Evoking said:
Incidentally aren't most tires "all season"?
Many are; many aren't. Most tires supplied on family sedans like the Honda Accord, and on SUVs, are probably all-season tires. Most tires supplied on sports cars are not.
As usual, the Tire Rack website has a lot of useful information. You might want to check out their web page entitled
Selecting the Right Tire (click
here) and scroll down to the heading, "Do I need summer tires, winter tires, all-season tires…?" Another useful page on their site is
this one, which describes each of their performance categories.
The thing to keep in mind about all-season tires is that they are designed for cars that are going to be used at least occasionally on
snow. Their design objectives are that they perform okay - not great, but okay - in snow, and they perform okay - not great, but okay - in warm weather. If a car is probably never going to be driven in snow - like an NSX in the Sunbelt, or an NSX in the north which is stored for the winter - then there is no reason to use all-season tires on it.
Evoking said:
Even the famed Pilot Sport tires that come on the NSX and which I almost broke the bank and bought are "all season".
The NSX does not come from the factory with Michelin Pilot Sport tires. The only tires that come on the NSX from the factory are the Yokohama A022H and the Bridgestone RE010 on the '91-01 NSX, and the Bridgestone RE040 on the '02-04 NSX. These tires were all designed specifically for the NSX.
There are five models of "Michelin Pilot Sport" tires:
Pilot Sport
Pilot Sport PS2
Pilot Sport Rib
Pilot Sport Cup (track tire)
Pilot Sport A/S
Only the last of these is an all-season tire (hence the A/S designation). Most of the Pilot Sport tires that NSX owners are using are not the A/S version. In fact, I have never heard of even a single NSX owner using the Pilot Sport A/S tire. If you have them, you are the first mentioned here.
Evoking said:
Are they too, inadequate as you say for the NSX in Texas?
Maybe "inadequate" is not the right word. But "inappropriate", yes.
In buying tires, you need to decide what is most important to you - handling, traction on dry pavement, traction on wet pavement, traction on snow or ice, price, longevity, etc. It's a matter of your personal preferences, as well as the environment in which you use your car. If you drive your NSX in a spirited manner - occasionally enjoying a twisty road or highway ramp, for example - then a tire's cornering ability will be important. If all your miles are highway miles and your driving style is sedate, maybe not. But if you never drive in snow or ice, then the tire's capability in snow and ice is irrelevant, in which case you are better off with a tire that performs better the rest of the time.
The good news is, if you are not sure what kind of tires to get, you can always call the nice folks at the Tire Rack (sorry for the repeated plug; I am not affiliated with them, but their prices, service, and knowledge are great) and they can ask you the questions and give you the advice for the tires that are best
for you. They can even ship them direct to one of their local installers in your area, where you can get them mounted.
Evoking said:
BTW, I'm moving to DC so an all season tire isn't a bad thing to me. But even if I weren't, unless you are going to primarily track the car, I don't see how a tire with "all season" on the side is not adequate enough to render an envolving enough, quite, long wear ownership experience.
Again, it depends on how you drive your car. If you enjoy even just an occasional high speed blast, you will want tires that have great handling and dry performance. Even if you never take your car on a racetrack. But if you never drive in snow, then there is no reason to get an all-season tire, with the compromises it has in warm weather (e.g. the more "mushy" ride, poorer braking distances, etc.) in order to accommodate its better performance in snow and ice.
Evoking said:
I would 80% of the NSX nuts on this board have tires that say "all season" on the side even if they live in warm climates AND they are performance purists.
That's just not true at all. (Remember, I've been to every NSXPO, and there are over 100 NSXs at each one, including many of "the NSX nuts on this board".) I would say that at least 95 percent of the NSX nuts on this board have tires that do
not say "all season" on the side. Polls here have shown that approximately 40 percent of the folks here are using the OEM tires (Yokohama A022H, Bridgestone RE010, Bridgestone RE040) on their NSX. Just off the top of my head, I would guess that well over 90 percent of the folks here are using one of the following tires on their NSX for everyday street use (i.e. excluding track tires and winter tires):
Yokohama A022H (OEM)
Bridgestone RE010 (OEM)
Bridgestone RE040 (OEM)
Bridgestone Potenza S-03
Michelin Pilot Sport
Yokohama AVS Sport
Bridgestone Potenza S-02
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3
Kumho Ecsta MX
Dunlop SP Sport 9000
Pirelli PZero (various formulations)
Kumho Ecsta Supra 712
Sumitomo HTR Z II
Yokohama AVS ES100
None of these tires are all-season tires.
In fact, I'd be willing to bet you the price of admission (around $250-300) that if we meet at NSXPO 2004 (to be held in Upstate New York October 8-12) and count all the different tires used on NSXs there, less than 10 percent of them use tires that say "all season" on the sidewall. (I'm dead serious if you're interested in making this wager.)
Evoking said:
It seems that if you don't track your car you could easliy find a good all around tire that doesn't diminsh the fun of driving the and perhaps the all season tire in many cases could even improve the feel.
Sorry, but that's just not true at all, either.
Evoking said:
My OEM pilots fell great especially considering their relatively tall profiles compared to my new plus 1 fitments.
The Michelin Pilot is not considered an OEM tire, meaning that it was never supplied as original equipment on the NSX. And I bet the Michelin Pilot tires that you're using aren't all-season tires, either.
This is the Michelin Pilot Sport, which is
not an all-season tire:
This is the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, which is
not an all-season tire:
This is the Michelin Pilot Sport Rib, which is
not an all-season tire:
This is the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup, which is a track tire,
not an all-season tire:
This is the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S, which
is an all-season tire:
Which version of the Michelin Pilot Sport is on your NSX?