tire sizes I am looking at are 225/40/18, and 255/35/18.

Im keeping this under $200 per tire.

Its important to me to have matching tires, dont want 2 different treads.

I am thinking- in this order:

Goodyear Eagle F1 ( $50 rebate on a set of 4 going on right now )
Nitto Invo
Falken FK-452


use is spirited weekend driving, no track events and honestly I dont even push the car THAT hard, car is a turbo convertible. I never drive the car in the rain unless I happen to get caught in the rain on the way from a show, and no snow driving AT ALL.

 

Check out the Kumhos either the XS or SPT depending on what appeals to you and how you will use the car. I have the SPT on my Mini and its a great all around tire. The XS will offer more performance.

Dunlop Z1 are also damn nice. I'm using those for combination street and track/HPDE. They get less grippy in cold weather compared to the SPT Kumhos.

Spend some time on tirerack.com

 

I have been spending enless amounts of time on all the tire sites, the Kumho XS is not shown in 255, so I dont want mismatched in that. The only matched tires that Kumho sells is the ASX, which I do not want.

Z1s are too much north of $200 and even with the rebate are a bit more then I want to spend right now- have to draw the line somewhere you know?

 

I searched the tire rack for the sizes you're looking for and came up with 21 tire types.

The Star Spec Dunlops come in at 174$ each front, 233$ each rear. I'd highly recommend these tires, I was very impressed with them and they've gotten rave reviews.

If you want to go a cheaper route, consider the Sumitomo HTRZIIIs. Howard Coleman speaks highly of them, and they're only $111 each front, $165 each rear.

 

I searched brands to see what tires they have, thats why I narrowed my choice down to the ones I listed.

I have sumis on my coupe, I hate them, they take forever to warm up and they still get no traction.

the dunlops do have a $50 rebate, same as goodyear.

why no love for the goodyear or the other brands I mentioned?

 

The Invo and the FK-452 aren't in the same class as the others mentioned.

The Goodyears look pretty decent actually. They're about the same price as the Dunlop Star Specs (on sale 155 each front 229 each rear) after the discount, and given that I'd be mounting Dunlops on my wheels

 

Check the Hankook RS2 also

 

I've driven on a bunch of Goodyears and have yet to be impressed by any of them. Their inability to supply quality tires to NASCAR doesn't help either.

 

Another thing I've heard about recent Goodyear performance tires is that their grip tends to substantially degrade as the tread wears down, this from a tire supplier who deals in many different brands and who has been in business for decades servicing racers.

 

Rob, it depends on what you plan to do with the tires. Goodyears are pretty much always at the top in rain performance. The main issue with their tires seem to be their sidewall strength. If you are looking for a good everyday tire, the Goodyears are your tire. If you are looking for maximum dry grip, there are better tires out there in the same price range.

 

I know the goodyears are more of a all season and higher treadwear tire. What worries me is that I drove the car on my current tires when it was right about freezing out after it had been well below freezing for a few days, and even after driving for 15-20 minutes the car went completly sideways when I throttled up getting on the parkway- my car does not have THAT much power, it was a eye opener as to how ineffective summer tires might be in colder climates. The tires on my car right now are older tires and im sure they have lost some of thier life, but it still was enough to worry me about extreme summer tires.

Im sure the Dunlops are great, I just think they might be overkill for me and after shipping and getting them mounted they are going to cost alot of money that I dont wish to spend right now. I weekend drive my car, I drive it less then 1000 miles a year, whatever I put on the car will dry out before they wear out.

So that was my reson for the goodyear, because they are a allseason tire.
Maybe for my limited winter driving I should just go for the summer tires like the Invo or the falkens.

 

I know exactly what you mean. I did a 360 in my old Turbo II getting onto the Northern State Pkwy once in coldish weather out in suffolk. Scared the **** out of me and I don't know how I didn't hit the barriers.

Try to do some research and speak to the guys at tirerack about the cold weather performance. I have used the Kumho SPT in freezing cold weather (Tahoe) and they seemed to work OK. Granted it was an underpowered car. The Kumho MX actually seemed to grip reasonably well in colder weather compared to the Dunlop Z1. There is a noticeable decrease in grip with Dunlops in 40 degree weather. Took my by surprise on a mountain road near where I currently live.

