Good Performance Tires

[jeffs2002]

I'm looking for good set of performance tires, 245/45/17, any recommendations?

[Shodown]

Re: Good Performance Tires

What kind of performance? Drag racing performance? Autocross performance ? Wet weather performance?

[BLLDOGG]

Re: Good Performance Tires

read the reviews and such on www.tirerack.com

best way to make a decision

[jeffs2002]

Re: Good Performance Tires

A nice street tire.

[ZO6vette037]

Re: Good Performance Tires

I saw go with some Kumhos. These are the ones I run. They are stickey, good for the autocross and dragstrip, and handle good in the rain. A good tires for the moeny.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....CSTA+Supra+712

[hockeyman]

Re: Good Performance Tires

I too like Kumho Tires :tup:

[Tradition_F]

Re: Good Performance Tires

im running kumho ecsta spt 275/40/17 and love them!:banana:

[Vracer111]

Re: Good Performance Tires

If you want to go with street performance and some of the best wet weather performance, the Kumho Ecsta SPT would be THE tire (the Ecsta 712 is not a great tire..low grip with lot of noise being made at the limit... once was enough for those not high enough performance tires)

If you don't care about tire wear too much [i.e. you would be happy getting 15k miles from your tires], the Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 is an great dry and wet high performance tire... nearly like the Azenis RT-615 in dry traction but much better on the streets (especially in the wet) and one of the quietest street tires at the limits.

The Kumho SPT would be the best overall performance tire for not a lot of money...

[BLLDOGG]

Re: Good Performance Tires

Some of the top Ultra High Performance - All season

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

[Vracer111]

Re: Good Performance Tires

You really don't want all season tires, you want summer performance tires (Ultra High Performance or Maximum Performance). All season tires are mediocre at everything, they compromise too much and really excell at nothing - they are point A to point B tires, not tires you buy to dramatically increase the wet/dry handling of your vehicle. Look at the recent Car and Driver article from the December 2006 issue A tire for all Seasons?

[bluovlh8er]

Re: Good Performance Tires

i got bf traction t/a's good tire.

[93threefour]

Re: Good Performance Tires

All around driving I would say Nitto 555R's on the rear and 555s on the front.
Drag Racing BFG DRs on the rear and KDW's on the front (could sub in Mickey Thompson Drag radials as well)
AutoX Nittor 555RII's all around
Strictly street Toyo Proxies 4

Kumho Ecsta Supra 712's BLOW my 3.4 with an open diff would often spin posi with them traction sucked, but however the did very well in the rain/wet conditions. Handling was alright for what I did (spirited country roads) Wear was decent for a softer summer Tire. Cheap tho! Would make good for looks/ and some spirited driving, but the toyo's are alot better IMO.

Good luck with the decisions.

[BLLDOGG]

Re: Good Performance Tires

You really don't want all season tires, you want summer performance tires (Ultra High Performance or Maximum Performance). All season tires are mediocre at everything, they compromise too much and really excell at nothing - they are point A to point B tires, not tires you buy to dramatically increase the wet/dry handling of your vehicle. Look at the recent Car and Driver article from the December 2006 issue A tire for all Seasons?

My Avon all season high performance tires are the best tires I have ever had. great for all forms of weather and traction. no noise, long tread life. Can't be beat. Don't believe everything you hear. know what you know through actual technical information and experience. Car magazines are not reliable information outlets.

[FirebirdGT]

Re: Good Performance Tires

I'll be buying new 275/40-17 tires in a couple of weeks.

I've decided to go with all-season. The driving conditions change too much (cold and snow one day, sunny and 50's the next) in AZ when you live in the mountains.

Anyway, I've ranked the top three, based on reviews, tests, and surveys.

Toyo PX4 $124
Kumho ECSTA ASX $107
Avon Tech M550 $119

All prices are mail order.

[Vracer111]

Re: Good Performance Tires

The Car and Driver tire test was done in a thorough and verifyable manner...

All season tires are not as good in the wet or dry as high performance "summer" tires. They are great for daily driving, but put all-season performance tires up against summer performance tires in wet or dry conditions to measure their relative performance and all-season tires will come in behind the summer performance tires without a doubt. The only thing performance all-season tires do better than summer performance tires are wear longer (they are harder, not as sticky compounds) and have a little better snow traction (smaller tread blocks). Anybody who thinks that performance all-season tires have better grip in the wet or dry than performance summer tires should research the subject.

My Toyota Tacoma extended cab was riding on 245/45-16 Hankook R-S2 Z212 maximum performance summer tires, with which it can pull right under 1.000G (measured with a Race Technologies DL-1 data recorder) steady state cornering and cruises rock steady at 80mph in the wet. I have autocrossed an Acura Integra, Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab, and the Camaro along with tracking the Integra and Camaro at road courses on Kumho Ecsta 712's, Yokohama ES-100's, BFGoodrich Comp T/A KDW's, Kumho Ecsta MX's, Falken Azenis RT-215's, Hankook R-S2 Z212's, and Nitto NT-555RII (DOT-R). I don't have much experience with all-season tires other than the junk tires known as Goodyears, the adequate Dunlop D60 A2 tires, and the excellent BFGoodrich TA's [currently on my Tacoma].

When someone asks for performance street tire suggestions, I tend to think they are interested in handling performance wet/dry much more than just your average daily driver tire (all-season tires). If you are truely interested in making your vehicle "handle" wet or dry, the highest performing summer tires are what you want! If you just really want to drive back and forth to work/school/etc and get mileage out of your car while having a reasonable increase in capability then you would go with the highest performance all-season tires. There is a big difference between performance summer and performance all-season tires - it's like comparing the handling differences between a Camaro to a Porsche Cayman. Sure the Camaro handles nicely, but not as nicely as a Porsche Cayman.

Kumho Ecsta SPT ($90 for 245/45-17) or Dunlop Direzza DZ101 ($106 for 245/45-17) would be my suggestions...if you are interested in performance tires and aren't going to drive in the snow.