Whats good HT? What where the best tires you have used, and how much where they? I was looking around for some sticky summer tires to use on a set of fat fives. They will be used for summer only and maybe some auto x events (if i can afford them). Trying to stay around $80 a tire or less.

I found some Sumitomo HTR Z's on tire rack for $52 each. The price is great but people are claiming side wall flex I know this will hurt high speed cornering and spongy/numb steering feedback. Thanks for all and any input. -Los
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...ace=1

Oh its going on my '95 EJ1.



Modified by sEa lOS gRill at 2:06 PM 7/7/2008

 

You can't go wrong with the recommendations in the FAQ at the top of this section of the forum...

I had Kumho SPTs on my car and they were awesome. Handled awesome even in the rain. I got 20,000 miles out of them. The belts started coming out of the front because my alignment had been off, so they probably could have gone even longer. I went to Discount and had them replaced and got what they had in stock at the time which was a Cooper ZPT. It's an all season tire and complete garbage really. Very mooshy and unpredictable around turns. Also made a lot of weird road noise. I had them order me the Kumho ASX since the SPT is sold out in the size I need until they do another production run. The ASX isn't as good as the SPT, but it's close enough for me. This is on a Mazda Protege5, not a Honda, though.

 

There's no single tire that's best at everything - dry traction, wet traction, snow traction, price, treadlife, etc. That's why there are different kinds of tires. As gus notes above, these are described well in the FAQ.

Many people who use tires for warm-weather street driving and track/autocross care only about dry traction, and get supersticky, "extreme performance" tires. They wear rapidly and aren't the best in rain, but on dry pavement and the track or autocross course, their performance is the best you can find in a street tire. The best of them, in order, are, IMO:

1. Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec
2. Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R
3. Falken Azenis RT-615

If price is a factor, it's worth noting that the Z1 and RT-615 are less expensive than the RE-01R.

The Toyo R1R just became available and the Kumho Ecsta XS comes out next month; it remains to be seen exactly how they compare with these three.

Gus mentioned the SPT, which is a different kind of tire, nowhere near as sticky as these on dry pavement but much better in rain, last much longer, and are cheaper. He also mentioned the ASX, which isn't as good as the SPT in moderate to warm temperatures but can be used in snow and wintry conditions. Again, different tires for different purposes.

That Sumitomo HTR Z is crap. It's an old tire and even when it came out many years ago was crap. Heck, in Tire Rack testing, the HTR Z couldn't even beat the Kumho Ecsta Supra 712, one of the absolute worst summer tires made (which is why it was discontinued a while ago).

For your '95 Civic, the best 15" size is 195/50-15, not 205/50-15. You can get the RE-01R in this size, $115/tire at the Tire Rack, or the R1R, $116 at onlinetires.com

If you are only looking for a cheap tire, one priced similar to the crappy Sumitomo, and you don't care about the lower performance level, you can get either the General Exclaim UHP ($42.50/tire after rebate at the Tire Rack, in 195/50-15) or the Dunlop Direzza DZ101 ($48.50/tire after rebate). They aren't as good as the SPT, let alone the supersticky tires, but they're way better than the crappy Sumitomos, and as you can see, the price is nice.

 

Your right I didn't bother looking at how tire rack rated it at all. I was just looking through different sizing and pricing by performance "rating" and tire rack does have it rated as a "ultra high performance summer tire" so i guess you can see where my confusion is coming from.

I did some searching and started looking at 195/50's and did like the R1-1's you mention and found they are offering a $100 rebate. This is looking very coast effective for the performance of this tire. Is onlinetire.com part of the rebate deal with toyo? I did run into the Hankook Ventus R-S2 and say's they were up to par with the Azenis' also, what are your opinions on them?

No, I did say I was looking for sticky summer tires, and not all season, i have all season Goodyear's on 14" steelies for winter. I've had the dz101's on my car in a 205/50 and it was an ok tire for all season but didn't grip like i wanted. Before that they were Falcon Ziex something or anther, then some Kumho base model Ecstas Supras. The best tire's I've had are Nitto 555r's in a 205/45 and haven't bought anything close to them since (due to being broke). I know they are drag radials but thats what i was into a few years back, but are still the stickyist tires I've ever had.

Just mentioning this to show you I don't have much experience with the better tires. So I'm in the market now and would like to know whatever info you have. Thanx nsxtasy and gus for your input.

 

My favorite tires I've had so far were my SO-3 Pole Positions, will be getting some RE-01R's when the Poles wear out.

 

I can't swear it, but I assume so. You can always ask. I know that rebate deal - and BTW, thanks for mentioning it - is on Toyo's website, so it should be good at any authorized Toyo dealer. I mention onlinetires.com because I know they have some of the lowest Toyo prices around. Edgeracing.com is pretty good on price, too. There are a bunch of places that sell Toyo tires, including:

U.S. CA AIM Tires http://www.aimtire.com 707.938.9193
U.S. CA Les Schwab http://www.lesschwab.com
U.S. CA OnLineTires.com http://www.onlinetires.com 877-465-8473
U.S. DE Sports Car Tire http://www.sportscartire.com 800-752-TIRE
U.S. FL Edge Racing http://www.edgeracing.com 800-495-8306
U.S. IL Frisby Performance Tire http://www.frisbyracetire.com 800.798.7201 or 1.847.244.7050
U.S. IL TireDeals4Less.com http://www.TD4L.com 888-598-9200
U.S. IL Vilven Tire http://www.vilventires.com 800-251-0017 or 888-77-KUMHO
U.S. MD Radial Tire http://www.radialtire.com 301-585-2740
U.S. NY Phil's Tire Service http://www.philstireservice.com 845-429-8943
U.S. PA CJ's Tires http://www.cjtire.com 610-404-0224
U.S. PA The Tire Shoppe http://www.thetireshoppe.com 866-208-6551
U.S. SC Bob Woodman Tires http://www.bobwoodmantires.com 843-571-2277
U.S. TN Appalachian Race Tire http://www.racetire.com 865-681-6622
Canada BC 1010tires.com http://www.1010tires.com 888-825-MAGS
Canada BC TireTrends.com http://www.tiretrends.com 877-920-TIRE
Canada QC Talon http://www.talontire.com 514-337-0833

They're not as sticky. Grassroots Motorsports found the same thing when they tested both in a side-by-side comparo. But the R-S2 lasts a bit longer and isn't quite as mediocre in rain.

Yeah, those are probably the crappy Kumhos that the Sumitomos couldn't beat.

As long as you're not surprised by the treadlife (maybe 10-20K miles, I'm guessing), I think you'll like the Toyo R1R or the Bridgestone RE-01R. If you're looking for a lot more grip than the DZ101, that's the way to go.

The discontinued S-03 was a good tire in its day, one of the very best summer tires you could get. But it's a lot like today's Goodyear F1 GS-D3 and Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position - top-of-the-line tires that are designed to provide a blend of excellent dry traction, wet traction, and still pretty good treadlife, at a premium price. You'll find that the RE-01R gives better grip on dry pavement, which is why it's a better choice for dual duty, street use combined with autocross/track use. That's the difference between categories, what the Tire Rack calls "extreme performance" (RE-01R, R1R, Z1 Star Spec, RT-615) and "max performance" (F1 GS-D3, RE050A, etc).