Best Budget Summer Tires??
 

Looking at :

Bridgestone Potenza RE750 - $640shipped (tirerack)
Yokohama S.Drive - $577shipped (tirerack)
Falken Azenis RT-615 - $660shipped

these are prices for 255/275 combo.

what would you rate these for DRY traction/Treadlife/Noise comfort/Ride comfort
(tirerack doesnt carry Falken, and the Sdrive's dont have enough reviews to be viable) plus i wanna see these ratings from a rx-7 point of view.

dont care so much about wet traction, since its so.california and it barely rains.

I would pick the Falken Azenis RT-615 out of those three.

RT-615s are very good tires, they stick real well in the dry.

you might take a serious look at the next higher performance category at Tire Rack...

Max Performance Summer

specifically check out what tire placed first in DRY TRACTION...

the new Sumitomo HTR Z III.

the 255/40/17 is $104 per
the 275/40/17 is $115 per.

i will be running them in 08. 255/35/18 fr and 295/30/18 rear shaved a bit.

i had a lengthy discussion w John Rastetter, Director of Consumer Info at Tire rack and an old acquaintence from racing days... the tire looks good to me and to John.

i will be doing my RacingBrake test at BlackHawk Farms in March (if it warms up a bit) and evaluating the HTRs at that time.

howard coleman

Check out Kumho MX

I'm running them in 255/40/17

About $130 / tire

Plenty of reviews here for the MX and 615

Another vote for RT615. They are cheap yet rival grips of expensive tires in dry. However, in wet weather, they don't work too well, so just slow down when it rains. I'll be getting them again for my new wheels. They have stiff sidewalls and therefore are not comfy, but that's a trade-off for great response these tires have. Treadlife is short, but that is to be expected for any max performance summer tires.

The Azenis are good and all, but if you don't need that much grip and want something with a little more tread wear then Kumho SPT's are an excellent choice. I've run them and I quite liked them.

I auto-x on the Falkens and run the RE750s on the street...

The Falkens are sticky as glue cold but they start feeling real oily once they start heating up, especially if the road is hot too. I've traveled to a few events on them, and they are quite loud on the highway, and feel like bricks, are better than you'd expect but still nervous in the rain. I ran them on 6 or 7 events this season and a TnT, with about 2k total road miles. They are maybe 1/2 way through their treadlife, and I expect to be replacing them with R-comps at some point midseason this year.

I've put about 20k on my RE750s (and 2 or 3 auto-x's) and they still have great tread left up front, but the rears will probably need to be replaced at the end of the summer. Not nearly as grippy as the Falkens, but they give up much more prgressively. Confident rain tire. They tend to whine a little on concrete highways, but much quieter than the Falkens. Ride is decent. I <3 the tread life, which makes me sway towards them if I'm not gonna be racing on them.

check out federal, way cheaper, and honestly just as good. only place i know off the top of my head is citytireonline.com?

wow. the prices for the sumitomo are great. didnt even think of looking into their brand. but the tirerack test are good.. not many survey results since its new tho..

a set of 255/40/17 275/40/17 is only gonna cost me $439 +50shipping.

thats a savings of almost $200 on the RT-615's... which would pay for a second set of rears once those are dead..

i'll be using these tires for mostly street, and a few twisties now and then. not enough time for any track action.
my mods include:
intake/exhaust/dp/resonated mp/ypipe/power fc/99spec turbos
so i have decent hp and need tires to compliment them on street applications


i've been hearing alot of bad tread life and alot of good gripfor the 615's.
Seems to be a trade off between Grip and treadlife for the RE-750's so its balanced for street..
and S. Drives sound like the loser of the 3...

Sumitomo HR III are looking good for price/value and are rated high, so lets throw that in the mix of options
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....HTRZ3&i1_Qty=2

Kumho SPT, is priced similar to the HR II, both are rated 1st in their category. but its "ultra performance vs max performance"
tread wear rating is 320UTOG vs 300UTOG, not sure how significant that would be in terms of mileage

will check out the federals, any specific tire u recommend?

thanks for all the opinions everyone. keep them coming

Any particular reason you want 275s on the rear? The 275s are a taller tire and change the gearing slightly which would make the car a little less peppy. I run 255/40/17 all around with about 330 RWHP and that is more than enough grip on the Kumhos.

I have the SPTs on my Mini Cooper S and its a pretty nice tire for that car's power levels. Not as much grip as the MX though which is to be expected from a lower classed tire.

The Dunlop Direza DZ101 seems to fit your budget also.

the only real federal there is is the ss595. theres another which is slightly cheaper they have in certain sizes. i would go 595. for those sizes your only looking at around 100 a tire, maybe less. i paid about 60 something for 215/40s and 72 for 235/40/17s.

275/40R17 Kumho ECSTA MX -- 141.00 ea
255/40R17 Kumho ECSTA MX -- 132.00 ea

I just bought a set of Toyo Proxes 4 for $516 shipped from Treadepot. They are offering free shipping.
275/40/17 $139
245/45/17 $119

I tried looking at Tirerack but for for some reason they don't sell Toyo tires.

x2, great tire for the price

thanks for all the advice everyone. i made a purchase on 255/40/17 x4 of the HTRZ III's. for my street tires.

and will be going 245/45/16 RT-615s on the stock wheels when i go track/autox

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end of thread for me