Why pay Michelin prices? $185 per tire? Try this OE alternative: ExtremeContact DW
 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....DWXL&tab=Sizes


Significantly cheaper, a higher performance category, great reviews, very slightly lighter, many tire sizes to consider if you don't want OE size of 215/45/17. Try 215/50/17?

Even better are star specs for a little more but still a lot less than OEM :)

The Star specs are $25 more per tire.

The Continental ExtremeContact DW tires are excellent summer daily tires. Great grip, quiet, and excellent wet traction. I would not hesitate to (and have) recommend them to someone looking for a comfortable tire that performs. Another benefit, for some, with the ECDW is that it has rounded shoulders; it isn't a very "square" tire. So it will fit under fenders better at extreme offsets/sizes.

The only downside is that the ECDW has rather soft sidewalls. If you want a sharper turn-in and higher grip, are you're willing to sacrifice comfort and have average wet traction then the Dunlop Direzza Z1* Spec is the way to go.

I've had the ECDW on my spec.B and loved them. But I'm going to put the Z1* on my BRZ. Unless I go with a 245/35-18, then it has to be the Kumho Ecsta XS.

Err I didn't click on the link, thought he was saying the Contis were 185/each. Either way, I'd rather have star specs. The EC DWs are good tires, but I prefer star specs more. And Ad08s even more (although you pay ~OEM prices for them). RE11s are great in the rain but I prefer the AD08s to those also.

Actually I think AD08s are my favorite tire at the moment :)

:mad0259:

Are you being a shill or are you actually trying to help? Do you have direct experience with both the actual OEM tire and the Conti DW to make such a proclamation as the Conti DW being an "OE alternative"? What qualifiers or properties let you conclude as such?

The Conti DW is not in the same tire class as the OEM tire. Just from that facet right there, it cannot be an "OE alternative". If you meant to say "Hey, I like this tire and I think it'd work out well for my application", then cool. Otherwise, you're being misleading. Throwing out random tire sizes with no qualifying factors doesn't help either.

Excuse me for my unfamiliarity with these "performance" tires and RWD platform, but what would be a good guess on how many miles can we get out of any of the above mentioned tires? Obviously stickier will probably be less mieles generally speaking, but what is a general consensus?

I was looking at these two as well, plus there's some talk about new BFG Sport Comp 2 on miata forum that just became recently available at TR.

I'm trying to figure out what would be the right tire in terms of daily driving for wear/performance. I mean if I get 10k or less on a set of sticky tires just going to work and weekend driving, screw that! :D

I'm currently at about 15k miles on my AD08s with about 40% left up front and 70% left in back.. need to rotate them.

I also run a fairly agressive alignment, track and autocross with the tires. Just one track day on those though and about 8 autocrosses.

Tire life greatly varies based on alignment, inflation and driving style. I don't push my cars on the street, don't do burnouts, don't stand on the brakes, etc. For autocross I'm 10/10ths but that's not a lot of miles..

Sounds pretty reasonable. Thanks for the info. My wife would not approve tire changes very often :D.

If you're not going to be AutoXing or going to track days regularly, the ECDW would likely be a great choice for you. The only problem you might encounter is the ECDW is prone to cupping on the outside tread if your alignment is off. Keep your alignment square and they'll work great for you.

I'm not familiar with the Comp2 but it is a performance grade below the ECDW (according to TR). I have used the ECDW and can attest to its behavior personally.

Oh and the ECDW has a treadwear rating of 340 which, while not *directly* comparable to another manufacturer, it still going to be much better than the 140-180 you'll see in Extreme Performance tires.

Yea thanks. I know that ratings can't be compared across mfgs.

Just in case you didn't know, the UTQG ratings were intended to provide reasonably comparative data between tires. In reality though, the UTQG's are merely a loose guide of approximate performance in regards to treadwear, wet braking, and high speed temp resistance.

As always, the Tire Tech section on Tire Rack's website is excellent:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=48

Put simply, a treadwear of 100 means the tire should last 7,200 miles. The Michelin Primacy HP's that are standard on the FR-S/BRZ have a treadwear of 240, so they should in theory last 17,280 miles. Obviously, your mileage may vary based on inflation pressures, load, alignment, and driving style.

DW are good DD tire. Enough dry grip to shorten braking distance in emergency and lot's of wet grip for safety (and I think some rich autox-ers used them as a dedicated rain tire in the past few seasons). However, mine do make some humming noise @80mph.

Other good lost cost options are Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110 and the Nitto Invo

My lord this car is going to be cheaper to skin than my trucks. Both of those cost over 1k for 4 tires.

This car is going to be soooooo cheap to operate, it makes me giddy!