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Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 9:51 pm
by kimokalihi
My tires are quite bald. I'm considering buying new ones and since I'm upgrading brakes I might as well get dedicated summer tires rather than all seasons since I doubt ill be driving it in the winter.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 9:54 pm
by mike-tracy
The ones Tony just got.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 10:12 pm
by SILINC3R
^this is true, haha. Paid just over 600 from discount tire. suited fro dry and wet traction. No fuel or all season crap.
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport
205/45/16

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 10:52 pm
by Someperson
i'm preferential to the pole positions myself

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 11:02 pm
by kimokalihi
Good good. I prefer something discount carries but it doesn't have to be from them.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 11:03 pm
by James614
I've heard great things about the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star spec from auto-x'ers.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 4:17 am
by SILINC3R
The reason why I choose Discount is because they are nation wide and trust me I would know haha. They also for the most part have the cheapest prices and are fairly quick in service. Had to drive an hour to get to one because Firestone and Goodyear where either to pricey or didn't have the tires I wanted.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 4:31 am
by kimokalihi
Hmm I checked those tires out and they look cool however they aren't rated as well nor do the reviews from consumers rate nearly as well as a few others of similar price. They look like all seasons though so I'm not sure why they're performance category. Maybe looks can be deceiving.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 7:07 am
by subaru_styles
they're on the spenidier side, but I swtiched to the new Potenza RE-11 and dig em.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 7:14 am
by kimokalihi
What did you switch from?

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 1:03 pm
by subaru_styles
i had some semi summer yoko avids. they lasted a long time, but were not as tight and sticky as these

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 5:31 pm
by PhyrraM
I've used the Star Specs on my WRX (in 17") and loved them. Great grip and predictable. The WRX gets limited use, so life was acceptable also.

I've used the General Exclaim UHP on the Legacy (16") and was also very happy with them. Good grip, great life, and able to handle fire roads and rally-crosses. I don't think they are available anymore, but I'm sure something took their place.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 5:35 pm
by Legacy777
The other plus with Discount is that if you ask, they will typically match online prices say from Tire Rack.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 5:50 pm
by kimokalihi
PhyrraM wrote:I've used the Star Specs on my WRX (in 17") and loved them. Great grip and predictable. The WRX gets limited use, so life was acceptable also.

I've used the General Exclaim UHP on the Legacy (16") and was also very happy with them. Good grip, great life, and able to handle fire roads and rally-crosses. I don't think they are available anymore, but I'm sure something took their place.
I have the general exclaim uhp tires now. They're bald at 20,000. Seems short to me for an all season. The perellis on my metro lasted 70,000 and still had tread.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 7:18 pm
by macipusy
I have ran both, the Yokohama S-drives and Hankook Ventus V12. The S-drives I tracked a few times, decent grip but I like the Hankooks better so far. Both can be had for about 550 fully installed for 17" tires.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 9:00 pm
by PhyrraM
kimokalihi wrote:I have the general exclaim uhp tires now. They're bald at 20,000. Seems short to me for an all season. The perellis on my metro lasted 70,000 and still had tread.
Interesting. I've got about 25K on mine, and they are not even half-way worn. I tend to think I drive fairly hard, but maybe I have to reconsider that idea now. They also have a few rally-crosses on them.

Do you keep up with the alignment? Especially the toe-in?

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 10:03 pm
by kimokalihi
I had it aligned when I got them at speedware motorsports in redmond and they did a terrible job. Had them aligned again when I rebuilt my steering rack. I didn't think anymore than that was necessary but I guess I was wrong. Its expensive because of the camber plates on all four corners.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 10:56 pm
by BiNiaRiS
I used to run RT615Ks. Loved those tires so much.

For me the most important aspect after grip is stiff sidewalls. Most UHPs have sloppy ass sidewalls. RE070s are stiff. I've also heard great stuff about BFG Gforces

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:02 am
by IronMonkeyL255
I am running the G Force sports (not the shitty super sport all seasons), and they are pretty damn good. They just brought them back (comp 2 now), and i ran through 2 sets of the originals with great results (i was so sad when i went back for a 3rd set and they weren't available anymore).

I run them and 40psi, and get completely flat wear on them, driving like my usual maniac self. Also, I am running -1.3 degrees of camber all the way around on my BC coilovers.

My only real complaint is that they aren't really vocal towards the limit. They grip, grip, grip, then let go with less warning than i would prefer. They also seem to last longer than tires of this type usually do. I got about 50k out of them beating the piss out of them all the time. In contrast, I had a set of Dunlop Direzza DZII in between sets of these, and they were pretty grippy in the dry, but had shit wet traction and I wore them out in 35-40k. Oh, and they have great wet traction. Only ones I have run with better were the Bridgestone Potenza S-03 PP (even bald, they gripped like a mofo in the wet).

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:21 am
by kimokalihi
Thanks. Almost time to buy. Too many choices. Need something discount sells so I can finance them I think.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:55 am
by originalcyn
I haven't had them for long, but people seem to really like the Continental extremecontact dws. But i think they might be all season.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:42 am
by JasonGrahn
I run on Ultremo ZX's in the summer. They're great. Continental GP4000s are pretty good too.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:32 pm
by IronMonkeyL255
oh, and the GForce sports are available through discount, btw. That's where i got mine.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 1:28 am
by kimokalihi
Yeah I looked already but they're only available by special order by phone or in person so there's no price on their site.

Re: Whats a good summer tire these days?

Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 4:23 am
by kimokalihi
I've decided to buy the best grippy tire that performs well in the rain since it rains here more than anywhere. I just can't decide which one. Right now I'm stuck between michelin super sport and super sport a/s. The super sport sounds better for dry but is only 30,000 vs the a/s which is 45,000 miles. I don't want to be locking the wheels up with this brake upgrade.