For those guys living outside of the snowbelt but "occasionally" (read: a couple of days at most) get icy weather, do you use AS or Summer tires?

I'm in the Houston area, rain is always a concern on the highway so i'm leaning towards Summer tires. However, i'm also concerned about those days that we do get icy conditions.

Would Summer tires be able to handle the mild icy conditions or am i better off just getting All-Season tires for year-round peace of mind?

Thanks.

 

I heard all seasons were designed for rain & snow....you should invest in all season if it snows in your area...

but I also heard, its almost pointless to buy all seasons if it doesn't snow in your area.....summer tires actually perform better in the rain than all season tires....correct me if I am wrong

 

Two things. Summer tires get rock hard near or below freezing temps and no all season will handle black ice. If your concern is ice, then you need studded snow tires, but for mild icy conditions, a/s tires is the way to go.

 

Thanks for the responses.

We, very rarely, get icy weather condition warnings but other than the light snow we had a couple years back (which in itself is rare in Houston), i've never really seen ice on the roads.

I very much would like to get summer tires just because, again, it performs better in the rain - which we get a lot of. But if that means sacrificing safety when there is ice, it may not be such a good idea... no?

 

Mike,

I had summer tires the last time around (for use year-round). We rarely, if ever get any snow accumulation and it doesn't typically get very cold. (Though it feels like it now!)

That was all fine and dandy, of course, except when I got caught in a snowstorm on I-40 between Knoxville and Nashville. That had to be the most hair-raising experience of my life. I had virtually no traction, and barely got out of there that day. VDC was actually my friend on that trip.

As a result, I vowed I'd never run summer tires year-round again unless I lived in SoCal or FL. I'm currently running Toyo TPTs.

From my personal experience, if there's even a risk of icy/frozen precipitation I wouldn't risk it. There now seems to be a pretty wide selection of ultra high performance all season tires now that should be a good alternative. Very good dry and wet traction while still an all-season tire.

 

Ice is Ice is Ice.....unless you've got studded tires, you ain't goin' anywhere on ice. Snow is a different matter altogether, but what REALLY makes the difference is TEMP.

I'm kinda stuck on this one too - but I can attest to the "summer" tires getting hard in the colder "winter" temps here in the ATL. However, the temps are mild 90% of the time, so 90% of the time, summer tires work quite well thank you very much.

I guess you could make it as simple as doing the math for the ambient temps that you experience in HOU....can't be much different that here in ATL. By my calculations, that'd prolly lead you to buy SUMMER tires vs. all-seasons???!

That said...what are you leaning towards??
Personally, I'm looking at Pirelli PZeros, Toyo Proxes4, or Kumho.