After a long research about summer tires I have narrowed all the choices down to two tires which seem to outperform everything else, but I can’t decide which tires should earn the first place. What do you guys think? (but please, don’t post something like “I have T1R and they are very good” - both of them are very good)

Goodyear F1 GS-D3



Toyo T1R


Another question on a similar topic: Snow is very rare in the area where I live so the only requirement I have to the tires regarding snow it that I should be able to stop on slight incline going 2 mph and be sure that the car will not slide down without me inside and that’s it. Will summer tires do at least that?
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I would not suggest a summer tire for any snow use. Summer tires are not designed to be used in very cold conditions. I have found summer tires in general start to loose performance below about 40 degrees. When you put a summer tire in snow and ice you compound the problem. Both the tires you listed are very good if I were to choose, I would go with the Goodyear on the basis that it is a OEM tire for some cars.

 

Snow does not stay here for longer than a week and it does not stay on the road for longer than two days. I really don't feel like sacrificing the whole year performance just because of two snowing days. In the worst case I can take a bus when it snows. Do they permanently loose performance after their use below 40?

 

The summer tire compound is designed to work in warm to hot temps. The traction goes down with the temp... it is only when the tires are cold, once normal tire temps are reached you will have normal traction. In very cold weather the tires may never reach a normal temp and feel kinda slick.... kind of like driving on damp pavement. How extream the effect depends on the tire. My old Kumho MXs felt great in Florida but when I went to the Carolinas in winter, they were very slick when you went to pull out into traffic there was excessive wheel spin. After driving on then for 30-40 mins they felt much better .... or if I spun them and heated them up they worked much better . Just remember if you spin them to heat them up the other pair of tires are still slick.

 

I'd echo the sentiments about not using the summer tires below 40deg. It's downright dangerous, IMHO. As far as picking one of the 2, use the tirerack surveys, or talk to a rep there. If all else fails, choose on price.

 

I just received Car and Driver in the mail where they tested 10 high performance tires on BMW 330i. Goodyear F1 is on the first place and Toyo T1R on the eighth.

Dry skidpad numbers:

Goodyear: 0.94g
Toyo: 0.88


Wet skidpad numbers:

Goodyear: 0.82g
Toyo: 0.71g

Autocross time:

Goodyear: 30.05s dry and 32.27s wet
Toyo: 30.67s dry and 34.04s wet

So, one problem seems to be solved, but you guys are all saying that I should not use summer tires in cold weather, so now I am seriously questioning this idea…
If someone lives in the Snow Belt and has any experience with driving summer tires in cold or snowy weather please post and let me know what you think.