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[FrenchBoy]

I'm torn. My OEM Michelin PS2 will need to be replaced soon, and I need to select a new set of tires.

Here is my situation: I track my car 10/12 times a year and have a dedicated set of wheels and tires (NT01) for that. The tires on my stock 18"s are really only used to drive around town and for some fun and spirited mountain driving every now and then.

I really like the PS2. However, for the few days that it gets cold/snows in Seattle, I am stuck and cannot drive the M3. About 2 weeks a year. A bit annoying. And I don't really want to get winter tires just for that (my wifes car is an AWD and we put winter tires on it)

So I am considering getting all season tires on the stock 18"s so that I am not longer at the mercy of the weather for those few days a year. However, I am wondering if I have gotten so used to driving on performance tires that I will regret driving on all season tires.
I have heard the Continental ExtremeContact DWS are good tires. Are they decent enough in the dry for some spirited driving or will the flex and squeal too much to kill the joy.
Otherwise I would get the new Pilot Super Sport and suck it up for the few days of winter.

Opinions?

[JCtx]

The DWS tires are only a few notches below 'max summer', so unless you drive like a maniac on the streets, you probably wouldn't notice the difference in hot weather. But in cool weather, where the max summer tires start sliding all over the place due to lack of heat, you'd probably feel a lot more confident with the DWS, not to mention you could face a winter storm without fear of crashing. I bet A LOT of folks would be a lot better off with UHP A/S tires, but their ego makes them feel like the Vettel in them need a summer tire all the time .

Having said that, I hope you have better luck than me with 18s. I have to wait for 19s until the end of May . Good luck.

[gthal]

If you have room for storing the other set, I would go dedicated winter and summer tires. It doesn`t cost any more in the long run. Also, you can get performance winter tires (Alpin PA3 and Sottozeros) that are VERY close to all season performance tires in cold dry weather but better in bad weather so you are not giving up a lot of performance in any season.

I have owned ultra high performance all-seasons on previous cars and they were very noticeably less grippy. You could easily break the tires loose and for me, it really hurt driving confidence and fun. I would even go so far to say that a cheap set of dedicated summer tires will have the same result.

The new Michelin Pilot Super Sports will be measureably better in summer conditions than ANY performance all season. By all reports they will set the standard for max performance summer tires.

[ben@tirerack]

The DWS is pretty decent in snow, better than many other all-season tires. It is not the best all-season tire for summer handling though. It is better than many, but not as sporty as a Michelin Pilot Sport AS+ for example.

All-season tires on an M3 are like training wheels on a Ducati. I would go PSS all the way. Especially if you have something else to drive on the snowy days.

[spacegreym3]

PSS i am a huge Michelin fan here myself. I hear good things about the improvements over their PS2 it replaced.

Let us know your feedback either way