Tires
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Onizuka
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Tires
I was just wondering what everone thinks is the best performance tire out there for the best price. So far the best I could find are Kuhmo ECSTA Supra 712s and Yokohama Parada Spec-2s. Opinions?
Performance and low cost usually don't go well together. I highly recommend the BF Goodridge g-Force KDW or BF Goodridge g-Force KD tires. If you drive in the rain frequently, get the KDWs. They run around $120 per tire. The KDs are much more expensive (but well worth it) and they only make them in 17" or larger.
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Nismo_Freak
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Azenis have the best grip for price by far of anything on the market. They will wear fast though...but so will any perfomance tire of that level. They are a borderline race tire.
If you want to spend money on some really good street tires that will last longer, go for a Bridgestone S03, Toyo Proxy T1S, or a Michelin Pilot Sport. They are EXPENSIVE though!
If you want to spend money on some really good street tires that will last longer, go for a Bridgestone S03, Toyo Proxy T1S, or a Michelin Pilot Sport. They are EXPENSIVE though!
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C-Kwik
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Nismo_Freak wrote:Every tire you people have listed suck... try a set of Falken Azenis Sports... you will love them.
The BFGoodrich KD's get exceptional ratings in all tests they have been involved in. The Azenis are a pretty good tire for the price, but many find them to wear too fast. I know one person who trailers their Azenis to track events and autocrosses due to the wear.
The Yokohama A520's are a pretty decent tire. I believe they are going to be discontinued...I see the price dropping on them as well as their availability of sizes. But they help up at the track well. I run RE71'a in the rear right now with A520's in the front. They are fairly well matched, but after a track event, the RE71's got cooked and are fairly hard now. The A520's stood up to the abuse well.
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Dano
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ninjak84 wrote:P7000's are really good tyres, one of the best depending on who you ask.My Ecsta Supra's are amazing, for the money of course. They're Z-rated, but still durable, and sticky as hell.
thanks for the info! im torn between those two...i live in kansas city so i kinda wanted a more all-season (good tire for wet weather) tire...hence the P7000's but i know the esctas are a great tire too. o well, im not ready to get wheels yet so ill just wait and see. thanks for ure help again!
-Dan
"Have you actually tried every tire we have listed? Judging by your 1/4 mile time, you probably don't make enough power to need good tires to keep you in a straight line"
...Or SCC got to him. They make it seem like they're the best thing since naked chicks.
Not dissing them though, I like the magizine.
...Or SCC got to him. They make it seem like they're the best thing since naked chicks.
Not dissing them though, I like the magizine.
well, working at a tire shop and having multiple sets on MY cars(a 300ZX and my S13, a BMW 330i-my moms :p )
I can give you some pretty solid recomendations...."best price" and "best performance" NEVER go together.
extreeme case: formula one tires cost 900 dollars a peice.
-kumho's are what I consider a "well i wanted big wheels to LOOK like I wanted to go fast" tires. they stick decently, and roll like complete *** unless you very carefully index them. 9/10 people who acclaim kumho's have JUST upgraded their wheel/tire pacage from a H-rated to a 17" or higher Z rated. obviously your gonna get some improvement. duh.but hey, they are cheap.
-Michellin Pilot Sport/Sport all season(a/s) provide excellent overall grip, and are very linear at the limit(give up grip preidcibly), although not as grippy overall as some tires in their class, tend to wear a bit longer(especially the a/s) and be quiter than most 'max performance' tires. also rather expensive.
-Pirelli Pzero Asymetrico/Pzero family- great grippy tires, wear out kinda fast, provide excellent corneging grip, and very good rain traction, given that the origional asymetrcio was a "dry" tire. the 'rosso' was designed to limit the noise associated with the worn asymetrico and provide better rain traction, although it gives up some overall grip. The "nero" version provides a good blend of styling, performance, and costs less than the previous two Pzero tires. the ASym. and Rosso tend to be costly tires, while the nero(not quite as linear giving or grippy at the limit as the asym.) tends to be less expensive.-Pirelli P7000 and p7000SS: provide good grip for the proice, provide good wet weather traction, but again do not grip as well as a "max performance" tire because they do wnat good rain, and in the case of the SS, light snow traction.
-Falken Azenis- Great dry grip ires, good for occasional autocross due to its large tread blocking, but all season and rain traction suffer considerably. noise also becomanes an issue as the tire wears. wears quite fast due to it emphasis on dry grip. NOT a good all-seaosn tire. very cost effective.-Falken Ziex 512- the sucessor the the 502, provides a good, V or Z rated tire in most sized with good all-season traits. slightly better ride characeristics than KUMHO tires. wears decently for a V/Z tire.
