I just bought an '08 Civic LX sedan a few days ago.
I only have about 35 miles on it (62.5 km)
Reading through the forum and on tire reviews from other sites,
it seems that Goodyear Eagle RS-A's get louder as they wear,
hydroplane with relative ease and have a lot of unhappy owners.
They work great now, but I heard that they get bad after 5000 miles.

So...
I went back to the dealer, expressed my concerns
and asked if I could swap them for other tires.
I'm still waiting to see if "Honda of Canada" will allow it.

Anyways,
I've narrowed my choices down to four of the best as shown on TireRack.com:

-Yokohoma ADVAN S.4
-BFGoodrich G-Force Super Sport A/S
-Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S
-Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position

Which of these three would be the best for the tire size 205/55R-16?
Are there any other tires that you might recommend?

I want to have good wet traction, ride comfort and noise levels as well as great dry traction. I do not mind having to buy new tires after 40,000 miles as long as I'm thrilled with how they perform for the life of the tire.

*I just read a tire test, I think I want the Bridgestones, though I'm very unfamiliar with Bridgestone products from personal experience. (Yes, I have seen a lot of their annoying commercials) They are 24 lbs instead of the factory 21 lbs, so I'm curious to see if there'd be a noticeable loss in acceleration when the wheels aren't chirping. All the higher performance tires seem to be heavier.

 

My first question for you is this: will you be using these tires all year round, i.e. in snow and frigid cold in the winter, as well as in moderate to warm temperatures the rest of the year? (I suspect the answer is yes if these will be your only tires, and no if you have a separate set of winter tires to use in winter.)

If the answer is yes, you will use them year round, then you want all-season tires such as the ones you mention.

If the answer is no, you have some other tires (or another vehicle) to use in winter conditions, then you'll get better performance by getting summer tires rather than all-season tires.

I'll assume yes, you need all-season tires.

I would not get the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S, as it's in a lower performance category AND it's more expensive than some of the tires in the Ultra High Performance All-Season category.

I usually recommend the Kumho ASX, which you didn't mention. It's a very good Ultra High Performance All-Season tire, and it's usually priced significantly lower than the other tires in this category. It's $78/tire. However, some of the other UHPAS tires are on closeout (Avon Tech M550 A/S, $73/tire) or special (BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S, $73/tire) which puts them in the running, too.

Some of the other tires in this category are very good, but run a lot more money, in the $110-140 range: Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position ($112), Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season ($115), Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus ($137), Pirelli PZero Nero M&S ($120), and Yokohama ADVAN S.4. ($129).

All of these are very good all-seasons, but bottom line, I just don't think you get a whole lot more performance by spending the extra bucks for the more expensive tires. So I would stick to the three less expensive tires: the Avon, BFG, and Kumho. And all three of these are very good all-seasons, and a good value as well. They're all so similar in performance and price that you could almost flip a coin.

However, it's also worth pointing out that, if you're really looking for better performance, then you're much better off getting a separate set of winter tires (and a set of wheels to mount them on, so you don't have to re-mount and balance twice a year). Winter tires not only give your car better performance in winter, but they also give your car better performance the rest of the year, because for those other 8-9 months you can then use summer tires which will give you better performance (rain or shine) than even the best all-seasons. If you only get better all-seasons instead of tires specific to the season, you're still stuck with the compromise that all-seasons represent, and not taking advantage of all of the performance and handling that your car is capable of. I realize that it costs a lot more to buy eight tires and a set of wheels (the Tire Rack sells 16" steelies for $39 each and gives you free mounting/balancing if you buy tires and wheels at the same time), but if you want the best performance, all year round, that's the way to achieve it.

To give you an idea of pricing, you could get the Bridgestone Blizzak WS-60 winter tire for $108 each and steelies for $39 each for a total of $588 plus shipping now (mounting/balancing included), and then in the spring you could buy a set of four of the Kumho SPT winter tire for $65 each for a total of $260 plus shipping and mounting/balancing. That will give you MUCH better performance than any of the all-seasons in winter, and MUCH better performance than any of the all-seasons in spring/summer/fall. (There are some tires that are even better than the SPT, such as the Goodyear F1 GS-D3, but they'll cost you about twice as much as the SPT. There are also others that are designed specifically for dry traction and autocrossing and will give you better grip than the SPT, such as the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec, but they won't last anywhere near as long as the SPT.)

