Tire Selection for 22 WRX

[Mainia]

My PSAS4's did amazing in an ice storm at 6/32. That said, I don't believe DWS changes as you wear them in compound, just that for snow 6/32 is the industry recommended minimum, so the "S" wears off below that, I believe. I had LX25's and they did amazing down to 2-3/32 in snow, although not as good as when new. The compound certainly didn't change, just depth.

Those gussets in the main grooves really help in the snow on low 32nd tires.

 

[DirtyGary]

A 1.6 Kona with a harness.

What is going on here.

 

[krzyss]

I did not write this:

"I would love a Golf R 8th Gen, with a full suspension reworked and 500 hp. Buy me one please, so I can conform to your thought process."

Mainia wrote it.

Krzyś

 

[Pew]

I truly need another kind of car too. I would love a Golf R 8th Gen, with a full suspension reworked and 500 hp. Buy me one please, so I can conform to your thought process. I don't have your kind of money. I can be your token welfare case. Half the people I know with performance cars get A/S as they chew through summer tires every summer. Some of those are $2,000 a set. They can't afford what they "want" they get what works for them. No, Michelin made a Turd out of the PS 4 A/S and made it a soocer Mom tire. The PS 3= A/S is a better tire for performance driving. So they changed the criteria of what they want for that tire.

You want performance but you can't afford the utmost performance that you desire so you have to compromise. There's nothing wrong with that, I and many others go through that. I'm not saying go get rich and buy a new set of summers every year. I'm saying there's compromises everywhere and you learn to live with it. So the PS4AS is still a great tire despite it's slight compromises for better performance elsewhere; and for an A/S it's still a heck of a tire.

I'd like to see what tires you're looking at for $2000 because unless you're illegally running Hoosiers on the street, I can't find $2000 tires anywhere that aren't manufacture specific. Tire prices have increased but after a quick check, extreme/DOT-legal competition tires are still only ~$40 more now than they were 10 years ago. If you moved up to a 245/40r-18 (which is square on a 8.5 wheel), you get a lot more choices in tires.

 

[TiGeo]

You want performance but you can't afford the utmost performance that you desire so you have to compromise. There's nothing wrong with that, I and many others go through that. I'm not saying go get rich and buy a new set of summers every year. I'm saying there's compromises everywhere and you learn to live with it. So the PS4AS is still a great tire despite it's slight compromises for better performance elsewhere; and for an A/S it's still a heck of a tire.

I'd like to see what tires you're looking at for $2000 because unless you're illegally running Hoosiers on the street, I can't find $2000 tires anywhere that aren't manufacture specific. Tire prices have increased but after a quick check, extreme/DOT-legal competition tires are still only ~$40 more now than they were 10 years ago. If you moved up to a 245/40r-18 (which is square on a 8.5 wheel), you get a lot more choices in tires.

235/40/18 Conti ECS summers are about $900 for a set of 4 on my car and should last at least 2 seasons alternating with all seasons.

 

[edyvw]

My PSAS4's did amazing in an ice storm at 6/32. That said, I don't believe DWS changes as you wear them in compound, just that for snow 6/32 is the industry recommended minimum, so the "S" wears off below that, I believe. I had LX25's and they did amazing down to 2-3/32 in snow, although not as good as when new. The compound certainly didn't change, just depth.

They don’t. It is Bridgestone thing on WS snow tires.

 

[edyvw]

235/40/18 Conti ECS summers are about $900 for a set of 4 on my car and should last at least 2 seasons alternating with all seasons.

Costco has Firestones Indy 500 fairly cheap.

 

[TiGeo]

Costco has Firestones Indy 500 fairly cheap.

Yes, that is the budg-o summer tire winner for sure.

 

[krzyss]

General G-MAX RS is decent cheap(er) option too.

Krzyś

 

[TiGeo]

I'll say these may be the ultimate....

tirestreets.com
15% code "EASTHOOD15"

Tire is the Phi. I use their 200 tires and have been impressed. I am getting these for my son for sure this year.

 

[frankbee3]

The PS4 A/S hasn't been "wrecked" that I can tell....here are PS4 A/S on track at VIR. Not much experience under my belt here with just. a few track days total so tires were the least of my concerns but still...held up pretty well to some track use all things considered.

It is neat to see you drive your Sportwagen like a Sportwagen! Thanks for sharing!

