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I need tires

jlee

jlee

Lifer
Finally picked up some wheels for the 2 (check my build thread in a day or so). Here are my options from Tire Rack:


Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec (Extreme Performance Summer)
$612

Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 (Extreme Performance Summer)
$750

Continental ContiSportContact 3 (Max Performance Summer)
$748

Continental ExtremeContact DW (Max Performance Summer
$550

Kumho Ecsta LE Sport (Max Performance Summer)
$494

BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 (Ultra High Performance Summer)
$546

Fuzion ZRi (Ultra High Performance Summer)
$414

Sumitomo HTR Z II (Ultra High Performance Summer)
$356

Kumho Ecsta ASX (Ultra High Performance All-Season)
$400
Click to expand...

Prices do not include shipping. Sizes are 215/40/17 and 245/40/17. I have heard really good things about Star Specs, so I'm tempted to get a set of those. It is more of a weekend-daily-ish car than it is for racing...I will probably autox and/or drag every now and again, but it's far from a dedicated motorsports car.

Any recommendations?
 
I love my star specs. However I'm not sure if they are to be replaced by something new soon or not. I do know that Michelin is bringing the PS3's out soon, will most likely be fairly expensive though considering how the PS2's were priced.
 
Discount Tire Direct (free shipping):
Kumho Ecsta ASX
$434

Falken Zeix ZE-912
$420

Falken FK 452
$450

Yokohama S.drive
$494

BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDW NT
$576

Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08
$774
Click to expand...
 
I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Continental Extremes. I've been considering them as I'm not sure my summer tires will make it another full season.
 
Great tires make a huge difference in the car's performance. Unless you're sticking to bottom barrel budget, I wouldn't bother with Kumho, Sumitomo, or Fuzion.

The BFG ones are okay from what I recall, but for the money the Star Specs are better. Same against the Conti's. Though, the Star Specs will have more NVH than the others.

If you're considering $700+ tires and want to get the best stuff out there, I'd recommend the Potenza RE-11's. I'm debating between them and the Star Specs when my RE-01R's give up the ghost (which will be soon).
 
fbrdphreak said:
Great tires make a huge difference in the car's performance. Unless you're sticking to bottom barrel budget, I wouldn't bother with Kumho, Sumitomo, or Fuzion.

The BFG ones are okay from what I recall, but for the money the Star Specs are better. Same against the Conti's. Though, the Star Specs will have more NVH than the others.

If you're considering $700+ tires and want to get the best stuff out there, I'd recommend the Potenza RE-11's. I'm debating between them and the Star Specs when my RE-01R's give up the ghost (which will be soon).
Click to expand...

If I went 215/45 front, I could do RE-11's but they're $856 plus shipping. 😱
 
I'd lean towards the S.Drive's or Continential Extreme Contact DWS summers given that you won't usually take advantage of the StarSpecs or RE-11s, tires that are really just glorified racing tires (not that they are bad).
 
JCH13 said:
I'd lean towards the S.Drive's or Continential Extreme Contact DWS summers given that you won't usually take advantage of the StarSpecs or RE-11s, tires that are really just glorified racing tires (not that they are bad).
Click to expand...

But S.Drives make cars understeer!


😛
 
I just replaced the Continential Extreme Contact DWS on my MazdaSpeed6 ... I got about 12months out of them and roughly 20k miles. Replaced them with Yokohama Avid Envigor. The Speed6 goes through tires like bubble gum, and I hope the higher tread wear rating of the Yokos will help. I don't autocross etc. It's my daily driver. No burn outs. No ripping through corners. Traction was good in wet or dry. Plenty of snow up here in the NE this year and they did fine up until the end when things got a little dicey. i will say that I had way more vibration with the DWS even after having the tires rebalanced, alignment checked, and rotating the tires. The steering wheel shake never went away.

Previous Tires were Kumho Ecsta ASX ... they lasted about the same and had about the same mileage but grip just wasn't as good as DWS.

Tires before that were the horrible OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's that lasted not even 12k miles of summer/fall driving.

I'd recommend the DWS again ... but not the Kumho's. Save your money.

I spent a little more on the Yoko's hoping you get what you pay for. So far I am very happy with them. Only about 100 miles on them so too early to give any solid opinions.
 
^

WTF is wrong with that car and/or you? 20k on DWS I would look into that, or is the MS6 just known to eat them due to design?

I also have DWS and love them. But for his MR2 I think he wants something more sporty like the DW. The DWS, IMO, have a soft sidewall but do grip well in all weather conditions.
 
jlee said:
If I went 215/45 front, I could do RE-11's but they're $856 plus shipping. 😱
Click to expand...
They're expensive, but you're looking at $700+ for Yoko's. If those are a serious consideration, another ~$100 isn't much considering how awesome the RE-11's are.

Need4Speed said:
i will say that I had way more vibration with the DWS even after having the tires rebalanced, alignment checked, and rotating the tires. The steering wheel shake never went away.
Click to expand...
I've heard this from several others about the DWS. Seems they had a few bad batches or something. A buddy of mine works at a shop that handles a lot of performance cars and they are a Tire Rack direct-ship provider, so they see a fair amount of tires & cars come through. They balanced and re-balanced and couldn't get the DWS' to be 100% smooth.
 