In the end, it depends on what will serve your needs best.

FYI - There are some local tire shops that can get performance tires at prices similar to tirerack and you don't have to deal with shipping and such. I used to use Parts N Polish in Great Neck since they were pretty close to me and did a good job mounting and balancing w/o screwing up the rims.

 

what im going to do, as I always do, is do my research, get a tire in mind, then offer the sale to local shops.

 

ive been reading all day on this, I cant take it anymore, lol

Right now im leaning towards the Nittos.

 

Check out the NT05, supposed to grip very well

 

well once again I am driving myself crazy with making a decision, my local place mentioned these Vredestein Sessanta tires, says everyone who buys them loves them and to do research on the internet and you will read rave reviews- so far a 21 page thread on one of the corvette z06 forums about these tires confirms that.

so for now these are my new tires of choice- until I change my mind again, lol

 

link to this thread por favor?

 

Can't believe everything you read or hear w/ regards to opinions...

here is one discussion on them:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-z...t-these-6.html

That due TryNkeepUp is s-l-o-w if he is running 1:23s at Lime Rock in a C5 Vette. Not sure that is the kind of guy I'd want to be taking tire advice from.


Vredestein make great snow tires from what I hear but I've never heard much of anything other tires they make.

 

Found the thread. 280 treadwear, and these Z06 guys seem to be obsessed with driving in the rain. I'll probably stick with either PS2s (220tw) or R1R (140tw).

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-z...-these-20.html

 

Good input AG, I agree with ya.

Btw, the slow driver in question is a chick

 

First off, if you aren't looking to track/auto-x them, and don't want a full "summer" tire due to cold weather performance concerns, why do you care about what they do on the track? Not attacking you, just asking.

[aside]
If they were that fast, somebody would be kicking *** in ST auto-x with them. Seeing as no one is...

Tires have a huge "butt dyno" factor similar to what the crappy coilovers companies take advantage of ("well, these are new and shiny, and most likely my old ones were junk, so these seem epic by comparison"). This is probably what the corvette guy is talking about, especially compared to POS Eagle F1s or whatever are stock on the vette. Trust the Tire Rack on this stuff, not some random board.

edit: you said you don't care about rain driving, so again, don't listen to the vette thread.
[/aside]

I don't know why you ruled out the ASX; it is a great performance-leaning all season and having driven them on both Miatas and WRXs I've been pleasantly surprised by them, especially in cold weather. Your sizing really limits you to those or true summer tires.

After browsing a bit, give the Bridgestone RE760s a look. I don't have any experience with them, but I know the RE750 was well loved as a street tire. I have about 30k on my set, and they still have some life left in them. Fairly sticky in the summer, decent in the cool weather.

 

I dont care what they do on the track, I never said I do.

What I am looking for are people who bought a tire, and have good real world results with them. So if a tire is king at the track at the expense of being a good real world street tire then thats not the tire for me.

Reading other tire sites reviews I dont care what a guy with a civic or a Galant or a camry has to say about a tire, they all seem to bitch anyhow, so thats why im asking opinions here and will follow opinions from other sites more perfomance orientated.

As for the Kumhos- it may sound odd, but I remember when those tires were dirt cheap tires, now they are asking the same money as the big boys, I guess it kills me to pay them the money, and I also hate the word KUMHO, CUMHO- sounds nasty, I dont want that on my car.

I dont know why I never noticed the BFG 760s, they do look pretty decent, price is not terrible either

 

well I ordered the bridgestone 760s, they seem to fit my needs pretty good, I think I did not notice them at first because I was viewing tires by performance type and all the bridgestones were well over $200 so I did not consider them, then later on in the list the 760s were hidden in there.

Thanks for the suggestions, cant wait to get them on the BBS wheels and see how they look on the car.

 

did you get a chance to drive on the bridgestone 760s yet? I'm looking at the same tire in basically the same sizes

 

I mounted, but did not drive yet, im finishing up my ac conversion and some other "winter" projects.