Tire Reviews?

[240KAT]

Hey guys. I'm lookin for some good cruise tires with good lateral traction. Im buying a set of Falken Azenis for my seven-spoke-stockers and I bought a set of 17's to cruise in. Here are my considerations..
-Kumho Supra 712
-Nitto NT-450
I'm up for suggestions too. I want moderately cheap, atleast for now. I just need tires to throw on there. Decent treadlife, good cornering, good wet traction. 225/45/17 Thanks guys

[THX1138]

Not quite sure exactly what you mean by "cruise tires," but I'll soon be replacing my Yokohama AVS ES100s with another set of the same; this is the first time I've ever been satisfied enough with a tire to buy it again immediately. I've put about 14,000 miles on them, but if I'd had a decent alignment for more than the last three months (got the tires late August/early September last year) I could probably double that.

Check out the reviews section at www.tirerack.com for more good stuff.

[thelinja]

Blah, Nitto's suuuuuuuucccckkkkkk. Go with the 712's or ES100's.

[SilviaSR20DET]

Id definately recommend getting the bridgestone potenza re730s they are very good performing tires for the money. I have the 205/55r15 on my rims and they stick to the road so well and also performs just as good in the rain also. They last long also with a 300 treadwear for a performance tire. Oh and also there is no noise at all from the tires very quiet. In conclusion get these tires you won't be dissappointed! hope this helps

[808Supra]

the Kumhos are good for normal driving, but when you start doing some "spirited driving" on them (even using them as a front grip tire), things become iffy. I ran the Supras up front for about 3 months befor they had excessive wear. I mean, keep in mind that I really ran the hell out of them and our track surface sucks, but still. Also, once you throw them in the back as a drift tire, they tend to chunk. I also REALLY dont recomend the nittos. Their side walls are horrible. We put a decent set of NT450s on our friends FC and the side walls started splitting with in a few hours.

Befor that I had Advan M70s, and I was very happy with those, its just hard to find them for a good deal. The best "cruiser" tires that I have run were Falken Ziex somthings. Very little noise and still decent to drift on.

best tires you can get in the USA to me are Potenza RE01, Falken Azenis STwhatevers, and Potenza S03s.

[FoCaL]

Originally posted by SilviaSR20DET
Id definately recommend getting the bridgestone potenza re730s they are very good performing tires for the money. I have the 205/55r15 on my rims and they stick to the road so well and also performs just as good in the rain also. They last long also with a 300 treadwear for a performance tire. Oh and also there is no noise at all from the tires very quiet. In conclusion get these tires you won't be dissappointed! hope this helps

Agreed Ive had a set of those also, and I liked them so much I talked my brother into them. So he loves them now too, I have no compaints about that tire, treadlife, handling or anything. For th emoney its a great tire. On a side note the RE730 has been replaced by the RE750, and I have already ordered them as I need some new tires. I cant see any reason why they wont be as good of a tire or better than the RE730 as there is very little difference.

[Dousan_PG]

my friend, aaron (toso) got RE750 for his z32tt and he LOVES them. He did a drift event on them too, front and rear, said it felt great.

[HaLo]

I have RE711s in the front and RE01s in the rear. I love them, but you can't get them in North America.

As for 712 (Kumhos), those tires are pure crap. My GF has some on her turbo Supra and they feel like you're driving on snow. They have absolutely no-grip. You're better off with RE750s or Falken FK-451s.. :)

[Steeles]

Tires I ran;

Kuhmo 711 - they were allright.. better than the 712s in wet but worse than them in the dry. good daily driver tires

kumho 712 - hydroplane city with a little wear on them decent grip in the dry long as they are still cool. I lost all faith in them this past weekend on the Convention mountain run the mystery federal tires I had out back (harder compound tire 280 vs 240) was still gripping and I was actually having a hard time kicking the rear loose. front however started pushing badly. not a good thing on mountain roads. drop 4psi out of the fronts to try and get more grip and let them cool for like 20 minutes... same problem

Yokohama AVS ES100 - very very good tires. liked these alot. hated to give them up (wheel change due to 300zx brake upgrade) nice predictable tire. thinking of trying them again.. havent driven the car on them with boost.

the yok intermediates are very nice too. driven Murph's car with those on and goo tire excellent wet traction.

