Any significant advantage to summer tires hear in Florida?
Summer vs All season tires
- Thread starter Eddie
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gathermewool
Site Donor 2025
Georgia, yes, Florida, definitely not.
Depends on your car. Summer tires are stiffer have less give give great handling at the expense of ride comfort.Also wear out quicker and most times no tread life warranty. Can also be squirmy in the rain depending on tread design. All season tire are just that can be run in dry,wet,and light to moderate snow. Give ride comfort and treadwear over handling. Look at tire racks website it will give the benefits and negatives of every type of tire out there
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Georgia, yes, Florida, definitely not.
Eh, neither one of those states are very hot
Georgia, yes, Florida, definitely not.
Eh, neither one of those states are very hot
Only better handling in general. They are not very good in snow hence the summer tire affiliation. Treadwear is usually much lower as they use a softer rubber compound that holds the road better under aggressive driving.
I typically would recommend if you like ride comfort both in ride quality itself and noise to be kept at a minimum, look at an all season tire. If you only care about handling and aggressiveness, go with a summer tire. Clearly you don't need to worry about a winter designation in that part of the country.
I would go with touring tires
If you care about performance and grip when driving hard, go with summer. Otherwise you will regret it.
Knowing the car in question would help. But if they are available in your size, what about Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires? Excellent dry handling, quiet, handles well in the wet, comfortable ride.
Better handling, less compromises.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
Originally Posted By: Eddie
Any significant advantage to summer tires hear in Florida?
Summer always!
All Seasons are compromise. They are just ok in warm weather, and not even ok in very cold weather.
If you do not plan trips to the north in the winter, the summer.
Better braking, handling.
Any significant advantage to summer tires hear in Florida?
Summer always!
All Seasons are compromise. They are just ok in warm weather, and not even ok in very cold weather.
If you do not plan trips to the north in the winter, the summer.
Better braking, handling.
A couple of thoughts:
First, tires of the same size and type can vary greatly. It is hard to make blanket statements because there is some overlap.
Yes, summer tires TEND to be better handling / harsher riding than all season tires, but there are some exceptions.
The same is true of treadwear, traction, and fuel economy.
So careful selection is called for.
Florida is known for its abrasive roads. And the abrasion levels are worse in South Florida than in northern FL.
Florida is also known as an area with more vibration complaints. That's because Florida roads don't experience the freezing and thawing that causes northern roads to heave and become uneven - which disguises out of round and out of balance tires and wheels.
First, tires of the same size and type can vary greatly. It is hard to make blanket statements because there is some overlap.
Yes, summer tires TEND to be better handling / harsher riding than all season tires, but there are some exceptions.
The same is true of treadwear, traction, and fuel economy.
So careful selection is called for.
Florida is known for its abrasive roads. And the abrasion levels are worse in South Florida than in northern FL.
Florida is also known as an area with more vibration complaints. That's because Florida roads don't experience the freezing and thawing that causes northern roads to heave and become uneven - which disguises out of round and out of balance tires and wheels.
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: Eddie
Any significant advantage to summer tires hear in Florida?
Summer always!
All Seasons are compromise. They are just ok in warm weather, and not even ok in very cold weather.
If you do not plan trips to the north in the winter, the summer.
Better braking, handling.
Absolutely. Why not have the best adhesion to the road?
Here, IME, summer tires ride BETTER than most All Seasons I've had on my sig car. Great down to about the 40's or so before you can even tell any loss of anything...
Originally Posted By: Eddie
Any significant advantage to summer tires hear in Florida?
Summer always!
All Seasons are compromise. They are just ok in warm weather, and not even ok in very cold weather.
If you do not plan trips to the north in the winter, the summer.
Better braking, handling.
Absolutely. Why not have the best adhesion to the road?
Here, IME, summer tires ride BETTER than most All Seasons I've had on my sig car. Great down to about the 40's or so before you can even tell any loss of anything...
