I cannot find a comparison between Ultra High Performance All Season tires and the Ultra High Performance "Summer" tires anywhere..

Does anyone have any experience with these? I haven't shopped for a tires in a couple of years and I don't remember there even being an option for a UHP All Season tire. I was looking at a BFG G-force Sport Comp 2, I had the old version on my old Mustang and they were a decent tire, but these All Season Ultra High Performance tires have me intrigued because I hate the horrible tread life you get on UHP "summer" tires, I average new tires every couple of years and even that's stretching it. The A/S high performance tires all seem to get longer tread life, twice as long as far as I can tell.

Is there a tradeoff in performance between the A/S and the "summer" tires? Anyone have any experience?

The primary difference between summer tires and all season tires is the rubber compound in summer tires is not cold-weather friendly. Summer tires really shouldn't be used in temps near freezing and below. The tires lose their grip.

Most summer tires are also usually used on very high performance cars so the rubber is also grippy (soft) which doesn't wear as long.

All season tires can offer high performance, but have less ultimate grip because they can be used in all temperatures.

Very few UHP summer tires have long life.

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I hate the horrible tread life you get on UHP "summer" tires,

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That's part of the deal with summer tires. You get the traction benefits at the cost of quick tire wear. They are what they are.

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Is there a tradeoff in performance between the A/S and the "summer" tires?

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In a word, YES. Anything with all-season in the name is going to have a harder tread compound and a tread pattern designed more toward wet conditions than UHP summer tires. You'll be trading traction for increased tread life. How much traction and how much tire life depend on what you're going to and what you're coming from.

If you've gotten used to UHP summer tires, downgrading to tires with less traction could take some getting used to. At-the-limit braking, acceleration, and cornering abilities all depend ultimately on how much traction your tires can provide. Your overall performance envelope will shrink. This may be less of an issue for you than tire cost, but it is something to consider.

[This message has been edited by madd_ag_05 (edited 3/26/2013 6:50p).]

Summer tires year round

I found two comparisons on Tire Rack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=165
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=163

Yes, there is a difference between the summer and all-season, but it seems pretty minimal. It seems like they are a decent alternative to "summer" tires, with a decent compromise between performance and durability / comfort. They did all of the tests on an F32 328i and I drive an E90 335i so the test should be pretty comparable to what I need to know.

Like I said, I don't even remember these being an option the last time I shopped for tires, I'm assuming they're relatively new. So of course, I'm still on the fence about this, it seems like they're worth a try though.

I guess anything is going to better than the POS Michelin Pilot Sport Run Flats that came with the car.

The summer tires on my car don't stick in the cold, and they slide in the heat. But they do actually work pretty well in the wet.

IM sure you will never touch the limits of either one unless you drive your car to track days.

All seasons are the suck...

+1 Unless you're tracking you're never going to approach the handling limits of any of the tires you're looking at.

Maybe threshold braking, in an emergency. A stickier tire will give you more stopping power prior to lockup/ABS intervention. It doesn't take as much to lock up less-sticky tires.

I ended up going with the G-Force Sport Comp. 2. And yes, I know I'll almost never hit the limits of my tires, it's knowing I can though.