What kind of tires do you run on your car?

I currently have Toyo Proxes TPT that I run year 'round on my car but I will need to get some new tires by the time snow flies in October or November 2010.

 

I'm curious to see what kind of tires you guys run because I need to look at my options. I'm thinking about maybe trying snow tires next winter so I'd like to know what kind of tires you run in the winter and also the tires you run the rest of the year.

My Legacy (DD):

Summer - General Exclaim UHP

Winter - Firestone Winterforce (although I'm thinking of trying some General Altimax Arctic's next winter)

 

Impreza (Race/Show/Fun Summer Driver)

Dunlop Z1 Star Spec.

 

For a nice, relatively inexpensive summer tire for a daily driven car, I'd suggest Kumho Ecsta SPTs, General Exclaim UHPs, or Hankook Ventus Evo V12s.

For winter, I'd say Winterforces, Altimax Arctics, or Dunlop Wintersports.

I run the kumho ecsta's and i use them all season long. They work pretty good for the snow but they are really nice in the rain and dry roads. Next year if funds allow im going to buy a winter set of tires.

I just put on a set of Continental Extreme Contact DWS. So far only about 1k on them but I absolutely love them. Smooth ride, but they handle as well as my old BFG G-Force sports. In the snow they stick like crazy, I had to pull through a fairly deep snowbank at school thanks to a d-bag dodge driver, and they gripped like a champ. So far I will absolutely buy them again, pretty cheap too, about $90 a tire if you shop around a bit.

I like studded tires. They are VERY popular in Europe but not so much here in NA. I run a set of studded Hankooks in the winter here(Alberta) that have a blocky tread. The blocky tread will dig in the deep/loose snow, the studs take care of the ice. I find a lot of "ice" tires don't have a blocky enough tread to work for me in the fresh snow. Something I have to contend with often as I live outside the city and commute in along rural roads that often are still unplowed.

 

Also beware that as some ice tires wear down they loose their effectiveness. The manufactures use a soft/sticky rubber that grabs ice well but wears fast, as it wears down the rubber transitions into a harder more durable rubber compund to give the tire good life. So when you but them they work great but slowly loose their effectiveness over time. By the time they are at 50% they aren't really much better than a regular tire. Thats why you often see used ice tires for sale with only one or two winters on them.

My Toyo's have been good year round but they are the noisiest tire I've ever dealt with in any vehicle. Chuckadian, I'm glad you brought up the DWS tires because they were high on my list for considerations. I was thinking about getting winter tires but the next couple years I'm going to be commuting 100 miles a day and the winter tires would wear out so fast I don't think it would be worth it. But the DWS appears to be good for everything in every review I've read about it. No one can seem to give those tires a bad review.

Winter: Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 205/50-17 on stockers. They're awesome for southern New England - stable and responsive in dry and wet. Absloutely no complaints in 4-6 inches of snow. I'm willing to give up some snow/ice ability for a sharp ride on the clear road days, which is what we have in CT 95% of the time

 

Summer: Waiting to put on my new SSR Type F wheels 18x7.5 +48, 16.7 lbs with Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta 225/40-18. Those tires get rave reviews and they're a lot cheaper than most of the competition at about $150 p/. These will replace my Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's (215/45-17)which were great and currently for sale in marketplace.

My Toyo's have been good year round but they are the noisiest tire I've ever dealt with in any vehicle. Chuckadian, I'm glad you brought up the DWS tires because they were high on my list for considerations. I was thinking about getting winter tires but the next couple years I'm going to be commuting 100 miles a day and the winter tires would wear out so fast I don't think it would be worth it. But the DWS appears to be good for everything in every review I've read about it. No one can seem to give those tires a bad review.

 

You could look into the Nokian WR G2 as well:

http://www.nokiantyres.com/tyre?id=10360796&group=1.01&name=Nokian+WR+G2

 

Over in the NASIOC Tire and Wheel section, there's a lot of complaints about the new revised Conti DWS, largely from people who came from the ContiExtremeContacts that the DWS replaced. The WR G2 seems like it would also work well for your situation.

The nokian is a great tire. If you want the best snow, the pilot alpin is the way to go. It's amazing how good that tire is in the snow. I've had a set and they were the best tire I've had. Blizzacks are good too but the alpin is better, no dout!!

I'll have to look into all these tires more. The only tires my family has ever had on their cars are Toyo's so I'm having a hard time steering away from them because they have been nothing but good to us.

 

tehsbean, can you post the link on here that shows complaints about the DWS tires? I would be interested in reading it. I want to make sure that I make a good decision on tires because I'm 17 and I am not made of money so I want to do the best I can to find good tires.

ahh the joys of living in australia... no snow here in sydney to worry about...

 

i run 225/45r17 Bridgestone Potenza RE001's all year around... damn good tyre... wet or dry... didn't fare so well on snow/ice though...

 

but that might have been the 350Nm i'm trying to put through them...

I'll have to look into all these tires more. The only tires my family has ever had on their cars are Toyo's so I'm having a hard time steering away from them because they have been nothing but good to us.

 

tehsbean, can you post the link on here that shows complaints about the DWS tires? I would be interested in reading it. I want to make sure that I make a good decision on tires because I'm 17 and I am not made of money so I want to do the best I can to find good tires.

This is the thread in question:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1786141&highlight=DWS

 

A few posts from it:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=28921041&postcount=20

 

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=27807962&postcount=15

 

There's a lot more complaints in there, those are just two of them near the top.

 

The WR G2 is a dedicated snow that offers good tread life and dry weather driving too, much like the DWS proclaims itself to be.

A thread on the WR G2:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1361286&highlight=Nokian

Lol, I haz brand-new POS Mastercraft Strategy tires on my car. I is sad.

tehsbean, I read the forum and it is one person complaining about them. I think I'm still going for the DWS tires.

 

What is wrong with the Mastercrafts?

They are "fine" according to my mechanic, who recommended them for me. However compared to the tires I had on the car, you can really feel them roll over (especially in the back) and it made the steering feel really sloppy. Plus I can easily out-brake them with the pads on the car. I really should have sprung for the Goodyear Triple-Treds or something that had a bit more performance. The car feels really unsettled during quick maneuvers with these tires.

I looked at the Goodyear Triple-Treds because I liked the tred pattern but I've heard that they wear really quickly.

Well, not necessarily those, but anything that could hold up to more than 50% of my braking ability before skidding, lol. Makes my HPS pads useless... it's really annoying, actually.

Yeah I see what you are saying. My tires right now are pretty good. They are good for basically everything I do which is basically just everyday drive from point a to point b. I drive fast but I don't usually do corning and all that. Winter with them this year though... It is definitely the last winter they will see. I'm never had my wheels spin so much.. But that could be partially because I always take off fast from stop signs/lights no matter what time of the year.