Inexpensive, but good max performance summer tires.

[bazguitarman]

Ok, I'm not ashamed to say it........I'm poor

Just buying my FR-S is going to be a stretch on my single income. Let's face it, life takes $$$'s. After rent/house payment, insurance, gas, food, utilities, soft toilet paper and the occasional date (If I'm lucky), I'll be lucky to even put tires on my FR-S. But I do plan on immediatly changing the wheels and tires when I get my car. Because the factory wheels are butt ugly and the factory tires are pretty meh.

So, I'm looking around the interwebz at tires and wheels. I've pretty much decided to go with a set of 17" x 7.5" Enkei PF01's, 45mm offset (16.8 lbs.)in bright silver for my future ultramarine FR-S. Now I just need tires.

Here are a few I'm looking at right now. As priced/speced on tirerack.com

All in 215/45/17 fitment.

1) Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110
Weight- 22 lbs.
$101.00 ea.

2) Sumitomo HTR Z III
Weight- 23 lbs.
$95.00 ea.

3) Kumho Ecsta LE Sport
Weight- 21 lbs.
$96.00 ea.

4) Continental ExtremeContact DW
Weight- 20 lbs.
$120.00 ea.

I want to keep the total cost of 4 under $500.00 without falling into the "crappy, cheap tire" grouping. These will be used for spirited road driving only. No track time. I also want to keep the weight down.

Soooo.....Help me out here. Anyone have any experience with any of these tires? Or maybe further suggestions for something better? This would probably help quite a few forum members who want an FR-S/BRZ, but don't have big bucks to buy the good stuff for them.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by bazguitarman

I want to keep the total cost of 4 under $500.00 without falling into the "crappy, cheap tire" grouping. These will be used for spirited road driving only. No track time. I also want to keep the weight down.

your OEM tires are more than enough to keep you safe during spirited driving. Won't cost you a penny.


take it from me, ive done track days on winters

if anything, you learn control a lot better. Tires that are too sticky are generally TOO sticky for the streets, esp in an underpowered car.

[Capt Canuck]

^Definitely. You'll be more than fine on the stock set-up.
Why not try it out for 6 months and then decide whether you want to make a change

[Fly Guy]

I'm planning to use up my OEM tires before changing them.

[GrimmSpeed]

Not to sound like an echo here but ...burn up those stockers first!!


Justin

[fatoni]

If you cant afford tires, dont buy a brand new car. A used miata and some sways will get you the same pleasure plus you will save thousands. With cars I like to think that if I cant buy two, I shouldn't buy one

[carbonBLUE]

Originally Posted by fatoni

If you cant afford tires, dont buy a brand new car. A used miata and some sways will get you the same pleasure plus you will save thousands. With cars I like to think that if I cant buy two, I shouldn't buy one

some of us are looking for cheap tires because we will be going through them pretty quickly or need multiple sets, i know i was looking for cheap tires because i dont plan on going more than 10k miles on 1 set of tires.. lol

[Vracer111]

I thought the factory wheels would be ugly too...but they are actually rather nice in person (still a little heavy though). If on a tight budget I would go with just changing out tires once the stockers wear down. The Kumho Ecsta LE Sport would be my choice for a great low price max performance summer tire, have a set I just recently put on my Tacoma (205/55-16 size on 16x7.5 Kosei K-1's) and love them for a daily driver tire - good dry grip levels, extremely impressive wet grip levels - going through standing water at high speed is non-issue as it cuts right through like nothing, a very quiet/subdued tone once you pass the tires grip level, and very nice transitional responsiveness while still giving a comfortably soft ride. They are more grippy than the stock Michelins and definitely have a better tread pattern with larger outside tread blocks and better circumferential grooving - hence the awesome wet handling. They are a better wet tire than the older Hankook RS-2, which was better than its replacement the RS-3. Dry grip not quite on par with the RS-2 but pretty close.

[Asterisked Accolade]

The only tires from that list that i think are pretty good are the Ventus. I work for a tire shop and i am not fond of Extreme Contacts or Ecstas. Personally i'd go for the Dunlop Direzza Star Specs. That's my own personal preference, i'm not trying to say they stomp all other tires. However, they are good tires and they are relatively inexpensive($145 for 215/45/17) for their performance-- they just tend to get sort of greasy at high temperatures. If you're just using them for street use and Auto X i think you'd be well off.

Regarding your stock set-up, i wonder if you would consider buying new wheels & tires, then trying to sell your original wheels & tires on Craigslist. I'm expecting to see a lot of stock wheel & tire ads on craigslist from these cars.

[blalor]

Originally Posted by Asterisked Accolade

Personally i'd go for the Dunlop Direzza Star Specs. That's my own personal preference, i'm not trying to say they stomp all other tires. However, they are good tires and they are relatively inexpensive($145 for 215/45/17) for their performance-- they just tend to get sort of greasy at high temperatures. If you're just using them for street use and Auto X i think you'd be well off.

I race an '87 325is in the 24 Hours of LeMons. The most popular tire in the paddock by far are the Star Specs. Easily over half of the teams used 'em. They are AWESOME on the track, and we've had no problems with overheating. I run the DZ101 on my MINI and used them for track work on my now-sold E30 ('91 318is); they did get kind of greasy, so I'll probably use the Star Specs on the BRZ when the time comes.

But for now, I'm going to rock the stock tires to learn my way around this car.

[Asterisked Accolade]

Originally Posted by blalor

I race an '87 325is in the 24 Hours of LeMons. The most popular tire in the paddock by far are the Star Specs. Easily over half of the teams used 'em. They are AWESOME on the track, and we've had no problems with overheating. I run the DZ101 on my MINI and used them for track work on my now-sold E30 ('91 318is); they did get kind of greasy, so I'll probably use the Star Specs on the BRZ when the time comes.

But for now, I'm going to rock the stock tires to learn my way around this car.

I'm glad to hear it-- i'm going to get Enkei RPF1s and Star Specs for my Celica.

The DZ101 is just the "toned down" version of the Star Specs for the street i believe. I sell those at work. I'm glad to hear that the Star Specs did well and didn't suffer from overheating or greasiness.

[bazguitarman]

Originally Posted by fatoni

If you cant afford tires, dont buy a brand new car. A used miata and some sways will get you the same pleasure plus you will save thousands. With cars I like to think that if I cant buy two, I shouldn't buy one

It's not that I can't afford tires or a new car. I make decent money, but as a single income household I have more responsibilities than just my car. I guess what I'm saying is I don't want to live for just my car. It's not my God and I don't want to worship it in exclusion of everything else.

I just want to find a decent summer tire without breaking the bank. I'll use the factory wheels and all season tires in the winter.

Looks like everyone is big on the Star Specs. A set would be $20.00 to $40.00 over my $500.00 goal, but that's no big deal. I'll be sure to check them out.

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by bazguitarman

It's not that I can't afford tires or a new car. I make decent money, but as a single income household I have more responsibilities than just my car. I guess what I'm saying is I don't want to live for just my car. It's not my God and I don't want to worship it in exclusion of everything else.

I just want to find a decent summer tire without breaking the bank. I'll use the factory wheels and all season tires in the winter.

Looks like everyone is big on the Star Specs. A set would be $20.00 to $40.00 over my $500.00 goal, but that's no big deal. I'll be sure to check them out.

the added benefits of star specs far outweighs the $20setback. Just pack lunch one week out ofeach season

[Kimsey47]

1) Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110
Weight- 22 lbs.
$101.00 ea.

I LOVED THESE TIRES when I had them on my Euro Accord in the UK.