Marlin1975 said:
^

WTF is wrong with that car and/or you? 20k on DWS I would look into that, or is the MS6 just known to eat them due to design?

I also have DWS and love them. But for his MR2 I think he wants something more sporty like the DW. The DWS, IMO, have a soft sidewall but do grip well in all weather conditions.
Click to expand...

Yeah, grip in cold/snow is of absolutely no concern - this is a warm-weather-sunny-day car. It won't see much rain, but I don't want to be completely out of luck if it does rain.

fbrdphreak said:
They're expensive, but you're looking at $700+ for Yoko's. If those are a serious consideration, another ~$100 isn't much considering how awesome the RE-11's are.
Click to expand...

I listed every matching tire set on Tire Rack regardless of consideration - I'm not buying Kumho's or Falken's, but they're available so I put them up. 🙂

$900 is pretty hard to swallow, considering I could get Star Specs for under $700 and I think that's more tire than I really need.
 
jlee said:
Yeah, grip in cold/snow is of absolutely no concern - this is a warm-weather-sunny-day car. It won't see much rain, but I don't want to be completely out of luck if it does rain.
Click to expand...


Yea the DW (Dry Wet) are the higgest rated Summer Max tire right now at Tirerack. They seem to handle the went just as well as the DWS.

Treadwear is lowwer but I assume you already knew an all summer performance tire is not a long life tire. :hmm:
 
Marlin1975 said:
Yea the DW (Dry Wet) are the higgest rated Summer Max tire right now at Tirerack. They seem to handle the went just as well as the DWS.

Treadwear is lowwer but I assume you already knew an all summer performance tire is not a long life tire. :hmm:
Click to expand...

If I get 10-15k, that's good enough. 😛
 
jlee said:
Yeah, grip in cold/snow is of absolutely no concern - this is a warm-weather-sunny-day car. It won't see much rain, but I don't want to be completely out of luck if it does rain.



I listed every matching tire set on Tire Rack regardless of consideration - I'm not buying Kumho's or Falken's, but they're available so I put them up. 🙂

$900 is pretty hard to swallow, considering I could get Star Specs for under $700 and I think that's more tire than I really need.
Click to expand...
FWIW, the Bridgestones have absolutely awesome wet traction. They'll also be quieter than the Star Specs.

I hear you loud & clear on the Bridgestones. If you're not realistically in that price range, then don't get 'em. Once you do, it'll be hard to go back 😉 I love my RE-01R's and am having trouble selling myself on the RE-11's. The cost savings on the tires could help pay for new shocks, which I need more than a top of the line tire...
 
fbrdphreak said:
FWIW, the Bridgestones have absolutely awesome wet traction. They'll also be quieter than the Star Specs.

I hear you loud & clear on the Bridgestones. If you're not realistically in that price range, then don't get 'em. Once you do, it'll be hard to go back 😉 I love my RE-01R's and am having trouble selling myself on the RE-11's. The cost savings on the tires could help pay for new shocks, which I need more than a top of the line tire...
Click to expand...

Heh I have this exhaust
summerd.jpg


and will have an open wastegate dump. Tire noise is the least of my worries. 😛

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get the RE-11's...I'm just not sure that it'd be worth the premium. Maybe I'll try the Conti DW's and see how those go..if I want more grip, I can move up when they wear out.
 
Marlin1975 said:
^

WTF is wrong with that car and/or you? 20k on DWS I would look into that, or is the MS6 just known to eat them due to design?

I also have DWS and love them. But for his MR2 I think he wants something more sporty like the DW. The DWS, IMO, have a soft sidewall but do grip well in all weather conditions.
Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with me or the car 🙂 ... well at least not with me. The speed6 is notorious for eating through tires even with the alignment in spec and 5k rotations. my driving isn't very aggressive at all.
 
Need4Speed said:
There is nothing wrong with me or the car 🙂 ... well at least not with me. The speed6 is notorious for eating through tires even with the alignment in spec and 5k rotations. my driving isn't very aggressive at all.
Click to expand...

Having the alignment in spec is probably part of the issue. Mazdas are typically setup with responsiveness and handling in mind, not optimal tire wear.

FWIW I've gotten around 10k out of my RE050As and need a new set soon. They wear fast, but they have pretty awesome traction.
 
I estimate I have somewhere around 24k on my star specs, but I forgot to log the mileage and the shop didn't record it either. They are now in need of replacement but they still work quite well. I truly love how they perform! Great in the wet or dry and they break away smoothly and cleanly without a lot of noise, so no real worries about snap traction loss. They will be a touch loud just driving around, but hey their stiff sticky summer tires 😛. Also they run a touch wide so the actual footprint of the tread is pretty good. It's a great tire for the money and I doubt spending a few hundred more for any of the others is going to be an overly significant improvement.
 
I can't speak for the Sumitomo HTR Z II (Ultra High Performance Summer)...aren't the III's available in your size?

If so, I can highly recommend the III's. I have them on my S2000 and they drove and felt about 95% as good as the OEM ones that wore out really, really fast.

I would definitely buy them again without hesitation. For the performance & tire wear, they're tough to beat. If you don't care about the longevity, there are much better tires, obviously.
 
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