Tire Impressions

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High Performance
Tire	Perf	Size	Buy Again?	Price	Treadwear
BFGoodrich Comp TA ZR		205/50/15	No	$129	25,000
	Dry	Very good grip in dry weather. Tend to squeal very loudly at 7/10th's. Maybe because they are an o.e.m tire. It definitely kept me from buying again.
	Wet	Good wet performance. At least the annoying squeal is gone. Braking in a straight line does not cause the car to pull left or right.
		225/50/16	Yes	$110	32,000
	Dry	Squishy side wall gives a very good ride, quiet on the freeways, good grip, noisey at the limits, good cheap tire for everday high performance usage.
	Wet	Good when wet, but somtimes unpredicable, keeps the straight when braking and accelerating
Bridgestone RE730		205/50/ZR15	Yes	$92	15-20K
	Dry	Very good grip. quite. good transient response. they hold the line. no squealing on asphalt.
	Wet	Excellent grip. no hydroplaning. much better than RS-A's or p700z's
Dunlop D40M2		195/55/VR14	Yes	~$90	15-20K
	Dry	Great tires. The low tread life is due to autocrossing. That chews them up. They have continued to get stickier and stickier as I've worn them down. Shame they don't make them anymore.
	Wet	I'm not one to push them in the rain. I haven't lost traction yet, but I also haven't pushed them.
Dunlop SP8000		195/55/ZR14	Yes	$70
	Dry	Well I used to slow down when taking turns with D60s on the car, now I just take them at the speed limit 90 deg turns that merge into another stree, on the ON/OFF ramps on the highway I take at 60MPH not 30MPH, this is with OEM suspension.
	Wet	Hasn't much rained here yet, but they don't hydroplane so far, and harder to break them loose, when trying to chirp gears in the dry 2nd is little harder to do now, and 3rd is impossible, car just squats down when forced to chirp 3rd. Tires are hard to break loose.
		195/50/ZR15	Yes	$73	7000
	Dry	Super grip - don't let the treadware miles fool you, I run these both on the street and also in SCCA Street Touring Solo II (which really scrubs the corners off the tires). I'm happy making them last 1 year/ 1 autocross season.
	Wet	I'm pretty much a Dunlop supporter, so I can only say they grip a lot better than the W-10 or DM40.
Falken GRB Tune II		205/50/VR15	No	$180 Aus	30000
	Dry	Very neutral feel but when pushed will oversteer. Generally average grip in the dry. Noisey at any speed but better than stock
	Wet	Very good performance. Steering actually become heavier instead of lighter. Very resistant to aqua planing
Goodyear Ducaro F1		195/60/VR14	Yes	NZ $200	20k+
	Dry	Awesome, very sticky... quite noisy on large chip, quiet on smooth. 1 tyre has noisy (singing) belts ~ 80kph
	Wet	Still sticky fast cornering. Understeer at treadwear inicator depth, neutral otherwise.
Goodyear Eagle RS-A		195/55/VR15	Yes	$92	35,000 +
	Dry	Good, but when you hear 'em you're in trouble
	Wet	Pretty good
Goodyear GS-C		205/55/ZR16	No	$130	14000
Goodyear GS-C	Dry	It grips very well on the dry but it is a little bit too noisy as the speed goes up.
Michelin Pilot SX-GT		205/50/VR15	Yes	$127	10,000+
	Dry	They stick very well. Have held up to the One Lap of America with even wear plus a few autocrosses. The grip is much better than the Eagle RS-A that came on the car. Predictable grip. Slightly expensive compared to competitors
	Wet	Resists hydroplaning much better than the Eagle RS-A. At Michelin's test facility was able to run through the wet test track at a good clip. I was able to accelerate quite well of of low speed (2nd gear corners) with the tires. You will not be disappointed with them.
Michelin Pilot SX MXX3		205/45/ZR16	Yes	$194	140
	Dry	If you like spirited driving these tire will bring you miles of smiles.
