Tech Stuff: A tire for all seasons? : http://www.caranddriver.com/features...l-seasons.html

Found this article in Car and Driver. I think it should be helpful for those who are trying to decide if it's worth it to keep two sets of tires (summer/winter) instead of owning one set of all-seasons, or for those who think that they can make it through the winter with summer tires.

Here's a chart that pretty much summarizes the article:

 

Wait, no one is interested to see the difference in performance of three different types of tires?

Or did I just post it too late?

 

Well it DOES prove that a summer (dry/rain) tire does best in the dry and rain. It also proves that a snow tire will do best in snow, and that all-seasons are somewhere in the middle.

Now that's just a comparison of 3 particular models. The Eagle RS-A isn't considered to be that great of an all-season tire, so I'm a little surprised it gets within 10% of the snow tire in stopping distance. In practice, there are many situations where the difference between the all-season and snow tire is very, very substantial.

I would have liked to see the F1s tested in the snow. That would have been very interesting.

Dave

 

Howcome everyone here HATES the RS-A?

I have Continental ContiProContact and couldnt be happier, they are far more responsive, quieter, and all around better than the RSA-S were. Oh and they are cheaper.

 

Well, the article isn't really about proving which tire is better, it's more about HOW MUCH each tire is better in certain conditions, and it it worth it to spend more money on dedicated seasonal tires.