Winter rims/tires today

[destrekor]

I'm not saying you put racing slicks on your car. A decent summer tire, like a Yokohama S.Drive or Sumitomo HTRZ II, will cost less than a "top tier" all-season and may perform better in every situation other than snow/ice. If you're already getting winter tires you're just throwing money away on all-seasons since you'll never need the all-seasons mediocre snow capabilities; you'll be paying for something you'll never need.

With more time to look into all of this, I would correct myself and state that I would be looking into good "three-season" tires. Three-seasons, all-seasons-but-winter, summers, performance, whatever you want to call them, is indeed what I intend for my car to be wearing come springtime once it's consistently above 45ºF.

I understand all-seasons are a compromise on everything, and it would be understandable to not ever don an all-season shoe again if one has chosen to have a dedicated winter shoe. I've decided I don't like the compromise, so I'll be looking for good all around wet/dry performance without worrying about cold temperature performance and snow/ice traction.

 

[JCH13]

On the other hand, if he's going to drive the car into the ground, all-seasons could be a better choice because they tend to wear out slower.

I don't disagree with you. destrekor seemed to think that just because he didn't have a super car that it would never be worth putting decent rubber on it, this is what I take issue with.

With more time to look into all of this, I would correct myself and state that I would be looking into good "three-season" tires. Three-seasons, all-seasons-but-winter, summers, performance, whatever you want to call them, is indeed what I intend for my car to be wearing come springtime once it's consistently above 45ºF.

I understand all-seasons are a compromise on everything, and it would be understandable to not ever don an all-season shoe again if one has chosen to have a dedicated winter shoe. I've decided I don't like the compromise, so I'll be looking for good all around wet/dry performance without worrying about cold temperature performance and snow/ice traction.

Good! Now you're getting it.

 

[destrekor]

I don't disagree with you. destrekor seemed to think that just because he didn't have a super car that it would never be worth putting decent rubber on it, this is what I take issue with.

The clarification I was making was that I didn't see the value in putting Extreme Performance tires on it. And I'm still on the limb about deciding on Max Performance tires, with the best combo Dry/West seems to be the Michelin Pilot Super Sport.
But I don't know if I can even truly taken advantage of what grip that kind of tire offers, or if tires like you mentioned, in the next category a step down, Ultra High Performance, are the best I should be aiming for.

I still need to look into comparisons, as I've heard damn good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 (top category all-season), which on tirerack is about $15 more per tire than the PSS.

The main worry I'd have about a tire like the PSS is tread life. The softer stickier tires have got to get eaten up faster, but then again, if the car isn't taking full advantage of them time and time again, might they last longer? I've heard the A/S 3 is also not at all good in the snow, and I wouldn't care - if it's simply a compound that has better tread life but is near the top for performance (obviously not matching, again, due to the limits of compound choice), and I can use one set for the length of time I might go through two sets of a softer performance tire... that's going to be a very tough choice.