im in the market for some new tires at the moment, and figured id ask peoples opinions on what ive narrowed it down to.
currently ive been running bridgestone s-03's in the front, and hankook k104 rear. only real reason for the mismatch is that bridgestone discontinued the s-03, and i just bought something available that day to replace two detroyed ones. ive always been happy with the performance of the s-03, but the k104 is pretty crappy.

sooo, ive narrowed it down to kumho mx, hankook rs-2, falken azenis, and toyo t1-r.

ive ran kumho mx in the past, and had no complaints, but that was also a 215-40 on a 9.5" wheel. but it still had decent grip considering. my only experience with hankook is the soft sidewalls, and the crappy ones i have now.

another thing to think of, is all of those are available in the 225-50-16 ive been running, but ive been thinking of switching to 225-45-16, to get a little higher gearing, and a shorter sidewall. the only tires available in that size are the hankook, or the toyo.

all opinions appreciated, and if theres something not in my list that should be, please share. this is on a mainly street car, with as many track events as i can make it to.

 

T1-R has a really soft sidewall, especially compared to something like the Azenis. If you can adapt to that, they grip pretty well (not as good as the Azenis), and are pretty incredible in the rain. (better than just about everything)

The Hankook is more responsive than the T1-R, but not as responsive or as grippy as the Azenis. A good all-around tire, though.

The Azenis is still the holy grail of responsiveness, grip and a cheap price. But, if you can find Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Specs in your size... order them now. They rock. Potenza RE-01's are also excellent (somewhat better than Azenis, not quite as good as the Z1's), but they tend to be a little pricey.

 

Keep in mind the Kumho MX prefers Rear Wheel Drive and a wide rim. looks like you had that before. they tend to wear quickly when canter levered or on a FWD car.

Loren Likes the Star Specs' which should be a better autocross or sprint tire. I love the Hankooks. right now I am running their budget basement K104 on the street and F200 slick on the track. now I'm going to say this if your an agressive driver or milk every last bit out of your tires. be aware the UBER fast heating tires (star spec and azenis) can get too hot in repeditive lapping.

for the Street we are splitting hairs. since quiet, comfortable and cheap is what I look for in my 3 season tires (and I don't buy snows anymore) that is why @ $60 each the hankook K104 is all the street tire I'll ever need. and I can afford the slicks when I want to go REAL fast.

I can afford to NOT need to humm down the road like a monster truck. while today's Modern street tires are AWESOME, there is always a compromise being made. be that wear/price/noise comfort. etc. untill I start driving on the street at 100% I see no need to break the bank on killer Street rubber.

 

I have an older set of the hankooks, 205/40/17s and I have always loved these tires. They're responsive, decently grippy, and very have forgiving and predictable slide characteristics. They're not so great in the rain, my tires are worn, but I have extreme traction problems in wet conditions, cornering, accelerating, and alot of hydroplaning.

 

I was going to say the falken azenis.
I got the privedge of driving my buddies car when he had a set of these on, and I was extremely impressed.
For the price range, I feel they are one of the better tires.
they seemed to last a decent amount of time too...