another set soon.. they are great tires!

[Huffer]

ok thx the only bad thing is the contacts are only a 30k mile tire, the others were 50-70k tires.

Don't believe the hype. Very few tires that say they give 40k+ actually give any kind of decent performance beyond 30k. They're designed for people who live in San Francisco and commute to San Diego. ;)

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Tires are pretty nice i was expecting them to be nosier and/or harsher than my old Kumho grand touring tires but there not at all but out right grip isn't that much better either, though it was a little wet il have to test them in dry and in snow here. I like the tread pattern but i think iv come to the conclusion i need 17" rims with 45 series tires or less cuz the tires still look like bulgey passenger tires from the side. I really like the directional tread i mean if i tries only going to go above 20mph one way why design a tire that can go both ways?

Also has anyone noticed all older cars tires look tiny compared to the new nissans, bmws, audis etc that come stock with 18-19 or even 20" rims all though some can get gaudy even on OEM wheels.

[jey]

Remember sometimes there is also some break-in compound on the tires so performance will improve after the first hundred miles or so.

You can laugh at all your friends who have those newer cars with 18" rims when it comes time to buy new tires. It really makes me laugh when they realize how much 18" tires cost, and then they end up getting the cheapest Ching Chang brand out there, and their performance is way worse than if they just had 16" wheels and with the same money could buy a GOOD tire.