Best all season tires

Grinder34

Track Monkey
What are the best all season tires for the STi? This is my first all wheel drive so I'd prefer to listen to people with experience.

That's a tricky question! What are your goals for the tire? Long life? Lots of traction in the dry? wet? cold? Quiet? Cheap? You're not going to be able to get all of those, so you gotta focus on one or two and maybe we can help you pick!

Also, if you're in a place that gets a lot of snow/ice, you may want to consider a dedicated set of winter tires. They're SOO much better in the cold than even the best all-seasons.
 

Penguin

New member
That's a tricky question! What are your goals for the tire? Long life? Lots of traction in the dry? wet? cold? Quiet? Cheap? You're not going to be able to get all of those, so you gotta focus on one or two and maybe we can help you pick!

Also, if you're in a place that gets a lot of snow/ice, you may want to consider a dedicated set of winter tires. They're SOO much better in the cold than even the best all-seasons.
That's a tricky question! What are your goals for the tire? Long life? Lots of traction in the dry? wet? cold? Quiet? Cheap? You're not going to be able to get all of those, so you gotta focus on one or two and maybe we can help you pick!

Also, if you're in a place that gets a lot of snow/ice, you may want to consider a dedicated set of winter tires. They're SOO much better in the cold than even the best all-seasons.
Good point. I live in Central Indiana, we get about 4-5 snow falls a year and do get ice. I would say traction in cold, wet and dry would be my goal. I do drag race as well. I just can't afford to buy 2 whole sets and also don't have storage for a set of tires. I don't mind spending a little more to get ones that have a longer life.
 

Grinder34

Track Monkey
Good point. I live in Central Indiana, we get about 4-5 snow falls a year and do get ice. I would say traction in cold, wet and dry would be my goal. I do drag race as well. I just can't afford to buy 2 whole sets and also don't have storage for a set of tires. I don't mind spending a little more to get ones that have a longer life.
Tires are the ultimate performance consumable. Relatively speaking, the better the grip, the shorter the life--and often higher the cost! You gotta pay to play. But theres also an inverse between summer grip and winter grip. Anything with decent winter traction requires specific treadblocks that are very different from a performance treadblock. On top of that, the rubber is much "gummier" to the point that it'll literally melt in the summer, especially when pushed. So good grip winter almost necessitates that it has bad grip in the summer, and vice versa. Oh yeah, summer tires will get so cold that they essentially freeze and turn into glass giving you virtually no grip at all in low temps. You're really much better getting a performance-oriented set of summers and a dedicated set of winters that you change when the weather starts getting into the 40s/50s.

Since it's summer now, you may have good luck on CL/FB finding a used set of winter wheels/tires that someone's getting rid of. Storing them, on the other hand, is a problem.
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
What are the best all season tires for the STi? This is my first all wheel drive so I'd prefer to listen to people with experience.
That's a tough question. I'm assuming you're daily driving the car, so all-seasons might actually be the best choice for you, depending on how you drive. But for me, I'll never put all-seasons on the STi or any other performance vehicle for that matter. I chose to buy an extra set of (relatively inexpensive) wheels and put Bridgestone Blizzaks (the best snow tire on the planet imho) on them for winter. Then on my nice set of wheels, I put on a dedicated set of summer performance tires.

Of course I don't know what kind of climate/seasonal weather you have to deal with, so maybe you don't need winter or snow tires at all. Will need more info to make a better suggestion...

Anyways, welcome to the community! I think you'll really like it here. There's a ton of archived information and lots of good people who will point you in the right direction. Never be afraid to ask a question here, no one will ever give you a hard time.

EDIT: Oh damn, I missed the replies above... ?‍♂️
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Either way, I still think you'll be better off with two sets of wheels and tires. I would urge you to figure out a way to afford and store an extra set and go that route. All-seasons generally just suck when it comes to any kind of performance driving. And I have almost no experience with all-seasons on a performance car. I could tell you what I have on my DD Buick, but I'm disappointed there too. :LOL:
 
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