Favorite Tires

[Jdmstyles]

Yokohama Advan A048. Not on my car, but have drove someone else's car with them on. Amazing tires.

[PEZi]

Yokohama Advan A048. Not on my car, but have drove someone else's car with them on. Amazing tires.

the ADVAN Neova i mentioned above is their newer more ridiculous tire...

[Zydeco]

A quick run down of tires Ive used on my STi so far. I buy tires more for performance rather then comfort or longer tread life. Grip is my goal with my tires. I've never tracked my car, but I do drive it on the back road quit a lot. I guess I'm more of a spirited driver. Stock tires are Brigstones RE-70Pros - Sticky, stiff sidewall and awesome feed back.cons - short tire life. lots of road noise.Overall - good tire that felt like it would never let go of the road, but they just wear out way to fast. Tire size - 225/45/17

Toyo T1R's.

Pros - great in the wet summer tires, long tread life.Cons - over grip isn't that great as compared to other tires in the same class. The toyo's had softest sidewall of all the tires I've had.Overall - Good all around tire, but its lack of grip was it major down fall. This tire would be ideal for a place that doesn't get that cold, but get a good amount of rain.Tires size - 225/45/17

Falkens RT615's.

pros - Grip, grip and more grip. This is the stickiest tire I've ever used. This tire comes up to temp really quickly as well.Cons - I used up my first set of Falkens in just 7000 miles . this tires is also has lots of road noise.Overall - One of the best tires I've driven on, to bad they just wear out so fast.Tires sizes - 225/45/17, 235/45/17, 245/45/17

Bridgestone RE-01 R's

Pros - tire life is long and the side wall is nice and stiff. their a nice medium between the 615's and the T1R's. Cons - loud, yeah thats all I can come up with.Overall - This is the best over all the tire I've ever used. If they still made this tire I would jump on a second set. Tire size 245/45/17

My next set of tires are going to be Hankook RS2's in 245/40/17.

[PEZi]

sTm[-HeavyHips]

Bridgestone RE-01 R's

Overall - This is the best over all the tire I've ever used. If they still made this tire I would jump on a second set.

they made it even better.... its called the RE-11.... you'll love it even more than your RE-01

[Zydeco]

yeah I, i hope so, ill wait until there dirt cheap. I got my RE-01's for 350 OTD

[Jdmstyles]

the ADVAN Neova i mentioned above is their newer more ridiculous tire...

They must go for a hefty price tag. I love yokohamas. And I also dont understand what all the Azenis hype is about.

I had Azenis on my car and they wore out quite fast for dailying. I can full stupid heartedly say that the cheaper federal 595's offer the same performance and grip for less money. But then again that's coming from me and I don't know much at all about tires. Just saying.

[flohtingPoint]

to all of those defending the azenies 615's.... have you used them for anything besides street use??? they're pure crap!!!

I concur, they're garbage. Even on street use they're crap unless it's dry out. The Corolla has shakes and shimmys when driving through puddles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wm9tBUalwo

They're the only street tire I've had to spray and constantly manage pressure while autocrossing. Not even my S03's require this much attention.

[Veriest1]

I actually had a set a good while ago, and I thought they were a great tire for their purpose.

Now, I am no tire expert... I don't read many tire reviews, and I ignore them all together when I am not personally looking for tires...

But they were reasonably sticky, and gave me as much grip as I cared to ask for in the wet. They also lasted a LONG time. Like too long. I wanted new tires and the damn things were still there.They are an excellent compromise tire IMO giving a pretty solid balance between giving decent grip in hard driving, dealing well with most conditions and not wearing at all.

I found the MX's and 595's to have better dry traction while maintaining decent wet traction. The price settled it from there. My only real complaint was the price because unless BFG has lowered prices there are similiar, if not better, performing tires for less money.

I find it interesting no one is praising the Hankook Ventus RS-2. Normally that tire seems to draw some love in tire threads.