HTH

 

I plan on eventually getting dedicated winter tires.
But the other tires need to be capable of good traction at least as cold as 20 F,
because we can get cold snaps in early April or late October.
I would likely run a winter tire from November right through March.
It's what we do now on the old minivan I described in another post.
So far I've got over 20,000 miles on my winter tires with minimal wear.

Besides handling well at a dry-cold 20 F,
I also want them to handle well in wet traction.

I know almost nothing about "summer tires,"
no cars I've ever been in them had them.
What are they like?

*Though somewhat similar climates, Toronto is somewhat colder and a fair bit wetter than Chicago;
half the year the roads are wet it seems.

The factory tire's reviews scare me, with their ease of hydroplaning and extra noise with age, so I wanted to replace them with something that I can enjoy until the tread is nearly bald. (a better rated tire)

 

Summer tires are designed to provide the best grip at moderate to warm temperatures. At those temperatures, they offer better performance than all-seasons, in rain as well as on dry pavement. This is true of most summer tires, with the exception of "extreme performance summer tires", a kind of supersticky specialty tire which is designed for those who care only about grip on dry pavement, such as those who also autocross or track their cars.

Summer tires grip better than all-seasons at temperatures above 40-45 degrees F. Between 32 and 40-45, they will be close, and below freezing, all-seasons grip better (and winter tires, better still). You can still use the summer tires if you get an occasional cold day; they just won't grip quite as well as the all-seasons or winter tires (so you might need to go a bit slower). If there's snow and ice on the pavement, that could be a problem.

Many performance-oriented cars today come with summer tires, either standard or as an option from the factory.

IMHO, in warm weather, the difference between good summer tires and the best all-season tires is at least as big as the difference between the best all-season tires and so-so all-season tires.

BTW, I lived in Toronto for six months, including a winter, so I'm familiar with the winter weather. It really is quite similar to Chicago's.

 

Thanks for the summary.
The main thing I'm concerned with is wet traction.

I checked out other summer tires in both the summer ultra-high performance and regular summer performance, and none of those tires available in 205/55R-16 had better wet traction than the high-performance all-seasons I'd found. There are some summer tires with very high dry and wet grip from Goodyear that would look nice, but the smallest size of tire they make is 225mm tread width. I feel I do not need a wider tire without a heavily modified engine (ie. 200+ hp and ft.lbs)

I checked out the actual test results and I'm not as impressed with the Yokohomas.
They scored slightly lower than Bridgestones for wet and dry traction and cost more.
I think I remember them rated slightly better for ride comfort or noise, but I'm primarily concerned with handling.

So I've narrowed it down to "BFG G-Force Super Sport A/S" or the "Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position."
If the BFG is significantly cheaper, I'll pick that one as its wet traction is nearly as good,
(still scoring higher in wet traction than all the summer performance tires)
while dry traction exceeds the Bridgestone.

On the Tire Rack site, the Super Sports are on sale for a nice price,
but I probably won't be able to get much savings since I might lose the savings with the exchange rate as well as shipping to Canada.

 

JackSparrow listen to the HT Tire guru nsxtasy!!!

Btw you are not obliged to have dedicated winter tires in Ontario? In Quebec its a must as of December 15th or else you will be ticketed!

 

That's just not true.

I'm not sure what you are looking at, but the Tire Rack doesn't do comparison tests of all-season tires against summer tires, and you can't compare scores from one test with those in another at a different time and in different weather conditions. And don't base any opinion off user reviews, because those are virtually meaningless. They are from owners of specific tires, who in most cases have never tried any other tire. Some of the highest ratings come from some of the absolute worst tires! Why? Because the only people who buy them are those who haven't shopped around and tried other tires, so those who still buy the crappy tires are often people who mistakenly think that they're better than other tires because they haven't tried anything else.

Believe me. In moderate to warm temperatures, good summer tires will give you better grip than all-season tires. Even in rain. So if you're looking for the best traction in rain in spring, summer, and fall, you're better off with summer tires than all-season tires. Period.

You shouldn't compare the numerical scores in one test (of summer tires) with the numerical scores of a different test (of all-season tires) which is done on a different day in different weather conditions etc.

If you want to get all-season tires, fine - and the two you're considering are both among the best all-seasons. However, all-seasons (including these) are a compromise; in exchange for the added flexibility of being able to use them in a wider range of temperatures from summer to winter, they won't grip as well as winter tires in winter, and they won't grip as well as summer tires the rest of the year (yes, even in rain).

 

Are summer tires softer or harder than all-seasons?

Does anyone know of any summer tires to recommend with excellent wet traction and available in the 205/55R-16 tire size?

