[clevernickname]

Car: 2015 mustang gt
Me: Know dick all about tires/wheels...be patient please.

Been reading lots of articles on tire rack. Wound up on this page: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/tiretype.jsp

I'll be using the gt as a daily driver, but have an SUV in the 1-2 days it actually snows in vancouver. So I guess I need tires for rain & dry.

Car is my first real sporty car, I probably won't be taking it to the track or counting my 0-60 everyday. But I do want a good balance of cost to performance.

Can't think of better people to ask than vancouver people.

1) Do you guys think I need just summer tires then? Or do summer tires not offer a noticeable performance increase over all seasons.

2) extreme performance? just "ultra high".

3)I think I'll do square setup so I can rotate tires better since it's my daily driver?

4) Any good brands to start looking into? Any brands to avoid like the plague?

5) Is there a link that shows 0-60 times of the same car with different tires? All seasons, summers, etc? Only link I found is this: http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/tire-test-all-season-vs-snow-vs-summer.html. Seems to show no 0-60 difference between summer and all season, but slightly better braking and handling for the summers. That sound about right?

6) Tires it comes with: [Standard]: 18 x 8.0-in. Eagle F1 Asymmetric All-Season - should I sell these right away?

[bomiheko]

Michelin super pilot sport. Best daily performance tire hands down. You'll pay for the privilege though. These tires are really good, you can even track with them. Lots of grip and good wet traction too.

[320icar]

So are you tracking the car? Eagle f1's are horrible in cold weather (I have them on now) and provide plenty of warm weather grip. No need for anything stickier driving to and from work

Edit: it's a 2015 as well, so you still have a good two years at least before you need to worry about new tires anyways

[clevernickname]

So are you tracking the car? Eagle f1's are horrible in cold weather (I have them on now) and provide plenty of warm weather grip. No need for anything stickier driving to and from work

Edit: it's a 2015 as well, so you still have a good two years at least before you need to worry about new tires anyways

"I probably won't be taking it to the track or counting my 0-60 everyday"

So just keep my all seasons? No need to upgrade to summers?

[320icar]

Eagle f1's are NOT all seasons, they are summer only with 240 treadwear (Michelin pilot sports which are good tired have a 500+ treadwear rating, though the ratings are not interchangeable)

[clevernickname]

Sorry, what do you mean they're not all seasons? It says it in the description and everything: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+F1+Asymmetric+All-Season

whats a treadwear rating lol..

[Marco911]

There are no such thing as performance all seasons.

[clevernickname]

I don't get it... so good year is lying? Or is everyone saying even though it tries to be all seasons, they lean more towards a summer tire than an all season tire.

[320icar]

I have eagle f1's, they come standard on my focus st. They are definitely summer only tires, or at best "3 season tires" lol. Really the only upgrade from these would be things like a toyo re-11, Michelin super sport, r888, nitto nt-03 or whatever. From a heavy car like the stang on everyday driving, you really won't notice a difference spending $1500 on new tires. I mean you will, but you will notice more performance improvement spending that $1500 on an intake and a tune

[asian_XL]

You should keep the Eagle F1 Asymmetric All-Season.

They have good tread wear and performance.

[clevernickname]

Perfect. Thanks guys. I guess it would be more economical then to get 18s for some aftermarket wheels?

[rriggi]

My DD has Michelin Pilot Super Sports and I couldnt be happier with them. The wet performance is very good and the dry performance is outstanding. They also wear very nicely too.

My other DD has Nitto NT555R and they are terrible.... not the best DD tire tbh...

[jasonturbo]

Continue DW, almost* as brilliant as Michelin Pilot Sports but half the price.

You will find other tires that offer similar grip in the dry, but they work very well in the wet and make very little noise.

[thumper]

i am running continental extreme contacts on my mustang that were takeoffs from a 270z (thanks DHP!). i would have going with michelin pilots but these were much cheaper at the time. really happy with them.

currently on pirelli sottozeros for winter... a/s tires in bad weather is a death wish on a mustang :(

[dared3vil0]

BFG Sport comp-2's. Once they're scrubbed in they grip extremely well in the dry, and i've driven 'em in horrible rain storms with an insane amount of standing water and they didn't hydroplane even once. Not to mention they're 1/2 the price of the PSS!