 

[I_Hate_CVTs]

So, the tire of choice ended up being the Michelin. I was going to wait until at least Memorial Day to see what deals there were, and run the Dunlop summers till fall. But browsing ebay last night I found more than a few vendors, including Discount Tire, that are using an Ebay tire coupon code TIRESAVINGS23 for up to 200$ off tires. It took a bit of searching, but I found all the tires in this thread minus the Vredestien listed with discounts.

Total for all 4 tires shipped OTD was 850$, I didn't think a Memorial Day or Labor Day sale would beat that so I went ahead and ordered them.

My reasoning for going with the Michelins were, DWS wore quickly, and if their snow ability is solely based on tread depth then id be better off with something else. The Bridgestone's, I really wanted to like, they have emerging sipes and according to tireracks winter testing did well on packed snow and had the shorted stopping distance on Ice. However their wet handling and especially wet braking were so far behind everyone I couldn't get over their trade off for wet vs snow grip. The Michelin appear to do everything well, maybe not the best in any class, but always 2nd. They also appear to rely on an emerging tread pattern for winter grip, so hopefully it will keep its light snow ability longer than the DWS. Ill be able to give an assessment of the tires once they are shipped and mounted. I will continue to drive my Civic Si with the DWS on it until its sold, so ill be able to compare tires, all be it on different cars.

Did you find the Michelin Pilot Sport All Seasons quieter than the factory Dunlops? I'm looking to change mine out eventually, and I hate the road noise. I thought the car was the problem until I put a set of Michelin X Ice Snow tires on and the car got quieter lol. Substantially quieter.

 

[K20SiGUY]

Did you find the Michelin Pilot Sport All Seasons quieter than the factory Dunlops? I'm looking to change mine out eventually, and I hate the road noise. I thought the car was the problem until I put a set of Michelin X Ice Snow tires on and the car got quieter lol. Substantially quieter.

Much quieter, and unless your on a track, I couldn’t tell a difference in grip just based on a daily commute or spirited drive. Definitely recommend and recommend over the DWS plus.

 

[I_Hate_CVTs]

Much quieter, and unless your on a track, I couldn’t tell a difference in grip just based on a daily commute or spirited drive. Definitely recommend and recommend over the DWS plus.

Thanks for your thoughts and reply. How did you find the ride quality with the Michelins? I presume you're running 18's?

 

[K20SiGUY]

Ride quality is almost the same as the DWS 06, I’d say on a highway over expansion joints the DWS would be a bit softer, but it’s not a metric I would use to recommend one over another. And yes, running 245/40/18, also have older VA 17” rims with Nokian Nordamn Solstice (WRG3) for light duty winter driving.

 

[Rogueman2016s]

Ok So,

Taking delivery of my first "New" car ever. Unfortunately for some unknown reason Subaru went with the Dunlop whatever summer tires. Id like to switch them over to an UHP all season, I would probably wait until October to mount them after buying them either on Memorial or Labor day sale.
My choices are, Michelin Pilot Sport 4 All Season , Vredestein Hypertrack All Season,Bridgestone Potenza RE980 +, or the Continental DWS 06 +.

I would like to have a tire that can handle light duty snow, I normally drive my current car about April-Thanksgiving, and then I drive my Honda Ridgeline in the winter with Xice Snows on it. I travel about 20 mins to work and can telework if the weather is bad. But recently (last April and November) we received a few surprise storms that left 2-3 inches on the road. Id like to have a tire that can safely get me home but doesn't have to be a dedicated winter or even all weather tire.

My current car is a 2006 Honda Civic Si, no traction control but a good limited slip diff in the front. I am running the DWS 06+ on it, and the first snowfall I had it in was the surprise 3" midday April snowfall. While my experience with driving it in the snow is limited, it did handle the 3" slush snow well. This past November when we got 3-4" and the DWS06+ were a bit more worn (the S was still visible but worn) things were not great. The even at 10mph the car did not like to turn or stop at what I consider a safe margin. Other than that so far they are extremely quiet, ride well, and handle the wet well.

What I am looking for is a tire that may give up a little dry traction for some mild snow traction. I would not want to give up wet traction or deal with any intrusive tread noise (BFG G-Force Comp) worst tires I've ever owned noise wise. It seems as though the Michelin is the most rounded of the bunch, but some people complain about tread noise. The Vredestein I am fully unsure about, these seem to be tireracks baby, and they don't seem to test high in any one category yet they seem to build them up to be just as good as the competitors. The Bridgestone's I don't know much about, other than watching a Topher video on YouTube where he is driving an NSX on a snow track with these tires mounted.

If anyone has driven or rode in a car with the DWS 06 plus and has experience with any of the other tires listed I would appreciate some input as I am totally stuck right now on what I should buy.

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