lets keep it discreet to
BRAND OF TIRE.
and
SHORT REVIEW.



this thread is meant for all those who want/share opinions and inside on performance of tires.

we shoud make this a sticky

Michelin Pilot Sport PS2

Comes stock on a Ferrari Enzo, Porsche GT2, McLaren SLR...need i say more??
Look at the ratings on the tires at:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Sport+PS2

toyo proxes 4 all weather street radial, nice performance

I'd go with the Proxes4 also. Had them on my P5 and they are amazing tires. They have the best wet weather performance I've ever seen.

Falken FK451 GRB - one of the best tires i've ever had. quiet, very good grip(in wet/dry)..

yokohama prada spec2 - grips pretty good, comfort isn't there cuz these things are hard/loud.

toyo proxes fz4 - good economy tires for bigger sized wheels. seems a bit loud of a ride

falken ziex 512 - good economy tires for bigger sized wheels, BUT seems to out perform fz4..

falken azens st115 - love them tires, superb grip, very very quiet/soft ride. but i think them GRB 451's take the gold.

Bridgestone Pole Position S-03s: nice and sticky, as good as Yokahomas A-001Rs from the old days, but very pricey.

Nitto NeoGens: nice tire that stands up well to having camber on all four corners.

i just ordered some Kumho Ecsta MX's. they are Z rated, and relativly cheap. only paid like $110/tire for 225/40-18's. and from what ive heard from the autocross community they are pretty damn sticky.

I was lookin' at some BFGoodrich, but my wheels came with
a package deal of Nankang NS-II Rev 2.

They are directionals that look like a knock-off of Toyo or
Pirelli. I've only put 1000 miles on them, but in Chicago
that's plenty of time for dry, wet, and snow driving (hell even
in the same day that's possible).

Surprisingly they are not too bad with road noise, dry traction
shocked me with it's quality grip and predictability, wet
traction is good enough to make me feel safe, but snow
traction I'd give a 2 out of 10 score.

I can't comment on wear at this time, but I don't expect them
to be too good in that department.

Overall, I'm surprised at the quality for the money. I think
when all was said and done, my package deal made the
rubber come out to less then $200 for the set of four.

I'll burn these in over this year, and depending on wear over
next year (switching to stock rims for winter) and save up
and get the top of the line BFGoodrich I was looking at
originally!

I'm running 225/30ZR20 BFGOODRICH G-FORCE T/A KDWS 2's very nice. Tires are 278.00ea my price

i had nittos on my vette. i liked them alot, they lasted a while, going to the strip on a regular basis. I will buy nittos for the tc when i get it. Just so everyone knows sold the vette for a tahoe (family thing) and had to get something cheaper.

oh i forgot.,. i had bridgestone s0-2's..
those were BADASS tires! the tread life sucked.

pirelli pzero nero m&s ...

pros
sharp steering feel
quiet ride
excellent grip in wet and dry
fair (take it easy) grip in snow and ice (not bad for a performance tire)
-firm but not harsh ride.. sporty..
-good grip in the cold weather (tested down to a michigan -10)

cons?
- couple of defectives.. replaced, all good now

All the reviews of the pzero's are correct (the good ones) these tires are the best out there.. and i will buy them again, i just hope i don't get 5 defective tires in a row again.. that's how many it took to get them smooth.. but are excellent now :)

cooper Zeons all the way

Falken Azenis tires... super stiff sidewall.
Yokohama Advan tires are grippy... hmmm stiff sidewall.
Bridgestone Potenzas... only if they're the Pole Position tires.
Cooper Cobras... low pros for low price and large variations of sizes.

DO NOT BUY yokohama AVS ES100
personally i dont like them, they do not grip as well as i expected and the noise is increased over time

i agree i wasn't happy with my avs es100's at all.

I'm running on my xB

BFG KDW (new tread) 215/35/18

Great wet traction
Dry traction sticks like glue
maybe a bit loud but the box ain't a caddy

I love them

Falken Azenis 115's on the Box. THey look good stretched over an eight and nine inch wide wheel.
Dunlop FM901's on the "race car". Took awhile to break them in but they work really well in hard cornering now. Their sizes seem to look a bit "small" though.

I currently have Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires on my other car (Infiniti G35x). I love these tires, had them on my previous car as well (GS300), don't know what kind of tire i'm going to put on my xB when I get it though..

I did the research on http://www.tirerack.com and found that the Bridgestone Potenza RE92's suck (even in the Road&Track article that is on the Scion Life tC opening page said this car could benefit from better tires) .. I also heard from a few people that own tCs that they suck too .. so I looked around and found that the Pirelli PZero Nero M+S Tires are very highly rated ... so I bought them and I am very satisfied with their performance ... I will never go back to Bridgestones and I will always put Pirellis on my car ... they are more responsive, stickier, grippier, and LESS EXPENSIVE ... they take off better in a line and keep a curve better ... I felt the stock tires were just ok in cornering ... the Pirellis improve greatly on that .. I definitely agree that this car performs better with the PIRELLI PZERO NEROs ... hey if thats not a glowing endorsement I dont know what is .. maybe I should advertise for them .. hehe ... heres a pic of the Pirellis on my stock rim ---
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/800000-800999/800225_14_full.jpg

I have Kumho Ecsta ASX's (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=ECSTA+ASX) on my 18's for daily driving. A friend has them on his 17's on his xA. We both love these tires. They grip and turn so much better than the stocks.

I'm about to get a set of Falken Azenis (http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireDetail.do?yr=2005&sw=false&cs=245&pc=28796&rd=17&vid=008806&ar=40) for my stock wheels for AutoXing. A number of people have recomended these as well. They are fairly sticky tires, but from what I've heard, the treadwear is overrated. Perfect for AutoXing.

I have the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S on my other car right now, this is the second car I put them on, they are awesome! I don't think that they make them in the size that I would be needing when I get my Xb and the wheels for it.

Sumitomo HTR-Z II's Great dry traction, good wet traction. Low noise and pretty good tread life so far.

And can you beat the name? Before I run the 1/4 mile, I brush the HTR-Z's off. Then I pop my collar... hehehe

re-opening this thread up with a question.. anyone know if they make Falken GRB FK-451 for our cars.. like that small? looking to put it on a 16x8 wheel...

Avon Tech M500 - Great tire for $80/pop. Competes with the Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S and only a fraction of the price.

I have Nangang NS2 on 18'' wheels and they perform better than I expected. When I bought the wheel and tire package, my choice was either Nankang for about $75 front and $86 rear, or Yokohama/ Faulken for double the price. That would have taken me over 2 grand for wheels and tires so I chose the cheaper Nankang tires.

Wet: Pretty good handling/ gripping, considering I don't drive like a bat out of hell.

Dry: Very good handling/ gripping, considering I do, on occasion, drive like a bat out of hell around corners and interstate on ramp loops.

Comfort: I have 18'' wheels, 35 series tires, and a Scion xB. What the hell is comfortable about that? Big wheels/ slim tires/ and a box car built with little sound deadening material= loads of road noise; though the tires are exceptionally satisfying. For now...

Tire wear: Also very good. I'm slightly stretched with over 7 thousand miles on the tires and I haven't noticed any wear at all.

General: Pretty damn good tire for the buck; but cheap is cheap, no matter how you look at it.

Vanilla wears BFGs because of their wet traction - and I live in the Pacific Northwest...

I try to match my tires to my driving style and driving conditions.

http://tijil.org/rain_120_av.gif

I had a set of Generals for about 2 weeks before i returned them. The Trac Control would beep on corners that the stock tires wouldn't even have trouble. I got a set of Fuzion ZRI's and really liked them. They had close to the traction of the Sumitomo's but I got almost twice as much life out of them, 40k miles.

Just replaced my stockers (got about 42k out of them) with some BFG Traction TA's. Costco is running some deal on them right now. got them for 319 installed.

