My wife and I will probably be moving out to Portland, OR from the heat-soaked South sometime in the coming months. I'll probably be buying tires soon. I'm just wondering what types of tires would be best for the NW climate? UHPAS? Can I get away with a summer tire year round, or do the roads just get too cold? Are spare sets of winter tires recommended?

I want as sticky of a tire I can get and still be safe on the roads.

 

Since this is an old post, I'm sure you've found your answer. Since I just had the same question, I thought I'd share what I ended up with: 205/50ZR-16 BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S. I decided to go non-runflat on new 16" wheels as well. Now that I've been riding on them for about a month, I'll probably never go back to runflat tires. These specific tires I purchased seem to be great so far. Still stiff, but much more forgiving over the bumps. They seem to perform really well on wet streets, but I haven't experienced downpours on I-5 (yet). These tire are supposed to provide acceptional traction all around, as well as light snow. They look great, too. Out of 22 surveyed tires on tirerack.com, they come in at #3 which is pretty good. A last thought about wheel size. The 16's, in addition to providing a smoother ride than the 17 OEMs, would probably do a little better in the snow, too because of the increased sidwall height.

 

I almost forgot, I recommend all mini owners check out Tru-Line Frame and Wheel http://www.trulineseattle.com. Ask for Doug, he will take care of you. They did a great job installing my new wheels and tires, and balanced them perfectly. I also got an alignment. Since it was my first time purchasing aftermarket wheels/tires, I had to learn about hub vs. lug centric mounting, and what that means for ride quality and vibration.