Tires??? Any Suggestions?
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Tires??? Any Suggestions?
Im about to put some tires on my rims soon and I heard alot of stuff about some tires and stuff.
I want tires which are performance rated and NOT Directional. I want performance and durability. I heard that many performance tires wear out quick. That sux. Your opinions are tires youve heard or had experience with. Thnx yall.
I want tires which are performance rated and NOT Directional. I want performance and durability. I heard that many performance tires wear out quick. That sux. Your opinions are tires youve heard or had experience with. Thnx yall.
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You've got 2 choices... Grip, or Longevity. They don't go together. You trade the softer compound of a performance tire to get the grip and you lose the wear, or visa versa. Look into performance all-seasons like Potenza RE-950s. They're expensive, but combine above average performance with decient treadwear. As far as flat out performance tires go... forget it, you'll have to give up your tread life. You can get 30K out of a Performance tire if it's not super sticky (don't expect to get that out of a Pilot Sport, but out of a Parada or AVS ES100, it's do able), and most, if not all performance tires these days are Directional since they don't need to run through snow and the directional tread clears water much better. Since all the tire companies don't follow the same tread wear scale, it a bit hard to judge... but it's safe to say that a rating above 280 should get you 30K or more... anything less and its your guess... it also depends how you drive. I know Falken Ziex 512s are decient for both (Treadwear 360), and they're relatively sticky, but the higher the wear rating, the less grip you're gonna get out of it.
The other option is to buy cheap performance tires like the Kumho 712 or Yoko AVS ES100 that are cheaper than most and still good. I hear the 712s suck in the rain, but I know for a fact the AVS ES100 are great in wet weather (I have them)... in 16" they're probably $85 a tire. Go to www.tirerack.com and read the customer reviews... that should shed some light.
The other option is to buy cheap performance tires like the Kumho 712 or Yoko AVS ES100 that are cheaper than most and still good. I hear the 712s suck in the rain, but I know for a fact the AVS ES100 are great in wet weather (I have them)... in 16" they're probably $85 a tire. Go to www.tirerack.com and read the customer reviews... that should shed some light.
Last edited by Boilermaker1; Jun 24, 2003 at 12:49 PM.
Autocross Junky
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Rep Power: 380 Boilermaker1, has it right. You can have Longevity or you can have performance or you can have a little of both. you are going to have trouble finding a perfomance tire thats not directional. they exzist (Falken Azenis are Asymetrical but not Directional) but they are not that common.
Some tires I've used personally (Yes I've autocrossed with all of them)
Falken 502's. ok for street use, Long lasting, decent in the rain but not that much cornering grip (hard compound)
Falken 512's . Currently using for my street tires. Good cornering grip(for a street tire) decent wet traction Good tread life.
Falken Azenis Sports. These are currently my Autocross tires. Excelent Dry grip (I can't stress this enough) Ok wet traction, Low tread life. Down side, you can over heat these tires, and when you do they get greasy(feels like your getting traction but your really not) also with a combination of autocross and street driving, you'll only be able to get about 8000 miles out of them. on the up side, I love these tires!! they easily have twice the cornering traction of the 512's and they cost 1/2 as much.
Some tires Ive talked to people about and seen used in autocross.
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD. good grippy tire, on par if not better then the Azenis, this also means that they will last about as long too.
Kumho ECSTA Supra 712. good grip for a steet tire, simalar to the Falken 512 in performance and longevity.
Kumho Ecsta MX. once again on par wiht the Azenis. same draw backs except they dont suffer from overheating as much. I also heard that they are a little slipery under braking when compaired to the falkens.
Kumho VictoRacer V700 . yes these are technicly DOT approved street tires. but only for the first 50 miles. Extreamly grippy tires with a tread wear of 50. Dont take these any where near water. will not last long on the street either(think under 5000 miles). Excelent autocross tire for stock classes.
Kumho Ecsta V700 same stats as the Victoracer but newer design I heard that the Victoracer is still faster.
Sumitomo HTR 200 not a competitve tire at all, to hard of a compound. Ok on the street.
Sumitomo HTR Z Havent heard of any one autocrossing these but they do have a tread wear of 160 so they will probably be as sticky as the Azenis with simalar wear properties.
