Worth it to buy a set of summer tires?

[zerosoma]

Is it better to have a set of summer tires and also a set of winter tires? I have all season Yoko AVID Ascends on our Prius right now. I was thinking about getting a cheap set of summer tires for mild weather to extend the life of the Ascends - but is this smart? Should I just use the Ascends year round and replace them when they get worn out?

 

[randomhero439]

Your best bet is to get Summer tires and winter tires. Summer tires are better in the rain than all-seasons. They can decrease stopping distances under heavy braking too. As for your problem... wear out your Ascends to about 4/32 tread. Then think about getting a summer/winter tire combo. Personally I would put winter tires on my stock wheels, then summer tires on a nice aftermarket wheel.

What kind of summer tires are you looking at? What size wheels do you have on your Prius?

 

[JimPghPA]

Now days good dedicated winter tires have many small groves and special rubber for the first 1/3 or 1/2 tread depth, that gives you about half the traction of a studded snow tire if / wen you drive on ice. All season and summer tires have NO traction on ice. And it only takes a small length of ice on a road to cause you to loose control and have an accident.

So if you suspect that you will ever find your vehicle traveling on ice where you travel in the winter, it might be well worth it to get good dedicated winter tires that have the ability to supply traction on ice. Unfortunately these winter tires wear fast if you run them in hot weather, thus the requirement of a summer set of tires if you want to get more than one winter out of a set of these winter tires.

 

[JHZR2]

Is it best? In theory.

Practically speaking, we get 60 degree days in January, which are bad for winter tires, and 20 degree days in September which make summer tires not work properly.

So I get a high performance all season tire, commensurate to the needs of the specific vehicle, and a good winter tire. I generally delay putting on the winter tires, though I'm also sometimes slow to remove them. Having an all season means no worries when it gets cold, quality ones do just fine in rain, and chances are your car isn't being used to the threshold that summer tires are a necessity. If you are, it's probably being used illegally.

My only car with summer tires just doesn't get used below freezing.

 

[fdcg27]

A common sense reply.
Winter tires are really nice, but not a necessity.
We've had them and been awed by their grip in bad conditions.
Summer tires are also probably nice, but a luxury.
Use a good A/S tire and you should have no problems.
Check CR for their tire ratings.
You will have better grip on ice with dedicated winters, but as someone who grew up driving in real winter, I can tell you that caution and experience do matter more than any set of tires.
No set of tires can replace either caution or experience, although it can enhance both.

 

[eljefino]

A cheap set of summer tires would wear out pretty quickly. IDK the treadwear of AVID Ascends but if they're around 680 or more they'll do fine. What's your annual miles per year, would you wear out a set of tires in six years? Wear out two sets? Is low rolling resistance a priority, many summer tires are very high performance and sticky to the detriment of fuel economy.

Are you running 185/65/15? Those are pretty cheap, but the cost of mounting and balancing 2x a year will be expensive.

I say keep doing what you're doing.

 

[fdcg27]

OTOH, you could buy a set of LRRs for summer use and a set of dedicated winters, and you could have the winters mounted on a set of junkyard rims.
Just sayin'.

 

[Stanley Rockafeller]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
A common sense reply.
Winter tires are really nice, but not a necessity.
We've had them and been awed by their grip in bad conditions.
Summer tires are also probably nice, but a luxury.
Use a good A/S tire and you should have no problems.
Check CR for their tire ratings.
You will have better grip on ice with dedicated winters, but as someone who grew up driving in real winter, I can tell you that caution and experience do matter more than any set of tires.
No set of tires can replace either caution or experience, although it can enhance both.



+1

I totally agree. I purchased my MIL a set of Michelin's for her 2011 Sonata when she took delivery. She is getting too old to be dealing with the hassle of swapping back and forth between different sets of tires. Everyone on that site with a Sonata seems to love them, and so does she
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...autoModClar=GLS

IMHO OP, you drive a Prius....what's the point? If you had an M5 or even a Miata, I'd say sure!, but you dont', so there's really no point in a performance set of tires, for a car designed to be driven "economically".

 

[dparm]

A/S tires are "jack of all trades but master of none". They provide adequate grip year round.

