Higher Treadwear Summer Tires VS UHP All Season Tires

[Sterilyze]

Temperatures are now high enough in Virginia to consider summer tires. I was lucky enough to get 2 sets of wheels when I bought my car, a set of stocks with no tires and a set of ford performance wheels OEM size with General AS-05's. I was considering putting the AS-05's on the stock rims and getting some Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's for canyon carving road trips with the family (lower tire noise a plus). Will i even notice a grip or handling difference since the Indy 500's are 340 treadwear? Also, is it too much to ask of the Indy 500's to be my tire for my novice Autocross season? Open to any suggestions for a dual duty Canyon/Autocross setup.

 

[sonicmn]

I'm not an autocross guy, but do 1 or 2 HPDE track days a year at a smaller track here in MN, I have done this on both the Michelin Pilot Sport AS3 and the Firehawk Indy 500's. This is a 1 mile course with a max speed of ~90mph. we run 15min sessions 4x per day usually. I was overheating the AS3 tires (the corner started chunking out after the second event (after 8 15 min sessions over 2 events), but they indy 500's have held up well for the track day I did. I run them in MN as soon as the lows are in the 50's. and they work great for me!

 

[The_Ryan]

I just came from this exact setup. Had Indy 500s as auto-x/summer setup, and AS-05 as a winter setup (since we get crazy fluctuations in temp and the winters near the water arn't so bad that I need proper winters).

There is a massive grip and handling difference between the AS-05 and the Indy 500s. You will notice it right away. Indys are also quieter. I think that the indys make a good beginner auto-x tire, though it won’t be competitive. I’ve since moved to 200tw tires for auto-x to be a bit more competi

 

[DoomsdayMelody]

I have a set of Kumho Ecsta PS31 (summer tires) that I’ve used for a little over a year. Had them out on a few nights where it dropped into the low 40’s and they’ve been perfectly fine. Much more grip than the Pilot Sport AS3+ they replaced, also quieter than the AS3+. They’re a higher tread wear rating (IIRC it’s around 400) but that said I’ve gotten a surprising amount of shoulder wear, although I’ve done a lot of canyon driving since the pandemic started so that’s likely a factor.

 

[Sterilyze]

So I did my first autocross on the general's and definitely felt like the tires were the weak point. I went ahead and purchased the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's since I have no idea if I'll actually Get bit by the autocross bug, but will definitely continue to carve the canyons when I can.

 

[M-Sport fan]

All seasons are definitely NOT what I would autocross or open track on, ever.

Not even the relatively low read wear rated (280), least 'tready' ones I use for a late fall/DRY winter/early spring daily driver setup (Nitto Neo Gens).