I did the research on http://www.tirerack.com and found that the Bridgestone Potenza RE92's suck (even in the Road&Track article that is on the Scion Life tC opening page said this car could benefit from better tires) .. I also heard from a few people that own tCs that they suck too .. so I looked around and found that the Pirelli PZero Nero M+S Tires are very highly rated ... so I bought them and I am very satisfied with their performance ... I will never go back to Bridgestones and I will always put Pirellis on my car ... they are more responsive, stickier, grippier, and LESS EXPENSIVE ... they take off better in a line and keep a curve better ... I felt the stock tires were just ok in cornering ... the Pirellis improve greatly on that .. I definitely agree that this car performs better with the PIRELLI PZERO NEROs ... hey if thats not a glowing endorsement I dont know what is .. maybe I should advertise for them .. hehe ... heres a pic of the Pirellis on my stock rim ---
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/800000-800999/800225_14_full.jpg

I have the Pirelli PZero Nero M+S Tires on my box now. First winter with them and I am not happy. I like them other than ice and snow. I have the 205/50/16's. Looking at takeing them off the car. Just feel the car is unsafe with these in winter.

P Zeros are not really for winter use. I only run my 215/35/18s in nice weather.
Still running the stockers the rest of the time. They have 20K on em and still look new. Everybody dislikes the Goodyears but they have done fine for me.

I've only used 205/55-15 Falken ZiexZE-512 & 912 tires for the box. Obviously, these are all-weather tires, but they do grip decently in the dry & very good in the wet. The 912s have a sidewall that's almost as stiff as the Falken Azenis RT-615.

I have experience with lots of other tires, but not for the box. Among them are Hankook Ventus Sport K104, Kumho Ecsta Supra 712, Kumho Ecsta AST, Falken Azenis RT-615, & Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212.

Greats-Michelin Pilot Sports ($$$ though), Conti-sports, Michelin MX4

Greats for the price-Hankook k106 and 104, Nankangs (actually way better than I thought-but didn't have them long), Falken (there basic directional)

Not so good (IMO) BF Goodrich, anything firestone, basic goodyear tires (like the originals)

im thinking about getting some Falken FK-451, would be a fun street car, especially in Southern Cali, where the weather is never a drag on driving, and these tires are rated for wet surface, so even in the rain its still bad ___.. and that streched over a 17"
:lalala: :lalala:

on my axis mag-lites i bought they came with wore down falken azenis.

o..m..g! i was driving 90 on the interstate during a really heavy rain storm and i didnt slip, slide, or need to slow down once!

plus they have the cool factor of looking like motorcyle tires. :D

Have the Toyo Proxes 4 tires on my xB (+1 rims, 205-45-16)...I am amazed that it has gone over 29K miles and while having it serviced yesterday at the local dealer, they measured the remaining depth...tread depth for front @ 5/32" and rear @ 6/32"!!!

I will most likely buy the same when the time comes to do so...

mt

Tires i would recommend.

Yokohama Avid H4s - these are now on the GFs box
Hankook Ventus HRII - i have had these for a year with great traction

Both tired give great wet and dry traction. Both sets come off for winter as the stocker Goodyears go on.

Tires to avoid.
NangKang - these came on one set of wheels i had. 3K miles in and taking a clover leaf on a damp road i was merging onto the highway sideways. They were taken off by the following weekend.

I did the research on http://www.tirerack.com and found that the Bridgestone Potenza RE92's suck (even in the Road&Track article that is on the Scion Life tC opening page said this car could benefit from better tires) .. I also heard from a few people that own tCs that they suck too ..

My former Subaru had RE92s, and they were awful. My brother didn't like them much on the tC he used to have, either. I replaced those with Kumho Ecsta ASX's, and as soon as the budget allows, I'll probably get a set for my box (in 205/55/15, since they don't come in 185/60/15). For the money, the Kumhos were great tires. Could have been better in the snow, but tires made out of glued together pink pencil erasers would have been better than those Bridgestones.

