Which of these tires is best for performance and rain?

[kimokalihi]

I'm going to buy these wheels Rota DPT WheelDude.com I think they will fit and hopefully not rub. Hoping to run 205/45R17 tires on them but I know nothing about tires.

Which of these tires should I get? I'm looking for something that'll offer a bit of performance for autocross or road racing but won't hydroplane me to my death. It rains 75% of the year here.

[kimokalihi]

With that wheel size and offset and a 205/45r17 tire will it fit properly? Exactly how much more, if any, would the tire stick further out? Right now it's so close to rubbing it's crazy. I haven't heard a single rub yet but I can't even get my finger past my second joint between the wheel and the fender it's that tight.

Is that going to be a good tire size for an 8" rim? Sorry about the questions, I just need to order these soon so I can get them installed and have an alignment done before the West Coast Subaru Show.

[kimokalihi]

Anybody have any experience with any of the above tires?

[JZZ30]

I have used a pair of General UHP's before, but on my 88 RX-7 i had 225/50r16 and ran them in lots of rain in vancouver. I felt very confident at high speeds, no signs of hydroplaning at all, dry grip is also excellent. Very good bang per buck. My friend had S-Drives before and they're pretty sticky in the wet and dry too.

The S-drive has a 300 treadwear rating as the Generals have 380 i believe. Both very good tires, just boils down to if you want the Yoko name on ur car or not

[kimokalihi]

I could care less about names. I want to know which tire is going to work best for washington driving and still have as much dry grip as possible. I've never heard of General tires before so these are good things to know. Thank you.

[JZZ30]

I could care less about names. I want to know which tire is going to work best for washington driving and still have as much dry grip as possible. I've never heard of General tires before so these are good things to know. Thank you.

To be honest if you want the best tires, you'd have to be looking at a class one up from ultra high performance. The extreme/max performance summer tire tier.

I have 275/40R17 Sumitomo HTRZ III on my tank of a lexus ls400, and man they hold the road like no tommorow, rain or shine.

Those are the best bang per buck imo in the big picture.

If you're willing to pony up a little bit more you can go with Bridgestone Potenza RE-11. Which according to tire rack is the top dog before you into comp track tires...

I've also heard nothing but good things about the dunlop star spec's also. My friend has a pair of 205/50r16's on his 430rwhp 1st gen rx-7 and he absolutely loves them

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/cha ... p?ttid=118

[Justins91ss]

Had the proxie 4s on my rpf1s on my wrx dident like them when i lived in bellevue, les schuab pushes them HARD i swear they must have a contract or make a good % of comission off them. Had the ti-r's on my dsm with motegi tracklights. Were great in dry but not so much in the rain.. Its hard to find a good dry/wet weather tire for seattle.. Have been looking at running strickly a summer tire since the majority of my legacys time will be spent in the desert

[kimokalihi]

Well, I would like to buy one of the tires they sell on wheeldude.com assuming at least one of those is worth buying. They mount and balance them for free and shipping is free. But if you guys know a better tire at a similar price after shipping, let me know. I will be ordering them in the next few days.

[Subaru_Nation555]

Tirerack's ratings cover a couple on that list:

[kimokalihi]

Thanks, that's a nice chart.

[speedmaxx]

i just picked up bfgoodrich g force sports and so far so good. they have great dry traction and are very predictalble at there limits. deffinatly a responsive tire. I have put 3 auto x on them sofar and I am loving them! not an r1 compund but for the price and performance they cant be beat.

there also decent in the rain, I mean it is what it is, if you want to break traction in the rain it can be done.

im not sure what ill get for millage out of them but from what I have been reading it not a very long lasting tire

[fatgc8]

I ran 17x8.5 rota svns with sti re070 and they rubbed in the rear until i rolled the rear fenders a tad bit.

[kimokalihi]

What do you guys think about running the 17x8 Rota DPT rims with 205/45/17s? Should I run the same width tire as the rim or wider? I can always roll the fenders if I have to.

[07Evolved]

I would get the tires to be a bit wider that way it doesn't look like you stretched a rubber band around a wheel to make it fit...I hate that look....

[kimokalihi]

I don't like that look either. So what's a good tire size for 17x8 rims then? 215/40/r17?

[kimokalihi]

Just bought my wheels and tires. Went with Rota DPT 17x8 with General Exclaim UHP 225/45zR17 tires. I'm pretty sure they're going to rub so a fender rolling will be in the works. Now I just have to get that fuel leak fixed damnit.

[93forestpearl]

235's or 245's would fit an 8 inch wheels properly, both of which are not going to fit your car. You should be looking at a 7 inch wheel for a 205 or 215 section width.

[SubyFusion]

Awesome I have the General Exclaim UHP's and there super, talk about grip lol and in the rain no matter hoe much water there is on the road it just feels like its dry out= ) these tires are awesome and you wont regret your choice, plus they are priced really good to haha tires are one thing you cant skimp out on those and breaks lol

[LookAsubie]

Kimo, please keep this updated with how that setup fits.

Someday i want to buy a set of those wheels, probably in gold. and i'd like to know how they fit and what tire size i should go with also

[kimokalihi]

235's or 245's would fit an 8 inch wheels properly, both of which are not going to fit your car. You should be looking at a 7 inch wheel for a 205 or 215 section width.

I just called wheeldude.com and talked to their subaru guy and he told me 225/45r17 is the recommended tire size for a 17x8 wheel. He said for a 17x7.5 wheel they recommend a 215/(forgot the sidewall %) tire. He said they should fit my car with some fender rolling but said I may have problems getting it to fit since my car is so low.

This tire is like 3% taller than stock which is something like .8" taller but they don't sell a 225/40r17 for that tire.

Oh well, I'm just going to hope they fit and roll the shit out of the fenders. If I have to I guess I could raise the car back up a little. I like how low it is though so hopefully that won't be necessary.

[kimokalihi]

Kimo, please keep this updated with how that setup fits.

Someday i want to buy a set of those wheels, probably in gold. and i'd like to know how they fit and what tire size i should go with also

They're pretty sick wheels aren't they?

[LookAsubie]

Indeed they are. make sure you post pics when you get them put on

[kimokalihi]

You must not be familiar with me. I'm a picture whore. There will be pictures I promise you. Probably more than there needs to be.

[LookAsubie]

You must not be familiar with me. I'm a picture whore. There will be pictures I promise you. Probably more than there needs to be.

ok good lol.

[HandleWitCare]

Im using the Falkens on my 16 wrx rims and there nice...