Tyres?

[GTR91]

Damn its hard to find good information on tyres.

I've spent the entire day floating around talking to people on what to choose. Originally I was going to go with a set of Hankook semi slicks. But the tyre joint said they didn't do them in a 18" 245. He said they do a 265, but I'd have to flare the guards on the rear, and I aint going down that road.

Then I looked at the Adrenalin Potenza RE001s. Jump online find some reviews and don't know what to think. Some people swear they are the best tyre for the money, yet others have said they are terrible on wet roads. Who do you believe?

Then at another tyre joint a guy trys to sell me a set of Yokohama A050 semi slicks. Besides the $2000 + price tag, I looked them up on the net and again find a bunch of folk say they are great in every way, and others say they are terrible in the wet and so on.

Then another tyre place tells me Continetal are the best tyre choice "They are on all porches and lamborginis" LOL

Basically I'm looking for the all round prefect tyre Is there such a thing?

I want lots of grip for obvious reasons, yet I'm not shy to head down the Great Ocean Rd on a wintery wet night and have some fun. Surely there is a tyre out there that is an all round good tyre?

Got a mate who's got a R33GTR with Hankook semi slicks. He swears they are the best he's owned. Wet or dry they handle well. Hence my initial hunt for a set. But no 245s leaves me looking for something else.

So what have you guys tried? Appreciate the feed back on tyre choices. I'm not a brand fan, just after some quality and performance.

[Oki34]

Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs. I can't get enough of them, especially for the price. You won't be dissapointed.

Okinawa has some of the worst road surfaces for wet traction I've ever driven on. It's like ice here when it rains. These tires stick as well in the rain as my old tires did in the wet.

Plus they sell them in 245/40-18. That's what I run and here's what they look like.

Edit - I run semi-slick Advans on my other car and these tires approach the same grip level but kill those tires in the rain and will definitely last longer.

Edited July 9, 2009 by Oki34

[Duncan]

road tyres? top performance at a reasonable price? falken fk451 or federal 595SS (esp if you can get them at asu nsw prices).

semi slicks? dunlop dz03.

[KiwiRS4T]

I have a set of RE001 on my car. They are excellent in the wet and dry. They are miles better than the old GridII etc. But even at 50psi they pack up on the track after a few laps. I have a set of Re55 semi slicks for the track but I would not use them on the road. i don't think there are any perfect road and track tyres.

I have no doubt there are other good tyres. Use Google to find the tyre review sites where owners not only tell you how they find them but also how long they last and what they are like with a lot of km on them. There are a few such reviews in the skyline section of this site as well.

[sketchr32]

Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs. I can't get enough of them, especially for the price. You won't be dissapointed.

Okinawa has some of the worst road surfaces for wet traction I've ever driven on. It's like ice here when it rains. These tires stick as well in the rain as my old tires did in the wet.

Plus they sell them in 245/40-18. That's what I run and here's what they look like.

Edit - I run semi-slick Advans on my other car and these tires approach the same grip level but kill those tires in the rain and will definitely last longer.

Plus 1 vote for this one. i worked with tyres for a long time and Direzza's were always a good option. Ken Nomura that drives the 4 door r34 drift car in japan uses them along with a few other drivers too.

[_Ryan_]

D1 drivers use what the sponsers give them

If in melb i would be using RE001's, jap ones from Trackside tyres in Kilsyth. Craig always gets the best tyres at teh best prices; also stocks falken etc

[pixel8r]

First up DO NOT TOUCH FIRENZA ST-08's. EVER!!

They are an ok tyre as far as grip and longevity are concerned, but they are hands down the most noisy tyre I have ever heard. I thought my wheel bearings were starting to go - thats how loud they are, until I switched one of the front wheels with the spare and the noise was instantly a lot quieter. Then I switched both the fronts with the rears (keeping them on the same sides of course) and the noise is now a lot more bearable, although still obvious even above my stereo. I've had a wheel alignment but it didn't reduce the tyre noise.

My criteria for stagea tyres are:

#1 it must be hard-wearing to last as long as possible.

#2 handling/comfort - hopefully quiet too.

#3 grip - not too fussy with grip since ATTESA does a very good job of this even on cheap tyres (i've had simex's before and had no grip issues).

If you dont do any racing etc with your stagea I probably wouldn't be spending over $180 a tyre but thats just me. Your requirements may well be different to mine

[66yostagea]

While I'm on 17x8 with 225 50 Federal 595, I do find them a bit noisy. No trouble with mileage, wet or dry grip and are well priced.

I'm looking to upgrade to 18s for purely cosmetic reasons and am looking for a quieter tyre to suit. So this thread is very interesting.

[iamhe77]

My criteria for stagea tyres are:

#1 it must be hard-wearing to last as long as possible.

#2 handling/comfort - hopefully quiet too.

#3 grip - not too fussy with grip since ATTESA does a very good job of this even on cheap tyres (i've had simex's before and had no grip issues).

If you dont do any racing etc with your stagea I probably wouldn't be spending over $180 a tyre but thats just me. Your requirements may well be different to mine

Same requirements as mine there Steve!

I have the Kenda Kaiser's (235/40/18) that came with my wheels still on and they still have a ton of tread.

They are fantastic in the wet, but in the middle of summer, they can feel a little bit doughy due to the weak sidewall.

My next set of tyres will be the Falken FK-452's.