I've also considered BFG Radial T/A's (the ones with the raised white letters)-- they go with the Bonneville-ish look I'm after, and get decent reviews on Tirerack. The closest size to what I can use they come in is 195/60, but that would only make the speedo read about 1mph low at 60mph. Anyone know much else about them?

Have the Toyo Proxes 4 tires on my xB (+1 rims, 205-45-16)...I am amazed that it has gone over 29K miles and while having it serviced yesterday at the local dealer, they measured the remaining depth...tread depth for front @ 5/32" and rear @ 6/32"!!!

I will most likely buy the same when the time comes to do so...

Update: now with almost 36K on the Proxes 4 (had almost 3K on oem before switching), I cannot say how much these tires are appreciated...I cannot believe the tire mileage I am getting!

I've also considered BFG Radial T/A's (the ones with the raised white letters)-- they go with the Bonneville-ish look I'm after, and get decent reviews on Tirerack. The closest size to what I can use they come in is 195/60, but that would only make the speedo read about 1mph low at 60mph. Anyone know much else about them?Actually the 195/60R15s would make your speedo be more accurite. It's set for 185/65R15 so that size is closer than the Goodyears were. :lalala:

I love my Michelin Primacy MXV4s
i have em in 195/60R15 on my stock steelies and they feel great
as bB2NR said the speedo is more accurate now cuz of the size
smooth ride, more accurate speedo, not that expensive (cuz i got em at Costco XD)

i wish the prices would have bee added.i have sumitomo's theyre a hard compond tire because i roll down dirt rds that hae alot of rocks on them and i can also rip through the twisties pretty hard on the way there and back.

now i have xxr 002's with zero offset and carbon fiber flares,i just went to ntb to get new tires because the others are stretched so i wanted a 205 but it rubbed so i said try a 195 60 15 falken and theyre equipment couldnt mount the tire on the rim.so now im going to discount tire tomorrow and im looking for a tire that will grip pretty good but be able to off road.from reading these im going to try a falken something
or bfg something ,not sure.iwas told to check out the kdw tread pattern.worse comes to worse i guess sumitomo's again.i wanted a more agressive tread.only downfall on those tires is wet streets.

GENERAL ALTIMAX HP 205/60/R15......$68
http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/general/ge_altimax_hp_ci1_l.jpg

http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/general/ge_altimax_hp_ci2_l.jpg

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/3648/tireszf1.jpg

Great TRACTION in dry or WET conditions. QUIET!!!!! SMOOTH!!!!

See Tire Rack chart for all Grand Touring tires.

These are at TireRack for $62 with $38 shipping. I googled General Altimax HP and found a place that sells them for $68 with free shipping. See these links:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=GTAS
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=General&tireModel=Altimax+HP

i went ahead and got the falken 512's they ride pretty good and i havent really got on them to hard yet in the twisties the rds are kinda wet in place's.now im waiting on my carbon fender flares.i got them off ebay for 218.00 oh and discount tires had to use the chetah to mount my tires on my 8 inch 002's with 0 offset.it was the only way they could mount them

If your getting Falken 512 might as well bump up to 912. Falken makes the 912 better IMO.

Nitto Neo Gen, 215/45/17 Mine stick to the road great, and are a very smooth ride!

I went to Costco for a direct stock size replacement.

Got the BFGoodrich Traction T/A's.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6569/tire001.jpg

Guess which one is stock? Yup, the one with the crazy amount of road gravel. The replacements so far have only collected one or two (one or two rocks, period!), gotta love it. Traction in rainy weather is also much, much better. Don't recall slipping from a standstill yet, unlike the stocks...

I live is "wet country" and that is one of the biggest reasons I got the BFG Traction T/As (one size over at 185/65R15). Great wet and light snow traction.

Falken 912's do handle great.

2006 xB - Falken 912, they are great, good medium ride and sticky. Tread depth new isn't the deepest. Nice looking tire. Silent, no noise.

Forgot to mention, they are on 16 x 7 rims, 205/60-16.