Tire Upgrades

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by Chewie4299

How would these compare in the lineup? Anyone have any experience with them?
- picture of KDW2 here -

I ran those on my WRX. Not the best for all-out grip, but remained true in the rain. Never hydroplaned except when I hit decently deep puddles. Stiff sidewall and kind of noisy, but that's expected.

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by Toyobaru808

Any one have any personal experience with Kumho ecsta le sports??

Yes - on a Toyota Tacoma (205/55-16 tires streched to maximum recommended mounted width on 16x7.5 Kosei K-1 wheels), will be a very noticeable upgrade from the stock Michelin HP tires. More dry grip and insane wet grip and handling. Tacoma cornering on 1/4 tank in the wet is absolutely planted and cuts right through water. The best wet weather tire I've driven on - better than the BFG KDW, Hankook RS-2, Kumho SPT, etc...

Ecsta Sport LE's will be the replacements for the Michelin HP's for my FR-S when it's time for new daily driver tires...

[BAE]

Up to a few days ago I could have signed everything Draco-Rex have posted in this thread. I have always been searching for the best extreme performance tires and always studied Tireracks test. My philosophy is to use the same tires for daily driving, trackdays and autocross. I have been through a couple of sets Dunlop star specs before I changed to Yokohama AD08 for even more dry grip. I had decided on AD08 also for my BRZ when I read the tire test in the latest Car and Driver magazine. Together with Tirerack they have tested 9 of the best tires in the Extreme and Max performance class together. 225/45-17's on a BMW 328i. The big surprise for me was the Michelin Pilot Super Sports. They were 2nd fastest tire both in dry and wet autocross, 0.2 sec behind AD08 in dry and 0.1 sec behind Conti ExtremeContact DW in wet. In dry the PSS were faster than both Dunlop star specs and Hankook R-S3. In the combined score dry and wet performance, comfort and price the PSS is the clear test winner.

So if you are willing to sacrifice 0.2 sec on a 1 minute dry autocross compared to Yokohama AD08, with PSS you get a tire that is 1.8 sec faster in same course in wet, it is $22 cheaper pr. tire, you get a more comfortable tire for daily use, noise and ride, you get thread wear rating 300 instead of 180 and the PSS are 2 lbs lighter than the AD08. Our 86 cars have less torque than the 3.0 l BMW 328i test car, so a test in a 86 would probably have favoured the PSS even more.

Ferrari 458 Italia are delivered with PSS. They are applauded in every review I have read. The surprise was that it beats most of the extreme performance tires in dry. I have found myself a new winner!

I will make a separate post with a scan of the test results.

[BAE]

These are the tires in the test:
Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position
Continental ExtremeContact DW
Dunlop Sport Z1 Star spec
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2
Hankook Ventus R-S3
Michelin Pilot Super Sport
Pirelli P Zero
Toyo Proxes R1R
Yokohama Advan Neova AD08

[dori.]

I did read that article too. I was surprised at how the Michelins performed.
Bridgestone S04 did well too.

It also seems the Hankooks were a good value for the performance.

edit: I don't think the 328i is turbo (335i)

[BAE]

Originally Posted by dori.

edit: I don't think the 328i is turbo (335i)

You are right. The test uses the E92 328i with the 3.0l NA engine. Still, far more torque than the 86. It is the new 328i that has a 2.0 T.
:happy0180:

[BAE]

Originally Posted by dori.

It also seems the Hankooks were a good value for the performance.

Agree. The Hankook's are $140/tire and the PSS are $177 in this size at Tirerack. But if you add to the calculation that the Hankook's have a thread wear rating 140 and the PSS have 300, you may conclude that the extra cost is a good investment if they last much longer.

[liquidsky44]

I'm running on Bridgestone RE070 225/45-17 and they're fantastic. Load of confidence during corners and way more predictable than stock when you're going side ways. : )

[coyote]

Originally Posted by liquidsky44

I'm running on Bridgestone RE070 225/45-17 and they're fantastic. Load of confidence during corners and way more predictable than stock when you're going side ways. : )

Really, really, REALLY heavy though.

[WiKKiD]

RE11 FTW! Best all around Perfomance tire.

[BAE]

Originally Posted by WiKKiD

RE11 FTW! Best all around Perfomance tire.

The RE-11 are great tires. They are a hair ahead of Yokohama AD08 in Tireracks combined road and track test, but slower on the track.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=118

Too bad they were not included in the Car and Driver test above, but the Michelin Pilot Super Sports are so far ahead of AD08 in the C/D test,
that I don't think the RE11 can beat them. Also in 225/45-17 the RE-11's are 26 lbs/tire. The PSS are 22 lbs. 4 lbs pr tire is a lot on this car. People are investing in forged wheels to save less weight than this.

[liquidsky44]

Originally Posted by coyote

Really, really, REALLY heavy though.

Agree on that. Was sweating like a pig carrying it to my car during the swap. Was wondering about the weights for the RE-11s and Toyo R888. Any ideas??

[BAE]

You find weights at Tirerack.com under specifications.

[UncleFester]

A significantly lighter tire usually means thin/flexible sidewalls.