I am getting 18's for X-mas and I was originally gonna get Sumitomo All season performance tires...But I was wondering if I should just get summer tires and put the stocks back on for winter...I am also lowering the car with H&R's and KYB...I really dont want to have to change the wheels, but is there any major pros or cons to leaving the all season performance 18's all year round... Thanks in advance !

 

I don't think so...it's winter here in Colorado and I'll be lowering my car with the same set up you have...KYB/H&Rs...I'm going to be putting Sumitomo HTR+ on my 17s...from what everybody has said and what I have read...they perform well in snow, rain and dry weather conditions...and for the price...it's well worth it!

 

Sumitomo HTR+ seems to have good ratings all around and I was about to buy some for my 18s but the thing that I didnt like is that the sidewalls seem to be really soft and squishy. I went with a summer tire which were Yokohama Avs es100 because I dont really have to worry much about winter since all we get is either rain or dry weather really.

 

I wouldn't leave them on in winter. If you got chrome (which I hope
you didn't) it can peel from the salt. Even if you didn't I
would want to keep my wheels as nice as possible. As for the tires,
a flater wider tire (18's) is going to be worse in the snow than
skinnier tires (stock).

 

In my opinion if you live somewhere where it snows a decent amount in winter, you should have a set of high performance summer tires and a set of snow tires, especially if you are running 18s. In snow you want a tire that is narrow with a higher sidewall and in summer wider with a lower profile sidewall. I live in Wisconsin and in winter I run a set of 15" steelies with Blizzak tires and in summer right now I am running the stock SE rims but plan to buy a set of 17" this spring. Just my thoughts!