All Season Tires Recommendations

Mergnthwirker

I totally agree. All-seasons are usually known as "No Seasons" here in New England. You make a lot of compromises otherwise. You bought the car for performance, why hamper it by putting on mediocre tires? Also, it appears that you don't have the sport package, so you won't have the advantage of limited slip in the rear. You need all the help you can get for traction in the winter! It's real easy to get the rear end to come around on slick roads (ask me how I know this...)

My solution was to find a set of base wheels that someone is selling, and then mount Blizzaks, which work very well in the winter. Of course, if we have another winter like last winter it's no problem. But in any real snow, you'll be SOL if you don't have snows. Keep your eyes on the classified for people selling sets.

I run Continental DWS tires on my AWD Audi S4, but when ski season comes around I mount full snows even on that car. The Continentals are reasonable on cold wet pavement -- most of what we saw last winter -- but they really don't cut it if there's piles of snow on the road. The main reason I run them on the Audi is for shoulder seasons. In the summer I drive the Z every chance I get!

JohnsZ

How can I argue with a fellow Nutmegger! I've been calling around area Town Fair tire stores for the Continental Extreme Contact DWS and they are having trouble locating them for me. Maybe it's an omen that I should go with the Blizzaks for the winter and bite the bullet for performance tires when Spring rolls around. Problem is of course...Ka-ching! But thanks for the advice. You in Northern or Southern CT?

Mergnthwirker

Hi, I'm in the northwest hills of CT. Our roads are the last to get plowed. This year I'm going to drive a beater and park the Z for the winter. I only put 3,000 miles on it between October and May last year. BTW, that means my Blizzaks and 18" base wheels are for sale -- PM me if you're interested (a lot less $$ than doing this from scratch at Tire Rack!).