All-Season Versus Summer Performance Tires: Which Is Right For Your Classic Muscle Car?
Posted on: 21 June 2019
If you're in the market for some new rubber for your classic ride, performance tires and all-season tires both offer some clear-cut pros and cons. Understanding those pros and cons while considering your personal driving needs is the only way to decide which style of tires is best for you and your beloved muscle car
Summer Performance Tires: All-Out Grip
If you only drive your muscle car sparingly to have some fun in the sun, summer performance tires are probably for you. They use a sport-tuned rubber compound that is designed to offer maximum lateral and straight-line grip when the pavement is dry and warm. They are also designed with tread patterns that prioritize dry-weather grip over wet-road grip.
What that means is you'll get improved handling from your ride when you push it hard around corners. You'll also be able to harness all of your engine's torque to accelerate faster without spinning your tires.
The downside is that as soon as the weather starts to turn cold, your level of grip will take a nosedive. The rubber compound of the tires won't warm up enough to give you an optimal grip, so your car will be much more likely to slide around corners and spin its tires from a stop.
Similarly, performance in inclement weather will be subpar at best. The tread patterns on performance tires are much less capable of treading water, so your car will be more likely to slide and hydroplane when the roads are wet. If you're not careful, running summer performance tires in the rain or cold can end up with you driving your precious ride into a ditch, or worse.
All-Season Tires: Practicality and Versatility
If you plan to take your classic ride out on the road year-round, all-season tires are much better suited for your needs. They are specially designed with versatility in mind. The rubber compound is tuned to offer adequate grip whether the roads are hot or cold. The tread patterns are likewise tuned to deliver good grip on dry pavement without totally compromising their ability to tread water and deliver good performance in wet weather.
There are a couple of other bonuses in practicality as well. Since the all-season rubber compound is harder and less grippy, it doesn't tend to stick to the road and wear down as fast as summer performance tires do. All-season tires are also generally cheaper to replace than their performance-oriented counterparts.
So all-season tires give you the versatility to drive your muscle car with adequate performance all year while saving you a bit of money in maintenance costs. They're clearly the best choice for most drivers. However, if you're a gearhead who craves maximum speed, grip, and performance, there's no better place to start than by swapping out your all-season tires for a proper set of performance rubber.
For more information, contact a tire shop.
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