I live in SoCal so driving in the rain isn't an issue, I drive 50/50 street / highway, I enjoy lots of "spirited" driving, and my car will never be tracked.

With that said, I'm stuck between these tires: 245/40/18


BF Goodrich g-Force T/A kdw2


Kuhmo ECSTA MX


Toyo T1R's


Yokohama AVS ES100




Any experiences with any of these? Any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

I'm not too concerned with price since they're all relatively in the same price range, just wondering what you guys out there think would be a good tire for my kind of driving.

Thanks,

Jedi

 

I remember Dan (from the malibu cruz) ran the Fuzion ZRI and was really happy with em. You could tell they were exceptional in dry weather by how fast he took those corners. I'm thinking of getting the zri pretty soon, besides you can't beat the price.

 

Never had any of thoes tires. The BFG's seems to have the best all around spces of your choices.

 

Falken FK452

Kumho sucks, don't bother with that crap.

Usually Yoko's are great, but I haven't heard too many good things about the ES100's. Most complaints are uneven treadwear and once that happens they get super loud.

I don't have any experience with toyo or BFG.

 

Cesar would be a good source for feedback on the Kuhmos. He was over the other day when we pulled his tires off before the autocross, and he commented on how many miles he has on them. I think he is about ready to replace them...ask him if he would get the same tire again, why or why not? That may help.

I'm not a good source, but I will tell you that I don't like the Dunlops I have...but again, I was one of those that really liked the stock Pirelli's.

 

You got stock Pirelli's?! Or did you mean Potenzas? I'll shoot Cesar the link, thanks!

Thanks for the feedback guys, who would have thought that picking out tires would be such a process.

 

I vote for the Toyos

 

yup, Potenzas...sorry

 

Falken RT-615
RACING tires, not like potenzas (they are sport tires).

 

I have the Toyo Proxy's on as we speak.....This is my first set and i am very pleased. Here in Central Fl we get blasted with heavy summer rain every year , and i always get a little nevous about driving a sports car in the rain. Well i was very shocked and impressed with the performance of these tires in the rain this season. No -hydro plaining or tracking when the rain fell. I do mostly highway driving, and going 65mph in heavy rain was a breeze,and i am rolling on 245/19's in the front and 265/19's in the back. Very impressed with the wet traction capability.

In the dry these tires are very sticky, even when i push my car to the limit on corners, the car stays planted , no sliding or loss of adhesion.Acceleration feels good with these tires , sidewall flex is minimal. Treadware for a 280AA treaware number is more like a tire that has a 300AA treadware count. I had Kuhmos with a 280AA a rating and at thise 6 month mark, i was replacing all of them.
Treadware is great on these tires, compound is not to hard , not to soft just right.

Going on 6 months of ownership and the noise quality is highly acceptable, these tires went from Very quiet to quiet. These are the first tires that i have owned that i have put some serious miles on and they still remain quiet. Not like my previous Michlens, Perrelli's , or even my favorite tires that is use to ride on , the Nitto's 450's ,......weren't even as quiet as these. I am impressed and i think you will be if you get these tires.

 

How about the Hankook RS-2 this is one damn nice tire at a great price. https://www.edgeracing.com/Shopping_Cart/

 

I have MXs. Put a few hundred track miles and a few thousand street miles. They perform very well in both and I have zero regrets getting them.

 

T1R's all the way!

 

Toyo T1R 245/40

 

I've go the BF Goordich's, I've really liked them. Better dry performance than the stock Potenzas, much better wet performance, slower wear, much less tramlining, less road noise, and much cheaper. I can't imagine going from the potenzas to the kdw's would dissapoint.

--R.

 

I too am looking at new tires soon, keep up the good posts. What jedi has posted are some really nice tires.

 

You know ME....

 

I just got new tires and first got the BFG KDW2s and hated them. They have a very soft sidewall and because of that are much less responsive than the OEM Dunlops. Some people here really like them, I guess if you are looking for ride comfort they are the way to go. If you like to throw the car into the corners like I do, I'd look elsewhere.

Luckily, the tire shop offered to replace them with a different tire. I went with the Fuzion ZRi on a recomendation from my step-father who has a similar driving style to me (Porsche 944 S2), and am really happy with them so far. They are very grippy, have a stiff sidewall, and are very responsive. They don't come in OEM size, but do come in 245/40. They are also a great deal at around $120 per tire. If you're not familiar with Fuzion, it is a Bridgestone brand marketed towards the "tuner" market. Whatever. Great tire.

