Hey guys, I'm having some trouble finding the right tire for the cooler/rainy season here in the Pacific Northwest.

Car is an 06 Evo MR.

I live in the Portland area, where temps in the winter fluctuate from freezing or slightly colder, to the mid 60s.
We get a lot of rain and very little if any snow.

I recently swapped out my summer wheels/tires. I was running the
Direzza DZII Star Specs. Loved them this summer.
I'm currently on Goodyear Eagle Sports for the winter and all I can say about the tires is they're very underwhelming. Wet traction is terrible. My Star Specs had way more grip in the rain.

So, I'm actually looking at getting another new set of tires for the winter months. I have my eyes on the new Continental DWS 06.
But now I'm wondering, do I really need an All Season if I'm never going to be driving in the snow?

Any recommendations? Wet traction is at the top of my list.

Thanks!

 

Blizzak.

 

Conti DWS are good. Michelin pilot sport A/S3 are good as well.

 

I second pilot sport as/3 for the wet. I run them on a 3 series BMW and like them a lot. Use them year round and they are great in the wet but don't consider them as sporty enough for the Evo - live in the Pacific NW. Run AD08R on the Evo which are not appropriate for cold temps.

Would also consider pilot super sport but it is not all season where as/3 is. Neither of them is worth anything in the snow but there does not seem to be a lot of that lately - an old Land Rover does winter duty for me. I believe in OR you need the winter symbol no matter what if there is white stuff.

 

With the cold temps he sees, I would stay away from the supersports. They get pretty slippy when temps get below 40ish...

 

Yeah, I'll probably have to stick to an all-season based on the lower temps...
Right now, my top 3 are:

ExtremeContact DWS 06
Pilot Sport A/S 3
Potenza RE970 A/S

 

Of the three I would look to the DWS06 for a solid non winter tire performer. The AS3 do great on dry handling, but were quite poor when I tried to run them in snow/ice. 970's are a tad better but not quite to the DWS level.

 

Da Fuq a/s tires dont belong on evo's, they certainly belong on hondas tho and since you miss your honda maybe your better getting a honda for the winter.
I run pilot alpin4's and havn't looked back.

 

No reason for snow tires if he is never going to see snow. The low temps indicate a use for the all seasons, which will provide much more grip at 35* than a summer tire.


The Michelin A/S3 had very good wet grip when I drove it. I have no experience with the Conti, but have been told by people who have them that they are also good.

 

DWS does well in the wet and cold temperatures and the new one is supposed to be even better. I've gone from PSS to DWS at different temperatures on cars other than the Evo and below 50 degrees or so the difference isn't huge. Summer tires performance falls off so much quicker as temperature drops and the all seasons don't seem to lose near as much in cold temperatures.

You absolutely wouldn't need snow tires on the Evo if you got caught out in a snow on a tire like the DWS either. Last winter I played in the snow a lot in my 2011 5.0 Mustang and my wife daily drove a 392 Hemi Charger, both RWD cars on normal DWS tires. It's so much how you drive. I drove her to work one night in the Charger because it was very bad and she was scared to drive and I passed a bunch of trucks and SUVs that were in the ditch and never felt uncomfortable with my own driving or the car except for one hill I wouldn't have been able to stop on.

 

I cant tell if this is a troll post...

Anyway... due to the lower temperatures, I cant run a summer tire. Since they basically turn into rocks when it's cold out. Also, my car doesn't see snow, so I have no use for a "snow tire"

So, what would you suggest?

 

Thanks, I've actually been hearing good reviews about those Michelins.

 

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate replies like this.

I guess I'm just really surprised by my current A/s tires. They're currently ranked 3rd on the Tire Rack in terms of performance for a UHP A/S tire, right behind the new and old DWS. But I'm just really unhappy with them.

I've been hearing how much better the DWS and espesially the new DWS 06 is, that I think I'll just order them for the Evo. I guess I was under the impression before that these were geared more toward snow performance.
I absolutely need a tire that performs well in the rain and at cooler temps. Snow performance will never be a factor for the Evo, as it just won't be driven in the snow.

 

The Aplin4 is actually not that great in snow but in wet and icey conditions it can put down 550whp. Winter tire for the most part is the softer tread compound for lower temps secondary is the tread pattern. Why would you want to run an AS designed for a wide range of temps when you already have the hotter months covered? It makes 0 sense. The Alpin4's handle like summer tires in the winter temps.

A real snow tire comes with studs. So if you want to take colder tire temp advice from people that live in vegas/cali then good luck with that.

 

I run my re11's all but about 2-3 months when the threat of snow and ice is present. Than I run the ws80's the re11's work great in the rain.