Winter vs summer tires on front of RT

[Hound]

I see interesting tread designs while looking for front tires on 16 RT and I'm curious as to tire life with a winter tire run all summer.

[troop]

The most common front tire here are the Vredestein's. They're an all season tire but have winter snow flake rating. They'll easily last 25K+ miles on the Spyder.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I see interesting tread designs while looking for front tires on 16 RT and I'm curious as to tire life with a winter tire run all summer.

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllll, the tread, tire compound, & the ideal temp they are designed for ... all point to NOT a Great idea ...... however the open tread design should give you better WET surface traction. Because Spyders are relatively light-weight I think 20,000 mi. is possible, but All Season tires will give up to 40,000 mi. ... A tire that is an anomaly to this is the VREDESTEIN Quatrac( and Q-5 )it actually has a Winter rating better than any other tires that will fit our Spyders..... Mike

[oldguyinTX]

Winter tires have a way softer compound than all season or touring/summer tires, so they wear faster. I have all season Vredestein tires and find them to be just fine wear wise.

[Hound]

Thanks all.
My current boss spent 20+ years in the tire business and basically told me the same thing other than the "VREDESTEIN" info.

Thanks again.

[PMK]

Our Spyder, not concerned about having high mileage tires that last almost forever and are super low cost.

Will not run touring tires. Prefer high performance tires that trade better grip for reduced mileage expectations.

A Spyder, even fully loaded with two riders, and baggage is about 1/3 the weight of a car that runs similar tires.

Added weight of the car, provides increased grip. Granted the car distributes that weight upon four tires, but even so still has far more weight per tire than a Spyder.

My dad, and many others put weight in the back of a van or pickup truck during winter to improve grip.

Suppose, following published data, a car weighs 4000 pounds. So about 1000 pounds per tire. Granted, each tire sees a different weight, but you get the idea.

A loaded Spyder weighs about 1600 pounds. Or about 500 pounds per tire.

I know, pretty basic way to consider this, but does emphasize that reducing the weight on the tire by 50% will certainly reduce effective grip.

Softer, sticky performance tires for us.

Also, as I have stated for years, if you utilize tire comparison ratings, not the typical wear, temp, and grip ratings on the tires sidewall, but actual performance data comparing tires, you must compare like type tires. Meaning compare touring against touring, high performance against high performance. Do not expect highly rated touring tire to match a highly rated performance tire. There is a reason high performance cars run high performance tires and not touring tires. Increased grip is of greater importance than a tires short wear life.

Granted too, a very expensive touring tire may outperform a low cost performance tires, but similar priced tires will show the difference in performance.

Choose wisely.

[Snoking1127]

I have used Kenda's, Federal Formoza tires and Vredestein tires. I like the Vredestein tires the best.

[Tango]

Vredestein all around for us. Really like them. Great traction, handling. 18lbs. front. 19-20 lbs. rear. So far, 17,000 miles on them. Still look great. And I am a stickler about checking air pressure. Tom

[BajaRon]

I don't recommend high performance summer tires as they can get very slick in colder weather.

I don't recommend winter tires because they are specifically designed for cold weather and tend not to perform well when things heat up. Which makes up the huge majority of when people are riding.

You give up a bit of warm weather performance going to a GOOD (Not just any) All Season tire vs a Summer performance tire. But not enough to justify the degradation of traction the summer tire will suffer in cooler weather. Traction is extremely important on the Spyder. It pays to get the right rubber on the ground.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I don't recommend high performance summer tires as they can get very slick in colder weather.

I don't recommend winter tires because they are specifically designed for cold weather and tend not to perform well when things heat up. Which makes up the huge majority of when people are riding.

You give up a bit of warm weather performance going to a GOOD (Not just any) All Season tire vs a Summer performance tire. But not enough to justify the degradation of traction the summer tire will suffer in cooler weather. Traction is extremely important on the Spyder. It pays to get the right rubber on the ground.

.... and let me add this, WET road traction is the most important thing about a tire ..... and ALL season tires are better than summer tires. If it's raining I don't go out riding UNLESS I have no choice .... But there's no guarantee it's not going to Rain and that's when you need good / great Wet weather tires. JMHO ... Mike

[troop]

My Goodyear Ultra grip M&S tire (215/60R15) has been on the back of my F3S for about 10K miles, and it has been stellar. Can't find them anymore though