Performance tires - do you bother?

General General Discussion
1

I have ridden on high performance tires in the eurocars since I’ve owned them.

168+ MPH speed ratings AAA traction. The amount of handling is phenomenal. I’ve ridden at triple digit speeds in Florida thunderstorms without issue (not smart for many reasons, but stating a fact). I regularly handled curves in my 4 door sedan that most American “sports cars” would struggle with.

But it came at a cost. The ride was rough. After about 10,000 miles they would need to be rebalanced and at 25k they were usually toast. At $300+ a piece and uneven wear times (rears went way faster) this meant that I was replacing at least one axle a year which by itself isn’t bad, but after 10 years of eurodriving I shutter to think how much I’ve spent on rubber.

Anyway, yesterday I threw on some OEM continental contiprocontact tires. Less expensive and 60,000 mile tread life. They were cheaper, and they are very quiet but the performance is killing me. I never realized how much tires affected your handling. I feel like I’m riding on a cloud and have no feel for the road.

Does anyone else care about tires as much as I do? Do you have any suggestions? Do you care?

2

Though I could care less what tires my leased daily driver is on, my Trans Am always had performance tires on it. The Goodyear F1s that came on it stunk, they had zero traction and were hard as a rock. I first went to a better tire in the form of Firestone Firehawk. They were better but the did not do everything I wanted.

I realized that there is no magic bullet when it comes to tires. At that time I was drag racing and AutoCrossing the car. There was no way to do both on one tire. I soon had a set of BFG Drag Radials on the back when driving around, just in case I needed to get on it. I also got a set of Nitto 555R2s which were awesome for Auto-X. For the drag strip I quickly graduated from a steel belted drag radial to a bias ply full slick.

I did drive the car on the Nittos a lot on the street and they became my regular tire. I still have 4 of them mounted but with the current gearing in the car I cant use the rears because they are too short and cant use the fronts because the front suspension wont allow that wide a rim to be installed. Oh well.

Yes the Nittos wore down quick, and they would kick up all sorts of sand and rocks into the wheel wells because the rubber was so sticky but mad did the car handle well. You have to have a trade off somewhere. If I had an M3 or a S4/SR4 I would have them on a sticky tire. Those cars are meant to be enjoyed in the curves, I would give up some road noise and short tread life for the ability to use the car to its potential.

3

I had a more street performance tire on my truck ('06 Dodge RAM 1500 QC HEMI 3:72gears, 5spd auto, Diablo Sports T1000 running a “HEMI FEVER” 93 oct performance tune.

But I use the truck for towing our 31’ camper so I needed a better tire for that. And, I wanted a more aggressive/off road tire, so I bought a set of Toyo Open Country Extremes (60/275/20). They cost $1,300 so Im really feeling ya about the price lol.

I lost all of my performance. They are a 80psi tire. I run 60psi when Im towing and 32frnt/30rear when not.
If I dont run lower psi they wear out i. The centers on the rears quick.
So I get too much bounce/float now and wont hold in a curve. Especially on a wet road.

Short story long, Capt Obvious here, make sure you have the proper psi air in them.

4

This is a no-brainer to me. A car designed to handle without the right tires might as well be a mini-van. My answer was always to have a fun car with Ferragamos and the everyday vehicle with Red Wings. Sadly the sports car is gone and I wallow in my Land Cruiser beloved for its other fine qualities.

5

Yup, the downside to “Summer” tires vs performance all-seasons is cost. Conti DWS, Bridgestone 960/970, or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S all last much longer and from a cost to performance standpoint, are a winner to me. I got tired of replacing tires every 20K-ish. It was pricey, especially when you’re talking about 285/295 and 30/35/40 series tires. I can feel the difference, but I don’t think I drive nearly hard enough to see a value added increase of perf all-seasons versus summer tires. Yes, summer tires are nice and stick to the ground no other, but for a daily driver, I couldn’t justify the cost. For what it’s worth, I was always scouring Craigslist to pick up a set of summer tires for the next changeover. I was stacking tires in the garage…haha.

6

I had some Hankook sport rubber on my truck. 275/50/20 size. (2010 F150 5.4 6 speed auto, s&b cold air intake, long tube headers, hi flow cats and tuned by Jon Lund of Lund racing (world record mustang tuner). The tires didnt last very long :sarcastic: now I run yokohama’s. They are nice on the highway. My truck is lowered, but the kit i run leaves a ride very similar to factory.