	Wet	Most people will not know there is any wet! If you do push beyond the tires limits they will slowly drift off line untill you stop pushing
Nitto NT-450		205/50/VR15	Yes	$72
	Dry	Excelent tire for everyday driving. Great grip. Will start to slide at the limit then start making noise. Much like the RS-A's but cheaper, sticker and Better!
	Wet	These are the best wet tire I've ever had. Better than Michelins, Yoko's and Goodyears I've had on my car.
		205/40/ZR17	No	$120	8-9000
	Dry	They feel real good and solid and are pretty forgiving on bumps and potholes.
	Wet	Better than the stock tires but not as good as I think they should be; want to try some Toyos.
Pirelli P700-Z		205/50/VR15	Yes	$68
	Dry	Grip is far superior to OEN RS-A. Less road noise, better handling, very predictable...a bargain
	Wet	An improvement in every way over RS-A, although haven't had run them in snow yet. Due to tread design ( no sipes ) i don't expect them to equal RS-A
Pirelli PZero Asimmetrico		205/50/15	Yes	$109	11,000
	Dry	Excellent!!! Braking, traction, no squeal,and a comfortable ride. Tire noise increased with mileage.One of the best tires around.
	Wet	Excellent wet performance. Was as good at the end as when the tires were new. Tremendous grip in the rain. Excellent braking manners. Probably would have gotten 5,000 to 8,000 more miles out of them if the car wasn't running so much negative camber.
		225/35/ZR18	Yes	$225	12,000
	Dry	Amazing. The first tires that I really noticed a difference going from one brand to another.
	Wet	Pretty good but definitetly not designed for it.
Sumitomo HTRZ II		205/40/ZR17	Yes	$110
	Dry	Excellent, only squeeled once, that is when I had 3 people and a cooler in the car, took turn at like 35-40!
	Wet	So far, no problems, decent cornering etc.
Toyo Proxes T1 Plus		205/50/VR15	Yes	$120
	Dry	Outstanding grip on dry pavement with very little squeal. Breakaway is gradual and predictable.
	Wet	Excellent grip on wet roads with notable resistance to hydroplaning. Keep in mind, however, that these tires are relatively new, so the tread is near full depth.
Yokohama A520		215/40/VR16	Yes	$125	~30,000+
	Dry	Predictable, communicates through the chassis and steering wheel well. Squeal @ 7/10ths. Grip is not as high as I expected but is very entertaining.
	Wet	Wow! These tires are outstanding in the wet. Where most tires totally lose grip and snap the wheel in your hand when aquaplanning, these just seem to hunt. Limit is high enough that I'm not going to explore it on public roads.
Yokohama AVS Intermediate		205/50/ZR15	Yes	$77
	Dry	Greatly enhanced performance over stock Goodyear RS-As. Very quiet, sticky, plus zero fitment at significantly lower cost than most OEM 195/55R15 applications.
	Wet	Very good wet performance, even on typically slick concrete pavement.
		185/60/VR14	Yes	$80	20,000
	Dry	Pretty good dry traction and grip. Better ride than the H-rated D87M. Will squawk under heavy g-load. Screams for mercy under autocross abuse. Provides good communication of traction conditions. My low mileage was due to eight autocross events on these tires.
	Wet	Pretty good. I don't push too hard in the wet, but hydroplaning wasn't much of an issue at highway speeds.
		195/65/VR14	Yes	$100	30,000+
	Dry	Very compent tire, excellent grip, my capabilities as a driver deteriorate before the tire. Wear better than expected, yet I drive mostly highway. Best quality is tractability, excellent on-center feel and communicates road very well.
	Wet	Better than expected, yet wet weather handling began to deteriortate around 25,000+ miles. Braking and cornering traction is ok, but now starting to hydroplane.
		205/45/VR16	No	$150	25,000
	Dry	Excellent!
	Wet	Very good.

High Performance All-Season
Tire	Perf	Size	Buy Again?	Price	Treadwear
BFGoodrich Comp T/A HR4		195/60/HR14	Yes	$57	20,000+ miles
	Dry	Not razor sharp but great grip. No squeal.
	Wet	Awesome. Even in snow I was passing SUV's!
