Need some tire recomendations for 225/50ZR16
 

Just wondering what people have had in their prior experiences.

I am looking to replace all 4 tires, just need to know what is a good buy, and how much should i look at spending on a set of 4.

Also any good tire shops in Toronto ?

In that size, I would recommend one of the following:

Continental ContiSportContact 2
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3
Kumho Ecsta MX

All are good both dry and wet driving.

Try posting this in the Canadian Section. I run the Falken Azenis RT-615's on my 16" Stock tires which I run at the track. My street rubber on my 18" wheels are Dunlop SP Super Sport Race. It seems kind of backwards and it is but when I bought the RT-615's I wanted something to run onthe streets and that I could run on the track and I didn't have the 18" wheels at that time. They did the job well for both street and track but they make a better street tire then track. I will be going with R compounds for the stock wheels when the 615's wear out and something similar to the RT-615's on the 18's when I have to replace them.

So with all that said, my vote for stock wheels would be the Falken RT-615's.

PS, The new Azenis 615's are much better in wet than the last ones but they are not the best. I don't drive my FD in the rain so it was not an issue for me.

Yeah I'd go with the Falken Azenis RT-615s, they're 420$+shipping from vulcantire.com. I think edgeracing has them for a little bit cheaper.

I've been researching the same thing, but for different sizes. The list that I've come up with is:
Continental ContiSportContact 3
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2
Pirelli P-Zero
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3
Dunlop SP Sport Maxx

I placed a higher emphasis on wet weather performance, noise, and tread life than you might. Right now I'm thinking about going with the Dunlop as the best compromise for my purposes.

azenis rt-615's

Thanks for all the input =)
THe Falkens look really nice.

So basically I want a tire that low profile and has a good speed raiting.

I guess the W speed raiting is good enough, most tires I was looking at had a ZR raiting...


Im assuming the Falkens are a low profile tire?

there is a new group of performance tires that has been appearing in the last few years and the trend is greatly increasing for 08.

manufacturers have discovered there is a market for tires w softer tread compounds. the demand is large enough to merit making street tires that will deliver significantly less mileage in return for more stick.

08 will see a flood of new offerings.

tread softness (we racers call it durometer which refers to the guage used to test the softness of the rubber) promotes grip at the expense of mileage.

here's a few offerings and their UTQG number: (lower is softer)

Toyo R888 100
Toyo RA1 100
Nitto NTO1 100
Toyo R1R 100
Kumo XS (have seen numbers 140 or 160)
Falken 615 200
Hankook Z212 200
Dunlop Direzza 200
Kumho MX 220
Cooper Zeon 280
Toyo T1R 280
Sumitomo HTR3Z 300

the list is not all inclusive but might be of some help... additions welcome. of course many other build factor enter in but durometer does separate the men from the boys.

howard coleman

The Falken 615s aren't that great in the rain. What conditions do you plan to drive in?

A 'W' speed rating is up to 168 mph, most likely high enough ;)

Re: the 'low profile,' it's a direct result of the aspect ratio......all 225/50 tires are going to have the same profile---half (50%) of 225mm.

As Rich mentioned, the Falken aren't a great wet tire. If you are looking for a dual purpose tire (street & road course), the Falkens are great. However if you are looking for a straight street tire, the ones I listed above are a better choice as they have MUCH better wet performance than the Falkens.

The profile of the tire is determined by the size. For example in a 225/50/16 the “225 means the width is 225mm. The 50 in 225/50/16 means the profile is 50% of the width and the 16 in 225/50/16 means it will fit a 16” wheel. If you had a 295/45/16 that would actually have a larger profile than a 225/50/16 since 45% of 295 is more than 50% of 225. He is a larger write up on tire size…

As far as the speed rating you will be more than fine with a “W” rated tire. W means the tire can handle sustained speeds of 168mph (270km/h). A “Z” you see on a tire just indicates a maximum speed capability in excess of 149 mph (240 km/h). Z ated tires will be eithe W or Y. W is as I indicated above and Y is 186mph (300km/h).

I hope that helps. If you want more specific info you can go to the links below.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=46

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=35

Cheers, Jason

Im leaning towards the falkens.

I dont really drive my car in the rain and if i do, i tend to drive very slow and cautious.

This may sound kinda strange, but does anyone have a pic of the falkens on a rx7?
i just wanna see the profile of the tire.

I got some replacement tires for the front last summer, just out of emergency cause one blew... They were Herculese tires and they are huge in profile size.. ugly as hell but o well i got money now to invest a little in the 7 so i just wanna make a good investment and be happy with it.

Regards
wb123

I saw the Falken FK-451 on http://www.vulcantire.com/cgi-bin/ti...13&f=451_t.htm

THye have a speed raiting of Y and they have a AA raiting in the rain.

They are much cheaper then the Ziens, they are being discontinued however and replaced with a newer model... anyone have any past expereinces with the FK-451s?

Are these tires steel belted as well? And how can i check to see if they are steel belted?

Can any one link me a few good sites to buy a shock/spring set up ?

www.rx7.com typically has a good selection, and they have the parts in stock, which is rare for a rotary shop. Or, just go to www.thetirerack.com, they have suspension as well as tires.

Also, I'd recommend the Falken 615s, not the 451s. My dad just mounted a set of Eagle GS-D3s, and he absolutely loves them so far.

I just got a set of Firestone Wide Oval tires in that size that are w-rated, they look really good. Since I run the shop I got them for 69.99 each with road hazard, $161 list, if you were closer I would hook you up too. Check corksport.com, racingbeat.com and rx7store.net they all have some good suspension stuff.

I found it strange that no one has mentioned the Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R as a candidate for a good street/track tire that delivers excellent performance in both the wet and the dry. They perform great through standing water as well, and can pull one of the highest g-numbers in the wet (I think it might be the highest, actually).

When the Ecsta XS comes out, it'll be a different story, but the RE-01R is the tire to have in STS-class autocrossing.

Following that, I don't really consider any tire with treadwear below 140 a street tire, I usually denote those as R-compounds.

The only problem is that they're somewhat expensive. I remember I paid 140 a tire for 225/50/16 2 years ago. They've finally been retired from track use and will continue to serve as a street tire until the tread disappears below a safe amount.

There's also the Yokohama Advan Neova.......but those tires are prohibitvely expensive now. (Around $200-$220 a pop)

Bridgestone RE-01R

For what it's worth - I had the Continental ContiSportContact 2 tires on my Jetta VR6 a few years back and I thought the performance was really great for a daily driver. After about a year of driving they got noisy as hell because they were half way through the tread life.

what about the Bridgestone Potenza RE050 / RE050A ?