Tire recommendations please!

[golfnutintib]

I am picking up a set of nice 18/19 Advans from a fellow primer and plan to run 215/35/18 fronts and 265/30/19 rears.

The tire choices I see are:

Falken FK453
Yoko S Drive
Sumitomo HTR ZIII
Conti Extreme Contact DWS (All Season)
Dunlop Direzza DZ101

This would be mostly for road driving (50-50 between easy driving vs. canyon carving) and very occasional track use.

Would like to hear input from fellow Primers. My car is a an NA1 coupe 5 speed with stock springs, Bilstein HD's. I am in California, so no snow/harsh winter issues.

Thank you.

 

[robbiedawg]

avoid the direzza dz101's. i had them briefly and they were terrible,would give sort of a scary unsteady wiggle when you entered a turn quickly.i would generally look for some more high performance tires than those listed,but do not know specifically what is available in those sizes.

 

[nsxtasy]

The Sumitomo HTR ZIII that you mention is by far the best-performing tire available in these sizes, and the only one I would even consider for track use. However, since your 18"/19" wheels are a newly-purchased set, another approach would be to get some stickier tires than the Sumitomo, and swap to your 17"/18" wheels for those days when you are going to the track. More specifically, you can get the Dunlop Direzza ZII or Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R in 215/40-17 and 265/35-18, and they will give you better grip at the track than the Sumitomo tire. Then use the Sumitomo and the 18"/19" wheels for your daily driving the rest of the time.

 

[golfnutintib]

makes sense - thanks

 

[Hapa88]

The Sumitomo HTR ZIII that you mention is by far the best-performing tire available in these sizes, and the only one I would even consider for track use. However, since your 18"/19" wheels are a newly-purchased set, another approach would be to get some stickier tires than the Sumitomo, and swap to your 17"/18" wheels for those days when you are going to the track. More specifically, you can get the Dunlop Direzza ZII or Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R in 215/40-17 and 265/35-18, and they will give you better grip at the track than the Sumitomo tire. Then use the Sumitomo and the 18"/19" wheels for your daily driving the rest of the time.

That's what I do. The 18/19s are for street/daily driving and the 17/18 set are track only. I've been using the Kumho SPT for years on my 18/19 set, but it looks like they dropped the 215/35/18 sizing. Luckily I can still get the 275/30/19s for my rears. I'll probably be looking at the Sumitomo once the fronts (and rears) finally wear out.

 

[MarineNSX93]

avoid the direzza dz101's. i had them briefly and they were terrible,would give sort of a scary unsteady wiggle when you entered a turn quickly.i would generally look for some more high performance tires than those listed,but do not know specifically what is available in those sizes.

I agree with not going to the Dunlop DZ101's I had a set and hated them. I have the Dunlop Starspecs Z1's now and will get the Z2's once they are worn out.

I haven't used any of the other tires, so cant help you there.