I still wanna try the dunlop 901s... or potenza S-03 cant decide. but one of thos etwo will most likely be my next..

[sykikchimp]

Steeles - just for reference, I think you were probably runnin too little air in the 712's. I wouls run 40-44psi hot on track days.. you were at 32 hot. big diffence. The contact patch may have been distorting under load, and causing the car to push. When the 712's were setup right, I could turn laps almost as fast as the Azenis Sports.

Just for reference, I liked my 712's. They never got greasy on me as long as I had enough air in them. I ran 35-38psi cold. I have never once had them hydroplane (205/55-15's) even with only 2-3/32nd's tread left.

[Dousan_PG]

sykikchimp: auto x or open track?

[sykikchimp]

open track.. the tires always needed about 1-1.5 laps to get sticky.

[Dousan_PG]

you are the only person i know who didnt hate them on open track
everyone else i know despises them. awesome for autox but sh!t on open track.

even my friend (z32) know quite a lot of z guys who used them 1 time for open track..never again..

[nokeone]

yeah i run the Kumho 711's on my daily drive wheels and they are pretty decent around town and on mountain roads when you are not pushing it too terribly hard..but once you get into some serious driving or drifting...the car pushes like crazy..i had to take turns alot slower to get the rear end to kick out..it was rather annoying..although i did find them to be very predictable drift tires once you were sliding..:)

[fooddude]

ES100's!!! Very predictable psychic tire! It's like the tire taps you on the shoulder and let's you know ahead of time when/if the traction is gonna break loose. And when/if it does loose a little traction, it isn't drastic at all, it's very smooth in and out. Regain traction is smooth as well. Treadwear(280) is decent(I cant say really good because i've only had them a few months), but seems like its keepin it's tread. Best tires i've ever owned in any of my cars, I'll be buying these same tires for a while:wiggle:

[Steeles]

Originally posted by sykikchimp
Steeles - just for reference, I think you were probably runnin too little air in the 712's. I wouls run 40-44psi hot on track days.. you were at 32 hot. big diffence. The contact patch may have been distorting under load, and causing the car to push. When the 712's were setup right, I could turn laps almost as fast as the Azenis Sports.

Just for reference, I liked my 712's. They never got greasy on me as long as I had enough air in them. I ran 35-38psi cold. I have never once had them hydroplane (205/55-15's) even with only 2-3/32nd's tread left.

hmm I usually do try and keep between 38 and 40psi in them. (cold) but I didnt check them once we got down there.I may give them another shot since they have been a good tire till now. so we'll see :p

[240 2NR]

Any reason why you're looking for 2 sets of summer tires? What do you plan to run in the winter? If you plan to drive it, I'd highly suggest one of your sets of tires to be dedicated snows, unless it's a summer only car and you need a track/auto-x and street tire setup.

As for the 712's I have 225's on my near stock (engine wise) 93 and it's HARD to get the car loose. They've been very grippy in the wet, are getting excellent wear (aside from my driver front tire that has some alignment issues, otherwise it's better than expected) and were very inexpensive. There may be better tires out there, but they're very hard to beat for the price. As they've been getting good reviews the tire I try next if I don't go with the Kuhmos is the ES-100.

Oh, I also agree that they're very tire pressure sensitive. I usually run around 35psi in them and when they get down around 32psi they just feel awful. Such a small difference affects the ride pretty drastically.