-BFgoodrich G-force KD: DRY DRY DRY DRY DRY DRY. dont even think about sing this tire if you plan on running these tire in lots of rain or incoimate weather. given that, its a wonderfull dry grip tire, as was its purpose, can be babbied through light rain and be OK, but choosing the KDW(dry and wet) would be a better choice for wet-weather excursions/daily driven cars, while providing a good level of grip, price is intermediate, and soemtimes very high compared to similar, and possibly better tires.
-Yokohama AVS sport: I have put more than a few sets of these on porshe's, Lotus esprit twin turbos, etc. everyone loves them, for the money its a wonderfull sports tire, very good rain traction, but wears out quickly, and sometimes becomes noisy after 3/4 of the wear are gone. Good max performance tire for the money.
-Yokoaham AVS ES100- similar to the pilot sport, without the steep price tag, recently tested them on a maxima, the wet traction was very good, although not as forgiving at the limit as a Pzero or similar, it costs half as much, and should wear better. slices the dry/wet/treadwear criterion very well.
-Yokohama Parada SPec-2: great dry tire, design is similar to falken Azeni's. only problem i ahve seen is treadwear and lack of serious rain(downpour) traction. definately a solid choice for the money if you dont see snow or heavy rain much.
-DUnlop W-10 or FM901- good cost effective tire, problems with noise may throw some people off. Wet traction and overall grip is often sporatic. ON blalancers it can spin funny, as I ahve seen many come from the factory(like kumho's) shaved or very badly out-of-round(no tire is absolutely round). in the same area with falken and yokohama as far as price, procides adequate traction.
-Goodyear GS D3- brand new design, only put one set on a ws6 trans am, guy said they are good cornering tires, but a bit noisy compared to his bridgestons he had before. thats all i can really tell you(no hand on with these yet).
-Bridgestone Pole Position S-03: bad-*** max grip tire, has two spereate tread compounts in the tire, so the ammount of grip stays the same as the tire wears. very forgiving at the limit, large water chanells provide good wet weather capabilities(put a set on a 540i and an m5 both love them) treadwear is not esspecially good(12k+ would be good out of these, similar to the Pzero) but does provide excellent traction in both wet and dry. Possibly nosei problems as the tire wears down.
WHEW. I think that covers everything, if you think of one I forgot, let me know...
heres my personal ranking(given my experiance) if cost is a serious consideration:1. Yokohama Spec-2/ES100(depeding on size/weather area)2. Pirelli P70003. Falken ZIEX 512/Azenis4. Kumho ecsta 712
if cost is not a big consideration:L1. Pirelli Pzero system(call pirelli about this, its direction fronts, asy. rears) or Pzero's all around(matching)2. Bridgeston S-03 or Michelin Pilot sport3. Yokohama AVS sport(close tie, but noise knocks it down) or BFgoodrich G-force(great grip, rain and noise problems)
all in all, you gotta figure out what tire matches your driving styles and car/suspension setups. be realistic. dont go buy a G-force KD if you KNOW yuor gonna be in serious rain or snow. get something more snow/rain capable.
I myself have pirelli Pzero's and love them to death, I ahve had other pirelli's, michellins, etc on my cars and these are the best yet(have not had s03 on my car) but they come at a price.
-chet
I can give you some pretty solid recomendations...."best price" and "best performance" NEVER go together.
extreeme case: formula one tires cost 900 dollars a peice.
-kumho's are what I consider a "well i wanted big wheels to LOOK like I wanted to go fast" tires. they stick decently, and roll like complete *** unless you very carefully index them. 9/10 people who acclaim kumho's have JUST upgraded their wheel/tire pacage from a H-rated to a 17" or higher Z rated. obviously your gonna get some improvement. duh.but hey, they are cheap.
-Michellin Pilot Sport/Sport all season(a/s) provide excellent overall grip, and are very linear at the limit(give up grip preidcibly), although not as grippy overall as some tires in their class, tend to wear a bit longer(especially the a/s) and be quiter than most 'max performance' tires. also rather expensive.
-Pirelli Pzero Asymetrico/Pzero family- great grippy tires, wear out kinda fast, provide excellent corneging grip, and very good rain traction, given that the origional asymetrcio was a "dry" tire. the 'rosso' was designed to limit the noise associated with the worn asymetrico and provide better rain traction, although it gives up some overall grip. The "nero" version provides a good blend of styling, performance, and costs less than the previous two Pzero tires. the ASym. and Rosso tend to be costly tires, while the nero(not quite as linear giving or grippy at the limit as the asym.) tends to be less expensive.-Pirelli P7000 and p7000SS: provide good grip for the proice, provide good wet weather traction, but again do not grip as well as a "max performance" tire because they do wnat good rain, and in the case of the SS, light snow traction.