Hoosier A3S03 onece again yes these are a DOT street leagal tire (Only for the first 50 miles) Suposidly quicker then both the Victoracer and the V700 but with a worse wear rating of 40. same issues as the Kumho's. Fastest tire for autocross though. (If your class allows them).
thas about all the tires I know about.
have fun.
Oh ya, on the national tour, the 2 top tires from last year in STS were the Falken Azenis and the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD. wheather or not the Kumho Ecsta MX will be as good remains to be seen, but I do know that a lot of national level racers are running with them
Some tires I've used personally (Yes I've autocrossed with all of them)
Falken 502's. ok for street use, Long lasting, decent in the rain but not that much cornering grip (hard compound)
Falken 512's . Currently using for my street tires. Good cornering grip(for a street tire) decent wet traction Good tread life.
Falken Azenis Sports. These are currently my Autocross tires. Excelent Dry grip (I can't stress this enough) Ok wet traction, Low tread life. Down side, you can over heat these tires, and when you do they get greasy(feels like your getting traction but your really not) also with a combination of autocross and street driving, you'll only be able to get about 8000 miles out of them. on the up side, I love these tires!! they easily have twice the cornering traction of the 512's and they cost 1/2 as much.
Some tires Ive talked to people about and seen used in autocross.
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD. good grippy tire, on par if not better then the Azenis, this also means that they will last about as long too.
Kumho ECSTA Supra 712. good grip for a steet tire, simalar to the Falken 512 in performance and longevity.
Kumho Ecsta MX. once again on par wiht the Azenis. same draw backs except they dont suffer from overheating as much. I also heard that they are a little slipery under braking when compaired to the falkens.
Kumho VictoRacer V700 . yes these are technicly DOT approved street tires. but only for the first 50 miles. Extreamly grippy tires with a tread wear of 50. Dont take these any where near water. will not last long on the street either(think under 5000 miles). Excelent autocross tire for stock classes.
Kumho Ecsta V700 same stats as the Victoracer but newer design I heard that the Victoracer is still faster.
Sumitomo HTR 200 not a competitve tire at all, to hard of a compound. Ok on the street.
Sumitomo HTR Z Havent heard of any one autocrossing these but they do have a tread wear of 160 so they will probably be as sticky as the Azenis with simalar wear properties.
Hoosier A3S03 onece again yes these are a DOT street leagal tire (Only for the first 50 miles) Suposidly quicker then both the Victoracer and the V700 but with a worse wear rating of 40. same issues as the Kumho's. Fastest tire for autocross though. (If your class allows them).
thas about all the tires I know about.
have fun.
Oh ya, on the national tour, the 2 top tires from last year in STS were the Falken Azenis and the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD. wheather or not the Kumho Ecsta MX will be as good remains to be seen, but I do know that a lot of national level racers are running with them
Last edited by Zzyzx; Jun 24, 2003 at 01:53 PM.
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Rep Power: 0 Okay, you got some good information up there^^^^I'm just gonna emphasize a few things and give you a couple of suggestions.
The biggest thing you need to digest is: Directional tread is not bad
If you have already gone to look at the tires that have been recommended, you see that (unless they are thinly-disguised race tires) almost all of them have directional tread, or some kind of asymmetrical pattern--just like Zzyzx said. The only times you would even need to think about it are at the tire shop--just make sure they know the tread is directional
>at installation time
>at rotation time
That's it!
I guess you are going for 205/50-16, so I'm gonna put some of the brands already mentioned above + one more suggested brand and their Treadwear*/Traction/Temperature ratings.
TREADWEAR is how many times longer that tire lasts than the manufacturer's "control" tire rated at 100 (example: rating of 280 = 2.8 times longer than the mfr's control tire)
TRACTION is how well the tire grips on a straight ahead wet pavement stop. AA is best, A is next, B is next, etc.
TEMPERATURE is how well the tire resists the heat build-up when running at high speeds. A tire HAS to make a C to pass . The top score is A.
Yokohama AVS ES100
280 AA A
Falken Ziex ZE-512
300 A A
Kumho Ecsta Supra 712
280 A A
Bridgestone Potenza RE750
340 AA A
(No Paradas, No Potenza RE950's, g-Force KD's in this size)
I have had the Kumho's (not impressed) and I currently have the ES100's in the 16" size on my car. Since my LX auto can't pull a greasy string out of a cat's ***, I can't tell you about drag race traction, but they handle on the street well and are excellent wet weather tires.
