Shortly I am getting my car aligned and I am looking to replace all 4 of my tires.. I daily drive my Integra so I am looking for something with a decent tread life on it, but at the same time would like one that grips enough for some spirited driving. I have somewhat narrowed it down to a few different options, but I am still open to suggestions especially with reviews. All tires are 205/50/15's.

Tire 1: Toyo Proxes 4
http://www.tiresdirect.net/TOYO_Prox..._P1199C168.cfm

Tire 2: Nitto Neo Gen
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...0306&fsv=false

Tire 3: Yokohama S Drives
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...fcb=&fsv=false

Once again, I am open to suggestions too.

 

The S Drives.

Had a set of Toyo Proxes 4s on my GSR and overall did not like them. Very soft sidewalls (poor response), less than desired wet traction, not exactly good dry traction.

They were very quiet when new, and even when really worn didn't get that loud, and the soft sidewalls helped counter my stiff suspension. Decent tire, but nothing to bother with when there are better available for about the same price.

 

s.drive have been great for me. good dry and wet, with good treadlife.

 

Have you done any kind of Auto-X'ing or spirited driving with them? I am curious to see how well they perform.

 

Theyre a step below the super sticky tires like star spec, xs, ad08, re11, etc. Mostly for people who daily drive but still want some grip when they need it. For the price you cant beat them. For autoX I think you might want to look at something with a little more grip. Depends on your budget and needs.

 

I am mainly just looking for a street tire with grip. Thank you for some insight on them though.

 

The big question to ask yourself is whether you need to use these tires in snow. The S.drive is a summer tire and will give you much better grip in moderate to warm temperatures (in rain as well as on dry pavement), but won't give you much grip in snow (or bitter cold, either). The Proxes 4 and NeoGen are both all-season tires, which give you okay grip in light snow and bitter cold, but in exchange, they won't grip as well in moderate to warm temperatures. I realize that you live in a location that gets some snow, but not as much as in northern cities, so that's the trade-off you need to consider. If you can stay home (or if you have another vehicle to use) when you get the occasional winter storm, I would definitely get the S.drive.

As alphalanos mentions above, there are also some stickier summer tires that will give you better grip for autocross, but they're more expensive than the S.drive and they'll only last about half as long (figure 15-20K miles for the really sticky tires vs 25-40K for the S.drive, and a bit more than that for the all-seasons). Again, that's the trade-off to consider.

Another option is to have more than one set of wheels and tires, so you have the best tires for each set of conditions - one for autocross and another for daily driving, or one for winter and another for the rest of the year. Some of us even have three sets of tires - one for the track, one for street driving nine months a year, and one for winter.

 

We do get snow here but I wont be driving in it that's for certain. If I had the availability to store an extra set of wheels/tires I would be all over that. I think I am going to put an order in for the S drives tonight.