I have Honda Prelude 1999 (5th Gen), and it's time to replace the tire. The factory comes with Bridgestone Potenza 205/50/R16.

The Bridgestone Potenza is very expensive... the local shop suggested me to go with Toyo Proxy 4 which is way cheaper. Should I listen to him? Any comments or any other brand/model suggestion?

Thanks..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by salmon318 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I have Honda Prelude 1999 (5th Gen), and it's time to replace the tire. The factory comes with Bridgestone Potenza 205/50/R16.

The Bridgestone Potenza is very expensive... the local shop suggested me to go with Toyo Proxy 4 which is way cheaper. Should I listen to him? Any comments or any other brand/model suggestion?

Thanks.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You probably had the Potenza RE92's as the OE tire on that car. I haven't talked to anyone who enjoyed their time on that tire.

Are you looking for something all season, or dedicated summer only tires?? What else do you require from your tires....grip/handling, ride, noise, wear, etc??? This will help me make the best recommendation to you.

Let me know

Matt

 

In a nutshell, your stock RE92 tires are all-season tires and cost $150/tire. Your mechanic is correct; you can get a lot more performance for a lot less money.

Matt's questions are good. Also, let us know how price-sensitive you are, i.e. the degree to which you would be willing to spend more for better performance (vs spending less and sacrificing performance by doing so).

Here are some brief recommendations, including Tire Rack prices for your 205/50-16 size.

1. If you want the best performance (dry, wet, handling) and are willing to pay for it and are not planning to use the tires on snow:

Dunlop SP Sport Maxx ($115/tire)
Goodyear F1 GS-D3 ($119/tire)

These are perhaps the very best street tires on the road today, and the price is very attractive too.

2. If you want very good performance (dry, wet, handling) but also care about what you pay, and are willing to get a little bit less performance in order to save some money, and are not planning to use the tires on snow:

Kumho ECSTA SPT ($85/tire)
Yokohama AVS ES100 ($80/tire)

3. If you plan to use your tires in snow and frigid cold as well as in nice weather:

Kumho ECSTA ASX ($85/tire)
Pirelli PZero Nero M&S ($97/tire)

Incidentally, be careful when referring to tires. Bridgestone makes a lot of tires with the "Potenza" name on them (as does Toyo with "Proxes", Kumho with "Ecsta", Goodyear with "Eagle", etc) - everything from expensive high-performance summer tires, to cheaper budget performance tires, to all-season tires, to tires for sport utility vehicles. The model name needs to be more specific (e.g. Bridgestone Potenza RE92).

 

I'm looking between those 2.

Kumho ECSTA ASX ($85/tire)
Pirelli PZero Nero M&S ($97/tire)

Any opinions? Seems like the PZeros might be worth it for the 12 dollar premium

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tommyd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Any opinions?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Have you looked at the side-by-side comparison test between these two on the Tire Rack website? Click here.

 

Def. read that one - wanted to see if there was any other outside opinions on the 2.
Seems like both are very good at what they do (def. better then the OEM RE92s) - trying to debate if an extra 60 Bucks is worth it for the PZeros - Probably - the only thing i'm worried about is treadwear as PZeros have 400 and ASX are 420 so pretty similar.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tommyd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> the only thing i'm worried about is treadwear as PZeros have 400 and ASX are 420 so pretty similar.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Based on how those numbers are generated...I would argue that there is no real difference between them.

Those numbers are somewhat questionable anyway, and should really only be used as a loose guideline, check out this article for more information...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...id=48

So really all a "400" means is that the tire is projected to last 4x's as long as a 195/75R14 Uniroyal Tiger Paw Radial (which is the only DOT approved "test tire") during a 7,200mi test loop. As someone who works in the tire industry...I'll say that those numbers can be tuned for marketing purposes as much as anything else. The Pirelli could be a 600 for all we know...but they know if they stamp it as a 600, people will assume poor traction because the "rubber will be hard".

So keep that in mind when shopping for tires...the difference between 400 & 420 is negligible.



Matt

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Neo79Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As someone who works in the tire industry...I'll say that those numbers can be tuned for marketing purposes as much as anything else.</TD></TR></TABLE>

One tire company recently changed the treadwear rating on one of its competition tires. The tire stayed exactly the same; they simply felt that their test results justified the better rating.