What would be the best budget tire for my car. Its a 98 civic so I know I need 195/55-15 or 205/50-15. They are going on rims that are 15x7 w/ +35 offset. I have been looking and a lot of the tires people suggested are discontinued or not on sale anymore and are just out of my range. I really want to spend around 275, but if there is something that much better for more I can wait. The tires can be all season or summer, I will only really use them for the summer. I was looking at some Runway enduro 916+ and some GT champiro 328, but upon looking at a few reviews was dissuaded from them. I really don't know that many web sites that offer tires beside tire-rack, discount tire and ebay. They are more expensive but would it be worth it for some General Exclaim UHP or Dunlop DZ101? If you have any different suggestions please offer them.

 

I run 205/50/15 falken azenis the work very well on the street got them for just over$300

 

+1 but i got a hook up from a local shop and got them for 250. lol.

 

i used to work at a tire shop and i got them for cheap too, there worth every penny

 

yokohoma S. drives are cheap, and they last a long time.
nitto neogens.
falken ziex 512.

and if u can get some nitto 450's they are an okay tire.

those are just a few i've personally used

 

Since you won't be using these tires in snow or frigid cold, you'll get a lot better performance from summer tires than all-season tires like the NeoGen or Ziex. The Yokohama S.drive and Fuzion ZRi summer tires are both somewhat inexpensive and very good. The General Exclaim UHP and Dunlop Direzza DZ101 are a small step down in performance from the S.drive and ZRi but they're also slightly less expensive, so they may be a good choice for you. Prices at the Tire Rack:

Dunlop Direzza DZ101 205/50-15 $65 plus shipping
Fuzion ZRi 205/50-15 $74 plus shipping
General Exclaim UHP 195/55-15 $64 plus shipping
Yokohama S.drive 195/55-15 $72 plus shipping

The sticky Falken Azenis RT-615 is NOT a good tire if you're looking for value. It's somewhat expensive, and will only last 10-12K miles. For those who don't care about value and only care about performance, the new generation of extreme performance tires - Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec, Bridgestone Potenza RE-11, Kumho Ecsta XS, and Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 - all do everything better than the Azenis, i.e. better grip on dry pavement, better in rain, last longer (15-20K miles), and the Star Spec and XS don't cost any more. But none of these are all that great for someone on a budget, and you'd be better off with one of those listed above.

 

Thanks, I was waiting for you to chime in

There is a sponsor selling falken ziex 502 and 912. Are they even worth looking at?

 

imo no

cheap yes but they do not fit the goals you are after.

the kumho xs is my fav bargain tire for all out performance

if you want to trade some dry for better rain and a longer service life get the s-drive

 

The Ziex ZE-512 and ZE-912 are inexpensive all-season tires. And they fall under the heading "you get what you pay for". They're not all that great, but they are cheap. If you're willing to trade off performance for the cheaper price of an inexpensive all-season, then I would suggest the NeoGen ($62 shipped in 205/50-15 from Discount Tire Direct) rather than either Ziex.

Again, I do not consider the Kumho XS (or any tire that only lasts around 15K miles or so) to be a "budget tire" or a "bargain tire". At $88/tire in 205/50-15, it's significantly more expensive than the tires I listed above, too. It's a good tire for those looking for performance and not overly concerned with purchase price or treadlife (as is the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec). It's a bargain in the sense that it's less expensive than the RE-11 or AD08, but on a cost per mile basis, it works out to almost three times the cost of the S.drive, ZRi, etc.

 

What are you looking to get out of your tire? If you're looking something to daily, as well as track on the weekends, you'll want to spend a little more for your tires...like everyone else mentioned, the XS, AD08, z1 Star Spec, Re-11, etc.

If you're just looking for something to cruise around on (NOT racing, tracking, blah blah blah), I'd look into the Kumho AST or ASX's.

AST is a decent, entry level H-Rated product, and the ASX is W rated, with a 30,000 mile treadwear warranty! Gonna be hard to find another tire in this size/category with ANY kind of warranty.

 

my s.drives are lasting me a while, it's directional so you can have the flexibility of super rotating them. They are also great in the rain unlike the azenis.

i have the 195/55/15's and i love them i'll probably buy another set once these get wore out

 

I am not familiar with this, what do you mean?

 

Both of these are all-season tires. The AST is just not very good, period. The ASX is one of the better all-season tires, and is affordably priced.

Again, though, since you won't be using these tires in snow or bitter cold, all-season tires won't give you the performance of summer tires, although they'll probably last a bit longer than summer tires like the S.drive, ZRi, etc.

I have no idea what he means. The S.drive is directional, like he says, which means it is designed to rotate in a specific direction. When the tire is mounted on a wheel, it is mounted so that it should be used either on the left side of the car, or on the right side of the car. When you rotate the tires, you only rotate them front to back and back to front, not side to side. If you had to move a tire from one side of the car to the other, you could have it dismounted from the wheel, flipped over, and remounted and balanced. But normally there's no need to do that.

 

I live in an area that sees a good amount of rain. I got the Kumho ASX's 2 1/2 years ago and they are holding up great. Wet & Dry.

 

Yea, the ASX is a pretty good all season tire, for the sizes offered, along with the warranty. I have had customers in Cleveland complement the traction they got in LIGHT snow. Obviously then, it does fairly well in wet.

As for the AST, you get what you pay for.

 

i run general exclaim's. they are lasting forever and they are good in the rain.

 

I bought a new set of Ziex 912's yesterday and already put over 80miles on them just last night, and they seem to be stickier than my dunlop dz101's I had, although they were used. Still have to drive around with them more to really see how they hold up tho.

If you get any kind of hard/mild rain, I'd try and stay clear of the DZ101's untill its dry outside. I can't count how many times I would start hydroplaning just cruising on those tires with a little drizzle outside.

 

The DZ101 has appeared in two different comparison tests on the Tire Rack website, and in both, its performance in rain was substantially below that of the other tires tested. So their test results are consistent with your advice about the DZ101 in the rain. (The Fuzion ZRi and Yokohama S.drive did much, much better than the DZ101 on the wet test track.)

There's one other thing to consider in evaluating rain performance. A big factor in any tire's performance in the rain is the amount of tread depth remaining on the tire. Street tires typically come with around 10/32" of tread depth when new. The Tire Rack has demonstrated that when tires get down to 2/32" of tread depth - when they must be replaced, by law - braking distances are double that of new tires, and even when they're only down to 4/32" of tread depth, braking distances are 50 percent higher. If you're really concerned about how well your tires grip in rain and you want to avoid hydroplaning, you may want to replace them when they get to 4/32" of tread depth, or even before then. Regardless of what make/model of tire you're using.

 

Great info, I did not know that.