[Dousan_PG]

Originally posted by 240 2NR
As for the 712's I have 225's on my near stock (engine wise) 93 and it's HARD to get the car loose.

interseting. my friend runs 225s on 17s on a stock KA and can break them loose easily. s14 too, which is heavier.....might want to check out what's going on with your car.

i used 215 712s on 16" and going around corners i can break them if i wanted..stock KA as well



EDIT: we both have real LSD so that's probably why...nevermind..

[KSee777]

I recently got 215 and 235 Sumitomo HRTZ2. So far they worked great on dry roads and has great wet traction. As of now, they are very quiet when taking long trips. I haven't driven too much on the tires yet, so what I said might change in the future. But as of now, I'm happy :D

[Muzzy]

how bout Pirelli HPs..thas wut i have
grip pretty well...dry anyway(came with the car)

in the rain or jus wet...so easy to spin them...is my cars rear jus that light or are the tire jus not good for wet conditions

by the way they are 205/60R15 90H....hard compound???...idk
91 HB

[uiuc240]

Kumho Ecsta MX...nuff said.

Eric

[JasonNagra]

Dunlop Formula R. Not sold stateside, but the grippiest tires I have ever driven with. Probably comparable to an R compound. I run them on the rear on my stock KA with a KAAZ 2 way, and I cannot break the rear loose. And probably the most confidence inspiring tires I have driven with. Heres a pic of em:

[nokeone]

Originally posted by JasonNagra
Dunlop Formula R. Not sold stateside, but the grippiest tires I have ever driven with. Probably comparable to an R compound. I run them on the rear on my stock KA with a KAAZ 2 way, and I cannot break the rear loose. And probably the most confidence inspiring tires I have driven with. Heres a pic of em:

wow..sweet tire!!..

and yeah i would guess very close to, if not an actual, R compound..if only by the name..lol..

[Muzzy]

DDDDDDAAAAAAAMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!

wicked tread!!!!
SOB!!
how much!!!
...wow!
:drool: :eek2: :wackit:

[h3x11]

i have been please with khumo 712's for daily driven.

[240KAT]

I dont think they'll do too well in the rain..or in the treadlife dept. Lol. I'll check out the potenza's and the yoko's. I dont care about how well the tires drift, thats why im buying the Azenis. It all comes down to price. Need money for the winter car pretty soon.

[johnosu1]

Dont ever buy nittos!!!! i made the mistake of buying those crappy pos's. they are the worst tire i have ever had. they suck in the rain and they are realy soft so they ware realy bad. nittos suck.:hammer:

[JasonNagra]

When I bought my SSR RS8 wheels from Sam at Jspec these tires came with them with almost full tread. It has not really rained in SoCal since I have purchased these tires so I cannot comment on there wet traction. However by just loking at the tread, I would geuss that the tire is NOT great in the wet. But in terms of dry traction, it makes the Azenis look pretty weak. Not to say the Azenis is not a good tire, cause I have a full set of those too and love them, but theres really no comparison, you kinda see how the Azenis is considered a little bit of a street tire. Oh, and these tires are LOUD as hell.

[Rennen]

Not sure what you mean by "cruising" tire, but since you have a set of Azenis, I will assume you don't need another set of über performance tires.

I have Dunlop SP Sport A2 high performance all season tires on my stock wheels.

Pros:
-cheap: got all 4 tires shipped for right around $200
-Excellent wet traction. I was driving home from school in a monsoon one day and noticed that I could go about 10-15mph faster than other traffic without hydroplaning.
-Worked well in snow. I see you live in Maryland, this may be of interest to you. At full tread depth they gripped well in the snow, and I could get around anywhere I wanted to go without ever getting stuck. I got up a 45º inclined hill that was fairly long in this snow storm:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/pb0c0270cca64cf44b46051398266f08b/fc31fbaa.jpg

Cons:
-Horrible autocross tire. The sidewall is fairly weak, and the fronts like to roll over even at 45 psi. But these tires are just fine for some spirited driving on twisty backroads.
-Treadwear. This is largely because I have foolishly autocrossed them at 6 autocross events so far, but they will need replacing sometime this year