Bridgestone Potenza RE71		205/50/VR15	Yes	$70	38,000 miles
	Dry	These tires are great; don't know why they're so cheap. On a G20, lots of grip, lots of wear life. They aren't too noisy, very controllable near the limit. Will let go all the way if you're pushing hard and not paying attention, though.
	Wet	Quite good, until near the wear bars, then even worse than most tires in that condition.
Bridgestone Potenza RE930		195/60/HR14	Yes	$58	25,000 miles
	Dry	Good launch, controlable and predictable at the edges of adhesion while cornering. I've had two SE-R's, and this is the best all-around tire for the money. Highly recommended if you need a tire to deal with 4-seasons.
	Wet	Good stopping, needs a lot of rain and speed to make hydroplane, average acceleration, O.K. in the corners, unfriendly to any kind of throttle through the corner though(Serious understeer/I think it could be due to the limited slip differential).
Bridgestone Penzol		195/55/ZR14	No
	Dry	Great
	Wet	Average
Cooper Sport 1000		205/60/HR15	No	$70
	Dry	Just OK, nothing more
	Wet	Scary, feels like your almost on ice. Alot of slippage.
Dunlop D60A2		185/60/HR14	Yes	$70
	Dry	These tires are adequate dry tires, decent grip, kinda loud, NOT like race tires
	Wet	Very decent in wet and snow, much better than Pirelli P4000's (on my SHO)
		185/60/HR14	No	$56
	Dry	Good grip, the weak sidewalls dont inspire hard cornering:( Adaquate for the everyday commute. Overall I prefered the (discontinued) OEM D87 over these.
	Wet	Ok in rain/snow, more prone to hydroplane than other tires.
Dunlop SP Sport 4000 A/S		205/50/ZR15	Yes	$88	~30,000
	Dry	Much better than the stock RS/A's. The car got a bit more squirrely when pushed though. Guess I got used to that ;) These tires are still great 30K miles later and I've pushed them VERY hard including 3 autox and 2 time trial events
	Wet	wet performance is great when the tires are inflated properly. When not inflated properly, they can be outright dangerous. However, now, toward the end of the tire's life, with little tread, the wet traction suffers greatly (hey, it lasted 30K miles though). In the snow these tires handled great - they got me up to Salt Fest through 8 inches of snow!
		205/55/ZR15	No	$95	25,000
	Dry	BETTER GRIP THAN STOCK GODYEAR RS-As but less road feel probably due to taller sidewall. Has the characteristic midline strip of rubber that Dunlop has in most tires that when slightly worn, gives the impression that the entire tire is completely worn when only this center elevated strip is.
	Wet	OK. Hard to hydroplane with a full depth tread but grip diminishes in proportion to wear.
Dunlop SP Sport D728		195/55/VR14	Yes	$190
Dunlop SP Sport D728	Dry	Excellent, although when pushed hard tends to want to over steer
Dunlop SP Sport W-10		205/50/VR15	Yes	$67
	Dry	Good at the limit feel. Reduced traction loss out of the hole better than the stockers did. These did not howl like a madman under hard cornering.
	Wet	Only had one time to test this. They worked pretty good though.
Falken Z502		185/60/HR14	Yes	$59
	Dry	Haven't noticed any of the problems reported here with Falkens. These aren't noisy, hard, or sloppy tires at all. Good value for the money.
	Wet	Haven't driven in a downpour yet, but on rain-wet streets, the Falkens do quite well. Good communication of traction up through the steering column as the limit is approached.
Firestone SH30		195/60/HR14	Yes	$57
	Dry	Really quite good for an all season. I liked these better than the BF Good. Comp VR-4 195/60/VR14 previously.
	Wet	The best yet. Very confidence inspiring in pouring rain at speeds 70MPH and over. Great tire for rainy areas likethe north east.
Goodyear GS F1		205/55/ZR16	No
	Dry	Good cornering, good in braking. Seems to wear down too fast. Good communication to the input, but stays quiet at its limits. Also make lotsa smoke, and marks when you rip it!
