Tires, Tires, Tyres

[Mike]

What do you guys think about tire brands?  I'm looking at possibly Michelin...  They have 3 different flavors of their sport tire, which I assume is similar for other brands as well.

Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+

1. Y-Rated - 186mph/51psi
2. V-Rated - 149mph/44psi
3. H-Rated - 130mph/44psi

I've got no idea what these letters equate to as far as ride quality.  The speed rating and max pressure seem to be the only difference.  Price is only a few dollars different.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Mike
Moved the tire discussions to a new thread so we can hold ongoing tire discussions.

[grannyknot]

I have always had good luck and great handling with the Yokohama ADVAN series,  my next set will be the Sport V105, https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/advan-sport-v105

[7tooZ]

@Mike I did most of my tire research on the tire rack web page they have good description of the different tire ratings and reviews. I ended up purchasing the Michelin Premier A/S.  I was mostly worried about ride quality. I have found it hard to wear out a set of tires as they get old or have other issues first. Had mine about two years and have a total of less than 1000 miles on them. mostly ran Pirelli before. Really impossible to to do a personal comparison. 

[LeonV]

18 hours ago, Mike said:

What do you guys think about tire brands?  I'm looking at possibly Michelin...  They have 3 different flavors of their sport tire, which I assume is similar for other brands as well.

Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+

1. Y-Rated - 186mph/51psi
2. V-Rated - 149mph/44psi
3. H-Rated - 130mph/44psi

I've got no idea what these letters equate to as far as ride quality.  The speed rating and max pressure seem to be the only difference.  Price is only a few dollars different.

What tire size are you looking at? All-seasons (no-seasons) will castrate the car, performance wise. Get a set of summer tires. I also do not like the Michelin AS3, poor grip and poor ride quality in my experience.

[jfa.series1]

I have BFG G-force Sport in 205/55X16 - a Z rated tire, well satisfied with the performance.  Got them at Discount Tire. No fender rubbing with my Konig 16X7 wheels.  Watch for a Memorial Day promo wherever you decide to buy.  BTW - this size is almost spot on to the OE tire OD, no speedo error.

[Mike]

14 hours ago, grannyknot said:

I have always had good luck and great handling with the Yokohama ADVAN series,  my next set will be the Sport V105, https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/advan-sport-v105

They seem to get some decent reviews...

12 hours ago, 7tooZ said:

@Mike I did most of my tire research on the tire rack web page they have good description of the different tire ratings and reviews. I ended up purchasing the Michelin Premier A/S.  I was mostly worried about ride quality. I have found it hard to wear out a set of tires as they get old or have other issues first. Had mine about two years and have a total of less than 1000 miles on them. mostly ran Pirelli before. Really impossible to to do a personal comparison. 

Yeah, that's why it's so hard to make an investment without asking people first.  I take a look at Pirellie's too..

5 hours ago, LeonV said:

What tire size are you looking at? All-seasons (no-seasons) will castrate the car, performance wise. Get a set of summer tires. I also do not like the Michelin AS3, poor grip and poor ride quality in my experience.

205/55/16's..  I was considering an all-season, until I read what you said..  I had some all seasons on there before and you're probably spot-on about the ride quality.  I'll look at a summer tire since the car won't be driven in the rain.

4 hours ago, jfa.series1 said:

I have BFG G-force Sport in 205/55X16 - a Z rated tire, well satisfied with the performance.  Got them at Discount Tire. No fender rubbing with my Konig 16X7 wheels.  Watch for a Memorial Day promo wherever you decide to buy.  BTW - this size is almost spot on to the OE tire OD, no speedo error.

Glad to hear you had a good experience with BFG.  They are actually owned by Michelin and I had great luck with BFG's on my SUV.  I may take a look at them.

[Mike]

I've been doing some comparisons and the summer tires stand out to me.  I really like a more square edge on my tires and the summer tires have a more distinct pattern.  Here's a look at some of the summer brands in my size.

Pirelli P Zero Rosso - Spendy but not too exciting - No reviews I could find on discount tire's website

Yokohama S-drive - Not bad - Good reviews - No warranty

Michelin Exalto - meh - Decent reviews

BF Goodrich - Gforce Sport Comp2 - Reviews say these are loud

I was strongly considering Michelin Pilot Sports, but, may change to one of the summer tires above:

Michelin Pilot Sport - Reviews are mediocre - Best warranty

 

After digging through reviews and personal experience (and from others), I may go with the BF Goodrich  or Yokohama summer tire

 

[LeonV]

3 hours ago, Mike said:

205/55/16's..  I was considering an all-season, until I read what you said..  I had some all seasons on there before and you're probably spot-on about the ride quality.  I'll look at a summer tire since the car won't be driven in the rain.

The thing about "summer" tires is that they absolutely out-perform "all-seasons" in the rain. All-seasons were designed for people that drive in snow and sub-zero conditions once in a while and don't want to install snow tires. Summer tires are designed for rain, as can be seen by their large grooves and sipes. These tire classifications are huge misnomers and constantly mislead consumers.

Take a look at TireRack. They do a good job of reviewing tires as well as compiling consumer feedback into easily-digestible stats. I assumed your use-case is driving around town and maybe a bit of spirited driving so I filtered by "max performance summer" and "ultra high performance summer" (basically just avoiding "extreme performance summer"). The cheapest tire on there that I would recommend is the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 (they're offering a $60 rebate through July 8th). I have a friend who runs them on his Chevy SS and has good things to say about them. I've personally run the BFG SC2 you mention and really enjoyed them, they're responsive and are typically cost-effective. The Dunlop DZ102 rode softer but didn't have the responsiveness of the BFG.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?zip-code=94555&width=205/&ratio=55&diameter=16&rearWidth=275/&rearRatio=35&rearDiameter=18

[Mike]

Yeah, I'm going to ask my local shop to bring in 3 different models so I can compare.  I've been convinced to go with summer tires and will be going that route.  

[240260280]

I used Falken summers on my Miata back in 92-94. Lovely tires. Name was Azen or something like that.  Made in Japan by Sumitomo.  I stored the car in the winter so not a problem.  I did like cornering so they did wear quicker but it was worth it. They traded off sticky for wear. Summer driving here is mid May to end of Oct.

They seem to have up sized. This one comes in a 16 but the tread looks more for track:

https://www.falkentire.com/tires/passenger-car-tires/azenis-rt615k-tire

Edited May 12, 2019 by 240260280

[S30Driver]

Of the tires you posted Mike, I vote for the Yokohama S-drive.   One of our club members has them on 2  cars and loves them.

I also lean toward tires from Japan on a car manufactured in Japan. 

[Mike]

15 hours ago, 240260280 said:

I used Falken summers on my Miata back in 92-94. Lovely tires. Name was Azen or something like that.  Made in Japan by Sumitomo.  I stored the car in the winter so not a problem.  I did like cornering so they did wear quicker but it was worth it. They traded off sticky for wear. Summer driving here is mid May to end of Oct.

They seem to have up sized. This one comes in a 16 but the tread looks more for track:

https://www.falkentire.com/tires/passenger-car-tires/azenis-rt615k-tire

Good looking tire!  I checked but seems to be difficult to get at my local shop, otherwise I would look at it. 

9 hours ago, S30Driver said:

Of the tires you posted Mike, I vote for the Yokohama S-drive.   One of our club members has them on 2  cars and loves them.

I also lean toward tires from Japan on a car manufactured in Japan. 

Yeah, the strong contenders are the Yokohama,  BF Goodrich, and Michelin summers..  Stuck until I can see all of them.  I'll call them in the morning and get all of these delivered to the shop so I can take a final look and get them mounted.