wiloz32

So short story. I just got a 2011 Lexus IS-F. It came with Michelin Pilot Super Sports tires. I gotta say. I absolutely love these tires so I'm already spoiled by them. Unfortunately I live in St. Louis, MO so we do get cold winters. Big part of the winter temp are below freezing but very seldom we get snow. Very rarely we get temp below 0 degrees F. So I have already experienced a winter with Pirellis P Zero on my Mustang GT and that was Horrible. I assume my Michelins will be the same situation plus I need to replace them soon anyway. Now........ question is; What tires I should but for my F? Summer Tires or go with all seasons? I know all season are good for nothing and I also know the F runs with some cambers so we need a stronger sidewall to avoid uneven wear, which is why I would like to try to make the winter with summer tires.


Anyway I've seen Continentals Extremecontact DW, Bridgeport Pole Position and Hankook Ventus V12 evo2 (top choise) All of these are Summers. I dont know any good All- Season tires. Suggestions?

XutvJet

Continental DWS.

ping83

iTrader: (8)

I live in central IL and will be running the Continental DWS.

STLblueF

iTrader: (3)

Well I had this same dilemma last year, also live in St. Louis. I found it cheaper to buy a set of 18" wheels for winter only and a square setup of falken eurowinter tires. I put them on mid December and took them off in March. Saves tread on the summer tires and I honestly don't drive aggressive so it was nice having traction when it was cold or snow was on the roads. They don't plow the alley my garage is in, so it wouldn't be feasible to leave the summer tires on. And pretty much any summer tire is going to outperform an all season tire.

wiloz32

Thanks for the reply! Did you had any fitment issue due to our massive front calipers? BTW there are not a lot of F in STL. I believe I saw you a month ago head westbount on I-64 hhahahaha a blue F like yours motivated me to buy mine.

BS ISF

dedicated winter setup with snow tires!!!!

wiloz32

Will I be able to fit 18x8 +35mm offset on all corners?

lexicon72

Agree dedicated winter tires and rims are the way to go...used blizzaks for 12 years on my IS300.
Running all season pilot a/s 3 on the F now. Survived one Ohio winter, one HPDE and 15,000 miles. Not too confident they will survive this winter due to the wear, but going to try.

XutvJet

Tire Rack says yes. Get on their website and they have a huge list of 18 and 19 inch wheels with varying offsets from +35mm to +48mm that will fit.


I'll likely be going with a set of Enkei M52s 18X8 +35mm with Michelin Ice XI3 225/45R18s for my ISF......if I ever find one I want by this winter.

caveman

I'm on my 2nd set of Conti DWS on our X5. I like the tire but it may not work for you since you want strong sidewalks. The DWS sidewalls are a bit squishy.

You might want to consider Michelin pilot sport A/S3. I just put those on my F and have liked them so far. The A/S3s relaced a set of super sports. I loved the Super Sports but wanted something that won't be so slippery when temps drop below 40F.

wiloz32

Yeah that is kind of what I want. I dont track the car. I dont autocross a lot and when I do is about enjoying the car not competitive. I just love the way summer tires feel on the car, really good response, when I replace my Mustang's P Zeros for Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3 I felt the decrease on sidewall strength which was not a problem for a mustang since they run with neutral camber, these was my first all season set on the car and I did not like them at all...not sure if to blame MIchelin or just blame all season tires. But the ISF has negative cambers so if I do all season I'm afraid I might eat through them like butter. I;'ve heard BFGoodrich g-force comp-2 a/s has stronger sidewall but I just havent heard enough reviews to convince me.

NYISF

Get an alignment, take out toe and camber if you're worried about tire wear. A strong sidewall will not save the tire if your alignment is bad

UDel

If you don't want to switch to a winter tire and be able to use the same tire all year I would look into Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06, try getting them at tire buyer.com, you can get a smoking deal on them normally if you use their places to mount them plus I think there is a $70 rebate on Continental's now.

I got a set over the summer, have been happy with them, I have not driven in the snow yet but they are pretty much the best high performance all season tire that has some decent snow ability. St. Louis can get a decent amount of snow, no way would I want to drive a rwd V8 with summer tires in a MO winter.

wiloz32

I dont really think my car has alignment issues.... its just meant to sport good tires because of a factory aggressive suspension settings so I think if I buy cheap tires it will eat them up considerably faster than by usgin the right tire for it. It's just the right tire might no be the best one for my particular scenario.

XutvJet

I have DWS on my 2012 WRX and I run them from November to late February. They're killer in the snow and cold, but they are NOTHING like my Michelin PSS I run on my fancy 18s. It's not even the same ball game. There is a handling compromise, but they are spectacular in the cold/snow/slush. In temps above 50? PSS all the way.

I strongly caution you about "ultra high performance" all seasons if you have to drive in any sort of snow. I had a set of Potenza high performance all seasons and the things were downright frightening in the snow in my WRX. They couldn't turn or stop worth a crap in any sort of snow. They handled decently in the dry and warm//hot temps, but again, NOTHING like the Michelin PSSs. I dumped the Potenzas after one year and went the DWS for winter duty.

For my upcoming ISF, I will run summer and winter tires. There's just too much compromise running all seasons all year on high performance cars. You give up so much in the way of handling, braking, and steering feel.