7

There is always a trade-off with tires. You have to give up performance and traction when moving to a longer lasting (i.e. harder) compound. Cars that merit the better tires always have job-specific tires on them. All-seasons suck for pretty much everything but going straight down a highway. Our CUV sports snow tires in the winter also, and are well worth dealing with two sets of tires.

8

My car (370Z) is a summer-only vehicle, so has summer-only tires. Tires are Bridgstone Potenza S-04’s. Fantastic grip. Noisy, not ideal in heavy rain (better than the stock Potenzas though) and completely unusable in the snow. I’ll get about 15,000 miles out of them, and they’re about $900-$1000 for the set. Given the nature and purpose of the car, I wouldn’t have any other type of tire. No trade-offs, if I can’t drive the Z, I drive the GMC 3/4 ton.

9

Do you guys have any recommended tires?

My rears are 245/40R17 fronts are like 240/45 I think. and need to be rated to at least 150mph.

I live in FL so while there is no snow, there is a strong Need For wet performance (rains every day, hard)

With that said, I just cannot believe the loss in performance from these OEM tires. It’s almost dangerous. Massive amounts of under steer and the car just feels bouncy. It’s so insane how much of a difference tires can make.

10

Back when I had my WRX, I went from Pilot Sport AS2’s to Dunlop SP Sport Maxx summer performance tires. To be honest, it increased the limits to a point that I was no longer willing to explore the edge on the street. The speed you could carry into a turn was impressive to say the least. The tradeoff was ride quality, noise and wet traction (though that wasn’t too bad). Once they got past 50% wear, hauling it in rapidly sounded like a squadron of alien warships descending on you.

I guess it depends on the capability of the car, but I just didn’t need them in my case. I actually had more fun hanging it out with the AS2’s.

11

My advice - stick with OEM tires. Otherwise, you might try different brands of the same size/speed rating and see how they do. Tire Rack allows you to read reviews on different tires by vehicle type.

25K for a set of performance tires isn’t bad. I never made it that far with the Bridgestones on either of my S2000’s - fronts were close, though.

12

Agreed. On my first sport sedan, I ran the seasonal sport tires in summer and blizzak in winter. Then I moved out of the snow belt and moved to all season performance tires. Now I just don’t go all out. Use higher end all season touring/performance tires speed rated for my car (newer sport sedan), get good long life and it suits all I need.

I don’t drive it like hell. I push it a bit, at times, but mostly just enjoy the jump off the dead stop or that extra giddy-up when I need to pass someone on the highway.

13

The whole reason I have this car is performance and tires are a huge component of that performance. I don’t track the car, but I do enjoy “spirited” driving in it and there are a lot of areas around here where that can be accomplished. I’m not willing to compromise the very reason for owning the car in the first place. If I have to compromise on tires because of the expense, then I shouldn’t have bought that car in the first place. Performance car needs performance tires. No compromises.

14

On our Volvos and Saabs we run two tires and nothing else.

The Bridestone Potenza RE950 or the Michelin MXV4 Super Sport.

The other tires just don’ last as long or they cup out early or need re-balancing quite often. Totally not worth it. The wife can get about 65-70k miles out of a set of Michelin Super Sports on the 9-5 Aero. Not bad but she babies the car and does not drive it like it was intended to be driven. LOL

Our Volvo S-40 (daughter’s ride) wears Bridgestone RE-950s and they ride TONS better than the crap Good Years that came on the car.

On my 4WD pickups I only run BFG All Terrain T/A KO’s and swear by them.

Cheap tires are totally NOT worth it…especially when you drive a lot and drive in lots of rain and bad weather.

15

I work for one of Americas riches family’s. I frequently drive his ultra expensive cars.
http://www.caranddriver.com/mercedes-benz/gl63-amg
http://www.mercedes-amg.com/s63.php?lang=eng#vehicle_overview_section
http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/cayenne/cayenne-turbo-s/
http://auto.ferrari.com/en_EN/sports-cars-models/car-range/458-spider/
Yes ultra performance tires are exceptional.

16

I’ve found tire rack.com reviews are pretty good. I paid less for tires than oem that blew them out of the water. By that, I mean I could double speed without hydroplaning and take turns 10mi/hr faster without squeeking while getting comparable milage. They also offer much better road feel and responsiveness. Better tires would be limited by the car, an acura.

I found 120 (100 on tire rack) range to be a price you can start to get decent tires for. I don’t race and anything much better would not provide anything for my situation as I’ve had close calls and the tires performed 100%.

