All-Season tires SUCK (it's a constructive post however)
 

Well I'd just like to share my experience with all-season tires. The tires in question are Goodyear allseason tires (stock size 245/40/18).

Since the first day I've driven my car I've rotated between winter and summer tires during season changes and since we have a law about this anyway, there's no reason not to. The law says that every car needs to have winter tires from the 15th of November to 15th of March - that or summer tires with atleast 4mm of thread left and ice chains in the trunk. All seasons however count as winter tires and survive the law as "acceptable" for the winter.

So my story goes like this:
Evo 8 - winter - Continental Wintercontact -> Dunlop WinterSport 3d
Evo 9 - winter - Nexen winterrandom (yes they are bad, I got the with the car but the winter was almost over at the time so I didn't even bother with them)
And now... I bought my Evo 10 and it was equipped with Goodyear allseasons (pretty much brand new aswell). I drove it around in the dry and they had let's say decent grip for a crap tire but I thought to myself that it's for the best since they have to handle wet and snow... Guess what, we had snow the same evening and I drove 30mph on the highway skidding allover the place, hoping I can stop when I needed to get on the brakes and so on.

So I thought to myself, maybe the tires are just plain bad or I don't know... Took it to my mechanic, he inspected the tires and said they're in great condition all 4 of them, so we started the discussion about allseaons and his comment was, yes it's a street legal tire for all road conditions but it's not good at anything.

So here's my story about all-season tires. I bought an Evo X and Monday I'll be picking up a set of Dunlop Wintersport 3D's and the goodyears are going up in to the ozone. And I thought Nexen was bad.



Anyway - the reason why I wrote my experience is that I've read numerous numerous times on this forum that all season tires are GREAT and handle in all conditions and that everyone who has light snow should have all season tires because it's just the ultimate compromise instead of getting the rubbish winter tires. To all the people that write this, either you drive around like a granny and should sell your Evo right away, or you have NO clue what the word GRIP means. After a few years of driving experience, I can tell you that driving on a proper winter tire in the snow, with an Evo - It just doesn't get any better. So I have to say to you - IF YOU HAVE SNOW in your region, get a winter tire and go have some fun.

Cheers! :beer:

Amen. That was a long but well put together post. I wont go into my opinion on All-seasons, but I am not much to comment bc I spend most of my time in upstate NY on yoko summers haha. I agree completely with your opinion on snows tho. Thanks for sharing!

I think it depends on which all season you get. No high performance all season is going to be great in snow and no tire will be as good as a designed snow tire.

I put Yokahama 4s all seasons on mine after the tire shop lost the OEM tires (they paid). They are a little down on grip compared to the OEM tires in dry conditions but kick the OEM tires butt in wet conditions. The big plus is that if we get a small suprise snow in the early fall or late spring I can drive the car home (talking 1-2 inches not 10). It keeps me from having to change to the snows early and wear them out more quickly.

Another bonus. Part of why everyone here has issues with rock chips is the OEM tire picks up every little pebble and slings it against the back fender....The all season Yokahoma which is not that far behind in grip (check out tire racks test) does not.

I agree with what the OP said about the snow tires...really makes the Evo awesome in the white stuff.

WHat I suggest (depending on if you have the money) is to use GOOD high performance all seasons for DD purposes spring-fall, snows for winter and a deticated track tire for autocross/track days when you can tape up your rear fenders. Means having 3 sets of tires and wheels but half the people pay near the price of wheels for a carbon fiber engine cover that adds nothing for performance or practicality so it should not be that much of a stetch for at least some.

I just run the Hankook Icebear W300's... I ran up and down the mountain in WV on our ski trip at least 1000 ft elevation change. Barely any truck could go up and down the mountain that well, nor as fast. Unless it had snow chains on.

So it really boils down to the tires. Even high performance snow tires are better than any all season tire.

And in the past id run my fastest times at the track in all seasons with my old subarus. Would spin em hard stay in boost and cut low 1.6 60s all day. Also easier on your clutch having lil less traction when you use the launch control. I had a stage 4 wrx on new wrx i bought in 03, on stock clutch for bout 20k miles going to the track twice a month for years.

Even crappy snow tires are often times much better than "Good" all seasons.

I've been running a cheap-as-hell set of Firestone Winterforces for two years now, and they work great compared to the all seasons.

Snow Tires FTW! I agree with you 100%

All tires have a compromise. Good choice on having dedicated snow tires.

Exactly!

A winter tire is made for snow and cold, a summer tire is made for dry and wet but hot. An all season tire is made for everything but it simply can't be good at anything. It will get you around the year from A to B but it's not something you should have on a car like the Evo.

I think it really depends on the tire...

I have Bridgestone RE960AS and they've been fantastic as a casual driving tire.. Not bad in the snow as well. It depends how you drive too, plus wider tires are worse in the snow arent they

I run the same thing and they are f'in awesome in the snow. I love passing people stuck here it is bad right now. We have gotten snow all week long and they ran out of salt here in germany

i got goodyear allseasons on my g35x and i cant say its "all over the place" at 30mph.. it was very controllable even going even faster. i skidded into turns only because i WANTED to drift..

im not preaching they are great, im just seeing you are exaggerating abit

What Yoko 4s's? I have W4S's, and compared to OEM tires in dry conditions, they are deadly. I mean it. I run them at 35psi and they lack sidewall stiffness still, seem to actually deform (middle tread raises with centripetal forces) and don't have great stickiness I love. Wet, yes, they are better. I don't know about butt kicking... hence my question on which Yoko's?

For snow, especially the limited amount I get here in STL, I am happy with them. They keep me safe, and the treadwear is superior to summer.

And when the temps changed on me in mid Nov, I did notice that the W4S had superior grip to summer tires at temps below 30def F. I guess that summer compound really isn't designed for cold.

I want another set of Z1's! Loved 'em.

EVO X RallyCross @ Water-Ski pond, I have Michelin pilot all season sport a/s plus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH_5Fe905z4

I am assuming that's ice under there huh? That's pretty good stuff. What size tires are you using?