Tires for dummies..
 

OK.. so although I believe tires are everything when it comes to driving and I'm a big believer in the "sticky" stuff. I'm actualy dumb to them, if you will. I understand the softer the compound, the better traction and turning you have, on the same note, they also wear out faster. What I dont know is, how do I know what kind of compound my tire has and what kind of tread im using, and what should I be on the look out for.. So if someone who is an expert in this area wouldnt mind breaking things down for me, i would appreciate that. Hope there isnt a thread on this already.. Also give me a list of tire companies that make performance tires that are better than the tires that come stock on our car, 'cause God knows.. we could all do ourselves a huge favor and do that as our first upgrade!

its kind of a weird question but i think a good indicator would be treadwear and the tire category. neither of these things is really measured in a standard format but it should get you an idea. spend some time on the tirerack website. they have really good comparisons. people cant really tell you what to look out for since you didnt really say what you want. things like budgets, sizing, and use would be helpful. blindly though, i would just recommend the hankook rs3 or dunlop star spec

Belief is the wrong way to begin this. Start by doing some research. Go to wikipedia. Go to Tire Rack and read their articles about performance tires. Look up other articles on the internet. Look at Tire Rack's comparison tests and reviews of tires. Research articles on tests that Road and Track or Car and Driver, or Automobile conducted on performance tires.

If you are going to spend thousands on new rims or tools, you should spend at least 10 hours familiarizing yourself with tire engineering and how the tires performed in independent tests. By the end of this you'll have some cold, hard, verifiable, scientifically-based facts to apply to the problem. Then its just a matter of buying them. Religion is about beliefs - buying tires is not.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/review...surveyComments

a good place to start.. find a tire your courious about and look at the reviews.. now remember some dumb asses on there post a review after 100 miles or 3000 miles.. disregard them.. also like the tires on my suv on 20's a guy was bitching that his 03 cobra wouldnt hook up with them.. says SUV/light truck on the fucking tire dumb ass.. so disregard them too..

other then that.. you get real world reviews in just about every condition.. from racetrack to snow..

ok.. went to tire rack.. am I missing something.. why is it only showing me michelins?

if you put your car in.. then it will show you the reviews of what came stock.. look at the size 215/45-17 and then what ever tire in that size or round bout..

I would also recommend the Continental Extreme Contact DW or DWS depending if you want occasional use in winter or not. I use the DWS on my Acura TL-S, but it only gets drivebn in winter when the roads are good.

Tire wear rating should not be taken into account. The reason being is that each company has a different rating system. So if company A rates a tire 300 it won't wear the same as Company B's tire rated the same.

Don't select OEM tires only.

ah..ok gonna go check that out, thanks

Im looking over some of my favorite brands. I really enjoyed my yokohama's thats came stock on my '10 mazda 3 2.5 hatch. It really gripped well (btw that car was fun to drive even though it was FF). Im looking at Hancook too. What are some of your guys thoughts on these tires, anybody have personal favorites?

I'm running Hankook Ventus V12 evo's in 225/40 R18 (I have 18" wheels) and I love them, would highly recommend them as a cheaper but still great alternative to their bigger cousins the Ventus RS-3's. I don't know what you're looking to spend or what you do with your car but the RS-3's pretty much dominate the Auto-X scene right now, they are great tires. The V12's are like their little brother, they don't cost at much and have a higher treadwear rating vs. the RS-3's but they are still 10 times more sticky than the stock tires.

If you're on your stock wheels then the 225/45 R17 size is what you would want as they are closest to the stock diameter and wont throw off your speedo while still fitting comfortably on the stock rim.

Thank you
 

[QUOTE=Sony;732481]I'm running Hankook Ventus V12 evo's in 225/40 R18 (I have 18" wheels) and I love them, would highly recommend them.

Thanks for this recommendation. I have 18's coming in on friday and have been pulling out my hair as to what tire size to get. The hankooks mentioned above were always my tire of choice, now I know what size I will be ordering. Very helpful. Appears to add only 9 mm to the stock height.