Thank you for all your input. I am a fairly easy driver with my Mazda CX5 but, frequently have some fun in corners at 50 mph at about 0.5G. I seldom test the cornering limits on a dry road with the OEM tires. Sounds like my best solution is something like my OEM, all season H rated tire unless someone come back to challenge that thought. Ed
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
A couple of thoughts:
First, tires of the same size and type can vary greatly. It is hard to make blanket statements because there is some overlap.
Yes, summer tires TEND to be better handling / harsher riding than all season tires, but there are some exceptions.
The same is true of treadwear, traction, and fuel economy.
So careful selection is called for.
Florida is known for its abrasive roads. And the abrasion levels are worse in South Florida than in northern FL.
Florida is also known as an area with more vibration complaints. That's because Florida roads don't experience the freezing and thawing that causes northern roads to heave and become uneven - which disguises out of round and out of balance tires and wheels.
As a south Flordian I can totally confirm this^^^^^....Rubber compound and tread design are more important than the "summer" or A/S designation.
There is much more to be concerned with construction and design in terms of PURPOSE....here in FLA I chose RAIN dispersion as my highest criterion...2nd was a quiet ride...both a function of tread design....Hankook Ventus tires I had a couple years ago (now the Hankook Ventus v12 evo2 k120) were excellent in dry and wet conditions but were LOOOUUUUD...a cheap imitation/version (Sumic/Doral/Aspen) A/S tire was okay in Florida temps but dangerous in 30° Chicago rain..despite being designated A/S, the tire hardened up at freezing temps and had little grip in freezing rain...scary....
Dry road gripping soft tires (a function of rubber compound chemistry) wear more quickly more than harder compounds build for tread-life, but because NO tire lasts the expected mileage here due to the shell impregnated roadways in Fla, I prefer the softies...
Finally, softer tires STAY softer in colder weather for less slip'nsliding on rain soaked roads when the temps get in the low 30°s...some summer tires (like the Ventus, a 3-season tire based on its tread design....though Hankook claims it's A/S) fit these criteria, but many more A/S tires will as they're made for colder temps....
My current tire has performed well here in Florida...Cooper CS5 ultra touring.
A couple of thoughts:
First, tires of the same size and type can vary greatly. It is hard to make blanket statements because there is some overlap.
Yes, summer tires TEND to be better handling / harsher riding than all season tires, but there are some exceptions.
The same is true of treadwear, traction, and fuel economy.
So careful selection is called for.
Florida is known for its abrasive roads. And the abrasion levels are worse in South Florida than in northern FL.
Florida is also known as an area with more vibration complaints. That's because Florida roads don't experience the freezing and thawing that causes northern roads to heave and become uneven - which disguises out of round and out of balance tires and wheels.
As a south Flordian I can totally confirm this^^^^^....Rubber compound and tread design are more important than the "summer" or A/S designation.
There is much more to be concerned with construction and design in terms of PURPOSE....here in FLA I chose RAIN dispersion as my highest criterion...2nd was a quiet ride...both a function of tread design....Hankook Ventus tires I had a couple years ago (now the Hankook Ventus v12 evo2 k120) were excellent in dry and wet conditions but were LOOOUUUUD...a cheap imitation/version (Sumic/Doral/Aspen) A/S tire was okay in Florida temps but dangerous in 30° Chicago rain..despite being designated A/S, the tire hardened up at freezing temps and had little grip in freezing rain...scary....
Dry road gripping soft tires (a function of rubber compound chemistry) wear more quickly more than harder compounds build for tread-life, but because NO tire lasts the expected mileage here due to the shell impregnated roadways in Fla, I prefer the softies...
Finally, softer tires STAY softer in colder weather for less slip'nsliding on rain soaked roads when the temps get in the low 30°s...some summer tires (like the Ventus, a 3-season tire based on its tread design....though Hankook claims it's A/S) fit these criteria, but many more A/S tires will as they're made for colder temps....
My current tire has performed well here in Florida...Cooper CS5 ultra touring.
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