I have a 4th generation Accord, tire size 195-60-15. I'm enjoying my local autocross events, but my old Goodyears are definitely not sticking as well as I'd like. Right now, I can't do two sets of tires, and I have to have a tire that won't get me killed in light snow. My choices as I see them now are:

Yokahama H4S 195/60/15
Falken Ziex ZE-512 195/60/15
Toyo Proxes 4 205/55/15

Does anyone have any experience with the above tires? Which is the best? If I go with plus sizing, do I have to worry about rubbing and extra sidewall rollover? I would appreciate any advice on the subject.

 

We had Bridgestone RE950's on my wife's Accord and they were pretty decent all season tires. Reasonably cheap too ~$70 each. Clearly far below that of an Azenis or Kumho MX, but decent all-season rubber.

If I were you I'd start checking out the Tire Rack survey results and compare each of the tires you mentioned. I think the answer you're looking for will most likely be there.

 

hmm of those i'd take the falken's.

driving on inferior tires isn't always a bad thing. there's a lot to be learned when you have to drive with that much less margin of error.

 

Check out the new Toyo TPT's. Not bad for a NO-season tire. (there is no such thing as an all-season ) Although, this is coming from someone who has five different sets of tires for different conditions.

 

Reconsider your budget. Your tires are far and away the MOST IMPORTANT factor in your car's performance. If you're planning to buy strut braces, seats, headers or even suspension equipment, reconsider. It is amazing how much better performance tires are than all seasons in the summer, and snow tires are a million (no, make that a billion) times better than all seasons in the snow.

My Integra had "light duty" snow tires and not once did I have trouble getting around Pennsylvania this winter.

 

I have used the Yokohama Avid T4's for my first 2 events last year. They didn't suck and will work fine starting out. Turn in response isn't great but with enough air pressure they won't be to bad, overall grip is enough and they give you plenty of audible feedback and when it lets go it's pretty progressive. They held up reasonably well (no chunking after 8 runs but I was going slow as hell) but they did the job well.

I ahve no experience with the other tires you listed.

 

If you can use 195/60-15's you can use 205/60-15, and Bridgestone RE950's come in that size. Best-gripping all-season tire I've driven, and they got my 328 around just fine in snow.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Angry Joe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Reconsider your budget. Your tires are far and away the MOST IMPORTANT factor in your car's performance. If you're planning to buy strut braces, seats, headers or even suspension equipment, reconsider. It is amazing how much better performance tires are than all seasons in the summer, and snow tires are a million (no, make that a billion) times better than all seasons in the snow.

My Integra had "light duty" snow tires and not once did I have trouble getting around Pennsylvania this winter.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the advice. I want to stick with stock class so it'll pretty much just be the tires. I know that the fastest possible thing to do would be to get a set of Falken Azenis, but I don't have the space for an extra wheel/tire set (still in college) and I don't want to try those out on the snow.

 

BZZZT, the fastest possible thing in stock class is R-compounds. But yeah, get Azenis. They won't last you until it snows anyway.

 

I have a set of free Kumho VictorRacers (2 years old) 205/50x15". One of them is corded so you should get another set to replace it.

I'm about 1 hour north of Baltimore.

 

I obliterated the boys in street tire class "back in the day" with 400 treadwear Firestone Firehawk GTA M+S.

This was, of course, before the Azenis, MX, S0-3, or anything with the name "Pilot" on the sidewall....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BZZZT, the fastest possible thing in stock class is R-compounds. But yeah, get Azenis. They won't last you until it snows anyway. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hokay, how about the fastest possible thing for less than $200 a tire?

 

I'd suggest trying to find a cheap set of used tires somewhere, and learn on them, while using them in the snow. Perhaps you could pull a set of steel wheels+tires off of a wrecked 4th or 5th gen Accord?

If running a 2nd set of tires IS possible in the future, I'd suggest going with the cheapest, most expendable tire you can go with right now (so you can still use it in the snow).

I started autocrossing on a nice set of Yokohama AVS ES100s, and sitched back to the OE Michelin Energy MXV4 (195/65-15), and found that I am now faster on MUCH crappier tires I can't wait to move back up to nice tires...