Gary if you tested out some inexpensive tires they would really surprise you sometime.

Around the mid 2000's Yokohama decided to no longer make motorcycle Tires so they sold their molds. Shinko bought their design in mid 2010's and now makes budget tires. Their tires last as long as the fast brand tires and have great grip. Difference is price and marketing. Shinko has almost no marketing - cheap price.

 

Just like my father, extremely resistant to anything new. Can't convince them otherwise. People are comfortable with what they've always used. How many of you have heard of Federal tires? I'm pretty sure that almost every member here has. I will NEVER pay $400+ for a single tire from Michelin or other big brand, makes 0 sense to me. I will repeat myself again, IF I tracked my car or autocrossed or hell, even if I ever drove my car hard at all I would consider spending more. My car is a daily and I can't remember the last time I took a corner hard, therefore it makes no sense to spend $1k+ on a set of tires.

 

No modern tire from a reputable manufacturer that has gotten thru QC is going to spontaneously blow out on the highway, cheap or otherwise.



With the size of the tires on the G, you're still going to be able to brake and corner much, much harder than half the other people on the road even if you pick the cheapest tire on the market.


There's no "safety" issue at play here. I know I'm not going to spend twice the money for MAYBE a 5% performance difference and a little less NVH... Although my Firestones drive better than the Pirellis on my dad's car, its ratings on TireRack indicated best value so I went for it.

 

On tire topic, I've been running Sumitomo HTR ZIII, which IIRC are technically Dunlop tires, as Sumitomo builds tires for Dunlop (and Dunlop seem to be fairly reputable as well). I've taken the tires to 120 and HARD braked back down to zero, taken very aggressive corners, and otherwise driven like a madman (in a controlled environment, of course). Emergency braked to avoid deer that infested Idaho like a plague, pretty great stopping distance. Cold, they're ok. They're decent in the rain, and once they're warmed up they're very hard to break traction with.

They aren't the most comfortable tires (rather loud) and with a 245/40/18 and 265/40/18 (going to 255 and 275 for my 8.5 width front and 9.5 width rear eventually) they ride rather stiff on coilovers, but I can't really complain at $500 for an entire set.

Would I like to upgrade to Michelin Pilot sports? Yes, better performance is better performance. Can I afford/do I want to pay four times the price per tire for that little bit of extra performance? Can't say I want to, although I'd love to if I could.

 

Pilot sports only last a year if you drive semi aggressive and 10k miles per damn year!!!

My buddy has them on his BRZ and has 40k miles on his though, light car.

 

Fvck that, IDGAF what Gary and some other members support here with their "cheap tires are crap" garbage. I've said this before a lot, the BG Goodrich gForce Comp2 A/S I have on the GTO are the best tire I've ever owned for the money (Gary does have them on his wife's Vette so we're on the same page here). Like many of us when it comes to things I will put on my cars I do extensive research and fact finding before I go out and purchase a new product. Tire Rack regularly performs tire tests and ratings on all kinds of tires and when I was researching all seasons I read 3 different comparo tests on UHP A/S tires. The BFG's came in 1st, and 2-3rd place finishes beating out Mich. PSS A/S once and other tires that cost twice as much and more. And the kicker, they're $132 each for the 17" tires. The other tires that beat them in these tests had marginal differences in total rating points, less than 5 points on a 100 point scale.

I've recommended these tires to many on multiple enthusiast platforms and have yet to find someone who bought them and didn't love them. So take my words with a grain of salt if you want, I'm super happy with them and in the end that's all that matters.....Peace.

 

What's the matter Blue, you having a **** poor day? A few years ago I could buy BFG's for that kinda $$ for my Wife's Corvette! What they have available now are BFG G-FORCE and they cost way more than a buck thirty..still reasonable! Tire Rack no longer carries tires that will fit her Corvette 255/50X16! If you members want to run inexpensive tires, that's your bag...enjoy!
Gary

 

Gary, Gary, Gary.....No I've been having a fabulous life lately but I fear old age might be catching up with you. I have posted numerous times about the Comp 2 A/S and my love for them, in one thread you even agreed with me and mentioned you ran them on your wife's Vette. My guess is you were talking about the Comp 2 Sport. I also mentioned for the GTO I run 17" sizes which of course will be cheaper than 18 or 19's. Look, $130 each...and did I mention they have a UTQG of 400.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes

If you go back 2 years and read all the Tire Rack comparison tests that talk about the best A/S UHP tires you'll find that the BFG's came in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th in all of them and that's comparing them to several tires that cost more twice as much as they do. And the scores they lost by were 2-4 points out of a possible 100, literally a miniscule difference. Yes they beat the PSS A/S once, as well as several more well respected and way more expensive tires. So IMHO your opinion that tires have to be expensive to be good is so wrong it's funny to me. But keep spending more than twice as much as some of us and enjoy those tires, I'll spend my savings on more cool things I like and still have a superior tire experience every time I drive my cars. Peace......

 

Buwahahahaha

 

I checked them for sport suspension 19s and they're running $170-$173 each.