Like all summer tires, Firehawk Indy 500 tires are not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.

Unless you have other tires to put on for winter, and these would ONLY be for warm conditions, I wouldn't recommend the Firehawks - as said above, they are not meant for near freezing and below. They would be dangerous in the cold.

 

I have Michelin X-Ice Xi3 winter tires on my daily driver right now. They're excellent, and possibly better overall than the Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season I use in the summer (quieter, better ride).

The Goodyears were all right in snow the first year and dangerous in the winter after that. They're perfectly fine from spring to fall, with excellent stopping power, but you still have to be careful with hydroplaning in our occasional summer monsoon rainstorms and they are slightly louder and less refined than the Michelins (but they were inexpensive when I bought them).

 

Seems like a lot of questionable advice in this thread.

There are plenty of good tires available in the stock size, both summer and all-season. A lot of people misunderstand what all-season tires are for. All-season means you can use them surprise--all season long--including in the winter when it snows, though they are a poor compromise for that use. A lot of people think you need all-seasons in the rain, but this is false. Many summer tires have better rain performance than all-seasons. If you aren't driving in winter, there is really no reason to get all-seasons.

I got Continental ExtremeContact Sports and am very pleased with them. Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 are another good option (they are rebranded Bridgestones). I have had both and the Continentals are quieter.

Don't get wider than stock widths, the car will feel a little less responsive if you do. 245s are for people trying to squeeze every last bit of performance in a stock autocross class.

 

Since Bridgestone bought Firestone, the 2 companies are benefitting from the best technology available from both sides. Win-win for Bridgestone-Firestone and consumers. And the Firestone versions of otherwise almost identical tires are always less expensive.

 

delete - duplicate post

 

I just ditched a set of Bridgestone G-Force Sports from ~17 years ago for a new set of Falken RT660s in 225/50/16 off Tire Rack. Night and day. Car's near stock, so it's PLENTY of tire plus the tread pattern looks cool. They are treadwear 200 so don't expect them to last 60k miles, though.

 

^ Those are 200 treadwear competition tires that are even more sensitive to cold weather than "normal" ultra high performance summer tires. There is no use case to run those beyond actual track/autocross competition, and you sacrifice ride quality, noise, and wet weather performance to do so.

I'm sure they were better than super old tires that they replaced, but the OP asked for street tires, and he would likely be better served by one of the many UHP summer tires that are available.

200TW tires are really for track/autocross. They are so sticky they throw rocks, and the chassis was not designed for the level of grip that they generate, meaning that to utilize them properly, you really need stiffer spring rates and chassis reinforcement.

 

On TireRack, for some reason the Continental ExtremeContact Sport is in the "max performance summer" category, but it for all intents and purposes competes with the tires in the UHP summer category.

Again, there are quite a few options here. TireRack in my area shows the following UHP summer tires in stock and available in 225/50r16:

• Continental ExtremeContact Sport
• Firestone Firehawk Indy 500
• Kumho Ecsta PS31
• General G-Max RS

Really the only notable omission is the excellent Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, which only goes down to 17".

I have owned all of the above tires except for the General G-Max RS. The Kumhos have a noticeably softer sidewall than the others, to the degree that it feels mushy. The Continentals have similar performance to the Firehawks but are a bit more refined in terms of noise suppression. I also noticed the Firehawks started to feel hard after only a couple of years on my old Z32.

It looks like the General and Firehawks have some nice debates going on right now, but really you couldn't go wrong with any of the three.

 

Another big advantage of getting tires in the stock size is the price:


With tires, price tends to track very closely with size: the bigger the tire, the more you pay. The Firehawks--by all accounts an excellent tire--are only $449.96 shipped for all four after rebate, which these days is a pretty good price. The Generals are even cheaper at ~$408.

 

I can agree 200TW is the absolute edge of what's 'OK' for a street use tire, but if you're planning to drive a summer tire in the winter, you're gonna have a rough time no matter what.

Probably. I'm simply offering my experience as someone in the same situation. Is it excessive? Yes. But I'm also making the bold assumption that no one's dailying a FD.

The grip they generate? C'mon. The car isn't made of paper maiche.

 

lots of good info! I dont autocross the car, or drive it in the winter but I might drive it a few miles on secondary roads to work when things are getting down to freezing out,
but I know not to push it AT ALL at those temps as Ive been driving those 15+ year old Goodyear Eagles on there and stiff as hell at those temps. Besides, with the heater core half plugged, the car is no longer "toasty" on cold mornings. No, not a daily driver or winter car! Im inclined to try the Firestone, ive had back luck with more conventional firestones in the past, especially their all season on my old winterat, but I guess these are of a different level entirely. Continental has made good tires from my experience, Michelin have been excellent tires in my past but I do want to keep stock size, I need to have some butt left after Ive been on the highway. Big thumbs down on the Kumhos, 7 of 9 I had on the VW slipped belts, some suddenly and dramatically. Ive had no experience with the General brand. Ill have to do some price comparisons on Tire rack too.

Talk of treadwear is interesting, new tires for me and my driving will age out before they wear out, but what made me smile was the old cheap rag tires I bought for my VW back in the 80's, they were TW70! Yep! left black marks whereever you went! didnt grip for crap though... cheap tires, all they were.

 

The European products are sometimes different than in our market, but possibly relevant:

 

Treadwear is not much of an issue on a car that isn't a daily driver. They'll get hard and dry before you hit the wear bars. The 200tw stuff will sacrifice a bit of comfort in noisy tread patterns and stiff sidewalls, because they are all autocross rules-compliant race tires, but the 300tw stuff is perfect for your use case. I've driven Pilot Super Sports in plenty of cold weather, and they are hardly dangerous—just not what they are in warm weather.

I'm, also chuckling a bit—sorry—at the notion that the chassis can't handle higher grip tires. If that were the case, mine would be a pretzel after a decade of tracking on 40tw 285 Hoosiers.

I've run virtually every popular street and track fitment out there in 16", 17", and 18" sizes. At some point, you'll need more roll stiffness to match higher grip, but that point ain't coming on street tires that fit on stock rims. Also, most manufacturers list an 8" rim as the common measuring size for a 245/45/16.