17

File me under those who don’t consider driving at more than 8/10ths on the road as making a whole lot of sense, consequently tires that last are worth a lot more to me than tires that have a big performance delta, unless the intent of that vehicle is autocross, track days, or to keep obscene powertrain performance of the vehicle they’re mounted to from becoming useless/inaccessible.

For my part everything I drive right now is laughably slow - the biggest tire performance ugprade for me would be stepping up to BFG AllTerrain T/A KOs on my truck, but to be completely honest the cheapo bridgestone tires on it right now are likely to outlast the transmission on it. Living in the desert southwest, the only time I’ve found the tire performance lacking is either the odd snowstorm (where I’m still far and away more confident than all the drivers around me just because I understand where that grip threshold is) or off road where the lack of mechanical braking/accelerating traction or lateral load capability gives up in a hurry.

Realize that you’re attuned to having actual communication and feedback with what the road under you is doing - adding a larger undamped air spring in the form of less performance oriented tires is going to make it feel bouncy/floaty, but that’s something that can be adapted to. Turn-in is going to be slightly sluggish by comparison, but it’s entirely possible to learn how to adjust and start the weight transfer a bit sooner, and drive around a bit less adjustability mid-corner.

Once I can move somewhere with a garage I’m putting up an epic reloading bench, and building a corvette kart - I’m increasingly thinking I’ll have to run two sets of wheels/tires for that.

18

My old car (similar Euro performance car) had 225/40ZR18 all around witht the OEMs as Continentals. I never got great wear from the Contis (18K on one set, 13K on the second) and they rode a little harsh and loud, so I swapped to Michelins. The ride quality improved without any performance losses, and they were still going strong with 36K on them when I sold the car. Michelins, Pirellis, or Bridgestones are pretty good. I have some big Bridgestones on my wife’s car (the original were also Contis) that have been very good, quiet, and still have decent performance on a very heavy SUV. SUV versus sports car/sports sedan is apples and oranges, but it seems that Continental makes a tire that is cheap for the manufacturer to put on and checks the boxes for engineering performance and US DOT approvals, but others make better tires for US roads. As an OE tire, the manufacturer’s finance department is making the choice (A family friend works at MB in German and the OE Contis cost MB around $18 a tire - nice volume pricing) - since its on your dime now, there are much better choices out there from other manufacturers.

19

I have a 1991 Mustang GT Convertible that gets driven only in the summer. When I replaced the last set of tires on it, I went with the Hankook Ventus in 225/55/16.
They are quiet tires, I don’t really drive the car enough to talk about wear, subjectively, they do handle better than the Firestones which were on the Mustang when I bought it - they were half worn out.

I work at an old Naval Air Station and have access to the main runway as well as the turns off the end, so that is where I see top end, in terms of handling I have access to the road course on our driving facility, I don’t throw the GT around very hard, but the performance in sweeping and late apex corners definitely improved - obviously much better then the CV’s and Chargers that I’m used to driving around the course - and that is with the non-rigid convertible body. Of course one would expect better performance from new tires versus old, huh?

They don’t make a lot of noise, and to be honest I’m not going to put that vehicle into a situation where I can eval the noise from them in understeer or oversteer - at 8/10th’s they work well.

I don’t drive the Mustang in the rain so that is something I can’t comment on. IIRC I think I was out 900.00 mounted and balanced.

You know I just re-thought what you asked - ‘why bother?’

I buy the good tires for the 92 Escort with 214,000ish miles on it, primarily because I drive it hard. The thing is ‘hard’ for a 92 Escort with a strut package on it, isn’t the same as hard for a Boxster. I do a lot of threshold braking, I turn, when traffic allows, using proper apexing, I enjoy running up on people on off ramps, etc. because I know how to place the car. To me, 8/10ths in that Escort, stirring the shifter, is just as fun and a lot safer than 8/10ths in a performance vehicle.

YMMV, but I haven’t done triple digits on a public road since I crawled out of a patrol unit and quit making emergency responses.

20

Tires is what I do for a living now.
With that said, your car will eat tires. I didn’t read the whole thread but I’m assuming is a BMW.
I currently run Conti DWS on my Car and BFG KO2s on my JKU.
What you should get in my opinion is the Mich Pilot sport A/S3. It is an all season tire but it’ll probably give you a bit more life that some of the others without converting your car to a Mini van. The reason your tires are wearing has to do with the design of your vehical and your driving habits. You’ll want a harder tire with the proper tread design to maintain traction and responsfulness and not wear out at the 25k mark.
Another good one is the Yokohama YK580.
You probably have something like 225/45 up front and 255/40 or 35 in the rear.
What kind of car is it?