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new summer tire suggestion

S

SVT3Rivieres

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
442
Location
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec
ok its my first time shopping for performance tire, my svt was having 205/55/16 BFG traction t/a on it and the're getting bald

i have good winter tire so i intend to use them just for summer only, i want to find a good compromise between price and performance, so if you suggest the more pricey one you better have good argument :P

so i narrow my choice to those, all 205/55/16:

BF Goodrich G-Force Sports
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3
Fuzion ZRi
Kuhmo Exsta SPT
Hankook Ventur R-S2

the goodyear seem to be the best of them but also much more expensive thant the other and the 3 last one seem to be cheaper

so what do you think ?
 
Are you set on the 205/55-16 or would 225/50-16 work?

For 205/55-16 I'd say either of these:
Kumho MX. They're only $85 each from tirerack and will outperform any tire you listed.
Hankook R-S2 Z212. They're $91 from discounttiredirect and GrassRootMotorsports ranked it higher than the Kumho MX.

For 225/50-16, I'd say Falken Azenis RT-615. They're $108 from vulcantires.com and will outperform any tire under $200, even the Kumho MX, (and probably most tires over $200 too).
 
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Both 205's and 225's are taller than the 215's that the car came with.... the diameter of the 225 *should* be slightly less than the 205 though. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference. Also, a 205 tire will weigh less than a 225 tire. I can't remember.. but either the Kumho or Hankook's 225 weighed a little more than 5lbs more than their 205's.

I ran 225's for a while, but switched to 205's just because the tire I wanted (Falken Azenis RT-215) wasn't available in 225. Though... some tires tend to be wider than others of the same marketted size. Those RT-215's in 205/55 fit the E1 rim perfectly, but they are a wider than normal tire... and have been discontinued for a while now.
 
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i ran Goodyear Eagle F1's for two summers and rode them pretty hard...good wear, great hold up in turns...just dont push em too far into fall because if there is the slightest bit of ice/snow, you arent going anywhere....my gf also runs these tires on her '04 Jetta GLi and same thing, great wear and great grip, ya they are more expensive, but you get what you pay for

my 2 cents
 
i've got ZRI's for xmas and i hate them. not sticky at all. lots of warming up and then they still aren't that great.

i ran G-force Sports. held up great and took them on the dragon and around town and a couple of road trips. great tire
 
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ZRi's are ok. My biggest complaint with them is the soft sidewall.
I'm with morbid. You can not beat azenis for a normal street tire. They have a lower tread wear rating than many other tires but I've seen their useful life to have been about the same as many tires rated higher. And their sidewalls are good and stiff and the tire is good and sticky.
 
Yup! Even when the Azenis's are abused, they last a while. With my last set of 205/55-16 Azenis RT-215's, they lasted me about 18 months (~18,000 miles) and that's with around 70 auto-x runs and a full afternoon-night of canyon racing (similar to the popular "Dragon"). My daily driving also is pretty rough on tires.

I'm currently on Azenis RT-615's (235/40-17) which are *supposed* to last longer than the RT-215's... but I'll see about that :).
 
i am running continental conti extreme contacts and i love them, they were under 100 and they perform excellent for street and i auto x a lil bit with them
 
morbid said:
Both 205's and 225's are taller than the 215's that the car came with.... the diameter of the 225 *should* be slightly less than the 205 though. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference. Also, a 205 tire will weigh less than a 225 tire. I can't remember.. but either the Kumho or Hankook's 225 weighed a little more than 5lbs more than their 205's.

I ran 225's for a while, but switched to 205's just because the tire I wanted (Falken Azenis RT-215) wasn't available in 225. Though... some tires tend to be wider than others of the same marketted size. Those RT-215's in 205/55 fit the E1 rim perfectly, but they are a wider than normal tire... and have been discontinued for a while now.
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98.5 came with 205/55ZR16. 99 and 00 came with 215/50ZR16. 205/55ZR16 and 225/50ZR16 are both the same diameter when mounted on their optimal width rim. When the 225/50/ZR16 is mounted on the 6.5" SVT rim, it ends up being ever so slightly larger in diameter.

As for a recomendation, I have Dayton Daytona 225/50ZR16 on my car. It is the second set. The first set lasted 60,000 miles. The current set is a little different in design and looks to match it's sibling in the Bridgestone family, Fuzion ZRi. I'm not sure how much to believe, but the guy at the tire shop claims that both are identical except for a little tread pattern to the Bridgestone 750. I suspect that it is very close.

Anyway, I really like them. I insisted on the Daytons because of prior experience, but they were actually slightly less expensive than the Fuzion.
 
redneckboarder said:
i am running continental conti extreme contacts and i love them, they were under 100 and they perform excellent for street and i auto x a lil bit with them
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I had them. Once you get a good tire you'll wonder how you ever thought they were good.
Besides, they are an all-season (hence the less than stellar performance) and the OP is asking about summer tires.
 
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dairdevyld said:
Goodyear!!!!!!!!


They should give me free tires for this plug.
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Goodyear wouldn't give a free tire to Charles Goodyear if he was still alive.:blackeye:


The F1s are good, but except for that one sell tirerack had on them, you can buy other tires (like the azenis) for cheaper that are actually a lot better performing. You'd lose a little wet weather performance and tread life but it's worth it considering you shouldn't be pushing the car hard in the rain and they're cheaper.
 
Just a little input about the Azenis in the rain. The RT-615's do handle water better than the RT-215's. With the RT-615's, they're really good even when pushed. When I would make them loose traction, it was very easy to make them behave again. My experiences with the RT-215's weren't as good (recovering from traction loss), but they still were better than I would have thought just by looking at the tread pattern.
 
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