Summer Tires Deliver Higher Performance for Cars, SUVs

Summer is here, so if you live in an area that gets even occasional snow, you may be looking to replace winter tires or all-season tires with higher-performing summer tires.

Do you really need summer tires? Only if you drive enthusiastically, have a performance-oriented vehicle—from a luxury sport model to a more economical hot hatch—and want to get the most enjoyment out of it. Summer tires will deliver a higher level of driving satisfaction than all-season treads. They handle better, corner faster and usually are more stable.

On some performance sedans and coupes, summer tires are standard. That means a switch to snow or all-season tires for the winter, since the rubber compound in some performance tires is too hard to perform safely in cold weather. Forget about driving summer performance tires on ice and snow. It’s really simple each spring to go back to the summer tires that came with your car, or to get new summer shoes.

Tires wear, of course, and summer tires can wear faster than tamer lines because they do encourage harder driving. You’ll get faster starts, surer cornering and shorter stops with summer tires. That adds up to fun—and a shorter tread life.

Here are some good-performing summer tires to consider at a variety of prices.

Key to Costs:

$ Budget-Priced

$$ Affordable

$$$ Premium Tire

$$$$ Top-of-the-Line

Zeetex HP1000

If you’re looking to upsize to 20-inch rims, here’s an economical tire that will fit, generate high speeds and keep your pocketbook happy. The Zeetex HP1000 does more than achieve a 186 mph speed rating; it also corners with lots of grip on both dry and wet pavement. Wide channels extract water to make the Zeetex HP1000 stick in the rain. What’s unusual is that this performance tire generates grip but not excessive noise, so it will go about its business without assaulting your ears. In less expensive, already noisy hatches and coupes, that’s a bug bonus.

Vehicles: Coupes, sedans

Speed Rating: Y (186 mph)

Load Range: XL (Extra Load)

Cost: $

Goodyear Excellence ROF

Here’s a performance summer tire that’s also a run on flat—the tire will travel as high as 50 mph for up to 50 miles if pressure is lost. The Goodyear Excellence ROF is a strong performer, one reason it’s standard equipment on some German performance coupes and luxury sedans. It is rated Y for a top speed of up to 186 mph. The asymmetric tread provides considerable dry-road traction, and the combination of extra-wide and narrow circumferential grooves maintain traction on wet pavement. The ride is unusually comfortable for a run-flat.

Vehicles: Performance coupes and sedans

Speed Rating: Y (186 mph)

Best use: Enthusiastic street driving without a spare

Cost: $$

Michelin Primacy 3

How quiet do you want your summer tire to be? The Michelin Primacy 3 is a quiet summer touring tire that grips well in corners but uses a softer rubber compound than true high-performance tires. That means a comfortable ride on small, midsized or large sedans. On-road characteristics fall somewhere between the two tires the Primacy 3 replaces: the comfortable Primacy LC and the sportier Primacy HP. The big tread blocks, although aggressively designed for traction and cornering grip, have varying sizes and shapes for quieter running.

Vehicles: Coupes, sedans

Treadlife Warranty: 32,000 miles

Speed Rating: V (149 mph)

Load Range: XL (Extra Load)

Cost: $$$

Pirelli Scorpion Verde

What doesn’t the Pirelli Scorpion Verde do well? It’s just plain fast, with a 186 mph top speed rating. It corners with high traction, delivering the kind of feedback that enthusiastic driving in a performance-oriented SUV or crossover demands. And its tread, with a combination of big blocks, wide channels and plentiful siping, grabs both dry and wet road surfaces. The Scorpion Verde was developed originally for Audi crossovers but will serve a range of similarly purposed vehicles.

Vehicles: Performance SUVs, crossovers

Speed Rating: Y (186 mph)

Load Range: XL (Extra Load)

Best Uses: Enthusiastic street driving on performance crossovers, SUVs

Cost: $$$$

Nokian Line SUV

Do you really want to buy SUV summer tires made by a company known for winter treads? You bet, if they’re the Nokian Line SUV. Here’s a moderately priced SUV and crossover summer tire that’s as good in the rain as it is on dry pavement—and that’s very good. Nokian is known for exhaustively testing its tires for foul weather. The Nokian Line SUV is perfect for performance-oriented SUVs and crossovers—the Porsche Cayenne and the BMW X series, for example. This tire is well controlled but performs quietly—a nice combination. It also rides smoothly compared with the typical SUV tire. The Nokia Line SUV extracts the responsive capabilities built into your vehicle without pulling too much from your wallet.

Vehicles: Performance SUVs, Crossovers

Best Use: Highway

Speed Rating: T (118 mph), H (130) or V (149), depending on size

Cost: $$