Tires, user input wanted

[Delasangre4231]

I am looking for general ratings for tires, like what have you liked and what have you disliked about various brands and or tire models.

 

I am looking at some Hankook Ventus V4 ES H105 in 17 inch for my z31 with a W speed rating. I like Hankook's as I have used them before.

 

I am interested to hear how Riken's and Falken's do as well as Toyo and Federal.

 

I have used Toyo but I thought they were very slippery, then again they were just Toyo Eclipse's. I then had a set of Federal's on my s130 and they were wonderful tires. So anyways, maybe provide a #/10 rating and your thoughts on what you've experienced.

 

Thanks

[Apex944]

I've been using the Falken Ziex ZE-502 and love them, good wear and really good grip in wet and dry condition's.

 

I don't have very much experience with different tire's nor much experience in certain situations such as race track usage but I would give them a 10/10 for both their price and how they perform. I paid ~$230 shipped for all 4 tires in a 205/50/15 size.

 

I had them on my last car which was an '88 Rx-7 T2 and they were just as good as they are on my '73 240Z.

[burninator]

I'd start by checking out the tire rack survey.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresult/surveydisplay.jsp?type=UHPAS

 

I think it's a good way to ballpark a tire. Your tire of choice didn't do so hot. But if your going for the exact size 215/35 R17 then it's the only choice in that category. Unless there is a specific reason you've picked that size, I'd start trying to think of different sizes that would work for you. There are very few choices in any category of tire in that size.

 

I personally have had good luck with Dunlops and Bridgestones as my favorite tires. But I have little experience in the Ultra-High-Performance All-Season category. Something to remember is that the treadwear rating is only good comparing one tire brand tires of the same brand. Every company has a different way of rating them.

[leftover z]

I loved my Toyo's. Good grip, nice tread pattern, but they did seem to wear out fairly quickly. I had Federal's, which seemed to wear forever, but not the grip like the Toyo's. I probably will go with BFG's next.

[burninator]

I think you really need to qualify your questions if you want any useful results. I assumed you wanted a UHP All season. But I can see that your probly going to get a lot of posts from people who have used such and such a brand in some performance catagory and you can't compare the wear or performance of a standard all season to a something like a UHP tire. Do you want as much grip as possible? Are you looking for an all season? Will you drive it in the snow? How long do you expect it should last? These are the kind of specifics people will need to know if you want useful answers to your question.

[Delasangre4231]

I don't care about wear, I want incredible dry grip and at least above average wet grip with somewhat good light snow traction. Yea I knew I would get all sorts of different tires, thats what I'm counting on. I want to see what people say about the brands and what you can expect from them.

[MatMan]

I have had good results with Dunlop. Dry traction stick is great. They are wearing a bit fast now, could be because I am running huge negative camber. going bald on the inside doesn't lend itself to good wet traction. I wish [Yokohama] A008s were still made...(still, bad wet characteristics, but I try not to run in the rain!)...

[rat_ranger]

yokohama S drives are pretty good. been running them a year on a ranger with lost of spirited driving and they work great dry, above average in wet, but stay away from snow and ice.

[Dtsnlvrs]

I have had good results with Dunlop. Dry traction stick is great. They are wearing a bit fast now, could be because I am running huge negative camber. going bald on the inside doesn't lend itself to good wet traction. I wish [Yokohama] A008s were still made...(still, bad wet characteristics, but I try not to run in the rain!)...

 

Oh to have the A008's again....life would be grand:mrgreen:

[bjhines]

I don't care about wear, I want incredible dry grip and at least above average wet grip with somewhat good light snow traction. Yea I knew I would get all sorts of different tires, thats what I'm counting on. I want to see what people say about the brands and what you can expect from them.

 

 

You can forget about speed ratings, You can forget about brand names. You can foget about load ranges. You can forget about profile height. You can forget about tread patterns. You can forget about directionality. All of that is useless for this discussion.

