My stock RE040s are about to bite the dust soon so I'm in the market for some new tires for my car. I have been reading through posts here, at tirerack, and other forums etc. but with all the mix of information plus differences of vehicles and driving needs I'm just left stupified on what to get. I have kind of narrowed it down to Yoko S.drives, Bridgestone RE 760 sports, Nitto Invos, or Sumitomo HTR Z IIIs.

For driving its mostly spirited driving in the city with trips every few months up to the parkway where I have some real fun on the side highways. Chances are I won't be doing any auto cross or track days. The car isn't driven in snow at all but will see plenty of rain. The RE040s were fine for me in the dry but awful in the wet, so something that is better in wet conditions is a must while keeping or improving on dry handling. I would like something that would last longer than the RE 040s but I'm not looking for anything to go for 40k miles or anything, but some extra tire life would be a nice cherry on top.

The only thing I've driven on that is comparable are the tires on my other car (a MSM) which came with Kumho Ecsta ASTs. Not crazy about those, ok in the city but driving in the mountains they were less than stellar, and they are noisy another minus.

so any help in picking the right tire for me would be great, thanks!

 

check out the re960s im just finishing up on them, they're not as grippy but for everyday driving they're really good. They are really quiet compared to the re040s and also last alot longer, and can do light snow duty. i happened upon them cuz the tire store was out of SPTs and i needed tires asap. They also have a 30,000 mile warranty.

 

I don't think you'll be able to match or improve upon dry handling and increase tire life much. I think you'll have to decide on which is your priority there. Lots of options for better wet performance. If you want to optimize dry and wet handling on a budget and don't mind some tire noise the Dunlop Direzza Sport Star Specs are hard to beat, but that will be at the expense of teadlife.

On the other hand, if you want better treadlife at the expense of dry traction and handling the 760s look like a pretty good choice, but I don't have personal experience of the other options you've mentioned.

 

I'd go with more performance than higher tire life. When looking at the tires I listed those seem to fall between higher wear tires like the 960s and the max performance class like neros, RE050s, etc. are they not? should I just get a max performance tire like the Direzza?

 

Invo's have good reviews from 8 owners as well

 

That's what I did. The Star Specs are acutually extreme performance. In this year's Tire Rack Tests (which won't be up on their website for another week or two), they were essentially tied for first in the wet with the RE-11s and Yoko Advan Neova AD08s. These top three finished within 2/100ths of a second in lap times on the wet course. The Kumho Ecsta XSs were a little ways back in the wet. In the dry, the AD08s were first, with the Star Specs and XSs tied for 2nd. GRM rated the XSs higher in the dry. If you want optimal performance in the wet for a relatively cheap price, the Star Specs are a great buy. Not the quietest tire, 'though.