I just swapped to my winter tires today, and it looks like the stock Dunlops are going to need to get replaced in the spring.

I'm starting a bit early but... any suggestions on tires? The big question I'm debating right now is summer tires vs all-seasons. I normally run winter tires and probably will continue doing so as long as I own the Fit (I have a separate set of rims for the winter tires).

Since I have the winter tires, I figured summer tires would give me better performance during the other 3 seasons. I've only ever driven on all seasons, so I don't actually know how a summer tire performs when it gets cold or in the snow -- how bad are summer tires in the cold, really? Do they really turn into rocks below 45F, if I drive home one night and it's 35F will I be screwed, etc?

The problem for me is that, living in Western Michigan (outside of Grand Rapids) the fall/spring periods are a bit variable -- it's not uncommon to see 60F days and 35F nights for a couple of weeks, a random snow early or late in the season, etc. I'm worried that I'll time the change over incorrectly and either be forced to drive the summer tires in the cold or the snow tires when it's 70F.

Anyway, with that out of the way, any suggestions on tires, summer or all-season? I don't drive a whole lot -- probably only 7k miles per year on the non-winter tires, so I don't need a super long wearing tire. The stock Dunlops only lasted about 30k though -- they're practically down to the wear bars.

I probably care about wet traction, ride quality, dry traction, and tread wear in that order.

I'll probably switch to 205/50R16 tires since there aren't a whole lot of choices in the OEM size.

I know for all-seasons, the Continental DWS is well-liked. I was also looking at the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S as well.

On the summer tire side, the Continental DW or Bridgestone Potenza RE760 were on my short list.

Comments or other suggestions are welcome!

 

What in the world is a winter tire lol. I replaced my stock Dunlops with Kumho 4x uhp all season 205/50 and they are great in both dry and wet conditions.

I run the Conti DW summer tire year round on my Mustang and they are also very good even in rain but of course no snow here in California

I would highly recommend the Kumho 4X it performs like a summer tire but gives you all season capability to boot.

 

winter tires
Snow tires - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


im also debating whether or not to invest in a set, my friends did bring up a pretty good point about winter tires. yes they cost alot more than regular all seasons or others that are "good" in snow but those are not dedicated for heavy snow (which ny is suddenly starting to get alot of). also by using these for only 2-3months at most the tires will most likely last the lifetime of the car which is not a bad idea.

but as of right now im trying to get a set of DW-S also just because of all the recommendations

 

FitFreakers like Conti DWS,
Consumer Reports likes (among others) Michelin MX .. somethings ..

And those are the two sources that I would rely on

 

I'm from up north here in Toronto, Canada. During the winter season, winter tires are a must as the all-season tires just don't cut it in terms of traction, and tread wear.

I believe it's always good to have a good set of winters, and a good set of summers.

 

Toronto must have much more predictable seasons than other places. Up here at 6300ft (1920m) MSL in SoCal, there is no way to predict if it will be 20F or 80F from April-June and September-November. Snow can come in those months as well. Chains are required to be carried in vehicles all year. Ive seen summer tires on AWD Subies be absolutely worthless with even a dusting of snow.

 

Just to follow-up on my own thread, I ended up going with the Continental DWS 205/50/16 tires.

I went with all-seasons because the temperatures swings a bit extreme here this time of year, where it can go from a high of 65 one day to 40 the next, and actually none of the local tire places stock summer tires.

I picked the DWS mostly because of the comments here. The general altimax HP would have been my second choice.

 

DWS is very good throughout the seasons.

but i prefer the look of summer tires, so i run RE760's on my summer wheels.

 

I run Toyo Proxes 4 Plus right now. It's quiet, 560 wear rating, sidewalls look good, pleased with wet traction. Not sure about snow since I hardly get that. I would veer away from anything less than 400 wear rating. Yes they have more grip, but they wear out too fast. Yokohama S drives for example only lasted me one year with 300 wear rating.

Those Continental Extreme Contact DWS looks pretty good.

205/50 R16 Toyo*PROXES 4 PLUS Tire Specifications, Price and Ratings | Tread Depot Toyo's at 94
http://www.treaddepot.com/tire/15460990000.html Continentals at 112