I need to pick up a new set of tires for my ITR on JDM 16s. I currently have Falken Azenis and they are almost done after 11k miles (wears too fast!). I'm debating on going with either the Nitto NT NeoGen ($88 each) or Yokohama Parada Spec-2 ($84 each) 205/45/16. Both are within my budget. The price difference on Discount Tire Direct is about +$16 for the Nittos.

Does anyone have any experience with either/both tires or can suggest something else within the same price range? Thanks in advance!

 

of those two get the neo gen, however the yokohama s drive is a better choice yet if you're after a 300ish treadwear tire and don't require the all season rating of the neo gen.

 

<~waiting for nsxtacy...

but never seen him recommend either of those tires...

 

I had the Neo Gens when they first came out and I hated them. Haven't even considered Nitto since.


For a DD tire its tough to beat the Kumho ASX. It comes in your size and the price is right too.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....odel=Ecsta+ASX

 

NSXTASY . . . where are you!!

 

Any specific reason why you are limiting yourself to those two tires other than price?

 

I would say go with the kumho ASX. They have a pretty good treadwear. Fairly good all-season tire that offers decent grip. I ran these tire at expo last year (lol), they seem to be fine now. ASX get my vote. $71 a tire on tirerack. 420 treadwear. These will last a while.

Nsxtasy will tell you the Parada's are garbage. S.drive's are better. Even the Es 100's were better. If you have to go with either tire, get the neogen's

 

^^ Wow, you tracked on them? I AutoXed with them one time, only because I broke a lud stud and figured by leaving the DD rims on was the only way I could pass Tech, but they did great. I was really suprised. I love this tire for DD purposes and will buy it again.

 

Wow, Paradas must REALLY suck because ES100's are the worst tires I've used since Kumho 712s!

 

an es100 will run circles around the parada

my only bitch about the asx is how hard they are. still, if mileage is a big concern they aren't half bad for as hard as they are. the re760 sport is another good tire with a 340 rating. lot of outside edge rubber on the ground. you will probably do well to drop both of your first choices and look at

1. s drive or re760 sport
2. asx if you need all season

 

Parada spec 2 are garbage as stated above. I ran those on my 2 liter setup and they didn't hook up for ****. Spun out till late 3rd gear but yet again I never had traction with any tires I've own so I'm useless

 

isnt the parrada spec 2 the same thing as the 1st gen azenas?if your looking for mileage or an all weather tire neither are good choices

 

I will correct myself, $80 for the size you requested.

Yes, they weren't half bad, but as the sessions went on, i had a harder time.

come on Es100's aren't that bad for dd. autox'ed them once and that was a mistake!

NO, not at all! Tread pattern are similar, but thats it.

 

Hi everybody!

The first question you need to ask yourself is, Do I want an all-season tire or a summer tire? All-season tires are designed for added flexibility in operating temperatures, so that they can be used in snow and bitter cold as well as in moderate to warm temperatures. In exchange for that added flexibility, they don't perform as well in either conditions as tires designed for them. In other words, all-season tires don't grip as well as summer tires do in moderate to warm temperatures (including in rain) and they don't grip as well as winter tires do in bitter cold and on snow. But they may be a good choice for someone who lives in a climate with cold winter weather and who cannot use separate sets of tires (summer tires and winter tires) for each season, and is willing to accept lower performance year-round for the convenience of not having to swap tires twice a year, in which case the Nitto NeoGen or Kumho ASX might be good choices.

As long as you live in San Francisco and you care about performance, then you should be buying summer tires, not all-season tires. In your climate, summer tires will give you better performance than all-seasons, in the rainy winter months as well as the rest of the year. So you shouldn't even be looking at all-seasons like the Nitto NeoGen or the Kumho Ecsta ASX. Look at summer tires.

Summer street tires that fit the ITR generally fall into two categories: (1) "supersticky" summer tires (that the Tire Rack calls "extreme performance summer tires"), and (2) longer-lasting summer tires (that the Tire Rack calls "ultra high performance summer tires"). The supersticky tires offer the very best grip and performance you can buy; downsides include shorter treadlife (typically 15-20K miles) and a somewhat higher price. The longer-lasting summer tires offer grip that's quite good but not as sticky as the supersticky tires, but they last significantly longer (typically 25-40K miles) and are generally a bit less expensive.

