What tires and prices did you pay in Norcal
 

I need to get a new set of tires soon, I loved the hp primary's that came on the car but they are a little out of my price range. I've been using Michelin pilot sport as3 which are nice but seem a little soft and I went through them faster than expected considering the price paid.

I'd like to know what tires people are running, how much it ended up costing (roughly) and your thoughts on how they perform/lasted.

I'm most interested in the stock 215/45/17 as I have stock wheels but all info is helpful.

Thanks in advance

So just to be clear, you're only interested in hearing about 215/45/17 tires?

The stock Primacy HP's are actually pricier than the PSS. I ended up getting those from Costco when they had their monthly $70 discount. They last for stupid long as well. However the PSS are slightly more than the AS3s.

Sorry I could be more clear yeah I'd like to hear your thoughts on what tires your running regardless of size. I'm mostly interested in 215/45/17 but all info is welcome and hopefully helpful to others besides myself.

225/40/18 Firestone Firehawk Indy500s. $555 installed at Firestone. I'll sing their praises all day long.

Obviously I have 18" wheels that are lighter and wider than stock, so that helps too. But these tires are really inexpensive, relatively, and provide a way better driving experience.

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I tried the Indy 500s in 245/40/17 and I hated them. Sidewalls seemed squishy and I was getting a lot of tread squirm. It's possible they just require 200-500 miles to break in though before they start performing as designed.

I have a couple of Continental extreme contact DW 225/40r18 for sale? If you're planning to upgrade to a bigger lighter wheel. Let me know. :) I think continental has them in your size that you want. They last and grip really well as far as my experience from them.

Was it the actual Firehawk Indy500s? The Indy500 Ovals are an older tire, and I've heard mixed things about them.

I heard actually really little about the Firehawk Indy500s before I bought them, and I decided to take a risk. It's paid off for me. But different drivers have different preferences.

Yes, it was the new Indy 500s not the old ovals.

But yeah, maybe they're just not for me. Glad you are enjoying them though, they're certainly priced nicely!

They will probably wear faster than your AS3s, but you could take a look at the Toyo 1 Sport - I enjoyed my set when I had them.

DWs are also a great high performance tire. However, it's worth mentioning that they have been discontinued and replaced by the "Extreme Contact Sport", so it may be tricky to find the DWs soon.

Tirerack.com

Never ran them myself but have seen fair reviews about the Eagle F1 asymetrics which are on sale for like $260 after mail in rebate.

I loved the Bridgestone S-04 for a daily/mountain tire. They lasted about 20-25k miles each for me through 2 or 3 sets.

Or hit up Elite Performance about GT Radial SX2 if you like getting feedback but want a bit more grip.

Just throwing it out there that a lot of people dislike the primacy HPs so depending on the area you can get almost brand new ones for really cheap secondhand. Just watch the forum and craigslist.

I'll weigh in as another person who likes the Indy500s. I think some of it also depends on where you're coming from. I went from stock to Indy 500s and am still on stock suspension. If you were used to a more aggressive tire and had an upgraded suspension I can see the weaknesses of the tire being more noticeable.


All that being said I think that I'll probably move to something higher performance for my next set. For an inexpensive upgrade from stock that isn't so grippy as to really change the nature of the car I think they're a good choice.

I have a used set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports in 215/45/17 for sale. Still plenty of life left. Can get you photos and measure tread depth if you're interested. $150 for the set, picked up in Berkeley.

Note: These have been sold.

ive ran the new indy 500's @ 225/40/18 for about 8k mi. affordable & better than stock, although I rarely lean on em heavily in corners. havent auto-x/tracked since mounting them. i dig the blockless tread pattern, cant speak to the anti-hydroplane groove through the center. mine were squishy, like noted above, and they either firmed up or my senses adapted to the sensation.

imho good call on sticking with stock sizes, I've read quite a few posts about people unhappy with 225 on stock (7" wide) wheels and call whatever tire shit as it feels all floppy and soft because the tire is pinched, good tires too like MPSS and Conti's.