-Falken Azenis- Great dry grip ires, good for occasional autocross due to its large tread blocking, but all season and rain traction suffer considerably. noise also becomanes an issue as the tire wears. wears quite fast due to it emphasis on dry grip. NOT a good all-seaosn tire. very cost effective.-Falken Ziex 512- the sucessor the the 502, provides a good, V or Z rated tire in most sized with good all-season traits. slightly better ride characeristics than KUMHO tires. wears decently for a V/Z tire.
-BFgoodrich G-force KD: DRY DRY DRY DRY DRY DRY. dont even think about sing this tire if you plan on running these tire in lots of rain or incoimate weather. given that, its a wonderfull dry grip tire, as was its purpose, can be babbied through light rain and be OK, but choosing the KDW(dry and wet) would be a better choice for wet-weather excursions/daily driven cars, while providing a good level of grip, price is intermediate, and soemtimes very high compared to similar, and possibly better tires.
-Yokohama AVS sport: I have put more than a few sets of these on porshe's, Lotus esprit twin turbos, etc. everyone loves them, for the money its a wonderfull sports tire, very good rain traction, but wears out quickly, and sometimes becomes noisy after 3/4 of the wear are gone. Good max performance tire for the money.
-Yokoaham AVS ES100- similar to the pilot sport, without the steep price tag, recently tested them on a maxima, the wet traction was very good, although not as forgiving at the limit as a Pzero or similar, it costs half as much, and should wear better. slices the dry/wet/treadwear criterion very well.
-Yokohama Parada SPec-2: great dry tire, design is similar to falken Azeni's. only problem i ahve seen is treadwear and lack of serious rain(downpour) traction. definately a solid choice for the money if you dont see snow or heavy rain much.
-DUnlop W-10 or FM901- good cost effective tire, problems with noise may throw some people off. Wet traction and overall grip is often sporatic. ON blalancers it can spin funny, as I ahve seen many come from the factory(like kumho's) shaved or very badly out-of-round(no tire is absolutely round). in the same area with falken and yokohama as far as price, procides adequate traction.
-Goodyear GS D3- brand new design, only put one set on a ws6 trans am, guy said they are good cornering tires, but a bit noisy compared to his bridgestons he had before. thats all i can really tell you(no hand on with these yet).
-Bridgestone Pole Position S-03: bad-*** max grip tire, has two spereate tread compounts in the tire, so the ammount of grip stays the same as the tire wears. very forgiving at the limit, large water chanells provide good wet weather capabilities(put a set on a 540i and an m5 both love them) treadwear is not esspecially good(12k+ would be good out of these, similar to the Pzero) but does provide excellent traction in both wet and dry. Possibly nosei problems as the tire wears down.
WHEW. I think that covers everything, if you think of one I forgot, let me know...
heres my personal ranking(given my experiance) if cost is a serious consideration:1. Yokohama Spec-2/ES100(depeding on size/weather area)2. Pirelli P70003. Falken ZIEX 512/Azenis4. Kumho ecsta 712
if cost is not a big consideration:L1. Pirelli Pzero system(call pirelli about this, its direction fronts, asy. rears) or Pzero's all around(matching)2. Bridgeston S-03 or Michelin Pilot sport3. Yokohama AVS sport(close tie, but noise knocks it down) or BFgoodrich G-force(great grip, rain and noise problems)
all in all, you gotta figure out what tire matches your driving styles and car/suspension setups. be realistic. dont go buy a G-force KD if you KNOW yuor gonna be in serious rain or snow. get something more snow/rain capable.
I myself have pirelli Pzero's and love them to death, I ahve had other pirelli's, michellins, etc on my cars and these are the best yet(have not had s03 on my car) but they come at a price.
-chet
I have basically decided to stick with the 15" wheels I have because I can get SO-3 for $103 each from tirerack. I had the RE-730 on my integra and loved them. I really thought they were awesome, I played with them a whole lot. Auto-X and whatever. So I decided to stick with bridgestone (the keep winning those darn F1 races too). I bet if you have 15" wheels and 4 $100 tires it will give you more performance/dollar then going to 17s and having to get a budget tire for $100. So keep your 15s and get pole postions
sorry for the extremly biased post, thanks for the great info, Exar-Kun everything there sounded great
sorry for the extremly biased post, thanks for the great info, Exar-Kun everything there sounded great
The only thing I use the 240 for is drifting so I just get the cheapest things that will fit on the stock rims . It currently has some el cheapo Cooper 205/50/16's that are outright friggin' dangeous with any form of precipitation or when the temps get below 50 . Air em up and they'll spin up anywhere . Of course , if you value your car , you'll probably want something more sane for daily driving . FWIW , I have Pirelli zeros on my Civic and can't say anything bad about them . I guess I could gripe about wear , but compared to bike tires they're still a bargain for $/fun/milage !
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