Winter tire reccomendations?
 

So in my area it's starting to get pretty cool out and my RS2s are getting a little slippery. I have another set of wheels (enkei rs5 16"x7") that I got from the PO. Last year I wore my RS2 through the winter but I kind of regretted that since they're not good in the cold, wear pretty quickly, and winter lasts about 6 months.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good all-season tire with decent wear? I won't be driving my car in the snow because I don't want to kill my car but I will be driving it in the rain and probably slush and sleet. Traction would be nice since wheelspin just makes me want to run on wastegate psi...

honestly, find some snows and cheap rims on sale and run those for december-february. all it takes is one moderate snowfall to ruin your day on all seasons. I did that for the GF's car when discount tire had that big 100 off a set of 4 sale. put snows on her steelies and got new falkens on drag wheels for the other 3 seasons. I gotta say, I LOVE snow tires in snow.

looks like they have some 35 dollar wheels there...

food for thought.

Can you still drive aggressively on snows or will they chunk to bits?

I used michelin X-ice last winter with good results. The rear end could still kick out but it was controlled and easily recovered. Previous winter I just used all seasons and I nearly totalled the car more than once.

blizzaks, and when you burnout in the dry with snow tires expect A LOT of smoke

I had the Winterforce snows on my WRX and loved them. THey are dirt cheap-IIRC around $55 each. I actually bought them for rallycross on that car. They are great in the snow, so good that one heavy snow I decided to take my 4x4 truck. Got stuck in my driveway (800 foot drive) with the truck. Walked back to the house, got the WRX, drove down to the truck, AROUND the truck in the ditch and on to work.

I then put a set on my wife's Protege on cheap steel wheels. I think the whole package with wheels from TireRack was around $300. She has 15K on them with no appreciable wear. They didn't chunk on my WRX and I drove them hard, on and off road.

the only downside to winter tires is the sidewalls and the tread are usually soft as shit. not much fun in the dry.

True. I neglected to add what I am going to put on my Miata for all season duty. I won't have to drive it in the snow, though. I'm going with the Kumho ASX in the next month to replace the RT615's. They are an ultra high performance all season. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes....odel=Ecsta+ASX Good dry traction, good wet traction and are rated M+S, so there are large enough grooves to serve light duty. They are pretty cheap for a decent all season. They are $58 for a 205/50/15 $72 for a 205/55/15. They have a 30,000 mile warranty and are supposed to have a decent sidewall.

Here is the all season review.http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=88. On comment that makes it appear to be tailored for a Miata:

"Our team found the Kumho Ecsta ASX delivered balanced handling and crisp steering response, feeling the most sporty and nimble of the group."

I've got the AST's and for the price they're good, but I'd go for the Fuzions personally. I haven't been around anyone with the ASX's, so I'm not sure about how well they perform. One thing I'll note. The AST's seem to wear quite fast. Might want to look into that on the ASX's.

I put AST's on my wife's Protege, as she doesn't drive hard. The ASX's are supposed to be quite a bit better than the AST's. The AST's were developed to be a "budget tire" per the catalog. The telling statement is:

"The Ecsta AST is designed to offer the exotic looks, traction and value tuners want in a tire while providing year-round traction on dry and wet roads, as well as through occasional light snow."

Which leads me to believe they are a poseur tire.

I can assure you they are not a poseur tire. I've taken 1st in my class on a wet and dry auto-X course in DSP. They grip fine, while I think they could offer more traction durring tight corners and transitions. In the rain, I'm still able to throw passengers into their seat belts from a 40mph stop, and driving in the snow wasn't bad if I didn't get Dukes of Hazzard with the steering or gas pedal.

I just don't like how they wear. If they held up longer and offered a touch better traction, I'd be happy. Overall, I'd say they were the best for the price at the time. Now, though, I'd go with Fuzion equivalents.

Hated the ASX on my Forester in the dry. Calling them ultra high performance is a stretch. They were OK in the rain. I didn't drive the car much in the snow. Because of their price, I just bough some for my sisters Focus. Maybe I'll thrash it around a bit and get some impressions.

I've got Pirelli Winter Carving tires on some 14x6 rims for winter. They work great in ice and snow, and are much better (more responsive, better handling) on dry roads than the Blizzak WS-50's I've driven on before.

Edit: my gti came with Falken Ziex 512's on it, and they were absolutely awful in the snow last year, and didn't wear very well either. I've got some Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D's on it now, but haven't been able to test them much.

If you're talkin snow duty, my blizzaks haven't failed me on ice or snow yet even with an open diff. I have a set on 13" rims...not sure if they'll even fit on my new 1.8 brakes come to think of it.

For all-season/rain (I live in the northwest so this is most of it) i have Falken ziex 512s that are about the most amazing tire i've run in the rain yet and i swear i've had the same set for like 4 years now. Still tons of tread left, too.

Thanks for all the reviews!! Does anyone have any recommendations just for a tire that's good in the cold and also in the rain? BTW for a summer tire I really love the RS2 in the rain...