The Potenza RE750's are probably worth a look because they are probably stickier than anything else up there, and they would HAVE to be somewhat decent on wear with a 340 rating!!!
*Treadwear Boilermaker1 is exactly right--the US Government didn't make the manufacturers all start with the same specification tire to begin their testing--they were all allowed to take one of their own tires 
The biggest thing you need to digest is: Directional tread is not bad
If you have already gone to look at the tires that have been recommended, you see that (unless they are thinly-disguised race tires) almost all of them have directional tread, or some kind of asymmetrical pattern--just like Zzyzx said. The only times you would even need to think about it are at the tire shop--just make sure they know the tread is directional
>at installation time
>at rotation time
That's it!
I guess you are going for 205/50-16, so I'm gonna put some of the brands already mentioned above + one more suggested brand and their Treadwear*/Traction/Temperature ratings.
TREADWEAR is how many times longer that tire lasts than the manufacturer's "control" tire rated at 100 (example: rating of 280 = 2.8 times longer than the mfr's control tire)
TRACTION is how well the tire grips on a straight ahead wet pavement stop. AA is best, A is next, B is next, etc.
TEMPERATURE is how well the tire resists the heat build-up when running at high speeds. A tire HAS to make a C to pass
. The top score is A. Yokohama AVS ES100
280 AA A
Falken Ziex ZE-512
300 A A
Kumho Ecsta Supra 712
280 A A
Bridgestone Potenza RE750
340 AA A
(No Paradas, No Potenza RE950's, g-Force KD's in this size)
I have had the Kumho's (not impressed) and I currently have the ES100's in the 16" size on my car. Since my LX auto can't pull a greasy string out of a cat's ***, I can't tell you about drag race traction, but they handle on the street well and are excellent wet weather tires.
The Potenza RE750's are probably worth a look because they are probably stickier than anything else up there, and they would HAVE to be somewhat decent on wear with a 340 rating!!!
*Treadwear
Since all the tire companies don't follow the same tread wear scale, it a bit hard to judge...
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Rep Power: 0 I have tried two performance tires in my life. The first being Dunlop W-10 summer tires. The ones I have right now are the Falken 512 all-season.
Definately for grip I loved the Dunlops... They were sticky as hell and I had extreme confidence that a sharp turn would not make those tires skid. They had much better grip then the falkens. The falkens are good (not amazing) in dry conditions. So far my experience with them in the rain is very disappointing but maybe they will improve after they are broken in more. Ive had them for about a month. I chose the Falken's primarily cause they were all-season and have a good tread rating, but for sure I sacrificed some performance.
Problems with my Dunlops were that the tread definately wore out quickly... and the tread was soo soft that it picked up alot of unwanted objects... 4 or 5 nails in the first year I had them... I dont think Ive had any nails in any other tires Ive had, which is either a really big coincidence or cause the tread was so soft that it was easier for things to go through it.
The Falken 512s are a good and cheap all-around tire
Definately for grip I loved the Dunlops... They were sticky as hell and I had extreme confidence that a sharp turn would not make those tires skid. They had much better grip then the falkens. The falkens are good (not amazing) in dry conditions. So far my experience with them in the rain is very disappointing but maybe they will improve after they are broken in more. Ive had them for about a month. I chose the Falken's primarily cause they were all-season and have a good tread rating, but for sure I sacrificed some performance.
Problems with my Dunlops were that the tread definately wore out quickly... and the tread was soo soft that it picked up alot of unwanted objects... 4 or 5 nails in the first year I had them... I dont think Ive had any nails in any other tires Ive had, which is either a really big coincidence or cause the tread was so soft that it was easier for things to go through it.
The Falken 512s are a good and cheap all-around tire
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Rep Power: 0 i'm using a set of yokohama avs es100 as street tires right now in 205-55-16 size. i love them--they grip extremely well dry or wet. i have yet to find the limits under normal street driving conditions. they are also quite comfortable tires--very quiet for a high performance tire {they're quieter than stock}. most of all, you can't beat the price...$78/tire from tirerack.com
-jro
-jro
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