So I’m looking at various tire brands and tire types… and I wondered if people would share their experiences.
I’m going to look for summer tires and then for winter/wet tires for off summer seaon with some crappy tire steel wheels.
What are your experiences with different tire brands/types: quality, durability, performance, handling, noise, threadwear, price, etc…
I’ll be looking to fit my s13 with 205/50/16s, as I got skyline r32 gts-t 16inch wheels 16x6.5 +40 front and rear. If I recall seeing in skyline GTS-T pics on wheels, they were fitted with 225s (if I sidewalls right in the car sale pics).
Or should I go with 205/55/16? I don’t know. You guys tell me. I don’t know much, so I’m just learning.
225’s are too big for 6.5’s. 205/55/16 seem fine, you could even go with 195’s
yeah my thoughts too… i wonder what kind of tires to go for, uhp summer tires. Few years back if I looked at tires, there was so much less choice, now there’s all these new companies I never heard of (at least prsonally) that are popping up, they all have fancy nice looking tire thread designs but I know nothing about them… For instance ‘cooper’ tires, I honestly never heard of this brand.
Kumho, toyo tire, yokohama, michelin, bridgestone, hankook, pirelli, Falken, goodyear, hell I honestly don’t know, it seems like they are all competing with each other for looks of tires… so much choice now a days… I remember back in the day when my dad worked on his car he had goodyear eagles with the white text heh… now a days I don’t know… what’s out there… I hear michelin pilots are nice often, but I don’t know. I would rather be smart and have good summer tires, ones that are for dry and mild wet traction for the summer season and then good winter tires for the wet and snowy conditions.
Share some experiences with tires if you can.
for price/quality. id say go with falken. sick rubber compounds and really nice tread. my .02
There are no falken 205/50/16 or 205/55/16 i looked on the site even… i already have…
THere are 225 though (GRB FK451)
I’m looking at Yokohama AVS ES100 as well… available as 205 and 225… i dont want 225…
im thinking 205/50/16, 215 would be nice but again harder to find no yokohama 215s,
I gues 205/50/16 will be nice…
HeatW told me his are nice, he runs the same wheels as i do except he painted them, although i dont like that he runs 55 profile, too big lol, just my opinion though, he runs 225/55/16 on his daily (same rims as mine)… perhaps id run 215/50/16 but cant find none… so i guess ill stick to 205/50/16… so far im thinking yokohama avs es100…
Just brainstorming and looking around… do mention which brand and type of tire 
Dude… go with the Yokohama ES 100s… I just sold a pair of my 205/60/15s… they are really good tires for the price you pay in my opinion. I might be buying them again in 225/50/16. But it’s always good to look around.
Well so far… from what ppl said and what tirerack reviews and so on say, these are my choices so far that i want in 205/50/16
225/50/16 on my rims (this is the stock stuff JDM tyte from Japan skyline GTS-T – wheels that are on the way too as i got a nice deal on them):
it looks bubbly fat with 225s. The rhims are 16x6.5 +40
So, these are the tires i looked at:
#1 (Best – Amazing tire, noise, handling, traction, threadwear, comfort, grip, cornering, etc… best bang for buck tire in contrast to the others and what it seems to have to offer).
Dunlop SP Sport MAXX (108$USD each)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=SP+Sport+Maxx&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=05YR6SPMAXX&fromCompare1=yes&place=12
#2 (Best – Amazing tire, noise, handling, traction, threadwear, comfort, grip, cornering, etc… and its the goodyear eagle tire so i dont doubt it, they go way back)
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 (121$USD each)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+F1+GS-D3&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=05YR6F1GSD3&fromCompare1=yes&place=17
#3 (dont know much about but better than the below tires pricier but not as good as above so a stupid choice)
Bridgestone Potenza RE750 (114$USD)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE750&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=05WR6RE750&fromCompare1=yes&place=14
#4 (lower-end cheap but okay I guess?)
BFGoodrich g-force Sport (70$USD each)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=g-Force+Sport&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=05ZR6GFSP&fromCompare1=yes&place=1
#5 (lower-end cheap but seems recommended and for its price)
Yokohama AVS ES100 (84$USD each)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVS+ES100&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=05WR6ES100&fromCompare1=yes&place=9
What do you think?
I know that those dunlops and eagles are gonna cost you a hell lot. I don’t think that you would need those tires right now. For me, i’m personally debating between the g-force sport and the es 100s… g-force sport has gotten really good reviews. I have no idea about the potenzas though.
I’ve had experience with Kumho 712’s (225/50/16 on the stock S14 5 spokes) and Kumho MX’s (225/45/17 on my current rims).
The 712’s are nice tires, good in wet and dry, and fairly cheap for what you are getting.
