I had some Yokohama A032R's last time, and although I loved how sticky they were I need something that will last a little longer this time.
Things I do care about: Performance, Price, Longevity
Things I don't care about: Noise, Comfort, snow traction, everything else.
I live in SoCal so not much bad weather and if it looks like rain I take the beater Geo Storm.

Sizes:
275x40x17 rear on 10" wheels. Looks great, doesn't rub, perfect
235x40x17 front on 8.5" wheels. Rubs, grabs fender and pulls the lip open and then eats chunks out of the side of the tire.
A 245x35x17 would be perfect but they don't seem to be available. Some tires even with the same specs seem to have a lower overall height, and perhaps less square sidewalls would help? I should roll the fenders I suppose.

Looking at Tirerack, I came up with these:
Khumo MX $536
Khumo ECSTA Supra 712 $456
Yokohama AVS ES100 $456
Pirelli P7000 SuperSport $386

The Pirelli's are cheap but I had them on my last R1, which I rolled due to them hydroplaning so :-(

Thanx!

 

235/45 and 265/40 is what i would run.

 

but 235/45 is higher profile then the 235/40's I have now and they rub already....
The 275/40's in the rear work great.

 

Then go with that. You'll just be changing the weight distribution on the car if you don't have coilovers. Depends if you're doing straight line or the other. But ya if that will pose a problem i guess you don't have much of a choice.

Rishie

 

I have GAB Supers with Racing Beat springs.
I wasn't really asking what size to run, I was asking which tire brand/model I should get.

 

Doh!! I'm such a fool. Sorry about that. I would actually suggest the Bridgestone S03 then with the 265 in the rear. I firmly believe that the S03 265 will outperform any of the ones you've suggested above in a 275. If that size is not an option then I would suggest the Toyo T1S. These are top notch tires. Tread rating of 280. Great in the dry, weight, and extremely lightweight. Clu deal is $725.00 shipped.

No P7000SS, no ES100, definitely no 712. The Ecsta MX i haven't heard the greatest things about either for that price.

Spend the little more and you'll be a lot happier. The ES100's are cool but they aren't sticky and you will lose performance. Otherwise for a cheap solution I would recommend those.

Ah well. There's my .02 cents worth i guess. Hope this helped some.

Rishie

 

Thanks!
I don't mind going to 265's, I realize that the tire being sticky is more important than the size.
P7000 SS : they just suck
ES100: okay but not quite as sticky
712's: they also suck
MX: might be good but too new to tell?
S03's: I know these are the shiznitz, but the price is so much higher :-(
T1S: I have heard good things about them but Tirerack does not sell them.
Other people have mentioned your name, I take it you sell wheels and tires?

 

So I did a little research:

I suggest running a 245 front with a 275 rear. Front grip is important to eliminate dreaded understeer.

Here are the Tire Rack choices for these sizes:
1. BFGoodrich T/A KD Dry grip: 9.6 $990
2. Dunlop SP sport 9000 Dry grip 8.4 $668
3. Kumho MX Dry grip 8.8 $544
4. Eagle F1 GS-D3 Dry grip 9.2 (great in wet too) $728
5. Michelin Pilot Sport Dry grip 9.1 $968
6. Yokohama AVS sport Dry grip 8.7 $668
7. Bridgestone S-03 (265/40r) Dry grip 9.3 $814
8. Goodyear Eagle F1 supercar Dry grip 9.4 $956

Out of these tires I would suggest the BFGoodrich KD’s or the Bridgestone S-03s. Yes they are more expensive. But they also have unparalleled grip. You only buy tires so often and they are they most important performance modification you can make to your car. Just ask autocrossers. Out of the two the S-03s have a 220 wear rating as opposed to the BFGs 200 (negligible). The BFGs will provide more grip and they come in 275s as opposed to 265s for the S-03s. But the S-03 are better in the wet, not that this matters in SoCal. Either one is a good choice. If you do want cheaper tires though the Eagle F1 GS-D3s look to be a good buy. They also carry a 280 wear rating which is solid for the grip they provide. If these are too expensive go with the MX’s.

Hope this helps and Cheers,

Andrew

 

Tirerack test results can be a bit misleading, I'm pretty sure the scales they use are only applicable to the tires in each individual test and not useful for comparing from test to test.

In the sizes that you want, they have the following tires:

Dunlop SP Sport 9000
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3
Kumho Ecsta MX
Michelin Pilot Sport
Yokohama AVS Sport

Of those, the Kumho and Yoko have been compared head-to-head and the Kumho was ranked higher than the Yoko in every category except for noise comfort and ride comfort. It was faster in every single performance test both wet and dry. The SP9000 was also compared against the AVS in a separate test and the AVS was faster. So you can extrapolate that the Kumho is grippier than both the Dunlop and Yoko. As for the Michelin and Goodyear who knows, but the Michelin is pricey as all hell.

I've had experience with the MX's in various sizes on diffeent cars (an FD, a couple Integras, and a WRX) and they feel pretty impressive to me. A friend of mine running them in 205/40-17 on his Integra had one blow out on him pretty soon after buying the set but that size is like rubber bands and he drives like an idiot.

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences, you are the first person I have found that have actually run the MX's on an FD. Every car is different so finding some that have been on an FD is important to me. Do you have any more info on how they fit and performed? How stiff are the sidewalls? Do they slope much or are the square? Thanx!!
-Jedon

 

The FD with MX's on it isn't mine so I can't say too much about it, other than they certainly do provide a lot of stick. The sidewalls are good and stiff but they're still reasonably sensitive to changes in inflation pressure.

The only problem you may have is that I just checked the sizes that the MX is available in and for your fronts tirerack only has 235/45 and not 235/40. In 235/40 and 275/40 at tirerack you're limited to the SP9000, AVS Sport, F1 GS-D3 and Pilot Sport.

One other possibility is the Toyo Proxes T1-S which is available in 245/35-17 and 275/40-17 from 1010tires.com but they're $206.99 a piece for the fronts and $250.99 each for the rears. If Rishie has them in those sizes he can probably get you a significantly better deal.

 

Well according to tirerack, the MX's have an overall diameter of 25.5" and the A032R's were 24.4"
Hmm rubbing might be even more of an issue in which case I would just get the fenders rolled.
Rishie said above he could get me the Toyos for $725.00 shipped but that's still quite a bit more than the $583 shipped from tirerack for the MX's.
Is there anything else I can do to the front to let me run wider rubber? I have 8.5" wheels I should be able to run 255's!

 

You know you just want to get the Kumhos for the free mini RC cars offer.

 

ahh shucks ya got me
Well I ordered them,
Kumho MX
275/40/17 rear
245/40/17 front
$583 shipped, and they did already.
They should be here Tuesday and I'll take them down to Costco to get mounted ( $36 )

 

Sweet Jesus, you're gonna let the morons at the Costco car department touch your Fikse's? You are brave or crazy or both.

Go to a REAL wheel/tire shop that will treat the wheels right and mount the tires properly. Hell, my sister came out of Costco will all 4 tires at the max PSI listed on the tire sidewall......

 

Hmm which Costco? I watch them work and the one here in San Diego are pretty good. They won't do them on the car though I have to bring the wheels in since it's lowered.

 

I suppose it's possible they'll do a great job and not damage any of the rims. They may even get the tires to the right pressure. I still wouldn't trust them, man. A good performance place will only charge a little more and they are used to handling expensive wheels....

 

Screw that. Would never take a three piece wheel to costco.

Make sure the mounter knows what a "reverse mount wheel" is. I have several several people screw rims up that way. Not only that but i doubt their balancer is of the caliber you would find at a specialty shop.