If you want grip then sort your choices by the lowest UTQG rating possible. A good set of DOT-legal, sticky tires will have a UTQG rating less than 150 and as low as 40. The lower the number the stickier the tire and the shorter it's life.

 

I run Bridgestone RE01Rs on track and street on my BMW M3. I don't drive that car in heavy rain, ice, snow, or bad weather at all, but I do drive it on the street regularly.

[burninator]

If you want grip then sort your choices by the lowest UTQG rating possible. A good set of DOT-legal, sticky tires will have a UTQG rating less than 150 and as low as 40. The lower the number the stickier the tire and the shorter it's life.

 

I run Bridgestone RE01Rs on track and street on my BMW M3. I don't drive that car in heavy rain, ice, snow, or bad weather at all, but I do drive it on the street regularly.

If you want something to use in light snow do not get those tires. I have a friend with them on an M3 and they are useless in the snow. Stick to something labeled as an all-season if you want any hope of driving in the snow.

 

As I said before, UTQG rating is manufacturer specific and should not be used to compare tires across brands. An all-season will probly have something over 400. Obviously they aren't going to be as sticky as like a max performance summer only tire. But you won't get stranded in light snow.

[bjhines]

The whole idea of max perf/traction and snow/ice use is nonsense. It sounds like 2 different sets of tires are called for here.

[junglist]

I have run Falken Azenis on my past few cars after Yokohama stopped making the AVS Intermediates. I loved the Azenis on my 350Z. I went through a few sets and a few track events. Azenis are what I'm going to be running on my 240Z.

 

I had an Integra GSR before with Azenis and switched temporarily to Yokohama ES100's...those were definitely inferior to the Azenis in every condition except rain which is not the Azenis strong suit.

 

I got caught in about .5"-1" of snow in my 350Z with Azenis...the car was basically completely useless with the rear constantly wanting to be in front. Also, the Azenis dont like temps under 40 degrees.

[Nigel]

Car and Driver did a comprehensive comparison of 9 performance tires last year.

 

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparisons/09q2/tire_test_nine_affordable_summer_tires_take_on_the_michelin_ps2-comparison_tests

 

I'm going to be getting the 2nd place Hankook Ventus V12 Evo's. Their overall performance is close enough to the first place Dunlop Direzza's, but for significantly less money. I had the Falken Azenis RT-615 tires before, and I'd have to agree with the assessment in the article. They performed well in the dry, but tended to lock up easy under breaking, and were just plain frightening on wet roads.

 

It's amusing to note that the Ling Long's dry autocross time was worse than the top three tires in the wet!!!

 

Nigel

'73 240ZT

[junglist]

Those are some surprising results and have made me reconsider my future tire choices. Thanks for the link.

[leftover z]

Great info, thanks for posting that link Nigel.

[burninator]

Just be sure to note that all of the tires in the car and driver test are summer only. I keep pointing that out because you said you wanted somewhat good snow traction. Those tires would be bad for cold weather driving and would be flat dangerous to drive in the snow.

[260DET]

In my experience its pointless to generally compare brands, you have to get down to specific models. Which involves defining what you want from a tyre and what it will be used for.

 

For everyday sporty use not involving ice or snow I like the BFG G force Sport tyres on my 280ZX. But they were available at a good price, if they had been expensive I would have bought something else. It is not necessary to pay a lot of money to get good tyres, some are definately overpriced for what they are.

[Delasangre4231]

I'm going to go for something that is good in dry and wet, I plan to move away from here before it snows again and if it does I just got my truck running...

[randy 77zt]

i ran some yoko a008 way back when on my z.didnt like them on track-torched them quickly at infineon.so i run cheap tires on street and have a set of track tires.but since my suspension is very stiff in my car i run 15" wheels on the street.i run 215/60-15 tires at 25 psi-i am using the tires for part of the suspension work on the street.low profile tires look good but i am not really a fan for everyday use.