	Wet	Very good in rain, good feedback when wet...
Road Hugger GT-A		195/60/ZR14	Yes	$63
	Dry	Awesome, but that's compared to stock tires, but i can really whup waaay more ass now.
	Wet	Great as well, again thats compared to stock tires ('92 NX2000).
Sumitomo HR 100		195/60/HR14	Yes	$42
	Dry	Pretty sticky. Have not had a chance to compare to other high performance tires, though.
	Wet	Good wet performance for the type of tire that it is
Toyo Proxes FZ4		205/50/VR15	No	$110	35,000 miles
	Dry	Performance is adequate in the dry. Far better than the crappy Eagle RS-As that are OEM. Very Very Noisy after about 8-10k miles
	Wet	Awesome tires in the wet. Could not get them to break away. Tread design is much like Eagle Auqatread (Hence the loud tire whine).
		205/50/VR15	No	~$100
	Dry	Dry performance stinks for me. Very noisy, they lose grip very early. Tires were fine at first, then got bad.
	Wet	These tires are suicidal in the rain. I've almost killed myself several times. DO NOT BUY THEM. We actually have three listmembers in agreement for once here, and that by itself should speak for how bad these tires are.
		205/55/VR15	Yes	$120	32000
	Dry	Excellent for first 10000 miles and very good after that, always had great control.
	Wet	Marginally better than dry, could drive with confidence.
Toyo Proxes H4		185/60/HR14	No	$100	15,000+ miles
	Dry	Horrible. If you want to squeal your tires at someone for spite, buy these. Otherwise, spend half the money on Potenza RE930's
	Wet	Worse than dry, and I didn't think that was possible.
Yokohama A229		225/65/HR15	No		23,000 miles
Yokohama Avid H4		185/60/HR14	Yes	$46	40,000 miles
	Dry	Offer reasonable grip in the dry -- nothing exceptional, but enough to be fun for the average driver. Traction is comparable to the Dunlop Sport D87Ms and D60A2s that I've had on the car in the past. Don't buy these tires if your only concern is how many g's you can pull on the on-ramp down the road. Their strength is an exceptionally quiet and smooth ride coupled with good treadwear and wet traction.
	Wet	Good wet-weather traction. The unidirecitonal design evacuates standing water much better than most any other tire I've owned, making hydroplaning thus far nearly impossible. The tread cut is very deep as well. Not surprisingly, the rubber compound used in these tires seems to favor wet traction over ultimate dry grip.
		195/60/HR14	Yes	$59
	Dry	Excellent grip and road feel.
	Wet	Awesome grip and It handles well.

Performance
Tire	Perf	Size	Buy Again?	Price	Treadwear
BF Goodrich Euro TA		215/40/HR16	Yes	$95	37,000+
	Dry	Not a competiton choice by any means. Decent grip and very predictable. These tires get dissed a lot, but they are really OK for street only use.
	Wet	OK in the wet. Not confidence inspiring, but not scary either. If you push your car every minute behind the wheel forget it. If you push it occasionally, they're OK
Goodyear HP		195/60/HR14	No	$72
Goodyear HP	Dry	Pretty good, not perfect grip, sidewalls resist rolling under in high speed situations
Sumitomo HTR 100		185/60/HR14	No
Sumitomo HTR 100	Dry	Fair grip and smooth transition to slide, somewhat noisy on concrete pavement
Yokohama A509		195/60/HR14	Yes	$59	160
	Dry	Doesn't squeal prematurely. Smooth and stable dry grip. Decent grip.
	Wet	Stable and confidence inspiring
		195/50VR15	Yes	$75	30% used
	Dry	Awesome in dry....some road noise though at high speeds. Looks like AVS-i
	Wet	Alright in wet... thought they'd be a lot like AVS-i but no. Will give slowly when cornering hard
		195/50VR15	Yes	$77	9,000
	Dry	Great grip; no squeals on hard turns; a bit noisy on highway speeds
	Wet	OK grip; pretty stable for a HP tire; slight hydroplaning on deep puddles

Performance All-Season
Tire	Perf	Size	Buy Again?	Price	Treadwear
Bridgestone Potenza RE92		195/60/HR14	Yes	$55	40,000
	Dry	Overall quite good. Doesn't squeal at all. very smooth, very quiet. At the limit, they get a little bit ragged, but at 8/10's they are excellent. GREAT tire for everyday driving and and the occasional backroad flog.