The MX’s are more expensive, but they are among the best street tires you can buy. They are amazing. Even for the price, they are an absolutely great value, IMO.
ES100’s are nice as well. I’ve driven Marky’s (birdhou53) car when he had them on, and they felt pretty nice, even on a 15" rim. I think they slightly edge out the 712’s in performance, but are also more expensive.
FWIW, I ran 225’s on my 16x6.5 stock rims, and had no problems. They didn’t buldge too much, and the sidewall still felt responsive.
Well i added it to cart and the price difference was 100$CDN
ES100s:
without shipping USD$336.00 (370$CDN)
with standard UPS shipping USD$399.00 (440$CDN)
VS.
sport maxx:
without shipping USD$432 (477$CDN)
with standard UPS shipping USD$495 (546$CDN)
But of course the difference between the two is phenomenal… completely different class of tires in their own right. The goodyear eagle F1s are way too much in contrast although I am confident their quality is not to be questioned but its out of the question and according to their stats, they are not as good as performance wise not even noise or thread wise as the sport maxx tires. The reviewer claims great threadwear on it though which sounded pretty impresive for the kind of tire it is. And other places i googled up they say great things about the tire too.
The ES100 ‘looks nice’ the whole fancy design thread, and from wht a couple of people told me is good, but im sure its more of the appeal to us younger gen… more so than great performance/quality…
I was told the MX don’t last long, although even by their look of thread design and thread type they seem amazing for dry conditions, but I heard they don’t last shit…
The MX were the first to peak my interest though.
unfortunately they dont make kumho MX anymore… they’ve replaced them with some new tire which isn’t quite as nice grip wise… better pricing and treadwear though if i remember correctly.
es100 is a fantastic tire for the price… same with falken 451… falkens are a bit cheaper and about the same quality wise… nice hard sidewall and mud/snow rated
both are “all-season” but not fantastic for winter driving obviosly but you can get by if you cant afford proper winter tires.
nitto also has some good rubbers avails… 450 is similar to the above mentioned es100/beta451 and 555 is a good tire also.
if u can get st-115, they are the best. this also depends what u are using the tires for. and u say falken does not carry 205/55/16? your wrong, i just got me a pair of st-115. look harder. falken gb series is low treadwear so not the best for drifting. try the hankook k105. W rated and 450 treadwear. there are also the new FK series of 451 and 452. 452 is the replacement of st-115 (ppls choice of tire). read around and u’ll see where the votes go in. but you also have to try what you like as well.
but all comes down to what you use them for. drifting? daily driving? grip?
all those 3 can be different tires.
ps: if you know ur car in and out, you will find 225 width is way too big for a 6.5 rim. it’ll be really sloppy. 205 is your best bet and 215 MAX. if you want more traction get a wider rim. too much rubber and less rim = sloppy steering response.
Hehe drifting? Well I might try it, but I’m more interested in grip handling, good turn in, good grip, good holding, good reaction and response, alongside of course comfort/noise/threadwear.
Not sure I’ll be drifting it lol, too costly!.. although I am eager to try it at a track or so… rwd is so much fun… some parking lot or something for a lil thrill… not what I’m building the car for quite though… or well at least not what I’ll be using the car for hehe, too much $$$ for tires.
if you are into grip, i think the GB series of falken are good enough. 451 and 452 are told to be amazing. you can get them for $130-$140 a piece tax included and installed i beleive.
i heard the gforce are pretty sticky too. but if you want AMAZING traction, try the falken RT-615. i would love to try tehse and not too expensive. amazing reviews and im sure most ppl that know their tire know that these are amazing.
but all in all, its personal preference. i would highly recommend the RT-615 tho. I think the STi comes with them stock on their 17" rims.
Hmm well i went to the falken website and most of what they had was 17" sizes… the 16" they had were 225s…
http://www.falkentire.com/st115.pdf
they have 205, i guarantee you. i just got a pair.
check tirerack, 1010tires.com
etc etc.
They only have the RT-615 with 40R profile:
http://www.falkentire.com/rt615.pdf
the 451s, the spec sheet dont work…
how are they in contrast to those sport maxx dunlops and goodyears?
I havent come across these on tirerack i think… although i did go to falken site today and well ws disapointed not to find my sizes no 205/50/16 on the rt615, only 40 profile… which i dont want hehe…
But i dunno, just doing research for now…
I’ll check out the local tire places, including crappy tire and see their offerings/prices.
Hmm well what do you think is a better tire?
Dunlop SP Sport MAXX or Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3.
Or in that price range what do you think is as good or better?
No-one on this site is going to have driven all of these tires you’re asking about.
Why don’t you just buy a set and find out for yourself instead of asking for subjective second hand information?