My wife's '04's Bridgestone OEMs are about to give up the ghost. I've read reviews on the most popular--SPT/Gforce/ KDW/Pirrelli M&S--and still have questions.

Won't be used on track,strictly street driving. Prefer good steering response with good wet weather handling. She has a set of Blizzaks for winter. She'll be trading the car in 2 years so probably doesn't want to put megabucks into it..

thanks for any help

 

I've got a set of nankangs that came on the car when I got them. I think they handle great in wet and dry with minimal road noise and a kick *** tread pattern. When these wear out, I'll prolly buy them same thing.

 

I got a pair of Avon's (dont' remember the name) because they were cheaper than the Pirelli's. I got them from Tirerack and have diven in the many rainy days and through most of the snow we got in Maryland and had no problems. I don't remember the specific Avon's I have, but Connor at Tirerack recommended them as good all season high performance tires.

 

love my kumho spts. great in rain, dry and quiet... and cheaper than when i got them...

tirerack.com i think they are 95 bucks per tire.....

beers

 

From an earlier post of mine..... Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3

I replaced my OE Dunlops with the Goodyears last week and did my first Autocross on them this past weekend. I'm favorably impressed with these tires. I got the 225/40-18s, so they're just slightly smaller than the OE 45's. The tires have a slightly more "crisp" feel to them in cornering, they're about as sticky as the Dunlops were, and they're very well behaved when they start sliding - no sudden transitions or nasty surprises. The 225/40-18s were $182 US apiece from The Tire Rack.

The Goodyears got rave reviews from Car & Driver, and came in first out of a field of 11 performance tires. Tire Rack surveys score them pretty high too.

The Tire Rack has a pointer to the full report here: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y_f1_gs_d3.jsp

 

I have Nitto NT555s and I love em--if you drive aggressive in the rain---they are NOT kind to you though.

 

I agree with Swoope, went with the Kumho Ecsta SPTs. Great tire, great price. Have about 5K miles on them with absolutely no wear showing. Not quite the handling of the OEM in the dry (but close) but the best rain tire I've ever had. Just this week had heavy rains while on the highway, puddles everywhere but no hydroplaning they really were great.

 

There are better tires out there but for $95/tire + shipping, it's one of those deals that just makes good sense. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

I was just loking for a tire recommndation thread, thanks.

We have 9200 miles on the car, and need tires already, for inspection in July. I thought that was kinda low miles for needing new tires, or is that par for this car?

 

I replaced the OEM Bridgestone summers with Avon Tech M550 All Seasons..

I have had a much smoother ride since I swapped them out.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....ech+M550+A%2FS

 

hey... get General Exclaim! its cheap and its freaking goooooDDDDD

went 90+ on a heavy rain. why? because it feels like the road is dry...

I am not sure whether the sidewall is stiff for 45 series... but i have 35 series.. so its perfect stiffness for me... like the awesome oem dunlops.

goodluck!

 

Kumho Ecsta SPT, I've had them for 1,500 miles now and they are a great tire for the price you pay for. Quite ride, long lasting treadwear and handles great in the rain as well. I paid close to $100 for each tire.

 

Trust Me the Falken St115 are the best!!! that is all I can say so quite and such great handling. Amazing Tires, I have ran then on my BMW, EVO and now the 8, the only tire I will use.

 

being a graduate student, i was looking into the kumhos spt and bf goodrich kdw2. Since there is a difference of 50 dollars for each tire, it seems that the logical thing to do is go for the SPTs. With the extra 200 dollars i can put it into to gas

 

ecsta spt is good as well.

 

I had about 10K miles on my tires before I had a hydroplane incident that almost caused a crash. Some people have reported getting over 25K miles on the tires. I guess it depends on how hard you drive the car and the type of road surfaces you drive on.

 

i just replaced my stock summer tires with, same brand as OEM's but different size:

bridgestone potenza 235-40-r18 instead of the 225-45-r18,
they are pretty pricey, but they have amazing grip, feels alot better than the stock tires, and they look substancially more solid/wider, without affecting steering or changing tire diameter in the wheel bay..

i recommend them...

 

I am staying with stock.

 

Another one here for the Kumho ECSTA SPT's I just love 'em! But I went with 245/40's($130 from Tire Rack) instead of the stock size.

 

^^^Me, too!! Agree with all the above.

I bought the wider tire (245/40), at $125 each from TireRack.

 

I got cooper zeon 2XS and i LOVE them

 

Kuhmo Ecsta SPT's. Love mine. Got them got for $95/tire in stock size about a month ago. My dealer charged me $80 to get them mounted and balanced and also disposale of old tires.