[jcmaz]

Fyi Continental Extreme Contacts have 2 versions, DW and DWS. They stand for Dry Wet Snow. I have the DWS tires on my fwd Ralliart and they work great even in all conditions encountered in Vancouver

[Timpo]

BF Goodrich G-Force Super Sport A/S

The best all season tire ever from what I have tried so far.
The only complaint is increased rolling resistance from soft compound and some road noise.
But performance wise, it's very good, dry, rain, even snow it was good for an all-season tire.

[dared3vil0]

Timpo what car were they on?

[meme405]

Timpo what car were they on?

The cardboard GTR he made for himself in his living room...

[CCA-Dave]

Since you've stated you know zero about tires, and are getting confused by some of the answers about all-seasons, I'm going to make this a very generic post which should help you to understand a few very important things about tires:

Tires are the most important part of your vehicle
Ultimately, the only thing between you and ground are four small patches of rubber. You cannot accelerate without tires having good contact with the ground, you cannot steer without having good contact with the ground. Most importantly, you cannot brake without having good contact with the ground. The whole discussion about "what tire should I choose", ultimately comes down to how well you want to do those three. Simply upgrading a vehicles tires to something ideally suited for the conditions can make as much or more of a difference then a big-brake-upgrade kit. Most people don't get that the tires are as important as they are, and see them just as an annoying expensive wear item. Which is how we ended up with All-Season tires.

There is no such thing as All Season Tires
If you own a piano moving company, have four kids and like to go to track days on the weekend...there is no one "ideal vehicle" for you. Any single vehicle choice you will choose has compromises. The design of "the best tire" for summer is vastly different from one for winter. Fall and Spring require their own unique attributes as well. BUT, people are cheap. We don't want to change our tires four times a year so tires are designed with some compromises built in. A "Summer" tire is designed for both sunny and rainy days, even though having a dry-weather and wet-weather tire would provide better performance. The All-Season tire is much like my vehicle choice at the beginning of this section. An all season tire technically can be used year round, but it is not very good at anything. The newer "three-season" tires (everything but winter) are a little better in, you guessed it, everything but winter...but still suck in any given season.

It's all about temperature
The summer tires I use on the rallybug come with a warning label that they aren't to be used below 10deg celsius, as the rubber becomes too hard. Even more interesting is that the label says not to store them below 10C because the rubber compound breaks down in the cold weather. It's 15deg in my garage right now, and the tires are as hard as rocks. In the summer, I can lightly press a dime against the tread and it will stick. What people fail to understand is that the all-season, and especially "performance all season" tires they bought become harder in colder weather. You will lose traction as the temperature drops below about 10deg, and especially below zero. Probably fine for normal driving, but a whole lot of not-fun when you need to emergency brake in the rain. Suddenly the braking distance you thought you needed has gone up by 50%.

Advice
In our climate, everyone should have a set of summer tires and a set of winter tires. Swapped in-around mid-October with the rains and out in April (as a very rough guide). The specific summer tire should be chosen to the type of driving, performance capabilities and lifespan the owner is looking for. The specific winter tire should be chosen for the temperature and how much snow the vehicle is expected to see. If people actually followed this advice, you'd see a lot less accidents. Especially on routes like the Sea-to-Sky when it's raining (but not snowing).

Where you go from there, is really a matter of asking people what they like...and, quite frankly, experimenting until you find tires you like and don't like.

-Dave

[!Aznboi128]

^ Dave summarized it up.

Get a set of Summer tires and then winters for the winters. All season tires aren't really all season it can deal with a little powder but under 7 degrees (i think it was) it looses grip.

[xjc11]

+1 to Michelin PSS.

I've also heard great things about Bridgeston Potenza S-04's. *almost comparable to PSS, but slightly cheaper

[westopher]

If you want something year round, which IMO is never the best idea, the conti DWS are the best all seasons I've heard. If you are willing to swap summers and winters (which you should if you drive all year round) I'd suggest michelin PSS for summers. Great in the wet and dry, and will last you a decent amount of time. Yeah they are pricey, but so is your brand new car. Tires are IMPORTANT and if there is one thing you should be willing to splurge on a bit I believe its tires. They are what dictates literally every aspect of your cars performance.

[thumper]

the only grief i have with the DWS is that the sidewalls are on the soft side and dosen't have a wheel lip protector (or whatever you call it) molded in.

[jing]

595 RSR's on the summer daily. DWS on the year round daily.

[Godzira]

I have Nitto T555's I love them, they were cheap, grip hard, they kinda suck in the rain but other than that they're great.

