[Shotimes] Tires for convention/rest of the summer

[BJamesjr@aol.com]

It certainly would seem logical that a more expensive "dry" tire would do better than a less expensive all-season tire, especially from the same manufacturer.

I went to tirerack, input the size that I wanted (225/55-16) and looked at the list of 76 available tires in that size.  I picked the ones that I was interested in and did some comparisons.  I want to be sure I don't slide around in wet weather so I concentrate on all-season tires.  I picked the AVS DB S2 and the Potenza 950.  When you do a comparison you get a table of ratings in categories such as "handling rating", "dry traction", "wet traction", "ride comfort" "noise comfort", and "wear".  These 2 tires scored so much higher than all of the other all season tires that I got curious and compared them with non- all season tires.  The AVS DB S2 has better scores than the AVS Sport in all of these categories.  I compared to a high-rated tire, the Potenza S-03 Pole Position, and the AVSDBS2 is less in the traction/handling categories, but is fairly close.

Well we all like comparing numbers and saying that this one is better because it scores 8.9 vs. 8.7.  However there is some question as to where these numbers come from and can they be compared that closely.  I don't think they are that scientific and I don't think they can be compared that way (just my guess).  It could be that the high ratings for an all-season tire are from someone who has lesser expectations from their tires than the ratings for a max. performance tire from someone who demands a high level of performance.

Of course since I'm the one saying this then I should not have implied that the AVSDBS2 compares to the ES100.  Oh well, the numbers are there.  We can always compare them and use them however we want.  I don't mind all season tires since I look for wet traction and I'm willing to give up some dry performance for it.

> The AVS DBs are all-season tires. ES100s and AVS Sports are not. I went and
> read the reviews. Rate "higher ratings" as you will, but I don't see it that
> way at all. The AVS DB people say they are "fast & aggressive" drivers (I
> think Tire Rack needs different categories!!), but the 
> reviews talked about
> "less noise" and other meaningless remarks as such.