[ni8shadow]

What's a good, affordable, all season for Socal weather that gives me better performance than my RFT? Looking for some new rubber for my stock 16's. Can't afford new wheels yet but my Rear tires are barely covering Pres. Lincoln's head.

On another note, besides looks, does upping wheel size to 18" give performance advantages?

[socal911]

The new Goodyear Eagle GT is a surprisingly good tire, given that the old GTs weren't. I was really impressed with both dry and wet handling, but haven't tried them in snow.

As for 18s, yes there is a performance advantage. with lower profile tires you will get less flex in the sidewall, meaning sharper turn in and more grip in corners as more of the tread will stay in contact with the road. The downside is that you will almost always add weight going to a larger wheel. This is rotating mass and unsprung mass, the two worst kinds you can add to your car. If you go with a high quality, light weight wheel, the plusses will usually well outweigh the negatives.

[c_jeong89]

do you need all seasons? General UHPs are really cheap yet decent tires.

[bigslickak]

You don't need all seasons here in California. You'll be fine even with normal tires during times like last week's deluge. I have Nitto Invos (18") and had not issues last week (just drove carefully of course).

[Ron1n]

I'm considering Dunlop Star Specs the next time around. They have great wet and dry ratings, and they're not expensive at all (note this is for a ZSP equipped car, hence the staggered size).

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...=54100&tab=All

[PYSpeed.com]

Hankook Ventus V12 is pretty good bang for the bucks.... (according to car and driver's review)

[ni8shadow]

Originally Posted by bigslickak

You don't need all seasons here in California. You'll be fine even with normal tires during times like last week's deluge. I have Nitto Invos (18") and had not issues last week (just drove carefully of course).

Yeah I figured last weeks Biblical episode was a freak occurence, but don't summer/performance tires state they won't work as well, or at all, in the cold?

[ni8shadow]

Originally Posted by Eric@PYSpeed.com

Hankook Ventus V12 is pretty good bang for the bucks.... (according to car and driver's review)

Yeah I had em when I had a Mazda 3. Served me well, but I kind of want to upgrade if I can. If I'm coughing up $300+ might as well go middle to high grade right?

[c_jeong89]

Originally Posted by ni8shadow

Yeah I figured last weeks Biblical episode was a freak occurence, but don't summer/performance tires state they won't work as well, or at all, in the cold?

I have general uhp and I am usually driving out at 7:30 AM when its roughly 50 degrees out and they seem to do well for me. I also have the PBX running on map 3 and during the rain, I had no tire spinning at all they had pretty good grip.

[Boltzz]

I just put some General UHP's on my 335i when i installed the new wheels, and I have no complaints yet! They handle a little different but the feel is good, and the price can't be beat.

You in 661? I just recently ordered a staggered set of UHPs from Big Johns and they had them the next morning and installed

[ni8shadow]

Originally Posted by Boltzz

I just put some General UHP's on my 335i when i installed the new wheels, and I have no complaints yet! They handle a little different but the feel is good, and the price can't be beat.

You in 661? I just recently ordered a staggered set of UHPs from Big Johns and they had them the next morning and installed

How do they handle differently?

Yeah I'm in 661

[Boltzz]

Originally Posted by ni8shadow

How do they handle differently?

Yeah I'm in 661

I previously had Bridgestone Potenza RSC RunFlats with the 18" 162s, and the handling was just a bit more stiff I guess If I had to describe it in a word

currently on 19 x 8.5 / 19 x 10 as opposed to 18 x 8 / 18 x 8.5

[rayguy24]

Originally Posted by ni8shadow

What's a good, affordable, all season for Socal weather...

unless you have plans to drive up to bear or mt.high all the time, there really isnt a need for all season tires. but if all season is what you want, i highly recommend the Conti ExtremeContact DWS. They also make supurb max summer tires Conti ExtremeContact DW. Just my $.02

[VTECaddict]

Yep, unless you plan on going to the snow often, you don't need all seasons in most of CA. Summer tires all year round is fine.

And if you do go to the snow a lot, you would be better off with a second set of wheels on dedicated snow tires because RWD + all seasons + snow is not going to be that good. You could get away with all seasons on xi/xdrive but not RWD.