[Larry7995]

Firestone quoted me a practically unbelievable $351/tire last Saturday for a set of RE050 225/40R18 for my M235i xdrive non-staggered. I used the Tire Rack link and can get all 4 for about what 2 would cost at Firestone.
My car is not very grippy with the all-season radials, I am hoping the summer performance tires will boost that significantly.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by Larry7995

Firestone quoted me a practically unbelievable $351/tire last Saturday for a set of RE050 225/40R18 for my M235i xdrive non-staggered. I used the Tire Rack link and can get all 4 for about what 2 would cost at Firestone.
My car is not very grippy with the all-season radials, I am hoping the summer performance tires will boost that significantly.

They will definitely be grippier as long as ambient temps are about 40 degrees F or so. They will perform better in the wet, too.

Though I gotta say: since you're apparently in Denver, if you're going to run summers I would absolutely to one of two things:
1). Run on a dedicated set of winter tires when temperatures are regularly below 40F or snow is (or is about to be) present, or
2). Not drive your car several months out of the year, even with xDrive

Pretty much any summer performance tire will be dangerous below 40 degrees unless you tiptoe from point A to point B -- and if there's any type of frozen precip around, you likely won't even be able to do that. Summer-compound tires pretty much turn into hockey pucks.

I did the opposite of you: I just switched out summer RFTs (which lated 12k miles in the rear ... gawd) with a set of staggered Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ on my RWD car, and I'm in Texas. Why? Because I take road trips, and I don't want to be stuck in, say, far western Virginia on a 30-degree morning in late March. On summers I would be going nowhere safely for a few hours.

It's just shortsighted to trade that kind of what-if for roughly 5 percent more grip.

[Larry7995]

I will run the all-seasons till about mid-March, put on summers and keep them on till about November. I had a WRX with summer performance before I bought the M235 and it cornered better so I have high hopes!

[augerpro]

Schomp matched Tireracks price when I put some RE-11s on my M235. So check them out. If you do go with a summer tire forget the RE050, there are much better tires out there, like the RE-11 or S04 from Bridgestone, or of course the Michelin PSS.

[mibikin]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

They will definitely be grippier as long as ambient temps are about 40 degrees F or so. They will perform better in the wet, too.

Though I gotta say: since you're apparently in Denver, if you're going to run summers I would absolutely to one of two things:
1). Run on a dedicated set of winter tires when temperatures are regularly below 40F or snow is (or is about to be) present, or
2). Not drive your car several months out of the year, even with xDrive

Pretty much any summer performance tire will be dangerous below 40 degrees unless you tiptoe from point A to point B -- and if there's any type of frozen precip around, you likely won't even be able to do that. Summer-compound tires pretty much turn into hockey pucks.

I did the opposite of you: I just switched out summer RFTs (which lated 12k miles in the rear ... gawd) with a set of staggered Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ on my RWD car, and I'm in Texas. Why? Because I take road trips, and I don't want to be stuck in, say, far western Virginia on a 30-degree morning in late March. On summers I would be going nowhere safely for a few hours.

It's just shortsighted to trade that kind of what-if for roughly 5 percent more grip.

How do you like the A/S3+? I'm looking at those for a staggered setup when I get wheels in the summer.

[overcoil]

Originally Posted by mibikin

How do you like the A/S3+? I'm looking at those for a staggered setup when I get wheels in the summer.

You didn't ask me, but I thought I'd tell you my thoughts on the staggered A/S+3 coming from the PSS-summer staggered.

With the summer tire's I was constantly picking up nail punctures, and I haven't with the A/S+3, coincidence or due to sticky compound of PSS? have no idea.

In cold temps on a dry but very cold road surface the PSS's could slide in a sharp turn even at low speed, it only happened to me once but you need to be aware. ( not sure of mileage on tire when that happened ) but I was able to traverse some snow dusted roads when the PSS's were new and using extremely smooth steering.

The A/S+3 is great messing around on cold roads, cold wet roads and in a few inches of snow. It's quiet on the interstate and with suspension in comfort mode a very smooth riding tire.

Now, in the summer the PSS's on the 235 are really good. Steering and ultimate grip are as good as I'd need. The limits are so high, I back off, I'd never gotten the car into a four wheel drift.

With the AS+3's I've spun the inside wheel in tight turns with my base differential, and I hadn't done that on the PSS's. Also today for example, on a 60ish mph tight turn, I could feel the tread squirm on the A/S where I'd never had that on the PSS's. And with the PSS's with like 33psi up front and 38ish in the rear my tire wear was rapid, by 8k mikes tire's were looking well worn.

With the A/S+3's I'm running 37 all around and the tire's are too new to assess wear, but I think the front shoulders may wear like the PSS's.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by mibikin

How do you like the A/S3+? I'm looking at those for a staggered setup when I get wheels in the summer.

@ScottSinger has some great observations that are right in line with switching from any summer performance tire to an all-season performance tire.

I had Potenza RFT summers on mine, and I only have about 250 miles on the A/S 3+ set so they're just now bedding in. I haven't driven them in heavily wet conditions yet, either. I do find them more communicative than the RFT summers - I feel more road imperfections - and they are, indeed, a tad squirmier. But because of the sidewall, I can already tell that they'll likely be a more precise all-around tire than the RFTs, which just sucked when it came to road feel (this on a car that already has a lack of steering feel against it). They are significantly quieter and steering effort is a bit lighter, and the steering doesn't snap to center quite as well. They are just now starting to grip well.

I'm going on a 3,000-mile-plus road trip in about a month. After that, I'll be able to make a much more comprehensive assessment with everything but snow. But so far, I'm pleased with the tradeoff, and really pleased with how much quieter they are.

[DanG]

I've run A/S 3+ for about a year now. They still look like new with very minor tread wear. As far as performance I haven't noticed any difference in the summer compared to my old PSS.

I also had the nail problem with PSS and had to replace three tires in two years. So far no problems with the A/S 3+s.