[IanS]

I would love to see someone who makes a competition gravel tire there, especially since there is a rallyX planned. I wouldn't be surprised if stage rally, or a European variation on rallyX gain major popularity over the next few years. Heck, it could be the next drifting. Hankook, BF Goodrich, Silverstone, Pirelli, Kumho, and Michelin all make comp rally tires, and it would be great to see someone there with a set on display. Most people dont know what goes into making a gravel tire, and they are cool to see in person. I personally plan to have a set of Michelins with me.

It never rains, but you have problems driving in the rain?

I have been driving on 615's for a couple years. Even in fairly heavy rains I have had almost no problems. Even in like inch standing water I had no problems.

How fast were you driving when you were hydroplaining?

No doubt. I drove my 615s in the rain all the time, they were great until they started to get worn out. The only time I had issues is when the temp dropped below 50 degrees.

[Bubba1]

Depends on the car and application

For the track in my Z. Toyo RA-1, but I can no longer get them in my sizeFor the street, I'm trying out a set Goodyear Eagle F1A's. Z rated. I like them so far. I've used them on the track, very good in the rain. predictable when dry, but they wear very quickly.

For my SUV. Goodyear wrangler, wears like iron. I've beengetting 80K + miles out of each set.

[flohtingPoint]

I find it interesting no one is praising the Hankook Ventus RS-2. Normally that tire seems to draw some love in tire threads.

I have RS3's and they're a great tire. They come in a 45 for a 15 inch wheel and 225 all while maintaining 140 treadwear. They're an excellent STS tire.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Oh, yes, of course. How can I forget truck tires? My favorite for a daily-driver but still really used like a truck 4x4 is Toyo Open Country A/T. Fantastic blend of onroad manners and offroad capability.

[JDM EXOTICS]

Falken Azenis RT615

i know they are old, but still my favorite street tires for that price range

[breadbox]

Used to have Supra Kumho Ecstas, I liked them. I don't track tho.

[szh]

Good timing. I'm looking for a set of quiet snow-capable all-seasons for the Caddy.

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus or Continental ExtremeContact DWS will do you well. Assuming the right size and load index is made for your wheels, of course.

Z

[Flicktitty]

i'm a big BFG guy.

the KDW G-Force T/a's are pretty badass. i personally think they are a little loud for daily use but they work very well.

the BFG G-Force drag radial works VERY well as. I only have a 225/50/15 on the back of a 400+ HP 2JZ 240sx and it hooks very very well.

as far as road race tires i'm not too up on that stuff, but i know my buddy runs some advans on his cars and he is at the top of auto-x events every weekend.

[r34 gtr]

Hankook Ventus RS2 Z212

Awesome tire, cheap, slays at autocross. I cannot say enough good things about this tire. I will be trying the RS3s as soon as my current RT615 Falkens die a cruel death. Recently my friend got a set of 4 245/40/ZR17s for his WRX for $78/tire. You cannot beat the price and the car corners so hard it makes your eyes bug out. There is no reason to go with another tire for street use in my book.

Falken Azenis RT615

Great tire for what I use it for (rear tires only, used for doing stupid s***). Tread wear is about the same as the RS2s, lasting me about 6000 miles. I have to admit this last set has been going flat and requiring a lot more diligence in checking pressures than I am used to. I tried them because I got a better deal than I could on the Hankooks at the time, and I loved the Azenis Sports. These are not the same tire.

Falken Azenis Sport (All time fav street tire)

God I wish they still made these tires. I still have a set of them on my stock 15" teardrops and to this day they still rape. Getting new tires is awesome because it means I have an excuse to roll around on these for an afternoon (I never leave my car with tire guys, just the wheels). Grip, grip, and more grip. They take a little while to heat up though, and if it was less than 40 degrees outside I would usually end up in a ditch or facing the wrong way on my drive to school. Totally worth it.

Hoosier A6

No explanation needed. Hands down ridiculous, just 100% impractical for daily use.