	Wet	Great, much better than the OEM MXV4's. No longer afraid to push car hard in the wet.
Falken Ziex 502		195/50/HR15	No	~$79	15,000
	Dry	SUCK. They chip every gear and squeal under braking and cornering.
	Wet	OK
		205/50/VR15	No	$90
	Dry	Good "feel" feedback through the chassis and steering wheel. Good grip, no squeal at the limit. Quieter running than Dunlop P2000.
	Wet	Attrocious! Even on slightly greasy (damp) surfaces, the front end goes VERY light under steering. ABS cuts in very early under these conditions. The car understeers badly with these tyres in the wet where it didn't before.
		205/50/HR15	No	$79	50,000
	Dry	OK, but sidewall flex very easy
	Wet	No wet performance at all, 3rd gear still slipping.
Firestone SH30		195/60/HR14	Yes	$57	50,000
	Dry	Great in the dry. Driving the German Autobahn at 100+ Mph these tires are superior at staying on the road.
	Wet	Normally I drive 90 - 100 Mph in the rain here. I have never had a problem with hydroplaning unless it really rains very hard. These are the best rain tires I have ever owned and I have been driving for 24 years.
Michelin RainForce		195/60/TR15	Yes	$92
	Dry	Fantastic on mountain curves, flat road starts and stops, quiet, good ride.
	Wet	Wonderful in rain or snow and very good on ice but I had extra sipes cut into them. No hydroplaning. Best tires I have ever had and I have had about 90 sets of tires over the years.
Potenza RE-910		205/50/TR15	Yes	$70
	Dry	Much better than the RSAs. Very quiet, don't squeal unless you're pushing them pretty hard. More info here.
	Wet	Outstanding. Nice wide grooves allow water out. Inspire confidence in wet weather.
Yokohama A510		195/55/HR15	Yes	$61
	Dry	OK grip; squeals on hard turns; pretty quiet on highway speeds; slow wear
	Wet	Easy to control; good wet grip
Yokohama Aspec A300		195/60/HR15	Yes	$85	10000+
	Dry	Reasonable grip. Quiet.
	Wet	Poor grip, poor conering. moderate braking from 50km/h activates the ABS!

Snow
Tire	Perf	Size	Buy Again?	Price	Treadwear
Bridgestone Blizzak		185/60/14	Yes	$100	poor
	Dry	Grip is less than optimal on dry pavement. This is to be expected though.They also wear out fast.
	Wet	On wet, performance is ok. These tires really shine on ice and thick snow.Very confidance-inspiring in bad conditions.
Dunlop Graspic		175/70R14	Yes	$53	good
	Dry	Softer than my Yokohama AVS intermediates on pavement, and not nearly the adhesion, but good on ice.
	Wet	During two Minnesota winters I have puched my SE-R through many 8"+ drifts on the road. I have never been even close to stuck. The tires have worn very well.

Competition
Tire	Perf	Size	Buy Again?	Price	Treadwear
Hoosier R3SO3		205/50/15	Yes	$155	100
	Dry	Awesome. Unbelievable grip, immediate turn in. Fast as hell in back and forth transitions. Wear is terrible, corded after 2 track events. Once they let go, you're in big trouble. Squeal once you've gone too far.
	Wet	Never tried in the wet.
Toyo Proxes RA-1		205/55/VR15	Yes	$100	~2000 miles
	Dry	Excellent grip, very perdictable, good communication through steering wheel and seat of the pants. The down side is the soft side wall. Great for drag racing, but not stiff enough to be used on an autocrosser with little or no negitive camber.
	Wet	Good when brand new, but once you burn the outer tread they loose their ability to stay connected.

Last Updated September 18, 2000