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A little panicky over all-season tire purchase - please help

B

BinarySolo

Member
Hi all. I am an amateur at most things car related, but I like to do my research before I put down hundreds of dollars into anything. Here's the situation:

I own a 2004 Honda Civic Si with 40,000 miles. I brought it for an oil change and an inspection, and they told me the tires were nearly bald and need to be replaced immediately or it won't pass (I figured this would happen). The mechanic gave me a few options, a Goodyear RSA for $122 (crappy deal) and the Nokian eNTYRE for $138 (seems average).

I live in the Northeast and cannot afford to own two sets of tires, so I need an all-season. Let me say that I know that the Nokian WRG2s would be the best, and I'd LOVE to get them, but they're out of my price range. I was thinking about the Nokian enTYREs, but those are still a little pricey. I just can't decide if I should bite the bullet and pay $138 a tire for them, or get any of the following:

Continental ExtremeContact DWS - $106
Kumho Ecsta ASX - $84
Yokohama AVID TOURING-S - $86
Goodyear Eagle GT (V) - $102
Hankook Optimo H727 - $97

All prices from www.tirerack.com. These are more in my price range, and I've seen them recommended in different places, including on this forum.

Is it worth it to get the Nokian eNTYREs or WRG2s and pay close to $150-$200 more? By worth it I mean, will I really tell that much of a difference between the Nokians and any of these cheaper ones? I'm really on quite a budget, and as it is I'll have to pay for shipping and $80 for installation/balancing.

Car's in the ship waiting on my instructions, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
The Contis are great. One of my partners drives a car with DWSs all year here in MN, so I'm confident they are decent on snow. (In my own experience all-season tires can be all over the map in winter traction, regardless of cost.) I'd get the Contis.

I would guess you'd also be OK with the Yokohamas. I have Hankook Ventus V12 Evo summer tires on one of my cars and I'm not thrilled with them, but I would think the Ecstas are fine as well.

Those Nokians are billed as "slush tires," and based on the siping on the treads I can't help but think they'd wear very quickly in anything other than winter conditions.
 
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Any idea how they'll be have at speeds of 75mph+ compared to the others? After all, most of the driving I do is on clear roads, even in the winter.
 
BinarySolo said:
Any idea how they'll be have at speeds of 75mph+ compared to the others? After all, most of the driving I do is on clear roads, even in the winter.
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They should all be fine, though the WRG2s would probably be pretty noisy due to the siping. I know my siped Blizzaks are a lot noisier than my summer tires when I swap them on. The Contis are definitely good high-speed tires - my partner has them on an Audi A8 and I've driven them at 80+ MPH - they're great. Honestly I see no reason not to just get those.
 
punjabiplaya said:
no, go with contis, i have heard no complaints about them
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What complaints? I have the DWS and I went AutoXing with them, they gripped better then expected and are quiet on the road.

From what I hear they perform great in the snow.


And OP do not I repeat do not get the GoodYear Eagle RSA they are horrible tires
 
thescreensavers said:
What complaints? I have the DWS and I went AutoXing with them, they gripped better then expected and are quiet on the road.

From what I hear they perform great in the snow.


And OP do not I repeat do not get the GoodYear Eagle RSA they are horrible tires
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He said he had heard no complaints with the Contis. I think they are the best of the choices posed by the OP, and among the very finest all-season tires period.
 
Wasn't planning on getting the RSAs. And I think he said there were no complaints...

So far I'm obviously leaning toward the Contis. No love for the Optimo H727s? I thought those looked pretty good, almost comparable to the WRG2.
 
BinarySolo said:
Wasn't planning on getting the RSAs. And I think he said there were no complaints...

So far I'm obviously leaning toward the Contis. No love for the Optimo H727s? I thought those looked pretty good, almost comparable to the WRG2.
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I am not one to get sucked in by a brand name (I chose Hankooks for my BMW, actually), but to me it seems pennywise but pound-foolish to get Korean tires when you only stand to save $36 for the complete set. Just get the Contis.
 
Ive heard great things about the conti's

when i bought my car the dealer put on new RSAs all the way around so Im stuck with them til they are burnt out... 🙁 ... not a fan.

if 18's weren't so expensive id replace sooner lol
 
I just got the Conti's about a month and a half ago. Have about 2500 miles on them so far. Still look brand new. Ride and handle great. We've been in a drought so I can only really comment on dry traction but it's great so far.
 
Another vote for the Conti DWS

Decision is simple - everyone has told you to buy the DWS - so buy them.

Often discounttiredirect.com is cheaper than TireRack.
 
Fmr12B said:
Another vote for the Conti DWS

Decision is simple - everyone has told you to buy the DWS - so buy them.

Often discounttiredirect.com is cheaper than TireRack.
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I like my Conti DWS myself. Much better than Goodyear F1 on my 2002 Z28. Still quieter and better rain traction after 7k miles.

Kinda expensive, though. I think they were about $800 for 4 of them installed. 275/40-17
 
In this case, Tirerack had the cheapest price - $106 per tire, and $42 shipping. I ordered them early this morning because my car is sitting in the shop and I'm borrowing a family's spare car in the meantime, so I needed to act quick (hence feeling panicked). This site has saved me more than once in making quick decisions.

Example: For those curious, this is the thread I created about 13 months ago seeking advice on whether or not I should buy the car. The car obviously have the old tires here.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2071148&highlight=

Tire size is 205 55 r16 by the way. I'll probably post some pictures once they're on. I'm really happy after watching some youtube reviews, since I ski, and this car needs to be ok in the snow.
 
RKS said:
what in particular do you not like? I know there are some complaints regarding the softer sidewall but I was going with these soon.
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I was replacing Bridgestone RE050 run-flats on my E90 330i sport. Obviously going from RFTs to non-RFTs is not apples-to-apples, but the turn in on the Hankooks is much slower and I find they wash out and trigger DSC much more easily. I drove them for several track sessions last summer and they were not impressive in handling and overheated relatively quickly. On the plus side, they're quiet and do well in the rain. To me they're OK tires but if I had it to do over again I'd spring for Pilot Super Sports (which were not yet available when I bought the Hankooks).
 
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