BF Goodrich G-Force TA KDW2

Have these on the front of the 240sx (blah blah mismatched tires shut the hell up) and they are fantastic for daily driving. The all-season-ness makes them excellent in the rain, and the treadwear is great in my book. Sure they are kind of expensive compared to the Hankook RS2s or the Falken RT615s, but I can justify it when one set on the front outlasts two sets of rear tires. These things inspire confidence, but I would never throw them on the back wheels for personal reasons.

Edit:

Forgot truck tires!

Interco Super Swamper TSL Bogger (preferably ginormous in size)

For obvious reasons. I like to bog. Unfortunately I drive a stock 98 Nissan Frontier, so I do not get to use these. Sad day indeed.

[Empty V]

Obviously my QX4's tires don't really count but I'm currently running BFG Long Trails and about to upgrade to Nitto Terra Grapplers or BFG All Terrtain T/A 265/75/R17's.

My buddy OTH runs BFG KDW's all around on his '03 Cobra and for his '07 Shelby GT500 is running Nitto 555's in the front and 555R's in the Rear.

[PEZi]

bex... to give you the best answer to your solution here... since you're trying to get a sponsor to come out.... i vote for yokohama

they make a great tire for just about every application and are a very good company

my second vote would be for BFG... great company and very underrated

anyone who has used the falken azenies for actual track use knows why they are a horrible choice.......

and i don't feel hoosier is a good choice because they don't make enough 'streetable' tires

[Jdmstyles]

I 100% agree with pezi.

[Zydeco]

I find it interesting no one is praising the Hankook Ventus RS-2. Normally that tire seems to draw some love in tire threads.

thire sitting in my garage waiting to go on. Ill post back in a few months.

[rogue240sx]

BFG G-Force KDW 225/45R17 are my tires of choice on my 240sx. Handling is great and hard to beat at their price point. great on everything except mud, snow and ice.

[Philipio]

Dunlop Z1. Didn't lose grip once on a road course. Looking forward to another track day coming up on the 7th.

[C-Kwik]

Depends on the car and application

This is a very important statement. No one tire model can wear every hat. There will always be some level of compromise. Moreso in cheaper tires. Can a great performance tire be cheap? Yep. But expect it to be noisy, wear quickly and have poor wet performance. You get what you pay for.

That said, any of the major brands will have great tires to offer. I would just contact any of them and see what they can offer in terms of the car show.

For my SUV. Goodyear wrangler, wears like iron. I've beengetting 80K + miles out of each set.

Which Wranglers? They have a bunch of different ones under the name Wrangler. My Titan had the Wrangler SR-A's when I bought it and they were the OE tires as well. Only lasted 30K miles. Performance was reasonable. I'm running BFG All-terrain T/A KOs now. Very robust and supposedly long lasting (50K+ from most reviews; initial tread depth is also 16/32nds). I'm close to 20K miles on these and hardly see any wear. Though, I probably won't have them for more than 50K-60K on them at the rate of miles I put on as I don't keep tires on for more than 4 years. The major downside to these tires is that they are heavy as all hell. I think its about 20 pounds more than the stock tires. I lost about 1 mpg with these and the extra mass made it hard for the shocks to keep up during high piston speeds (major cavitation in the shock oil seemed apparent as slow speed piston movements seemed fine). But they gave me an excuse to upgrade to some nice Bilstiens. They are also rather pricey, but if I get 50-60K out of them before I need to replace them, then they are already a better value than the SR-As (ignoring the gas mileage hit). I considered the Bridgstone Revos but tread depth wasn't as deep. While I don't plan on any real offroading, I do go dirtbiking occassionally and put some value on reasonable dirt traction considering mine is only 2WD with an open diff. there is some highway noise with these as the tread is somewhat agrtessive, but its not very offensive. Definitely not anything close to them mudding tires I see (hear) out there.

[dusred]

Oh, yes, of course. How can I forget truck tires? My favorite for a daily-driver but still really used like a truck 4x4 is Toyo Open Country A/T. Fantastic blend of onroad manners and offroad capability.

