Seems like Discount tire has two decent tires for sale in the size I want to get (205/40/16). I'm in Canada, and Discount Tire is one of the few companies which offers to prepay all duties, and shipping to Canadian Residence. Thus, I'm stuck with the choice of one of these tires, and after reading countless reviews, seems like people like both, not many complaints online, but at the same time people are often biased in those online reviews.

I was wondering if I could get any feedback from you guys? Thanks!

 

The Nitto NeoGen is an okay all-season tire. Like all all-seasons, it represents a compromise - a tire that can do okay in snow and bitter cold (although not as well as winter tires), as well as in moderate to warm temperatures (although not as well as summer tires). If you need to use these tires all year round, in snow in the winter and in warm weather in the summer, it's an okay choice. (Another choice, possibly better, is the Kumho Ecsta ASX, which comes in 205/40-16.) If you have a separate set of winter tires (or another vehicle) to use in winter conditions, then you would be better off with summer tires instead.

The Yokohama Parada Spec 2 is one of the worst summer tires on the market. It's a terrible choice under any circumstances. If you need to use these tires in winter conditions as well as the rest of the year, see above for recommendations for all-season tires. If you have a separate set of winter tires so you can benefit from the higher performance level of summer tires, then instead of the crappy Parada Spec 2, I recommend the Yokohama S.drive in 195/45-16 (any car that can use 205/40-16 can also use 195/45-16).

 

Hmm...after your description of these tires, it feels like a total ripoff paying the $500ish that they cost. I'm going to consider going for a different size now. I don't drive the car in the winter, and I have a beater I use for winter driving with summer and winter tires, so it doesn't matter to me whether I get all seasons or not, or how good they are in the snow.

Yokohoma S.Drive's seem promising, they come out to about $528 shipped to my door, $552 for 205/45's. The Khumo ASX's (205/45) go for $532 shipped...so all are within the same price range. I also see they offer Khump AST's (205/40)...not sure if you think those are any good, but they cost $500 shipped. And finally...the BF Good G-force sports. I know the T/A's are amazing, but I never heard of anybody owning the sport. They go for $555 (plus $60 rebate), don't know if anyone has had any experience with these either though...

The purpose of these tires is for a simple built show car/cruiser, getting wrapped on a set of MF10 16x7 wheels.

 

Then get summer tires, and take advantage of their superior performance any time the temperatures are above freezing.

Well, since you aren't using them in winter conditions, I would not recommend all-seasons. The ASX is an all-season and so is the AST (the ASX is MUCH better than the AST), so I would not recommend those.

Among summer tires, the S.drive is much better than the BFG g-Force Sport.

The best size depends on what car they are going onto (which you don't mention). Briefly - that means the larger-diameter 205/45-16 (or 215/45-16) for an Integra or '97-00 Civic, or the smaller-diameter 205/40-16 or 195/45-16 for a CRX, del sol, or '95 or older Civic.

If I might mention another suggestion...

For a show car, sometimes people are looking for a tire with a flashy-looking tread pattern (and there's nothing wrong with that, especially if it doesn't compromise performance). If this is the case, you might consider the Falken Azenis RT-615K, which comes in 205/40-16 (also 215/45-16 if you have an Integra or '97-00 Civic). In addition to the flashy-looking tread pattern (see below), their performance is significantly better than the S.drive. The reason I didn't mention them is because of their downsides: they're expensive, and they don't last as long as the S.drive (maybe 12-15K miles, vs 25-40K miles for the S.drive). It's up to you to evaluate whether they might be something you're interested in.

 

Sorry, they are going on a 98 Acura 1.6 EL (Essentially the 96-00 civic sedan). A lot of the show oriented guys seem to be running 205/40/16's, however I recently found out it significantly alters your speedo readings, so I think I might be leaning towards the 205/45's instead now. Looks like my options are down to the ASX vs the S.Drives...price is pretty much the same, and you seem to like both of them.


Yeah, I actually owned a set of the regular RT615 (not K) in the past...they DO feel great, but like you said they wear out SO damn fast! For the price that they cost, I don't even feel as though they're worth buying because I feel as though these would be more beneficial on cars that hit the track on the weekends, whereas my car is more of a four door cruiser I wanna take out on weekends and maybe to meets and shows.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions once again! It really saved me from making the wrong decision on tire choices!

 

Here's something really funny. Since this is a Canada-only model, I tried looking up tires on the websites of three different Canadian tire dealers, and NONE of them show the 1.6 EL. I know it's a real model, but it's kind of strange that those dealers don't list it when you want to buy tires for it.

Most of the '97-00 Civics came with 185/65-14 or 195/55-15 tires. If one of those is the stock size for your 1.6 EL, then you are correct, 205/45-16 and 215/45-16 would be the best sizes. Both of these sizes are within 1 percent of the outer diameter of 185/65-14 or 195/55-15, so they will preserve the accuracy of the speedometer and odometer.

The S.drive, which is a summer tire, will give you MUCH better performance than the ASX, which is an all-season tire. The ASX might last a bit longer than the S.drive (maybe 30-50K miles for the ASX, vs 25-40K for the S.drive). But unless you plan to use these tires during winter conditions - and you say you're not - I would stick with the S.drive and its superior performance. And yes, I would get it in 205/45-16, assuming the stock size on your 1.6 EL is 185/65-14 or 195/55-15.

Happy to help.

 

Yeah, it's funny because even when I shop for parts locally, there are a handful of stores such as napa, etc...which don't always have the car listed in their computer. They always have a funny reaction: "Oh that's odd...for some reason they don't have your car here".

Yeah, as for wheel/tire sizes, al EL's got 15" wheels, they offered a set of 15" steelies with hub caps (base model), 5 spoke silver "turtle" alloys (which came on sport models) and the polished premium model 5 spoke wheels. All of them were 15x6.5, and every single model got 195/55/15's. The car can be stripped of all it's body panels and you'd basically think it's a 96-00 civic since the chassis is identical. Only interior parts, front end, bumper, and small removal parts make it what it is.


In that case, that's the one I'll be grabbing