I know this must be the millionth thread on tire choices... I've gone back through the last 8 pages of posts reading through, but I'd still appreciate some opinions.

I have an 03 6MT coupe and the front tires are shot. I need to replace them with something that has decent tread life and low noise, but without compromising performance too much. I enjoy driving the car, but I'm not a racer. The oem pilots are way to expensive for me. I'm looking to stay below $600 Canadian.

I was looking at my options in 225/45/18 and came up with these:

Dunlop Direzza DZ101
Falken AZENIS RT-615
Kumho ECSTA SPT
Nitto NT-555
Yokohama AVS ES100

What do you think? I'm leaning towards either the Direzza for tread life or the Azenis for performance/looks.

Also, any opinions on going for 235/40/18 instead? That's only about a 1.5cm difference in size, and adds the Sumitomo HTRZ II to the list, which I hear is a good tire, esp for the price. Would this make much of a difference in the handling (ie highway driving, following the grooves, etc?).

Thanks in advance>

 

I went fron the Pilot Sports to Toyo T1-R's and the ride is totally quiet now and smoother than the Pilot's...

I love they Toyo's for all of the above, and the tread pattern looks badass as well...

I had to put my stocks back on as I am gettin a rim repair done so the difference is fresh in my mind and it is huge...

I am staying with Toyo T1-R's from here on out!!

 

I went fron the Pilot Sports to Toyo T1-R's and the ride is totally quiet now and smoother than the Pilot's...

Are you saying your brand new tires are so much better than your old worn out tires? Isn't that always the case until your new tires get 8,000 miles and are no longer new?

Or are you comparing both brands with exactly the same number of miles and hours of use?

 

i love the Azenis RT615s. they are relatively cheap in comparison to Pilot Sport 2. but they dont last as long. i got my RT615s for about 460 for the set. i think i paid like 900 for the PS2s.

 

I would get one of the three:

1. Nitto 555
2. Toyo T1S
3. Falken GRB FK451/FK452

The treadwear on all these are around 280-300. Normally these tires are good for 30K to 40K. If you choose the Azenis RT615 (a DOT street/track tire) with a treadwear of 200 then plan on getting another set after 12K to 15K miles. If you want a quiet tire then get the Azenis ST-115 - designed to be a quiet tire.

 

I'm running Falken GRB FK/451

I've had these on my other cars also. They are a good street tire. I don't need a super duper high performance tire for my daily driven car. Those other tires cost twice as much and last half the time. I use dedicated track rims/tires for the track. These Falkens are great for the street. Cheap, last a long time, quite, and give good performance for street driving.