I've got 215/45/17 MPSS on stock wheels for dailying, <$600 mounted and balanced at Costco, every month they swap between offering $70 off a set of Bridgestones or a set of Michelins. There's probably an equivalent Bridgestone Potenza compound but everyone gets a hard on for Michelin so idk. I'm hoping these last me ~20k miles with the occasional autox and slim chance of an hpde, not as quiet as stock, definitely more grip, but not as grippy or loud as the Dunlop ZIISS I had. I've never put all seasons on this car.


Tirerack is a solid source, pretty much every private shop is actually just going to order from Tirerack whether they tell you that or not. Big chains probably have their own supply chains they manage (Costco, Bridgestone/Firestone, America's Tire, etc.)

Read a bunch of reviews on compounds and comparison tests (Tirerack does these) but it sounds like a ~300TW Max performance summer (I think that's what MPSS is) is what you want. Stickier and firmer than stock or all seasons, longer lasting than the 200TW track/autox tires.

Y'all trust Costco w/ aftermarket wheels? I don't want my babies scratched. I was planning on MPSS / PS4s or Conti DWS since I'm at 35k miles.

I certainly wouldn't. I only trust boutique shops like AutoRnD or Elite Performance to not scratch my wheels.

^that

I'm running 235/40/17 Yokahama S-Drives, bought the set for $500 with installation at Elite during a sale. They are directional summer tires, so they aren't too grippy in the rain (which is ironically when I got them installed), but they grip very well other than that.

I wouldn't trust anybody with aftermarket wheels unless it's a reputable shop, but for stock wheels it's whatever. However after having them put tires on I'm never doing it again. Took like 4+ hours even with an appointment.

One hour per tire/wheel. Seems about right.

:bs:

I just put some new tires on my new wheels. I decided to try out some budget performance tires. I put on some SUmitomo HTR Z iii.

I have about 500 miles on them so far. Not bad so far. Sidewall is tad squishier than i would like but they grip very nicely. I probably need another 500 miles or so before full break in. My stopping distance is also shorter now compared to when i ran the HTR P/S 02 all weather tires they had. These have the same paper specs as the MPSS at 300 treadwear and AA grip and A heat. They definetly arent AS grippy or as comfortable. However at less than half the price per tire i'm pretty happy so far.

Price on tire rack = 86$ per tire. Will be cheaper in your size. I got them in 234/45/17. Got them shipped and mounted for just under 500$.

Any reason why you chose to go 235/45 on a 17x9 instead of 245/40?

I am running 255/40/17 indy 500 for $560 tires/install/balance @ autoRnD and its pretty good for me so far, I track, and touge a lot.
But i would like to try new tires like RE71r next year, and I would recommend re71r or MPSS if you have extra budget.

In my experience that's about par for Costco, they don't have techs sitting around waiting for you to come in they're banging out cars as fast as they can and just stack them up willy nilly so an appointment only means they'll do it that day, not necessarily a tight window. They don't literally take 4 hours to do one set of tires, but they'll make you wait that long.

Which in hindsight is worth mentioning, I don't mind since it's near my work, I just drop it off and get a ride there and back, but if it's not convenient then yeah it can really suck.

I generally like a meatier tire and i like the way 45 feels. I was a bit afraid that i would get some stretch putting a 235 on a 17x9 however after the tires were mounted theres practically no stretch if any at all.

Also after 225 on a 17x7.5 it just felt like it was more tire than wheel. It might be specific to the Sumitomo tire but going down a size feels SO MUCH better. Granted these tires in general are a huge step up from my previous all weather tires so that has a lot to do with it. But tire stability is improved.

Keep us updated on how they feel after another 500 miles!

Definitely will! I'm not expecting a ton as they ARE a budget tire. However i read a lot of very good reviews and decided to see for myself.