Need some help picking out new tires. I don't have very much experience buying tires, my previous cars were easy and didn't require much thought but its a little different with the G. I've been doing some research but I cant really get what I'm looking for, maybe some of you guys can give me your input on tires and your experience with different tires on the G.

My top 3 requirements

1. Price < 250 each would be great
2. Tread life
3. Performance

Tread life is more important than performance but I don't want to hurt my performance to receive the benefit of better tread life. I want a good performing tire (not great) that wont wear out to fast, something roughly halfway between leaning more towards a longer life would be good.

Let me know your experience and give me some price friendly options, my rear tires are getting balder by the day...

 

You need to specify and rank which of the dozens performance parameters you are concerned with maintaining.

Dry vs wet, cold vs warm, warm vs hot.

Normally from a safety stand point the most important parameter is wet panic stopping distance from 50-60 mph. This is the exact opposite of long wear and can add 20-30 feet in wet cool [under 80F] conditions.

Tire Rack has some excellant comparison tests especially wet braking.

 

Again I'm new to performance tires so I wasn't considering all the performance parameters. I'll do some research on tire rack... Whats the norm? I don't need it better in any specific condition, I just need a good all round tire.

In the mean time, everyone chime in and give me your experience with different wheels on the G. I feel like the best way I will pick a tire is hearing other peoples experience.

 

I wanted some kumo tires but they stopped making them in the kind that I wanted. I went with some Firestone somethings or another. They actually have a tread warranty which the bridgestone potnezas (crap) didnt have. i still have my stock rims on it since it is getting cold and wanted tires that had performance as well as good tread life. I will look on my car later and see what I got. I have the sport sedan so the front tire is a weird size.

 

opinions on kumho ecsta spt. I found them on tire rack, the price really caught my attention. Something like 170 each, whats the quality like? why so much cheaper than most other tires in the category?

 

Anyone have experience with Kumho ecsta spt? I need to know what the tread life is like. I hear good things about performance and the price is right I just dont want to buy a tire that is to soft and will wear out fast.

 

SPTs are pretty hard wearing tires. I've had a set of SPTs and ASXs. The SPTs were on my old GTI and it had a fairly aggressive street alignment. I got 35,000 out of them before I caught a nail in the sidewall.

They do get a little noisy after 20,000 miles, but nothing really bad. Just so you know, Kumhos are a little more sensitive to tire pressure than most tires so I'd check them at least once every 2 weeks.

 

For that price (if you're talking 19's) it's an easy decision. Toyo T1R or Falken FK452.