I was reading the article in C&D on tires. http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...mparison_tests They rated the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 as the best. I have a few questions..
1. Does anyone have these on their car?
2. How are they in wet conditions?
3. What size did you get as they do not have an OEM size for my 06 6MT Sedan.

 

copy/paste your post here for better results:

https://g35driver.com/forums/wheels-tires-25/

 

If you read the review it says it does well in the wet. I would take their opinion, comparing it to similar tires all at once, vs someone who last owned on of the other tires a year ago. They compare back to back vs someone who thinks they remember how a tire performed.

 

Whatever you choose, I'd recommend not going with directional tires on these cars if you have a lowered suspension. Once lowered in the front over an inch, many G sedans will experience inner edge tire feathering. This is a problem with factory ride height Zs (especially 03/04 models and some 05/06 models plus some G coupes). The feathering can result in accelerated tire wear, roaring, and increase NVH. Fixes include:

1) Setting the front toe to max toe in
2) Cross-rotating the front tires every 2K miles to so to knock down the feathering. You can't cross-rotate directional unless you choose to run the tire backwards to pull the tire off the wheel and swap that way.

 

Dave. From my conversation with Redlude97 on this issue, directionals are just fine. It's symmetrical tread that's perferable. Symmetrical tread will allow you to swap left / right while allowing the tires to rotate the right way. So the inside is now on the outside. For those of us running staggered, this is very important to us as we can't flip front to back.

These tires do indeed look to have a symmertrical tread pattern.

 

So you are saying take it off the rim and put it on the rim on the opposite side? My tire shop charges $20 for this, I guess it extends the life of a tire (doubles it) and you would have to do the same with the non directional to get the wear on the outside vs. the inside.

 

That's the problem with directional (ie symetrical) tires. You have to yank them off the rim to cross-rotate (side to side rotation) which can get very expensive, time consuming, and risky to the rim every 2K miles or so. With an asymetrical tire, it doesn't matter which way they're running so cross-rotating is a non-issue. I gave up on directional tires because of the feathering issue I've had with them.

 

Dave, I have a local guy that demounts and mounts for $50. On an expensive hunter no touch machine. Like I mentioned I can't swap front/back when running staggered.

But if you want to flip and run the tires in the other direction, you still have to make sure the tires are symmetrical. If they are asymmetrical and non-directional, yes, you can run the tires in either direction. BUT you still have to maintan the tire's inner/outer rules. If you have a tire that has camber wear in the inside portion, you always will have the the worn out portion on the inside. If you don't have a staggered config, hopefully swapping the front/rears will help make the tires live longer. Or if you have uneven camber wear on each side, flipping them to the other side hopefully helps.

But being able to run a symmetrical tire that allows me to run the worn inner on the outside, is a big advantage. Bigger than having a non-directional tire.

Of course having a symmetrical non-directional would be ideal. But increasingly rare with any type of performance tire. Most will be directional, symmetrical, asymmetrical, non-directional or any combo of 2.

 

Yup, swap them out from one side to another making sure the tread is still rotating in the right direction (for directional symmetrical tread). It helps make the tires wear evenly when combating camber wear.

 

OP, I just looked at the treadwear rating and the Dunlop's are kind of low, 200. The Hankook's, which are rated second, have a 280 treadwear rating. If you drive 100+ miles a day, like me, that might be important to you.

 

1. I had them on my '05 STi. They have incredible grip for a street tyre.

2. Never had a problem in the wet. My STi was putting out 300whp and was stable in wet conditions, even going full throttle in the lower gears didn't cause any dramas.

3. n/a

The down side is that they're noisy as hell, sounds like you're driving a waterfall. Forget about listening to the radio or having a conversation with passengers at cruising speeds. Bear in mind that the STi has almost zero sound deadening though but these tyres are miles lounder than the stock ones.

 

Moved...

 

i like my hankook v12 evos, but if you want a racier tire than I'd get the Dunlops or even the Hankook RS3 which might be more comparable to the star spec.

 

I didnt know the Yokahama S. Drives were so light. Almost 15 lbs a set is alot.

I am really curious about the new Hancock Ventus RS-3. Suposedly made of their race compound.

 

The new Nitto NT-05 look really promising as well. The new rubber is simply a blend of the classic NT555 rubber with their race rubber. They claim it is the ultimate street tire. Plus it has a treadwear of 200 and traction rating of AA