A while back I got rid of my OEM Goodyear Eagles and landed on a pair of Yokahama ENVigor summers and Pirelli Carving winters.

Each winter when I put on the Winters, I notice right away that the drive is WAY better than my summers. Its a much firmer ride , i don't feel any shake or shimmy or bounce, and the tires really hug the road. It corners better, and its just a much more comfortable and confident drive. I assume some of this is due to the softer rubber of the winters.

My question is this. It occurs to me that as I don't like the ride of my summers, I shouldn't have to settle, and should be looking for a new set of summer tires.

Is there a particular type or brand of tire I should be looking for, given I prefer the firmer ride?

 

Any tire with a softer compound and thick sidewall will work. I'm running the Yokohama AD08's and I like them. These are good performing summer tires http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/extremeperf.jsp, but it depends on how how much your looking to spend and how long you want a tire to last.

 

I've got 45,000 km on my five year old G35 so thats 9000km per year or 4500km a season, which means even the "shorter tread life" tires should last quite a long time, likely longer than my car.

 

You could always try inflating your tires more. Some tires need more air than others, don't just put them at the same and expect them to act the same.

It might also be that you have worn bushings, and actually you feel more shake and shimmy because your summer tires have MORE traction.

Otherwise, if you want good sticky summer tires, go with some extreme performance or max performance tires. The ADVAN AD08's are nice tires, but they are pretty expensive.

For maximal dry traction and terrible tread life, try the Hankook R-S3's, kumho exta XS, or the toyo proxes r1r (but the hankooks are better and cheaper) in the extreme performance category.

for less traction and better tread life, you can look into the sumitomo htrziii and hankook ventus v12 in the max performance category.

 

If you want great summer performance tires with stiffer sidewalls, Michelin Pilot Super Sports or Bridgestone RE-11s.

 

+1

done!

 

Michelin Pilot Super sports are in the the max performance category, a step down from the EP tires. They are like 2x the price of the sumitomo htrziii for maybe some marginal improvement.

The hankook r-s3's are the grippiest EP tires, and basically the cheapest too. The re-11 are like 2.5x the price. And you sacrifice pure lateral traction for maybe some subjective feel and comfort points.

In the end, it's up to whoever is buying the tires, but man, michelins and bridgestones are expensive.

 

i am currently running the kumho LE sports and i cant complain. they are far more comfortable than the wide ovals i was running before. performance wise on par with most EP tire.

 

Kumho LE sport are max performance tires, so a step down on traction but longer tread life than most ep tires.

The kumho XS is their EP tire, and it used to be the darling of autocrossers/hpde, until the ventus r-s3's came out.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/top-tires/

 

Not knocking the Hankooks at all, I'm well aware of their performance, just giving some options as I've actually driven with the Bridgestones before. They're not cheap but I think they're excellent tires. Comparatively the PSS are not terrible in terms of the price. They perform well and should last a decent amount of time as long as your alignment is within spec.

The Michelin PSS has been one of our top sellers with our wheels so I figured that would also be a good suggestion.

 

I'm a big fan of Michelin sport bike tires, lots of grip, and ease of turning bike into curves.
Hated Bridgestones but I was a new comer to sport bikes so I never felt comfortable. As I gained experience and lived to tell, prefer M!

So I will be buying the rear Michelins, $400 installed per tire. Yikes.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to come off as being too critical. I am sure they are good tires and I'm sure many people are happy with them.

I've gone through 3 sets of tires in the last 3.5 years, so I guess I'm more price conscientious than most. Paying $700 per year for tires is a lot easier to stomach than $1200

 

I have Falken Ziex ZE912 (512), its a pretty good and cheap performance tire. I think they are actually all season. but they grip (and give) plenty good. the down side is that i've heard that they are not good in extreme cold. and they don't like chip (?) on hot track day. its still good for every day and spirited drive.

i heard that Hankook Ventus V12 is very good (max summer performance) tires on the budget. but i don't know if they come in our size.

 

The V12's aren't bad for the price but they have a soft sidewall and I'd say the grip was average. When I had those (255x35x19), had to run 40+psi just so they felt normal.

 

Thanks for all the the good suggestions here.

I see I need to do some research (re user expericenes and product reviews) , as one cant exactly try-before-you-buy with tires.

Again, all I am after, strange as it may sound, is to find a summer set that will mimic the enjoyment I experience every winter with my Pirelli's ( ie less shake and shimmy, firmer ride)

I gather from the terminlogy (which was helpful). I should be looking for characteristics such as sticky/grippy/softer compound with stiffer/harder/thicker sidewalls. In my case I think tread life will be a non-issue, and is noise. As always price 'is' a factor

I have a good list to start with (below) . This is all likely overkill for a low-mileage typically city driver, but I need to start somewhere, and I do want to enjoy the ride!

Michelin Pilot Super Sports (PSS)
Hankook Ventus R-S3
Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08
Bridgestone Potenza RE-11