I’ve run a lot of tires in the last ~10 years.
On the Z/28 I started with Goodyear RSAs, what terrible, terrible tires. Then I had 245/50-16 Potenza RE730s on the stock wheels. I loved those tires, great handling and traction for their size, pretty good wear, all around good tires. Then I picked up my 17x9 & 11s and they had Kuhmo 712s on the front and Sumitomo HRT Zs on the back. I absolutely hated the Sumis. Overall it seemed like I lost handling/traction going from the 245/50-16 730s to the 315/35-17 HRT Zs. THe HRTs felt very hard/greasy yet they wore fast. The 712s were just “okay.” Better than the HRTs for sure, but not as good as the 730s. I replaced the HRTs on the front with Nitto 555R drag radials. I loved the 555Rs. As any drag racer will tell you they aren’t as good of a drag tire as BFG or Mickey Thompson DRs, but as a street tire for a higher HP RWD car they are great. The sidewalls aren’t too soft (hence not being the best DR ever) that they hurt handling, and the tread compound gets nice and sticky with a little heat.
On the Z-ho I picked it up with Pirelli PZero Rossos on it. They are a great tire. Very good handling, pretty good straight line traction (with that thin of a sidewall you’re never going to get decent launches) but they did wear quick. And, of course they are ub3r expen$ive. I went through 2 sets of backs in the time it took to kill the fronts, but that was when I had a much less aggressive alignment. I found a great deal on some barely used PS2’s for the back so I went with those. I also really like these tires. Straight line traction is better than the Pirellis, handling is probably about the same. They also run wider in the same size than the Pirellis and I think look better on the rim (19x11). On the front I did put those General Exclaim UHPs on it in 275/30-19. They are terrible tires honestly. With them on the car is very pushy and just doesn’t want to turn in. If I’m going to drive it aggressive at all on the street tires I turn off all the active handling junk because it senses the push right away and it steps in constantly. I hate that. With it off it feels like racing on the race tires in the rain. You give it some steering input, the front end slides a bit, then eventually it turns. But with the -2.8 front camber it’s a necessary evil I’m living with right now. The PS2’s to match my back tires would have been $370 each + shipping/tax/mount/balance (the backs are $500/ea + shipping/tax/mount/balance) and I got both UHPs out the door mounted for less than that. I have an alignment stud/shim kit that will allow me to change my camber accurately between events so my next front tires I’ll go back to a quality tire.
-TJ