Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires Yok AVS, Sumi HTZ II, Nitto...help me decide

So I bought my new rims and tires this summer, but decided I made the wrong tire choice (Sumi HTR+) :rolleyes: . So rather than beat myself over the head I'm going to pick up something stickier and try to sell off the Sumi's on e-bay or something.

I want something sticky with good wet traction at a reasonable price. I've come up with these options so far (btw - 225/40R-18):

1)Sumitomo HTRZ II - $553 shipped from Tirerack

2)Nitto 550 - $512 shipped from Discount Tire

3)Yokohama AVS sports - obviously the best tire of the bunch, I found a friend who will give me a set with 60% tread left for $350

...but I drive 80 miles a day during the week so treadwear is key. The Yokes are a 180 so I know they won't last long at all, but I'm thinking at that price it would be fun just to have them as long as they do last. I'm not a big Nitto fan, but its a good deal on a "reportedly" good tire, and I've heard lots of praise for the HTRZ II. Tough Choice.
What do you think??

I can only speak for the Nittos. I bought a set of 225 40 17 mounted on Rage 5.0 wheels from discount tire.com and at first was sceptical about how good these tires were. I just came back from two days at Mosport (SVTOA event) and beating the snot out of these tires and I walked away impressed. I guess they just needed to be scuffed a bit. They gripped extremely well and hey I believe I posted the best autocross time on street tires. The best cobras on R compound tires were running mid 38 second times and I ran a best of 40.2 sec. Day to day driving is good, quiet and smooth. I noticed no difference in ride compared to the 16 inch KDWs. Pretty remarkable for a 40 series tire compared to a 50 series. The tread rating is 300 for the Nittos.

hope this helps.

Fern

Thanks, it certainly does...tough to pass up at $128 each and free shipping.

I'm just a little hesitant to be sporting the term "extreme performance", know what I mean :rolleyes: :p

Well my friend has now got me virtually convinced that the AVS sports are the way to go. He thinks I'll get at least 10,000 miles out of 'em. Plus we're talking about a $900 set of tires for $350. AND these will be my summer set, the stock EO's go back on for them NY winters.

Anyone else have any thoughts? questions? concerns?

The AVS Sports is the better tire, but 10k miles will be about it and they won't be better in the rain and performance will be droppng off due to the number of heat cycles towards the end if the tire's life. Don't forget to add $60-80 for mounting and balancing. $900 tires for $360 seems like a good deal, but if you really would be happy with $600 tires that last 3-4x as long, then you just wasted $360, IMO.

you hit it...
that is the dilemma, thanks APT