 

you can check out the wheels, tires, brakes and suspension section as this has been discussed quite a bit. i'm on stock tires now and am putting on the blizzaks for the winter. after that i'll be changing to kumhos since they seemed to get good reviews in the wheels section. there's also a $40 rebate which takes the tires under $100/each so you can't beat it if it's a good tire.

chr1s--

do you have personal experience with the kumhos or are they just not good for those racing? i'm really asking the question and not being facetious. since i'll be looking to get new tires soon i will be in the market and only see good things about them and they are a good tire for those on a budget. if they really are bad though it's not really worth getting a deal if it'll cost you more in the long run.

 

I'm currently running these.
Kumho Escta SPT
They are cheaper than the MX by $25/tire.
I bought them a America's Tire, and they matched TireRack price, plus $10/tire mount/balance.

I checked my info because this subject has come up a few times recently.
I bought them last year just before the August meet.
I have about 24000 miles on them. That includes;
1 Autocross school day
4 Full practice days at autocross (16+runs each)
2 Championship events (7 runs)
1 Year of Monthly meets in SB, with one in Malibu.

At this rate, I'll probably be buying new tires early next year.
I have a lot of tread life left.

Since the price has come down a little, I'll probably go with the Escta MX.
Like you said, where we are, you only need to worry about sunny or sunnier weather.
The MX and SPT are close to the same tire, the only difference is the MX are a little stickier when they warm up.
Sounds fun for autoX.

If you do go w/ the Kumhos, this might be the deal closer for you.

Kumho $40 rebate
BTW - it's $40 total, not per tire.

 

I went through two sets of the Ecsta Supras on my old supercharged mustang. They were absolutely terrible. On the first set 1 of the tires had major abnormal treadwear. I thought it was just a bad tire and the Kumho's were cheap so I decided to try a 2nd set. On the 2nd I had 1 tire wear abnormally and on another the fibers sheard which caused a part of the tire to protrude out.

I always keep my tires properly inflated and would get alignments about once a year. So that wasn't the problem.

I also had 2 sets of Yokohama AVS Intermediates on there and they never had any issues what-so-ever.

So I chalk it up to Kumho's tires being ****.

It's possible kumho has gotten better. I haven't bought a new set of kumho's in probably 3 years.

The next set of tires I buy will probably be the Falken 452's for the rx8.

Good luck in your search!

 

sorry, was thinking of the SPT, not the MX - my mistake. the SPTs come to under $100/tire after the $40 rebate. haven't looked up the MX and i'll admit i'm too lazy to do it right now.

 

I'm running on the Kumhos (SPT 245/40) now nearly 20,000 miles, almost all on Interstates at about 70-85 mph. Good handling, great in the occasional rainstorm, comfortable, and plenty of tread life left.

I'd buy another set in a heartbeat (but I don't expect to, any time soon).

 

I'm surprised you asked this question Jedi and you too Lesper.

First off this should be in the brake suspension forum.
Second you need to read the forum and you would find your anwser.
Third need to look at tire rack for stats.
Fifth you need to come to our Rotory Revolution meets and you would find out the answer.

Check with all the people at the track. Well over 90% use Kumho's

All the tires you listed are for track use.
You don't need them unless you expect to replace tires every year.
You guys like your cars and like to mod them so $500/yr plus installation is alot.
Would it not be better to replace tires every two or three years?

The MX is way better than the SPT's.

Look at the tires you listed and then go down one level. You will have a much better wear.

There is no way you would use the full potential of any of those tires you listed on the street. Of course if you are foolish you may end up pushing it once or twice a year to the tires potential, but then again you are putting other drivers and your self at risk.

I'm seriously considering going down one level to the SPT's to save money.
I need new tires again, the track loves to eat them, especially when it's hot.

I have read several complaints here and on other board concerning KDW's. But I believe they were not the KDW2's.

Anyhow, you guys don't need a tire like those listed.

Once again, doesn't matter what vehicle you drive, check with the track guy's they use Kumho's. And don't give much credit to autocrossers as they have a different enviroment than high speed corning. Therefore, differnt opinons on tires. Many of them love Kumho's too.

I personnally would have gone with Yokohamma's, but the track junkies convinced me to use the Kumho's. Yoko would be my 2nd choice because I have experience with them. I would still like to try KDW2's even though they may have a weak side wall which scares me a little because I push it hard at the track.


Lastly it's all a matter of preferance and practicality.

 

There was that phrase, if we never take tires up to the full speed rating (Z), why have em? They said if it can handle ok at higher speeds, think of how much better they'll perform at normal speeds. This sounds logical.

Just because you have a sticky tire, don't make assumptions that you have to push the envelope to put others are risk. What if the sticky tires reduces the risks because you can stop shorter, have a greater envelope of control for the unexpected, etc.