Buying winter-specific tires is a massive upgrade and even the cheap ones will outperform the best A/S. They utilize different rubber compounds that wear better on cold pavement and can even give traction on ice. I find that winter tires last 4-5 years since they're only used a few months out of the year.

As for summer tires, I don't think they're going to do much on your Prius unless you drive that thing like you stole it. I'd just get a reasonable set of A/S tires for those months.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Agree with dparm. For OP's car, I'd get A/S tires for 3 seasons and winters tires for the rest if he finds A/S tires inadequate during those months.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: dparm
A/S tires are "jack of all trades but master of none". They provide adequate grip year round.

Buying winter-specific tires is a massive upgrade and even the cheap ones will outperform the best A/S.


My qualm and a huge one is even with performance winter tires(which have lessor winter grip than true winter) is they do not offer better dry or wet traction vs an ultra-high performance all-season tire.

The majority of my winter and I bet yours is running around in non-winter conditions.

I concur winter tires are blissful in winter conditions but a let down in other conditions. At best a mediocre all-season tire.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
The majority of my winter and I bet yours is running around in non-winter conditions.

In non-winter conditions you can get by on pretty much any tire. There's no drama. But it's those few true winter days when dedicated winter tires can show their worth, for example when trying to get out of the way of those that have over-estimated their mediocre tires and/or winter driving capabilities. Dealing with hilly terrain may be another, although that may not be the case for the OP.

 

[GC4lunch]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
For OP's car, I'd get A/S tires for 3 seasons and winters tires for the rest if he finds A/S tires inadequate during those months.


But on wet roads, an A/S tire is every bit as inadequate to the conditions as an A/S tire is inadequate to deal with real snow conditions. The OP lives in South Dakota, which is not a desert, so he sees a lot of rainy days. He is much better off with non-A/S tires when there is no snow or ice on the ground, and real winter tires when there is snow or threat of snow.

 

[PandaBear]

IMO the best all season tires handle rains better than the worst summer tires. IMO if you are not in the hottest part of the nation where it never goes below 40 and you have other car(s) that have all season / winter tires already for emergency, I'd pick a good all season tire and drive carefully in the rain. Those tires are likely directional as well.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: GC4lunch
But on wet roads, an A/S tire is every bit as inadequate to the conditions as an A/S tire is inadequate to deal with real snow conditions.

I think we need to narrow this down to specific tire models. Your generalization that A/S tires can't handle wet roads as well as summer tires does not hold water (pun). My Bridgestone RE960 A/S tires handled wet roads as well or better than any high performance summer tires I've owned in the past. I don't doubt there are some [censored] A/S tires out there though. This holds true for just about anything in life. Be an educated consumer - read reviews, tests, comparisons before you plunk the cash.

 

[CapriRacer]

I see this as all about the compromise.

Obviously SD is a place where winter tires rule. You can get by with a good set of all season tires, but there is a risk.

But in SD, the parts of the year where summer tires would be a benefit over all season tires is pretty short.

Then there is the part about ownng a Prius. If this includes good fuel economy, then summer tires are not a good fit.

 

[dparm]

On cold dry pavement, winter tires do better than all-seasons.

Previous owner of my car had Michelin Pilot Sport A/S (a very good tire) put on. As soon as the temps dropped to freezing, they would chatter and the ESP light would occasionally come on for what felt like no reason.

Swapped on the winter tires and there was immediately more grip.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Dan, I had the exact same experience with the RE960s on my 530i. No such problems with winter tires on.

 

[zerosoma]

To answer some questions :

The AVID Ascends are an 85,000 mile tire. With approx 30,000 miles on them so far they are wearing extremely well.

I do TONS of travelling, and yes, during the winter. Ice is the enemy of the Prius AND the Ascends. That alone will make me conscious about shopping for winter/summer solutions.

I have a feeling these tires will last another good 2 years or so yet.

 

[Indydriver]

Originally Posted By: rjundi

My qualm and a huge one is even with performance winter tires(which have lessor winter grip than true winter) is they do not offer better dry or wet traction vs an ultra-high performance all-season tire.

I'd like to see you prove this.

The big difference between A/S and winters is that one is designed for 45 and above and the other 45 and below. High perf winters are another compromise but will run circles around your high perf A/S in any condition below 45F.