 

I will.

No one is obliged to have winter tires here, but they are still a great idea.
I think I heard that only in Quebec do they have actual laws mandating them.

I never drove with winter tires before 2006
and now I dislike driving with even the best, newest all-seasons in ice or snow.
(sometimes I have to for work; none of my employer's vehicles have winter tires)

 

It depends on the temperature. At temperatures above 40F, summer tires are softer than all-seasons. At temperatures below freezing, all-seasons are softer than summer tires.

The Kumho SPT, which is an excellent summer tire (particularly in the rain) and is also very attractively priced. See my previous post:

The Yokohama S.drive is another excellent choice, but it's a bit more expensive than the SPT ($93/tire in 205/55-16) for very similar performance. If you want even better rain performance than the SPT in a summer tire, and you don't mind paying a lot more money for a little better rain performance, I would suggest getting the Goodyear F1 GS-D3 ($141/tire in 205/55-16). But the SPT is exceptionally good in the rain, for less than half the price. I've ridden around racetracks in pouring rain on the SPT and been amazed at how well they gripped.

 

Okay so maybe I want a summer tire then...

Can tires with directional tread be rotated?

 

Yes. For details, go to the Forum Rules and FAQ topic stickied at the top of this forum, and scroll down to where it says, "How should I rotate my tires?".

 

After talking with a local tire dealer, they told me that they do not recommend Kumho's but did recommend BFG G-Force tires.
I'm sure the Kumho's are probably a good tire anyways though.

Do you think G-Forces would be a decent summer tire choice?

 

Whats wrong with the factory bridgestone turanza's?

 

That's because they either don't sell Kumho, and/or because they make more money on selling BFG tires, and/or they keep the BFG tires in stock. Their recommendation has nothing to do with the quality of the tires.

No. The SPT is far, far better than the BFG g-Force Sport.

They are all-season tires, and within the all-season category, they are "touring" tires, meaning that they are designed to provide a comfortable, quiet ride, at the expense of performance. So they won't perform any better than the stock Goodyear RSA tires whose performance the original poster is unhappy with.

 

Why is he worried about the "performance" of the tire on his 2008 LX sedan...?

The tires work perfectly fine, if your worried about the wear on the goodyears, then try the bridgestones out.

No dealer is going to just buy you whatever new tires you want.

 

Because he wants better handling, quicker cornering, quicker acceleration, and harder braking.

Why are you criticizing his preferences for his car?

They "work perfectly fine" if you think that means they get you from one place to another. They don't "work perfectly fine" if you want tires that grip better, which other tires most certainly will do.

Different people have different priorities with tires. Some people want tires that last longer, some people want tires that cost less, some people want tires that can handle snow and frigid cold as well as warm weather, and yes, surprise surprise, some people want tires that grip better. That's why the tire companies make a variety of tires, because different tires are made to maximize different characteristics. Don't criticize someone because their priorities are different from yours.

 

Just to toss this out there, but I wanted the best performing tires available that didn't have significantly reduced ride quality or significantly increased road noise for my gf's commuter.

She'll never actually need or even make use of the performance from them, but I want her to have all the traction in the world if the idiot in front of her does something stupid and she needs to brake and/or turn now.

A tire with better traction provides reduced braking distances. A tire with better traction allows a quicker emergency lane change.

Anyway, something to think about when considering tires.

 

Bridgestone turanza's are not factory in Canada.
Goodyear Eagle RS-A's are.

 

At the moment, nothing is wrong with them...
(but I also have not tried driving in the rain with them)

However, I did a lot of research on these tires and many owners have wrote up reviews saying things like "...As these tires wear, they get louder and the handling sloppier..." and "... After 5000 miles the tires start to hydroplane quite easily, as well as get louder..."

I'm annoyed at the idea that I can practically expect lousy tire performance after 10,000 miles and still have another 40,000+ miles left of tread on them.

*Since I am upgrading the tire anyways, I wanted to get something with excellent wet traction, or at least dependably-good wet traction and no significant increase in tire noise throughout the regular life of the tire (down to 4/32's tread depth) plus some added dry traction and steering response would be a nice plus.

**Premium wet-traction all-season or summer tires cost about as much as a summer performance tire, so why not upgrade?

 

Thanks nxstacy.

My reasons were slightly different,
but I certainly appreciate all those added perks of summer performance tires.

Occaisionally I do enjoy driving near the tire's limits,
so it'll probably be safer to do so with such tires too.