My last set of tires were Toyo A/T's. I'm currently running BFG's but they flip rocks real bad. I prefer the Nitto A/T's which are very similar to the Toyo's but the Nitto's seem to ride a little softer.

[Veriest1]

I don't even know what's on our truck. Plenty of tread left after 30k ish miles though.

[nissangirl74]

FWIW, I have sent in requests for vendors from BF Goodrich, Kumho, Hankook, Michelin, and Yokohama. They seem to have been the top pics (I know, I should have done a poll). If I don't get any positive responses from them, I'll make my way down the list.

[skydragoness]

Oh god.. I'm such a tire neeerrrrrrd....if I had infinite dorrars, I'd be buying different sets of tires when they first come out to "try" them on...

Tires I have used and love recently/currently:

Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid (HP A/S)Had these on my Subie, stick like glue in the rain and dry. I drove through 8"-10" of snow with them too, but then again AWD really helps. If I were to get another Subie or some kind of daily, this would be my daily-driver tire of choice. I've sold a co-worker on a set of these as well, she loves them.

Yokohama ADVAN S4 (UHP A/S) I've run these on my S13 for 2.5 yrs..I was sold on these by Exarkun who's a Advan rep so he talked me into them. I'm a Bridgestone fan at heart (I've rocked RE950s as my first tire, then RE750s) and I love their wet traction as it does rain a lot here and lots of standing water/poor drainage.

Anyhow, wet traction isn't as stellar as a Bridgestone but it's still excellent. Dry traction is awesome, these act like summer tires that you can run in the winter. As far as snow traction goes, don't expect much grip in anything over 2".. and I have a VLSD too.

These tires are much quieter than Bridgestones I have used in the past.. some kind of "variable pitch" technology Yokohama uses in the tread design. They are seriously the quietest "performance" tires I've ever run. They grip very well, and predictably. I haven't autocrossed much on them, so I can't say too much about that aspect. They wear well, I'm coming up on 2.5yrs and the rears are at 1/2 tread and just starting to show diminished wet traction. (I also don't rotate tires because of my staggered wheel widths).The fronts are little more..

I highly recommend them! Exarkun sold me on them when he mentioned how many BMW/weekend racers loved them.

Dunlop Wintersport M3 (snow tire derr)

These tires are insane. They remind me of the Bridgestone RE950 of yore. Insane wet grip, really good dry traction...all while being a high performance SNOW TIRE. Granted, they're not a dedicated snow tire like a Blizzak/etc, but for a performance car and for a climate that gets snow semi-frequently, they're awesome. They don't burn away like regular snow tires, I've known people that run them all year long (I wouldn't) because they are that quiet. They're a little squirmy at the limit but they act like a performance tire. Really impressive.. just check out the tread pattern on TireRack.com. I ran these tires for one winter on my S13 (before I purchased the Subie) and I got through several light snow storms and *ice* storms with stability and security. Was able to get up hills and a steep driveway with little fuss. These would be badass on a Subie IMHO.

Modified by skydragoness at 10:18 PM 4/8/2010
Modified by skydragoness at 10:19 PM 4/8/2010

[flohtingPoint]

FWIW, I have sent in requests for vendors from BF Goodrich, Kumho, Hankook, Michelin, and Yokohama. They seem to have been the top pics (I know, I should have done a poll). If I don't get any positive responses from them, I'll make my way down the list.

Please, please, whatever you do, stay away from Falken if these fall though. I posted this video over in the wheels/tires section, but it works here too. Below is a video of me running on Azenis RT615's recently and they started graining on me. You can see where the tires betray me and the compounded amount of extra wheel work I have to go through to keep the car in line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZOPUdE0AUs

[JustinStrife]

Tire sizes restrict what you can get. Don't forget that bit of info.

For the cars I drive now, I'm a HUGE fan of Michelin Ps2's. Run them on a 500rwhp C5. Sure traction sucks under 60, but handling is absolutely great for a street tire when doing canyon carving. Also get around 20k miles out of the rears if I don't do burnouts. Expensive tires, but well worth it for an all around street performance tire.