Time for new tires, opinions needed
vw/audi
Joined: May 2002
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S03's are good all around, except for snow.. hehe I'm going to buy another set after these KDW2's wear down..
TR Balla Donor Supreme
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Don't believe everything you read on the internet...
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"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
All About AutoX
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Personally, I would recommend Falken Azenis...
But since you didn't list them, I feel that the Kumhos would best suit your needs apart from a bit of a short life span. But that can be said for many performance tires.
But since you didn't list them, I feel that the Kumhos would best suit your needs apart from a bit of a short life span. But that can be said for many performance tires.
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2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege
1984 VW Rabbit
- Scott - See that thing in front of your seat? yeah, it's a steering wheel, and some of us actually use it.
2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege
1984 VW Rabbit
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I "Do" eBay
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serious about the azenis ? they don't wear fast ? b/c i heard they do. and i didn't hear that over the internet.... BTW... why would about 10 people make up the same problem about a tire on tirerack.coms review section????
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TR Balla Donor Supreme
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If I had listened to the feedback on tirerack I wouldn't have bought the Yoko AVS Sports. Too noisy I heard - Not enough dry grip I heard - then I actually talked to a few people who have them installed - on similiar cars - and took the plunge - guess what? Not noisy - though compared to a sears road handler - probably more so! And the dry grip is excellent.
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"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
cone junkie
Joined: Jul 2002
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good dry handling, good wet handling, and long tread life do not go together....
Then, again, try to be less relative. What is "good treadwear"? The number on the side of the tire is arbitrary, so that does you no good. How about in terms of mileage? Also, how do you drive, and what's your alignment? As that will also go into it. When you say "good performance" do you want something that's going to get you that next tenth off your 60' time or on a track, or are you just wanting something that's better than the crappy all seasons you're replacing?
Here's my rundown of what you listed earlier:
1) Hankook: still new, not horrible, nothing special
2) Nitto: worst tire ever. It's an all season compound with an aggressive tread pattern. They also have the saftey record of Firestone. I personally had 2 of these things blow sidewalls off for no apparent reason
3) Kumho 712s, these come in 2 compounds, differentiated by the V or Z speed ratings. I had the V's, the less sticky compound, and lets just say, i hope the Z's were a lot sticker, because the V's sucked in my opinion. Especially in wet, where my Azenis, a tire with a bad reputation for poor wet weather performance, were MUCH more confidence inspiring.
4) The Yoko ES100. This is the best performance tire you listed. They have a relatively small tread width for given section width, but still seem to handle quite well. Most people I know who've tried these were faily happy with them.
Beyond that....
Azenis, if you're willing to replace tires every 15,000 miles to get better performance, these are for you. There's nothing that touches these in the dry.
Kumho MX, if anything is going to touch the Azenis, it's these, and they are also as a nice price level, along with the Azenis.
S-03 and KDW2, great tire, but a bit expensive, comparable to the KDW2. Very good all around, but probably not the best at anything, again, like the KDW2
Kumho 711, a BASIC high performance tire. These might be what youre looking for if you want 30,000 miles out of set of tires, and don't need that last tenth of a second. I run these as my daily driver tires, and have even autocrossed on them a few times. Better than the V rated 712s IMO, and they work well for MY PURPOSES. That said, I only get ~8,000 miles out of a set of rears, because I've autocrossed them ~50 runs, and have -2 degrees of camber with toe in on the back of the MR2.
There's a decent rundown at what you should be looking at, and my best objective opinions about each of the tires.
Then, again, try to be less relative. What is "good treadwear"? The number on the side of the tire is arbitrary, so that does you no good. How about in terms of mileage? Also, how do you drive, and what's your alignment? As that will also go into it. When you say "good performance" do you want something that's going to get you that next tenth off your 60' time or on a track, or are you just wanting something that's better than the crappy all seasons you're replacing?
Here's my rundown of what you listed earlier:
1) Hankook: still new, not horrible, nothing special
2) Nitto: worst tire ever. It's an all season compound with an aggressive tread pattern. They also have the saftey record of Firestone. I personally had 2 of these things blow sidewalls off for no apparent reason
3) Kumho 712s, these come in 2 compounds, differentiated by the V or Z speed ratings. I had the V's, the less sticky compound, and lets just say, i hope the Z's were a lot sticker, because the V's sucked in my opinion. Especially in wet, where my Azenis, a tire with a bad reputation for poor wet weather performance, were MUCH more confidence inspiring.
4) The Yoko ES100. This is the best performance tire you listed. They have a relatively small tread width for given section width, but still seem to handle quite well. Most people I know who've tried these were faily happy with them.
Beyond that....
Azenis, if you're willing to replace tires every 15,000 miles to get better performance, these are for you. There's nothing that touches these in the dry.
Kumho MX, if anything is going to touch the Azenis, it's these, and they are also as a nice price level, along with the Azenis.
S-03 and KDW2, great tire, but a bit expensive, comparable to the KDW2. Very good all around, but probably not the best at anything, again, like the KDW2
Kumho 711, a BASIC high performance tire. These might be what youre looking for if you want 30,000 miles out of set of tires, and don't need that last tenth of a second. I run these as my daily driver tires, and have even autocrossed on them a few times. Better than the V rated 712s IMO, and they work well for MY PURPOSES. That said, I only get ~8,000 miles out of a set of rears, because I've autocrossed them ~50 runs, and have -2 degrees of camber with toe in on the back of the MR2.
There's a decent rundown at what you should be looking at, and my best objective opinions about each of the tires.
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-93 MR2, #129 ES
-93 MR2, #129 ES
TR Balla Donor Supreme
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Good recap PseudoRealityX.
For what it's worth the ES100's are designed to replace the AVS Intermediates. I had the AVS Intermediates on my last car - they wore down quickly (under 15,000 miles) but the grip was excellent - and I had the best time one one of the autocross courses with them too.
If the ES100's are close to the Intermediates (And I have heard they are superior to them) then from a performance standpoint - they would be a good choice.
One last point - then I'll let it go - There are lots of choices out there and lots of good tires. Kuhmo really raised the bar for all lower cost performance tires. The bar has been raised but the difference between just about all the performance brands has been narrowed.
There are good choices and there are better choices - some just a little better than others.
For what it's worth the ES100's are designed to replace the AVS Intermediates. I had the AVS Intermediates on my last car - they wore down quickly (under 15,000 miles) but the grip was excellent - and I had the best time one one of the autocross courses with them too.
If the ES100's are close to the Intermediates (And I have heard they are superior to them) then from a performance standpoint - they would be a good choice.
One last point - then I'll let it go - There are lots of choices out there and lots of good tires. Kuhmo really raised the bar for all lower cost performance tires. The bar has been raised but the difference between just about all the performance brands has been narrowed.
There are good choices and there are better choices - some just a little better than others.
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"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
ASM FTW!
Joined: May 2003
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just please oh please dont bother with Yoko Parada spec II's
I HATE THEM... loud, wear horribly, despite numerous alignments..
horrible rain traction, even for AWD.... overall, just junk IMO....
ive heard other people like them, uhh, not for me for sure!
I HATE THEM... loud, wear horribly, despite numerous alignments..
horrible rain traction, even for AWD.... overall, just junk IMO....
ive heard other people like them, uhh, not for me for sure!
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95 Supra Turbo 6 speed
11 SWP STI sedan
95 Supra Turbo 6 speed
11 SWP STI sedan