They meet all the requirements and are reasonable priced in the low $200's.

Edited July 10, 2009 by iamhe77

[stagman]

Hmmm.. i had toyo proxes 4 on my last wagon, subuaru liberty and found them great. I could not get the car sideways no matter how hard i tried, no attempts with the handbrake however being a auto AWD. I even took out a fuse and made it Front wheel drive, so the vechile dynamic control was of... still couldnt get it sideways. After about 13000 km of just pretty lousy driving, ie fast take offs, hard cornering(trying to get it to flick out) and what not i found that the tyres started to want to slide a little more. All in all i thought they were a pretty good tyre for what they cost.. 760$ for four.

[xRHETTx]

My Federal 595SS in 235/45R17 seem fine and were about $145 each fitted.

[zei20l]

sumitomo htr ziii. i got 235x40(or45)x18 for $235 each fitted. have been running them on the last few cars ive owned. real nice tyre!

before you ask who sumitomo are, go check the manufacturer of your factory brake calipers (that arent brembo)

[iamhe77]

before you ask who sumitomo are, go check the manufacturer of your factory brake calipers (that arent brembo)

mmmm if only brakes were made out of rubber... No! Wait!.... if only tyres were made out of carbon... oh forget it.

[GoldZilla]

I've got Federal 595's on my car in 245/40R18, and they are great. A hell of a lot quiter than the Maxxis MA-Z1's on my sister's Mazda3, but that may be because that is generally a very quiet car. The only thing noisy about her car (and most Mazdas, old and new) is the suspension noise, so it's not too surprising that the tyre noise would be more pronounced too.

[BigDirtyJase]

Federal 595's are going to be my next set of tyres. I had a set of Falken fk451 when I brought the car but they had about 80% tread and had to change them because one went flat and fromt tryres started to delamante (one had a nail in it and the other were super worn on the inside).

Currently I got a set of Lexani LX9100 on...Only because I didn't have enough money for Federals. they were only $110 from the local tyre shop and they are not too bad

[GTR91]

Thanks for the info guys

I called into my local Beaurepaires today about the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs and he'd never heard of them, he did a check and said they are not available in Australia. ???

When I mentioned Federal he said they where not a very good tyre. This is the reason I made this thread - the different opinions about tyres. Who do you believe?

I'm not going to rush out and buy the first thing offered. I'm planning to actually purchase sometime next week, so hopefully I'll gain some more valuble info before then.

I did find a cool vid of the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs in action, but sadly its all in Japanese

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/dunlop-d...spec/1244503188

A few people I've spoken too swear by the Bridgestone Potenza RE001 for all round good performance. I've looked up some stuff on the net and they seem quite a good tyre. Though I did read a few consumer reviews that said they where the worst tyre they've ever owned ....

No one here as yet has mentioned Yokohama tyres, and I'm going to find some info on them as my current (outdated) tyres are Yokohama Advans. I really cant comment on them as they are outdated 06 and I got them secondhand, hence my quest to find some new rubber.

Cheers.

[pixel8r]

I would normally trust the tyre shop's recommendations to a certain degree. However the one thing they cannot tell you (unless they've personally owned the tyre) is what its like 3+ months later. What I mean is that the Firenza ST-08's I mentioned earlier, have had good reviews from some tyre places and yet they're extremely noisy after about 2-3 months. They were very quiet when they were first put on.

So you can never be too sure either way, but I'd say definitely listen to what the tyre shop tells you as far as what is a "good" vs "bad" tyre (and hoping they're not just trying to steer you towards the more expensive ones). However as far as how long each lasts, I guess you'd have to listen to people who have owned them and then make up your own mind between the various opinions.

[pintaline]

Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star - i'd say this would be a jap tyre as i've never heard of it either...

federals - cheap tyre, had quite a few thru work that have had cracking problems and most people who come in with them, never buy them again. for that reason, we dont deal with them at work.

sumitomo htr ZIII - have a set on a mate's xr6 turbo, he didn't like them, until he wore them in a little, now loves them and recommends them.

falken 452 - great tyre, awesome value for money, great performance, can personally recommend these, had them a few times on a few cars and loved them! (by the way, falken is owned/made by sumitomo...)

potenza re001 - has won motor mags tyre test 2 years running. great all-round performance. nuff said. followed closely in 2008 by....

maxxis ma-z1 - great tyre again, great value for money.

if you want a really great tyre,

goodyear eagle f1 gs-d3 - amazing tyre, not so amazing price. you'll be looking around the $6-700 mark for 18/19" but that's what you gota pay if you want the best quality.

my pick, if you can afford it, re001 ftw. if you're not that rich, falken 452. both awesome tyres and i'd pick them over most things on the market.

oh yeh, i'm a tyre fitter.

D.

[Duncan]

I called into my local Beaurepaires today about the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs and he'd never heard of them, he did a check and said they are not available in Australia. ???

When I mentioned Federal he said they where not a very good tyre.

see, now that's the problem with your local tyres shop. they spend the day putting tyres on mum's camry.

how could he dismiss a whole brand as not being very good? how many tyres do you think they have actually tried? or if you want to be more cynical, what's the chance they recommend the tyre with the best margin.

[Oki34]

Damn. Too bad you can't get Star Specs. (Jap tires but I bought mine from the states, was cheaper by a lot even with shipping) I'd go the RE001s with what you have available.