Luis de Prat

Like Jake951 said, my former Michelin XGTVs were virtually useless in icy conditions in Kentucky. While on a student budget, for all weather use I had very good results with the Dunlop D60A2 tire in P215-60-15 size for my 1983 944. YMMV.

marky522

If your looking for a good all season I use any of the Kelly All season tires, I have them on my Prelude now and I went through everything last year that my wife used 4 wd for. (on road that is)

Mark

Matt H

The US is the only market in the world where A/S tires are still marketed. Everyone else on earth has figured out that if you have a winter cold enough to warrant the question, you should be using winter tires.

A reasonable person would assume that a max traction dry tire is going to suck in the winter, this isnt rocket science. There is some hardening of the tread compound, which is why there is little traction in the winter. Provided you dont live somewhere where it snows on a regular basis you CAN make it on summer tires. IMHO, A/S tires are the world's least likeable compromise, they arent really winter tires and they arent really summer tires. Then again, WTF do I know.

Sillent Killer - do you know Evil944t? He lives in your neck of the woods.
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Matt H

Oops, forgot one thing. Kelly tires are awful. They are part of the Goodyear, Dunlop, Kelly family. In essence they are Goodyears generic product.
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hacker-pschorr

I'll 2nd the Kelly opinion shared by Matt - if you don't care about your car/lfe/passengers they are a great tire.

I find all of the tire threads very funny because so much emphasis is placed on cost. How long does the average person get out of a set of tires? How much more are cheap vs expensive? Not that much considering most tires last 2-4 years. I get about 2 years on the rears on my 928 so that is worst case scenario on a car I drive 5k - 8k a year. Small price to pay vs sliding into a tree.

Matt H

The average replacement cycle is 3 years.

At one point people were debating Kumho 712 vs BS RE-750. The total price difference was 18 dollars (at that point due to a rebate). If you consider that no part of your car touches the road except the tires is there such a thing as expensive?

I am with you, I will never understand. I have pointed out numerous times that for the amount of time a cheap tire lasts, you arent saving anything because you will buy them twice as often.
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hacker-pschorr

I used to go to insurance auto auctions with a friend of mine all the time. He's been doing this for years, fun to listen/learn from his years of experience. He pointed out to look at the brand tires on a bunch of cars. Sure enough, the majority of wrecked cars at every auction had cheepo brand tires. Every high end car (see Mercedes, BMW, Caddy etc...) that I saw wrecked at these auctions has cheap/no name tires.

Considering we all own a car that needs about $1k - $2k worth of work every 30k or so, $20 - $50 a tire should NOT be an issue considering the possible consequences.

Allow me to put on my Porsche owner “snob” hat on – if good Porsche grade tires are not in the budget, maybe a Porsche should not be in the garage. I apply this to my VW’s and Audi’s. That commercial with the baby in the tire and the slogan “there is so much riding on your tires” was an excellent marketing idea (sorry Matt, I know it wasn’t Bridgestone)

When I bought my Audi it was not quite winter yet – tires on the car were bald. I did not want to install my Blizzak’s yet. My mechanic had a set of Kelly tires he pulled off an auction car that looked new. He said I could have them for free, mounted and installed. I figured, what the heck, it’s only a month or two. After about 2 days worth of driving I put my Blizzak’s on. It was not worth saving a bit of tread on my Blizzak’s to drive one more day with those POS tires on my car. Even on a Quattro I had zero traction even on dry.

Matt H

There is not one industry person who would claim anything other than Michelin as the top advertiser. Their recent commercial with Bibendum (the Michelin Man) not coming off track was fabulous and the SUV one where the guy is beating the bobble head was hilarious!

At the end of the day there are a lot of good tires out there and really, money should almost never be a deciding factor. To be honest there are some very good generics out there but they are ALL a compromise. I have said many times, having a Porsche with a Kumho is about the same as wearing a Folex with an Armani suit.
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M758

Summer tires are fine in the winter assuming you don't hit snow. The tread depth and patterns are nto good for snow and ice. Also compound will need more heat to provide grip in low temps. Now this not to say they are not bad. Just don't go asking for tons of grip on cold moring before you have left the driveway.

I race on R-compound tires. In the winter time here we can start a run group at 8am when the temps at the track are 30-40F. Quite cold and the car has been sitt out in the cold all night long. Well that first session you need to be very carefull to get some heat into the tires before you push it hard. Same thing for street tires. You need to get them warmed-up. On R-tires after about 3 laps the grip comes back to normal.

So keep a good head and don't push them hard cold and they will be fine. Get caught in snow and be very carefull. Matt is correct in that if you need to deal with ICE & Snow just get a proper winter tire.

marky522

Hey, I was giving my PERSONAL experience with my tires, I thought thats what people were asking for, I have stated that this WASNT for a p-car, it is my prelude, It makes me very happy to see that some of you can afford to have 2 sets of rims/tires, and can pay, last i checked like $60-$100 a tire.

Mark

marky522

And that was total BS, I have a 2 yo son who is in my car everyday, i have driven many miles on these tires without a problem, and exactly how long did you use them for?

MArk

Matt H

hahahaha!!!! I WISH tires were between 60-100 dollars The tires on my BMW have a retail price of just about 900 bucks before installation, tax, etc. The Porsche is the same way.

No one is putting you down. I think Hacker was impyling that if 500 dollars in tires is a lot of money to you maybe you should get something cheaper to maintain. Dont take it as a personal attack, take it as smart fiscal advice.

Plenty of people like certain tires. It is usually based on the fact they have never tried anything else. I.e., if you had never driven a Mercedes you might actually think a Hyundai is a nice car, if you know what I mean.
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RMills944

Since you're not driving with snow on the ground, I don't think it's worth changing tires out. The all-season tires were a huge compromise on my car and I only drove with no snow on the ground. The tires were okay, but lost grip faster in dry condidtions. I really didn't like the tires at all though. The wet traction gain was minimal at most - but that may be the brand of the all-season tire. I wouldn't recommand Dunlops to anyone after driving on those.

marky522

Hey Matt, i understand what your saying and i totally agree, if i had the money to have dedicated summer/winter tires that would be great, but i am 21 w/a 2 yo, and have a mortgage to pay, The $50-100 was for dedicated winter tires for my Prelude, I know they can be more like I said above I just put BFG AT's on the wifes blazer, Its hard to fork over that kind of money for something that seems so basic, but i know its not and i know these tires are worth it. Like i sadi the other day I am going to be clueless next year when i need tires for my cars and i live in the south...

MArk

Blue S2

Yeah, i dont even understand why cheap tires are made! (aside from the fact that people buy them!) Your life is on the line, dont skimp out on tires! I bought Winter Sports for my GTI. I can certainly say they are not the best on totally dry pavement...but in 4 inches of snow I could accelerate AND STOP like it was dry out. I couldn't get the car to slide between the traction control and those tires!!! I was almost dissapointed! I used to drift my SUV in the winter all over the place! (that was a sight...trust me...) Without use of the parking brake, i could not get my GTI to brake loose. (if it was rwd, it might have been a different story) Good winter tires are worth every penny. And they should last a while depending on how bad your winters get and how long you actually use them.