New Car with Summer Tires: Need Winter Tires, Too?

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ET16

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I think the answer to my thread question is, yes, but I think I want a "mild" snow or winter tire, if there is such a thing.

We bought a VW GTI yesterday with 19" summer tires. I was thinking I'd get some used 18" VW wheels and run them 5-6 months a year with "winter" tires.

I live in Maryland, so snow (while we have a good bit today still) is not really an issue. What I think I want is tires with a good compound for below 45F degrees or so. Would three peak tires work? I don't know much about them.
 
Nowadays can’t necessarily tell the weather based on location.

Since the GTI is a performance car, but it is FWD, it likely deserves snows but can get away with all seasons (not summers).

But if getting another set of rims I think snows are the way to go.
 
Go with an all weather tire, it sounds like you don’t need a dedicated winter tire but do need something capable of handling its self during the occasional winter snow. I just had a set of Nokian Encompasses put on my car, have yet to test them but the level of siping compared to my all seasons has me confident they will keep me safer during any winter weather I receive here in MO
 
If you rarely encounter ice, get "performance" winter tires, such as the Blizzak LM005, etc. If you frequently drive on icy roads, get studless winter tires, such as the Blizzak WS90, Continental VikingContact 7, etc.
 
I was a bit late putting on my winter tires this year. I found it to be night and day. I won’t be late with it again. Once you decide you are willing to change the tires and rims, there is no longer an advantage to the three season all weather tire. They are made to be left on year round. If you plan to change them, get a real winter tire is my advice.
 
A lot of true summer tires such as used on Corvettes are summer only. They will be destroyed if driven in weather under 40 degrees. They are made to be sticky and provide good traction and real snow tires are meant for cold weather and snow as well as ice. I never buy snow tires and always buy all seasons, even my truck does not need snow tires for my driving conditions.
 
totegoat said:
Curious what summer tires look like.
Click to expand...
Could be something like a PS4S or the equivalent. I have one in the garage with Pilot Super Sports which are the 2016 version (I know I’m good with the age) of the PS4S. They are too hard to drive on even at 25F. I saw an X4 M yesterday parked on the street in snow and was thinking wrong tires…

www.michelinman.com

Shop Michelin Pilot Sport 4S Tires | Michelin

The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tire has Maximum Combined Performance - 1st in dry lap time, 1st in dry braking, 1st in wet lap time, and 1st in wet braking.
www.michelinman.com www.michelinman.com
 
totegoat said:
Curious what summer tires look like.
Click to expand...
Well, there are 17 summer tire options listed on TireRack for my S600. When I bought the car, it had performance summer tires on it. In an area like mine, without snowfall, where the car specified ZR tires, the tires made sense. I’ve told the story many times of getting caught in freezing rain and ice in Vermont with that car and those tires when the forecast suddenly changed.

I grew up in that weather, I lived there, I can drive in winter, the car has every stability and traction management system made, but those tires made the car downright dangerous.

There was so little grip on ice, because of the freezing rain, that placing the car in drive, in a level parking lot, and releasing the brake caused wheel spin and slipping with the engine just off idle.

I’ve been in the same conditions with Blizzaks and Hakkapelliittas - and while the surface was icy and slick - you could safely manage it. The summer tires, though, turned into useless, dangerous blocks of rubber. I cannot tell you how bad it was. It was not a matter of car systems, or capability, or drive competence, it was like having oiled parts on smooth metal. Zero grip. Dangerous.

Never again.
 
There are performance winter tires such as the Michelin Pilot Alpin, Conti TS-series, Bridgestone Blizzak LM-series, Pirelli Sottozero, etc.

Tire Rack's winter tire selection isn't great, but they do offer the convenience of pre-mounted tire/wheel packages. TR says you can go down to 17" if you wish. This will give you a better ride and other benefits, too :)
 
As @Astro14 said, summer tires are downright dangerous. So, you need something that has better cold performance. If you have another car, that might be ok then.

If you want something to get away, question is: how do you drive? If you drive GTI the way it should be driven, forget All Weather tires like CC2, Weatherpeak, Toyo Celsius etc. They will be too soft in the summer.

That leaves performance all season. Two best tires in this segment are Michelin Pilot A/S4 and Continental ExtremeContact DWS06+ (I have them and use bcs. that transition period between fall and winter). New tire in this segment is Bridgestone Potenza Sport AS. Generally Bridgestone in this AS performance segment was always step behind Michelin and Continental.

Best, of course is to have two sets. I think you can actually go 17” on GTI. Michelin X-Ice Snow would be my choice for area that doesn’t see too much snow and ice. They are probably best on dry of all “go-to” tires on North American market.
 
Thanks for the replies and advice. I looked and have Bridgestone Potenza S005 tires now.
 
How to manage 4 seasons is a problem.

Summer tires are positively dangerous in any kind of snow (or ice). After one brief experience, I will never again try to drive on snow with summer tires. So you can only have them on for those months when you can be certain you won't have snow.

When I lived in a "sudden snow possible" area, I had high performance all season radials for summer which were okay with a bit of snow. And winter tires with good dry road performance for the other 4 or 5 months a year. That worked well.

I currently live in an "it almost never snows" area but if I drive very far out of this area I am legally required to have snow tires. My Accord will need tires soon. So I'm going to buy all weather tires, which have decent summer performance and a snow tire rating.
 
With reasonably narrow, non low profile, all season tires on a FWD (preferably MT) one can get by in snow & marginal ice. Full blown ice storm means studless (or studded if legal) winter tires. Wife’s xB ALWAYS has them in winter, the Corolla has a set, but they’re not on yet (3 inches of snow & no ice I can manage). Wide, low profile, on a light RWD car is useless in my experience!
 
My 2020 Kia Forte GT came with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires. Those were not going to work in the PNW as a daily driver tire. I went right to Costco and bought some Michelin Pilot All season tires, the ones that compete with the Continental DWS at the time. I listed the take offs on Craigslist for $400 and sold them that day.
 
For your location, climate and vehicle you probably want either

A. "performance winter" tire;
B. all-weather tire;
C. traditional all-season tire.

Up to you how winter-biased (A) vs. summer biased (C) you want it to be.
 
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