The best 16" supersticky tires for an ITR are:

Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 205/45-16 ($161/tire at Tire Rack)
Kumho Ecsta XS 215/45-16 ($96)
Toyo Proxes R1R 205/45-16

The best 16" longer-lasting summer tires for an ITR are:

Continental ExtremeContact DW 205/45-16 ($119)
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport ($103)
Fuzion ZRi 205/45-16 ($88)
Yokohama S.drive 205/45-16 ($90)

All of these are very good. Since you have a budget, I recommend buying the longer-lasting tires so you don't have to replace them twice as often the way you would with the supersticky tires. The Fuzion ZRi and Yokohama S.drive are probably the best for your needs since they are within your budget. (If you don't mind spending $30/tire more, the Continentals are even better, and a set of four comes with a free GPS.)

BTW, the Yokohama Parada Spec is a very old, poor-performing summer tire, one of the worst summer tires on the market. Don't even consider it! The Yokohama ES100 was a very good longer-lasting summer tire but has been discontinued in most sizes; the S.drive is its replacement.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Got a lot of love on this thread. NSXTASY, thanks for the info...it was very helpful. I had the Yokohama ES100s on my 15" ITR wheels back in the day and I loved them. I think I found the answer...I'm gonna go with the Yokohama S.drive! The cheapest I found for the S.drive 205/45/16 was $95 a piece on Discount Tire Direct with free shipping. BTW where did you find them for $90?

Thanks again!

 

I have a set of 205/45/16 NeoGen's on my JDM 16's and I've been fairly happy with them, they work excellent in the rain and even did decent at AutoX on Sunday. I've had the 615's previously on my other car and was a lot happier with those obviously.

Next tires will be something much stickier though, hopefully the new 615K's will be at the level of their competitors.

 

nsxtasy = tire god

 

Thank you for your input!

I had a chance to participate in a tire course hosted by Continental to try out their two new tires in the UHP segment for Summer (ExtremeContact DW) and All Season tires (ExtremeContact DWS). We got to test them out on everyday DD such as the Matrix, Fusion, Jettas, etc. Worked really well for me since we got to test the tires in various situations. Straight line acceleration to a stop, slalom, a peanut shaped course, and at the end of the day, an autox course.

I thought the ExtremeContact DW was exceptionally well considering how it performed in the morning in lower temperature (5 Degrees Celcius) and when it started to get warmer as the day progressed, you could feel the tires gradually get stickier. They were predictable and held up great during braking!

The downfall for me is that I haven't really tried any other UHP tires besides my outdated RE010s on the R. What would your recommendation be between these two tires, Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport & the Continental ExtremeContact DW in terms of Wet & dry traction and Road comfort?

thanks

 

The prices above are for the Tire Rack, which charges extra for shipping (typically around $15/tire). So the price including shipping is less at Discount Tire Direct.

I'm not trying to be picky, but the Tire Rack actually has two performance categories above the "ultra high performance (UHP) summer tires". One is the supersticky "extreme performance summer tires" noted above. The other is what they call "maximum performance summer tires", which includes expensive high-end tires (e.g. Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric) typically used on luxury sport sedans and similar cars. I don't usually mention the max performance summer tires because they have not been available in ITR-friendly sizes the last few years. However, the Tire Rack actually considers the ExtremeContact DW as a max performance tire, and it tested similarly to those other top tires in that category. So...

I'd get the Continental, assuming you have 16" wheels. (It's not available in 15" sizes.)

 

Thank you!!

 

S.Drives are a nice choice..even tho those are the only tires I have experience w/ but w/ my style of DD I love them!!! My first choice was Parada's but from the sound of it I'm glad my buddy talked me out of it

 

Now I've tried the T1S, and I liked it for DD but it was expensive. Anyone try its younger brother the R1R?

 

You're getting their tires confused, so let's review. The Toyo Proxes T1S was their daily driver type summer tire, similar in performance to longer-lasting tires like the Yokohama S.drive but a lot more expensive. They discontinued it and replaced it with the Toyo Proxes T1R, which is still very similar and still fairly expensive. Toyo also introduced a new supersticky "extreme performance" summer tire called the Toyo Proxes R1R. Perhaps you didn't read the posts above, but the R1R is very sticky and very good, comparable to although maybe not quite as sticky as the Bridgestone RE-11 or Dunlop Star Spec. The R1R is also quite expensive. And although the treadlife on these supersticky tires - 15K miles, maybe 20K - is an improvement over the Azenis, it's still not as good as the longer-lasting summer tires like the S.drive, which may last twice as long.

In a nutshell, if you're looking for performance and you don't care about value, get any of the extreme performance tires, including the R1R. But if you're also concerned about value - which many people are - you're better off with the Yokohama S.drive.

 

Okay, sorry for not reading. I was at work. So, if I am looking for something as good or better than the 615s I currently have the 615s are good for somethinf equal to or greaterr than but with better tread lifel

 

Sorry I'm on my Droid cell phone, I can't edit very well, I meant the R1Rs are better than the 615s I currently have.