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Need a Recommendation

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ZeroHour

Mod/Salad Tosser
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Feb 7, 2005
Messages
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Location
Eastern PA
All I can say is that yes I read the FAQ at the top, but it kinda leaves alot to be desired. :laugh:

I need to put on new tires on my set of 17's and the shop I'm getting it done at wants to know what tires I want. They make no recommendations when it comes to performance tires. (I'm assuming liability reasons) I currently have on 215/45/R17 tires. I plan on trying the 225/45/R17 combo as it seems to be favored by the forum. :cool:

But as for the tire I"m looking at maybe 90-125 per tire that has to be run from about May to Sept/Oct. I'll be putting about 4500 miles on this summer and would prefer them to last about the same next summer (heard some stories of the Falken ze-512s, not just on this forum). The daily commute will be 37 miles one way, alot of highway. So they'll need to deal with heat!

Another member in the northeast has Kumho Ecsta tires, not sure if they are AST or SPT, but he likes them. So I'm thinking those are the ones (SPT) I'll get unless someone has other suggestions! The shop can order pretty much anything you name.

Thanks for any suggests!


EDIT: Right now these are the three I am considering:
Kumho Ecsta SPT
BFGoodrich Gforce Sport
Yokohama S.drive
 
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If I was in your situation, I'd be looking at one of the "Extreme Performance" tires from Tire Rack, since they are to be used strictly in the summer. In order of preference:

- Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec ($129)
- Hankook Ventus R-S2 ($116)
- Kumho Ecsta MX ($112)
 
For a summer tire you cant go wrong with the BFG GFSport. It has great traction but is still a tire you'd want on the streetdaily , unlike the Kuhmo MX which wears a little too fast for my daily tastes. Plus they are quite affordable for the performance you get from it. The SPT is not a bad tire either but the Sport will beat it all around in terms of performance.
 
well i just got 225/45/17 falkens, and i can tell you now, that it raised my car a little but, im still on stock suspension, so now i'm saving up for some drop
 
ewww generals..lol i've never had anything good come from them, neither have my friends. Those are the tires most tires places sell here as bottom on the barrel tires. but maybe you'll have better luck
 
Well they are the #1 summer performance tire in the ratings but that might be because of the lower price.
 
I'm going to put a call in tomorrow morning and see what prices I am given for the three tires I listed originally, that along with the BF Goodrich KDW 2's.

I'll probably make a decision based on what prices I am given and asumming there is not problem ordering any of the tires.
 
Dyoel182 said:
Well they are the #1 summer performance tire in the ratings but that might be because of the lower price.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
Never would consider Generals as a performance tire before, but maybe I'm wrong :shrug:
I'd spend my money on the BFGs.
I was going to buy a set but got 2 nearly new Dunlop SP8080s free and went with them. Very nice tire so far but too much at $160 per IMO.
-J
 
i think personally falken ziex are the way to go. I've never had problems on my probe gt, civic or now the csvt. my friends run them on there gsr's. I paid just a lil under $90 per wheel shipped
 
Order tires this morning...online.

I called the shop and got the old guy that works there. :nonono: He seemed pretty annoyed that I called at 8:45 in the morning when they open at 7:30. Needless to say, he was willing to order the BF Goodrich G-sport radials for a 158 dollars a peice...plus fees. He would not order any Kumho's for me because he's had customer compliants on the wear. Well no crap, soft rubber that sticks wears down. ( apparently stupid people buy cheap performance tires and expect 60k out of them ). And he did not believe me that the Yokohama S.drive existed. It wasn't on his list for Yokohama. :confused:

So I asked them what they charge to mount tires and he said it would be 20-25 for mount, valve stem, disposal. It would have been about 650-675 for the BF Goodrich through them. So I went online order the Kumho's and had them shipped to my house for ~400. Now it will be ~100 for the mount. So I'm assuming ~$500 vs $650 for tires. *sighs*
 
When it comes to mounting and balancing, I always go to the small shops and say "its 60 dollars. Right?" It works every time for me. You kinda have to do it in the middle of the day in the middle of the week, when they have the least amount of business. Otherwise it will cost around 100.
 
I dont pay more than $12.50 for a mount and balance. Glad you got the tires ordered and am waiting for pics when you get them.
 
I think I payed ~$50 for mine mounted/balanced/air stemmed/disposal. I did have a problem with mine after wards though...
P_00305_small.jpg

They did have the local body shop fix them free of charge to me, but it was still an inconvenience and you can tell the silver doesn't match perfectly in the right light. Whadaya do? It's never right if you can't do it yourself! :laugh:
Erick --
 
Tires are mounted and on the car. :cool:

was 84 dollars to mount. They put a few knicks in each of the rims though. :nonono:

The tires ran pretty good but I only got about 10 miles on them yesterday. I ran them up to XX speed on a backwoods single lane highway. The there was a noticable drop in vibration (thank god) and the stopping was crap ton better then the winter tires! :laugh: I haven't driven on the old tires on the rim in a few months so it was hard to compare.

As for the handling of the tire I'm not sure yet. Put they loaded them to 34.5psi from the shop. I could tell driving around they needed more air in them. I upped the pressure to 40 all the way around and took a quick run to the bank atm cause my wallet was empty. Needless to say I got behind every slow mo'fo on the way there. But I could tell just from driving that the 40psi was doing much better.

On the one way around where I lived I hit a pretty good bump and I think I heard rub, but I saw no indication. But I have a feeling with the 225 wide tire I may need to pull out the little league bat. :laugh:
 
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Damn, they charged a lot and marked the rims :(
Glad you like the tires though.
Also, I'm not sure on 40psi, that seems like too much for best performance but I know that depends.
-J
 
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