Performance all seasons?

So, its July. Hotter thsn two rats berkeleying in a wool sock here.

Which is GREAT for r comps on a street car. 

However. December is coming,  with freezing temperatures that are BAD for r comps. 

Obviously the choice is to swap out t comps for summer, all seasons for winter. 

However. id like to explore the compromise options. Grippy all seasons. No snow, but plenty of rain. 

We're working with miata sizes 205-50-15 or 195-60-15 for both cars im interested in doing this to. It regularly gets into the teens and twenties here in the winter. and cars are not stored climate controlled. Hell, im hoping to drive the miata through the winter. And the neon before winter for the first time!

I was looking at the falken xiex line,  but only because I have used it before. 

So, learn me!

Love the continental extreme contact sports on mine.

X 2 on Continental ECS

Better place your order for ECS today. 

December 1st is only 144 days away. 

Not ECS.

ECS is a great 3.5 season tire here.   It will be fine 95% of the time in the winter.  But the compound is not really good for a year round tire.  There is an explicit warning regarding sub 40 deg temps for the ECS on TR's website.

Extreme Contact DWS is the all-season answer.

ECS is not an "all season", and per Tire Rack:

Like all summer tires, the ExtremeContact Sport is not intended to be serviced, stored nor driven in near- and below-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.

The ECS does tolerate cold better than many summer tires, but that's what the 'warning label' says...

The only true A/S tire I have recent experience with is on our Camaro... Bridestone RE980AS.  It was the only A/S tire that comes in the stock Camaro 305 width, so I didn't have a lot of choice.  I run them year 'round, and they see temps from the 20's in winter (sometimes teens), to over 100 in summer, higher if we happen to take a trip to Phoenix.  They work perfectly fine on the street, ride comfortably, and even deal reasonably well with 650hp.  On the local mountain roads, they will give it up sooner than a summer tire, but are still capable of speeds that are getting into imprudent territory.  I haven't tried them on track, but I'm sure they wouldn't last long at all, at least not on our Camaro.

I'm looking forward to trying the new Michelin Pilot A/S that's OEM on the C8 'Vette, but I don't think they've hit the market yet. 

Yeah, ecs was the previously reccomend tire in other threads. However,  the below 40 kills it. 

The dws isn't made in 15s....

there is this:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/proxes-sport-s-do-it-all-tire-do-it-all-mini/

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

there is this:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/proxes-sport-s-do-it-all-tire-do-it-all-mini/

Also not in 15" sizes

Finding decent 15s is going to be tricky. I'm in the market for the same tire but in 16" sizes. From Tire Rack's test results it looks like there's options that are at least margninally better than the DWS but none of them exist in 16" sizes, let alone 15s.

johndej said:

Love the continental extreme contact sports on mine.

I emailed Continental.  They say not to run ECS below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

jharry3 said:

johndej said:

Love the continental extreme contact sports on mine.

I emailed Continental.  They say not to run ECS below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

I wouldn't feel too bad about driving on them down to freezing and maybe even a bit below that, but parking on them in temps that cold tends to be really hard on summer tire compounds. If OP had at least marginally climate controlled storage I'd consider telling him to go for it with ECS. But not if they're going to be sitting overnight in sub-freezing conditions.

Yeah, they both primarily live out in the carport. So, not even marginal climate controlled conditions. 

I didn't expect it to be this hard! I really dont want crap tires....

I was pretty impressed with the General Altimax HP, especially for the price, but I see they've been discontinued.  Not sure the RT is in the same league.  I've had nothing but favorable experiences with Continental A/S tires.

My tire shopping site of choice is tirebuyer.  I went and look at what they have for you.  Nothing good to choose in 205 but in 195 they have the Falken Ziex 960 (seems to be the updated 950.)  I have had great experiences with Falkens and this site.  

The 195's are $65 each but also w/ $50 rebate so then a net of $52.5 each.  The site also offers a 7% teacher, Military, 1st responder discount which would then be a net of$48.83

I recently bought tires.  I had trouble with the site giving me the $7% so I called.  The rep was very quick to give me 8%...okay!

Site also gives free shipping and 2 yr road hazard.  

I know your post here was about whats the best tire I can get at any price for my needs and my answer is that I think this is the best sub-$50 tire you can get for your application.   

Rebate good for purchases before July 27th

I'm running 205/50r15 Kumho PA31s on my daily NB. Haven't had them in winter temps yet but they're doing great in rain and such. I don't know how much much the car will get driven in the winter but I did opt for an all season thinking of being able to get the car out on a cold dry Kentucky winter day if I wanted. 

John Welsh (Moderate Supporter) said:

My tire shopping site of choice is tirebuyer.  I went and look at what they have for you.  Nothing good to choose in 205 but in 195 they have the Falken Ziex 960 (seems to be the updated 950.)  I have had great experiences with Falkens and this site.  

The 195's are $65 each but also w/ $50 rebate so then a net of $52.5 each.  The site also offers a 7% teacher, Military, 1st responder discount which would then be a net of$48.83

I recently bought tires.  I had trouble with the site giving me the $7% so I called.  The rep was very quick to give me 8%...okay!

Site also gives free shipping and 2 yr road hazard.  

I know your post here was about whats the best tire I can get at any price for my needs and my answer is that I think this is the best sub-$50 tire you can get for your application.   

Rebate good for purchases before July 27th

They seem to have very limited sticky tire selection. No sticky falkens, no sticky continentals, etc.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

Point of clarification...

In your original post you mention sizes of:  205-50-15 or 195-60-15 

Is that intended to be 195-50-15 and not 60?  According to calculators, the 195-60 version results in a tire 4.8% taller than the 205-50.  The 195-50 results in a tire 1.7% shorter than a 205-50.  

What I listed above in my previous posting was 195-50.

Actually a 195/60 was intentionally done. In my gearing application,  id prefer taller instead of shorter. I doubt it would make any appreciable difference,  but mentally.....

Extreme Contact DWS is an excellent true all-season.

In reply to maschinenbau (I live here) :

Ive owned a set on a tweaked protege5. They were glorious.  Almost enough to make me hunt 16s for both cars....

maschinenbau (I live here) said:

Extreme Contact DWS is an excellent true all-season.

My choice as well, but I don't think they are available smaller than 16".

I also have had a very good experience with the Conti DWS 06. I'm going to buy another set for my wife's Mazda 5.

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:

Actually a 195/60 was intentionally done. In my gearing application,  id prefer taller instead of shorter. I doubt it would make any appreciable difference,  but mentally.....

I'm guessing this is outside of the scope of what you're looking to do, but 195/60/15 is the same diameter as 205/50/16. You'd need to invest in some 16" wheels but it would open up a lot more and better tire options (including the DWS) and the shorter sidewall would drive a lot better.

No need to go falken around with all season when you are only dealing with rain rather than snow.

I have cars with Michelin PSS and  BFG g-Force Sport Comp-2  summers and both do a nice job dealing with rain (and believe me, on Canada's 'Wet Coast' we get plenty to deal with.