18x9.5 tires for Seattle weather (damp)
 

Hi all,

I just purchased a set of Advan GT's in 18x9.5 +40. Do you guys have any recommendations for tires to fit the car? The car is often driven in a spirited matter on backroads. The weather in Seattle is a mix of showers and dry, so the roads vary between dry and damp, and sometimes they are completely wet though this isn't that often. Please note that the car isn't driven in heavy rain/snow.

My budget is $1000 or less. I was thinking Yokohama ADVAN Sport V105 in 255/35/18 or 245/40/18. I'm also not worried about the life of the tire. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Continental Extreme DW. Really good in wet pretty good in dry.

Continental Extreme DW may not be quite as aggressive as you'd like in the wet and dry and they tend to have soft sidewalls which gives up quite a bit of the FRS steeling feel that we all love.

I'd suggest Michelin Pilot Super Sports. They're one of the best road tires in both dry and wet, affordable, and even though you don't care, are a ~40,000 mile tire. I've put about 30k on mine so far including a couple track days and some skidpad time. These truly have the best handling of any street tire I've used and the wet traction is incredible.

Here's a bit of testing compared to both the V105 and Conti DW.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=174

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=148


Additionally I'd suggest the 255/35 over the 245/40. The 245/40 is nearly 5% taller than OEM tires which effectively gears your car higher(Slower off the line) and pushes the rotational weight of your tire further out.

Depends on what low temperatures you get in your area. If the temperature doesn't drop below -10ish, you make be able to get away with using a non winter tire. If it does but no snow, you'll probably want to consider a winter performance tire. (Just a consideration)

Actually contrary to popular belief summer tires do pretty damn good in the cold as long as there is no snow or ice. In 10 degrees F I can still throw your face into the dash on Pilot Super Sports, whereas my snow tires(Hankook iPike W409) give up traction pretty easily.

255/35/18 is better for you. 245 there will be stretching... I would say stick with Extreme contact or Ventus v12 unless the rs3 is less than 1k.

If you're not concerned about life, then just get the most aggressive ~ 200 treadwear tire. Most of them clear rain quite well, just watch the tread pattern to make sure it isn't an imitation slick. With seattle winters being in the 40-50 range at worst usually, there's no reason for an all season tire.

The person wants tires for wet weather, yet wants to run 245/255's.

Huh...

That is true, most summer tires do better than even all seasons in rain but it's hard to imagine a no snow winter where I live so, winter performance just in case any snow falls at all. There was one early June where I live when it started snowing for a day.

I haven't tried the Pilot Sports yet, don't they need to be properly warmed up? Or they good at pretty much all temps?

Cold they give better traction than most any other ultra high performance street tire, and when heated they do get quite sticky. After some laps on a track I've had pieces of rock get embedded into the tread that I couldn't pull out with my fingers when they were cool. They'll never live up to a true R-Comp on a dry track but for a street-able tire that dominates in the rain and can handle the occasional track day they're a very good compromise.

Why not fit your stock wheels with winter tires. Put the appropriate tires on those Advan GT's for summer. Why spend $3k on wheels and skimp on tires? The tires are where you make everything come together.