# Summer tires or high performance all season?



## Starchy (Aug 30, 2012)

As winter is coming close to an end it is time for me to buy either summer tires, or high performance all season tires. With this being said i want to note that i have searched the forum and am having trouble finding any info on what to buy. Tires and rims are a foreign language to me and i have done research on them, but i still feel that i am missing something and lost...

If anyone has any good suggestions for performance tires that will work on the ECO 17 rims, i would greatly appreciate it. I would prefer to keep it around or below the 200 dollar a tire mark, and still be able to get some decent life out of them. 30,000 miles maybe? I want to take the cruze to the track here in the next couple months, and see what kinda numbers i can put down for the quarter mile.


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## NBrehm (Jun 27, 2011)

As always, i will toss in Nitto Motivos. Very good all around tire that will get you a performance bump with good tread life and a warranty. Personally i would just go with the stock 215/55/17 but they do make a 225/50/17 also (slightly wider). But tires are like ice cream, hundreds of flavors and everyone has different taste. 

It should be noted that if you plan on running the tires all year you have to go with an all season. Summer tires are not designed for cold weather and winter tires are not designed for hot weather.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Summer tires (which are generally known as performance tires) usually have a very low life that ranges from 10k to 30k. Many of them have no treadwear warranty. A performance level all-season tire will easily achieve 40k-45k and have a warranty. What you need to ask yourself is whether or not you plan on replacing tires that often. Read the treadwear warranty on the summer tires available to see what you can expect, and also read the fine print, such as when rotations are required to be done and so forth. 

I would personally recommend going with a 235/50/17 high performance all season tire. I am a big fan of the Bridgestone G019 Grid and the Bridgestone RE970AS Pole Position. Both are around the $170 mark in 235/50/17. I personally use the G019 Grid in 245/45/17 on my Supercharged 3800-swapped 95 Regal and they hold down well over 350lb-ft of torque to the front wheels amazingly well. 

The G019 Grid has a 50k mile warranty, while the RE970AS Pole Position has a 40k mile warranty and is a stickier tire. 

Both are uni-directional tires, so they will require frequent and regular rotations to keep them from cupping.


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## Starchy (Aug 30, 2012)

Thanks for the quick responses guys i am going to take a look at all 3 of these tires


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I'd go performance all-season. That way a little early-season snow won't ruin your day. 

Do you have dedicated winter tires? The only way I'd recommend summer tires to somebody in Illinois was if they had dedicated winter tires.


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## Starchy (Aug 30, 2012)

I do not have winter tires i was thinking about just using my awful stock Eco tires for the winter if i went the summer tire route. But its sounding like i can get a pretty grippy all season tire so that's prob the route i will take.


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## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

Here are some ratings on performance all season tires. Best Tires to Buy List Released by Consumer Reports | AutoGuide.com News


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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

> Summer tires (which are generally known as performance tires) usually have a very low life that ranges from 10k to 30k.


I had Michelin Pilot Sports (summer high performance tires) last between 10k to 13k when I had a Mercedes C230K coupe. The rear tires wore out faster then the fronts.


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## giantsnation (Oct 11, 2012)

a very good all-around performance tire is the Continental ExtremeContact DWS (currently $153 per tire on TireRack in the OE size 215/55/17). The snow traction I had with these tires was impressive so you can imagine how the dry performance was.


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## jakkaroo (Feb 12, 2011)

MT drag radial hahaha.......no really


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## bryanakron40 (Nov 8, 2012)

jakkaroo said:


> MT drag radial hahaha.......no really


Your right. Even a summer tire will not get the traction a drag radial will get. When I have done drags in my omni, it was with bfg drag radials. The bridgestones that were mentioned are very good tires. Michelins are too expensive to justify the mileage. I have burned through them as fast as cheaper tires. Just cost me more to do it.
The Eagle GT is also a good one. I know a few that have them on a few different models and like the grip.
For the love of all that is holy, stay away from those eagle RS-A tires. Those have to be the worst tires I have ever driven on in the rain. Grip like duct tape in the dry, but might as well put wagon wheels on your car if someone pours out a half empty bottle of water on the road.:angry:


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## spaycace (Feb 9, 2012)

you might also want to look into getting another set of wheels so you can run A/S or winter tires in winter, and keep the other set for "summer only" driving and track days


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## Poje (Aug 2, 2012)

Personaly im going for Summer tires.

There is no good reason for putting on 4-seasons, because in the Winter, Winter tires are better and in the Summer, Summer tires are better, thats just the way it is.

4-Seasons tires are a compromise and i dont like it.


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