[Traum]

There is already a lot of excellent info in the thread, so I will just provide a bit of summary info for the OP. In terms of tire grade / groupings, I will use TireRack's classification:

- Extreme Performance Summer (highest performance street tires)
- Max Performance Summer
- Ultra High Performance Summer
- High Performance Summer
- Grand Touring Summer (lowest performance street tires)

The best modern all season tires are also quite good, but I wouldn't bother with them for this car. Especially when you have another more appropriate vehicle for the poor weather, it makes no sense for you to drive the Stang when it is cold and wet.

Don't get Extreme Performance Tires
Given that you do not actively race / autox / track your car, there is no reason for you to consider the Extreme Performance category. For the most part, these are basically street legal competition tires that are intended for autox-ers and track day participants. When you run them on the street, they are fairly noisy, and they tend to wear out / heat cycle out a lot faster than the other grades.

As a side note to this, just because you don't autox / track the car doesn't mean you shouldn't. As a matter of fact, with the Stang being your first sporty car, you should totally come to some autox / track day events and find out how the car can be / should be driven at its limits. Not only is it a shxtload of fun, there is also a safety aspect to this -- the Stang GT is a lot of car. You want to know how to control and keep this beast reined in. The best environment to learn this is NOT on the street -- a safe and controlled environment with qualified instructors is where it should be done. Locally, VCMC and UBCSCC both organize performance driving school, autox, and track days (with instructors) for people such as yourself to enjoy your car in a safe environment. I know VCMC typically offer their Velocity driving school in late April to May, and registration fills up very quickly. I would highly recommend you to consider doing that.

Tires to Consider
In the Max Performance and Ultra High Performance grades, the following are all great tires:

- Michelin Pilot Super Sport
- Continental ExtremeContact DW
- BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2
- Bridgestone Potenza S-04

I have a lot of personal experience with the Michelin PSS and Conti DW, and I would say that in terms of overall max grip, the PSS has a slight edge over the DW. Neither the GF Sport Comp2 and the S-04 provide as much grip as these two, but they come close, and have other benefits of their own.

If money is no issue, PSS is currently the best option for your purposes. It is grippy; it provides great steering feedback and turn in; it is comfortable on the street and can still be taken to the autox / track. As a matter of fact, locally, it (along with the DW) are the preferred wet performance street tires since they consistently out-perform the Extreme Performance Tires in the wet. The only down side to the PSS is price.

The DW is another favourite because a lot of its performance characteristics are similar to the PSS. The only major differences are its soft sidewalls and a much lower price tag. The soft sidewalls makes for a very comfortable ride on the street (I'd argue that it is more comfy than the PSS), but the tradeoff is a noticeably worse steering feel and a less direct and delayed turn in response. At the autox and the track, the sidewalls on the DW are soft enough that I can readily feel the delay in steering / turn-in as the sidewall flexes before the tires will actually bite. During performance driving, this is something you will have to account for. At the end of the day, the DW will turn in a slightly slower time than the PSS at a timed event.

On your Stang, I suspect the weight of the car will make the issues of the DW soft sidewalls more noticeable. It doesn't mean the DW is a poor choice for your car. It's just something you want to take into consideration during your decision process.

I don't have any personal experience with the g-Force Sport COMP-2 or the S-04, but have read a lot of reviews about them. Compared to the PSS, they offer slightly less performance, but are still excellent choices to consider.

Last but not least, at this point, unless you have some free money burning a hole in your wallet, I would not bother purchasing new wheels and/or tires just yet. Have some fun with your stock wheels and Eagle F1 first, and learn how to get the most out of them before you upgrade. I am not familiar enough with Mustangs, but I am reasonably certain that they can swallow a lot more wheel and tire than the current OE setup. In the name of function over form, I would not go any bigger than 18" wheels, but you can definitely go wider with both the wheels and the tires. And that will allow you to get a lot more performance from the car. Upsizing your wheels to 19" or 20" won't -- as a matter of fact, they will hurt both performance and ride quality.

Have fun, enjoy your Stang, and I hope to see you at one of the local autox / track day events some time in the future!

[clevernickname]

Perfect. Thanks everyone, exact information I was looking for.

So concensus is keep the tires for now, someone like me won't notice big performance increases with those crazy expensive tires. And just don't depend on it in any snow or near freezing temperatures.

