Next set of tires

I think that is a poor way of judging reviews. A lot of negative reviews are those that got bad products and they tend to speak the loudest. The majority of people don't write reviews and are happy with their purchase but sometimes if a tire or product is bad enough they will be littered with more bad reviews than good ones.  There is also a such thing as fake reviews or people that are disgruntled that write them in a passive aggressive way to harm the company because they didn't get some kind of special coustomer service.  

 Tires are much harder to judge because they go though different phases and various applications with people that under or overinflated them or write great things during the honeymoon phase only to have them get extremely noisy once they get miles on them.  I would say 85% of people who are compelled  to writing reviews are idiots and have no idea making the situation worse for others. The gold is in that last 5% that you have to sift though. 

 People often try to take an aggregate of reviews which is not at all a measure.  I would only choose a tire that is made by major brand. Toyo is not what I would call a top tier tire manufacture. The Blizzaks have proven themselves as being the top of the lot with many that have adopted them over many years and they have gained a great reputation for what they do.  Also need to keep in mind that snow tires are noisy probably for a good reason because it is one of the tradeoffs in the design to make them great for snow duty. 

 As far as who to trust its not easy but if it was between voluntary reviewers and Tirerack professional reviews I would say Tirerack because they test them on their track and do comprehensive comparison in each category. They are not great either but they will give you some obvious hints that usually prove true.  

Does the Light weight of the Mk3 have anything to do with poor rain, snow performance?

I put on some Toyo Tire Extensa A/S 205 /50 R15  on stock rims and as soon as it is the slightest bit wet out - They spin and slide.  I wasn't hoping for too much A/S performance, but it would be nice to be safe on the roads.  I have to think twice every time I pull into traffic and even had a little loss of traction on an on ramp the other day - and I wasn't going that fast.
To the point about reviews, these had good rain performance reviews, but they were usually for larger sedans, some small coupes (but even those were 3000 plus vehicles)

Just wondering?  I did check and  - drop my tire pressure a little bit, but no significant change.

I’ve never had any issues running in the rain, never tried snow. I am running Yokohama S drives.

Posted by: @rdawg

Does the Light weight of the Mk3 have anything to do with poor rain, snow performance?

I put on some Toyo Tire Extensa A/S 205 /50 R15  on stock rims and as soon as it is the slightest bit wet out - They spin and slide.  I wasn't hoping for too much A/S performance, but it would be nice to be safe on the roads.  I have to think twice every time I pull into traffic and even had a little loss of traction on an on ramp the other day - and I wasn't going that fast.
To the point about reviews, these had good rain performance reviews, but they were usually for larger sedans, some small coupes (but even those were 3000 plus vehicles)

Just wondering?  I did check and  - drop my tire pressure a little bit, but no significant change.

 

A lot of budget all season tires are terrible in rain.  All season is a misnomer and you don’t know what you are going to get.  Some performance designed tires like the Sdrives  can actually be better in the rain than most all season because their tread pattern allows them to also be great at evacuating water but they will be poor at snow or freezing temps. 

With A/S tires you get what you pay for as there is a big difference between the more expensive top brands like Bridgestone and Michelin compared to the budget stuff. 

All season tires work well on my corolla, rain snow and dry roads

All Seasons work well under all conditions. Two caveats.  A specífic brand/type is relative to others; the budget ones are not as good as the top notch ones. Being ok enough under varied conditions means a compromise in áll of those conditions. 

Oh and lastly; low temps, a water film, snow will offer less traction to rubber, no matter what.

Back to the compromise; pick your choice: Prefer to spend less? You will have less traction. Prefer a lot in chilly rain, then you will have less on  dry. Want it all? Sorry, but that´s not possible. The best is ok in all but extreme. The ultimate solution lies with your rh foot.

That observed I am pleased with the traction the AD08Rs offer in the wet, even chilly wet. Ok, not cccccóld wet; not even dry then. So I pussy foot it then. Problem solved. 

Seconded what dev is putting down. Good summer tires are better in the rain than all seasons. Better rain channels and overall design. Problems happen at low temps. This is of course unless you go for the low treadwear sticky tires, which absolutely sacrifice wet performance. A quality set of 320tw tires like S Drives or Sport Comp 2s will do great in the rain all things considered.

I run summers year round. Because we don't have seasons. It rarely drops below 40 so I don't have to worry about that. Rain is sketchy in the MR2 no matter what, but good tires really help. I run all seasons on my Corolla because they're cheaper and last longer and hell if I need large amounts of grip there. Plus the MR2 is real easy on tires so even sticky ones last a good while.

@nottamiata

Icebars are OK also 

You know now that I think of it I have a set of Icebars on 15" OEM wheels (ugly wheels) that I put on for a few years in case I needed to drive my car due to our mini having extended issues. Now that I got rid of the mini and have a nice more normal reliable second car I don't put them on anymore. Bought them from Galo a few years ago they have good tread and the wheels are true if you want a winter set of wheels so you can go with good summer tires let me know if you cover shipping, we can work out a reasonable deal. I think I paid 300 for them in 2014-2015ish 

Thanks, T-bone, but I already have tires. Sad, brand new Toyo tires standing there in a stack with nothing to do. Just gotta get my wheels finished (finished enough, for now) and get them on the car. I ask myself almost daily why I am putting this much work into these things. One of them is curb-rashed so badly, I think I heard it whisper "just... kill me... please!" as I was switching from 320 to 600 grit paper.

That reminds me, I'm overdue for an update on my pitiful-project thread.