Tires Tires Tires

[Jonas]

ok, basically what is a good tires for daily driven with good treadware and very good handling?? something less than $45...

205-60-15

iam focused on getting a tire that will last a good bit with some once in a while highspeed cornering runs... so it has to be a good handling tire as well.. thanks a bunch

[sloaccord]

i dont think it exists. even 712's cost more than 45 bucks.

[Loren]

For $45, you're asking for a lot of performance... and in an odd size. 205/50 is going to be the typical performance profile in that size range. 205/60 is going to mostly be all-season tires.

I'd suggest you go to the Tire Rack (http://www.tirerack.com) and search for tires in your size, and then narrow your search to the best high-speed-rated tires you can find. (you don't really need the rating for speed, but higher rated tires generally have stiffer sidewalls, which are better for handling) Look at the Tire Rack's reviews, customer reviews, and customer average ratings. They aren't gospel, but they can certainly show the overall trend for a tire. (ie: If it's crap, everyone's going to say it's crap)

I just ran a quick search for that size, and I've actually tried several of them. They're not the top-end "ultra high performance" summer tires, but some of them aren't bad. Quick synopsis of my 205/60-15 experiences, FWIW:

Yokohama AVS db (not the new S2) - These are presently on my wife's car. Excellent all-purpose tire. Good grip, reasonably sharp response. Their AVS heritage is apparent. They ARE quiet as their name implies. They didn't start making noise until I let one of the rears get out of balance... and then moved it to the front. Great all-around tire. For FL, probably better then the SP5000.

Pirelli P6000 - Formerly on my wife's car. I was pretty happy with them. Sidewalls were soft for a Pirelli, grip was decent. My only gripe with them was that all of the tiny grooves in them picked up itty bitty pieces of gravel and held them forever... making them noisy, and probably also affecting grip.

The new Kumho's might be okay. I had a set of 712's and wasn't impressed with them. YMMV.

Now, if you can get your sidewall down to even a 55 (205/55-15), your options open up considerably. You won't get anything great for $45, but you can get:

Dunlop SP5000 Asymmetrical - Bought these for my Miata to get me through my last winter in Kansas. They had good "light snow" reviews, and good wet and dry weather reviews. I was impressed with their grip! They even autocrossed well. But the sidewalls were soft, and responsiveness was weak as a result. Sold them as soon as winter was over, and bought a set of 205/50 Azenis!

Bridgestone Potenza S-03 - These are on my Miata right now in a 195/50. They rock! A step down from the Azenis in grip, and maybe stiffness, but better in every other way. (wet traction throughout the range of tread depth, tread life, noise, etc) If I don't cheap out, I'll probably get another set.

Did any of that help?

[PseudoRealityX]

you're asking the impossible.


handing, cheap, good wear...

pick 2.

[OversteerS2K]

AK Used Tires in Tampa, somewhere in Drew Park. Supposedly they have 4 Bridgestone Potenza S0-2's there in my sizes, with 75% tread life, and for $36 each + mounting. You may be able to just kick through the inventory until you find a nice matched set of cheap/sticky tires. I'll be stopping there today or tomorrow and will post back if it's worth a crap.

Used is the only way to get the results you want on the budget you've set.

[neurovish]

Originally posted by Jonas
ok, basically what is a good tires for daily driven with good treadware and very good handling?? something less than $45...

205-60-15

iam focused on getting a tire that will last a good bit with some once in a while highspeed cornering runs... so it has to be a good handling tire as well.. thanks a bunch

I've been on sumitomo HTR-200s for a few months, I can't really complain for the $40 I spent. Not the best tire I've had, but definitely not the worst. You might want to look at AK first though, they didn't have anything that would fit my car well when I was looking for tires, so I went with these.

[Loren]

One of the HTR series was a clone of the Dunlop SP8000 (a decent performance tire a few years ago) as I recall. I think it was the HTR-100, not sure.

[MrSideways]

Originally posted by PseudoRealityX
you're asking the impossible.


handing, cheap, good wear...

pick 2.

Pick 2 huh, How about Handling and GOOD WEAR.

[Loren]

Originally posted by MrSideways
Pick 2 huh, How about Handling and GOOD WEAR.

Not THOSE two! :o

Actually, they're getting closer and closer to that goal, depending on how you define "good wear". The S-03's I have now would surely last a solid 30-40k miles if I didn't autocross on them, and they handle very, very well. As it is, I've got over 12,000 miles and 111 autocross runs on them (I keep a log just for kicks) on them in just over 13 months. They're not quite dead yet, but getting close.

But the S-03's aren't a "cheap" tire. Thankfully, they did reach the mid-range a few years ago, otherwise I'd probably never have tried them.

Most expensive tires I ever tried were Pirelli P-Zero Assymetricos at something like $112 each. They quit making them in the smaller sizes... but I think they were actually worth that kind of money. I burned through them in about 7k miles due to a whacked alignment (too much toe combined with a lot of camber), which made it a little hard to swallow.

[OversteerS2K]

I did not find a matched set of anything worth a crap.

The guys at Tires Plus tell me that Bridgestone sells molds to Avon and Dayton. Supposedly Avon has the S0-2 mold and markets the same sizes. Instead of a 140? wear rating, the Avon has a 200. I've loved the S0-2's, except when it rains. Maybe those are worth looking at?

[PseudoRealityX]

yeah, S-03s are pretty good for handling AND wear....

of course, its still a compromise, and by the same argument, just get Azenis and replace them every 6 months....that will eventually not be cheap, but they'll grip.

[neurovish]

Originally posted by Loren
Not THOSE two! :o

Actually, they're getting closer and closer to that goal, depending on how you define "good wear". The S-03's I have now would surely last a solid 30-40k miles if I didn't autocross on them, and they handle very, very well. As it is, I've got over 12,000 miles and 111 autocross runs on them (I keep a log just for kicks) on them in just over 13 months. They're not quite dead yet, but getting close.


I think Dan wore out his s-03s in about 2 or 3 months....and not just "uh oh, I'm at the wear indicator" wore out, it was "tire no longer holds air" wore out. S-03s also start to get not cheap quickly....last I looked they were like $140 per for 16"

[Loren]

Originally posted by neurovish
I think Dan wore out his s-03s in about 2 or 3 months....and not just "uh oh, I'm at the wear indicator" wore out, it was "tire no longer holds air" wore out. S-03s also start to get not cheap quickly....last I looked they were like $140 per for 16"

Are we talkin' about Dan D'an, Integra man? I'd bet money that he toasted his tires due to poor alignment.

16" tires aren't cheap. That's one of the reasons I'm sticking with 15's. S-03's are around $80 in a 195/50-15.