Yeah 19s and 20s are heavier so that can only hurt the performance. 19s will be as large as I'll go if I do decide to upgrade.

Last thing..what width would you guys recommend when I get new tires? 10 inches all around?

@dave and anyone regarding WHEN to switch out tires for winters or use a different car, you guys say october - april for winter? Is that a bit overkill? We only get near freezing temperatures during december-feb. Shouldn't summers generally be ok in march-nov?

[westopher]

I base it on when I'm driving to the mountains. So December to early April.

[brrrz]

I run pilot super sports in the summer. Great grip, still good when it rains, and they also look good too. Stocks for our mild winters. Plus because they are a cheaper tire I don't feel as bad when they accidentally get loose in the rain

[StylinRed]

There are no such thing as performance all seasons.

not according to michelin ;) Pilot Sport A/S 3 | Michelin Tires (http://www.michelin.ca/tire-selector/category/ultra-high-performance-sport/pilot-sport-a-s-3/tire-details)

[320icar]

^^ fantastic tires btw. but not to be confused with a dedicated summer only performance tire

[Zoomy]

My personal experience with tires is that Michelin is the best. I'd rather have a set of 3 year old michelins vs some new cheapo brand.
My favourite are Michelin Pilot Super Sports, its like glue. Or Pilot Cup sports even 10 years old and half worn are still great.

If they aren't available in your size, I run Michelin Pilot A/S 3 on the Saab, They have so much grip in the summer, excellent in the rain, and not bad in the snow, but they are not winter tires by any means.

On the Volvo I run Yokohama S.Drive, have amazing grip in the sun and rain, and ok in the snow, but they do wear rather fast, and are a bit noisy, not excessive, but definitely faster than Michelin, I do autocross on them and I drive like a hoon though. That said, I'd buy another set.

I friend has an RSX with DWS on it, good grip on autocross for all seasons.

[asian_XL]

Perfect. Thanks everyone, exact information I was looking for.

So concensus is keep the tires for now, someone like me won't notice big performance increases with those crazy expensive tires. And just don't depend on it in any snow or near freezing temperatures.

Yeah 19s and 20s are heavier so that can only hurt the performance. 19s will be as large as I'll go if I do decide to upgrade.

Last thing..what width would you guys recommend when I get new tires? 10 inches all around?

@dave and anyone regarding WHEN to switch out tires for winters or use a different car, you guys say october - april for winter? Is that a bit overkill? We only get near freezing temperatures during december-feb. Shouldn't summers generally be ok in march-nov?

Wheel size is personal preference, you can have 22s to 30s on your stang, and weight is about how much you are willing to pay.

I picked wheel size (that looks the best on my car) then tires (fits under the wheel archs and have good reviews), go on stang forums to ask around, 10in all around is a bit extreme.

[Noran]

If you don't plan on taking your car to a track, Michelin PSS would be a good choice. You have more grip than what's necessary for street driving, they're quiet and comfy, and they're long lasting. My complaints with the PSS is that they do become very greasy on track after a couple hard laps, and the sidewalls are incredibly soft in comparison to my previous Star Specs which you can feel definitely on track.

[CCA-Dave]

@dave and anyone regarding WHEN to switch out tires for winters or use a different car, you guys say october - april for winter? Is that a bit overkill? We only get near freezing temperatures during december-feb. Shouldn't summers generally be ok in march-nov?

That's why I said a 'rough guide' :) When you switch is totally based on where you live and where you're driving. I'm up in Squamish, where the law says winter tires from October 1st to April 30th. In real practice, though, I usually mount them near the end of October and I pretty much always have summer's on near the beginning of April. I could probably extend that if I lived in Vancouver, but I'd be making that decision based on the forecast...keeping in mind it's better to burn the winter's an extra week or two vs. missing work on a rainy morning.

-Dave

[mb_]

I have S.Drives on my MR2 and for their price, I can't complain. They grip very well in dry and rain even for spirited drives.

They don't grip that well during auto x though so something to consider if you plan on taking your car racing. If I were to do it again, I'd probably get Direzza ZII or something similar but I'm gonna run a dedicated set for auto x/track instead.

[SpuGen]

PSS on the Lexus (currently on Fuzions for winter)
RE-11A on the MR2 (garaged)

[MikeyStyle]

currently using proxes r1r (http://toyotires.ca/tire/pattern/proxes-r1r) for my mr2 and quite pleased with it