Yup, another tire decision thread for the Z...

Ok i’ve narrowed it down to 3 choices…

Yokohama AVS_ES100

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVS+ES100

My past 2 sets of tires have been the Yokomaha AVS-ES100’s…and i dont really have any performance complaints. No road noise complaints. They do suck in the rain, but the Z won’t be seeing any rain this year since i’m gonna keep the hatch on the road year round now as a daily driver. The treadware is real shitty on them though…i barely get a season out of them, aka 10K miles or so…which is a lot for most people on the board using soft sticky tires making 500+ whp…but that’s not me, i should be getting a lot more life from my tires…

Also, reading reviews of them on discounttiredirect.com, a lot of other people seem to not like these tires. A major complaint i see is treadlife being shitty…
The only real reason i’d stick with these tires are if i’m told bad things about the following other two…just because i’ve had pretty good experience with these thus far…and “if it aint broke, dont fix it.”

Kumho ECSTA MX

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=ECSTA+MX

Recommended to me by K Cuv. Apparently heand Josh both use them, and get superb tread life. Also, Cuv claims these are the tires that josh used on his z all last summer, at all track events, on the way to and from carlisle, and they still had some meat left…if you could, onyx, please verify this to be true…and voice your opinion from experience on how these tires treat a Z32.
Prices for these tires are as well low and make me happy.

Hankook VENTUS R-S2 Z212

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireDetail.do?cf=false&sw=false&cs=245&pc=11865&rd=16&ar=45

All i see are good things in the reviews for these tires on discounttiredirect. Lots of comments on good treadlife again, and great dry traction as well as wet (even though i’m not concerned with wet traction). I dont know much about these tires, so i’m just going by what other people on the tire reviews are saying…and i like what i’m reading.

Also, if somebody could help me out here…i’m having trouble understanding rating scales on discounttiredirect, and can’t find anywhere on the site how to read them. It’s a pretty simple question…

The treadware rating for the Yokohama’s is 280, the Hankook’s, 200. So one would think the Yokohama’s have better treadlife…but, all the customer reviews say just the opposite. I’m just curious what these numbers they use to rate tread life with mean, and how they can be interpreted. Thanks.

http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26272&highlight=tire

http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26449&highlight=rt-615

http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21304&highlight=rt-615

http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7641&highlight=rt-615

suck it up and fit the bill andy… get the DR’s, 2 sets for the summer and ull be set, not that bad for 2 tires

so the impression i get is that you’re in favor of both the kumhos and the hankooks…any preference on one over the other?

kuhmo mx’s

just bought 4

best tire for the buck. uber sticky. you wont be disappointed

Just get the cheapest, unless you are competively racing.

actually get the Hankooks, because they come in 245.

yeah i just noticed that looking at the mx’s…they only come in 225 for 16" wheels…

If you get a squirell up your ass buy these, they will last the summer if you use them “very” gingerly…

treadwear 100… @ 225 they will have more bite than the Z212s @ 245

http://www.frisbyracetire.com/z211sale.html

meh those are the same price as the z212’s…and i dont mind giving up a bit of traction for what looks like a considerable difference in tread life…i might do 1 track event this year, but other than that just daily driving on dry only roads…

Before you buy online try the flea market guy and compare prices or show him a print-out how much they cost online and Im sure he will give you a lower price, well depending on what kinda mood hes in. Last time I was their he had Kumhos in 225/50/16 and a few 245s.

ES100’s are god awful tires, had them on the mr2, made the car push like crazy which is not right for that car…

don got me a pretty good deal on Nitto 555r drag radials if youre interested in those at all.

If you were running the same tires front and rear (thus the same cornering stiffness front and rear) the effect of “pushing” is then a result of the suspension set-up and has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do what tires were on it.

Yes, I drove on the MXs all last summer. And they still have more than enough tread for this year. They’re not as sticky as I’d like though. I’m running 275s in the rear I can’t keep them from spinning.

It’s a great all around tire, I just need something wider or stickier for my setup.

PM on the way…

and thanks everybody else for some positive, useful input for a change :tup: