#1) Kumho ECSTA ASX 225 45 17
#2) NJ
#3) spirited daily driving
#4) Percent of highway vs. city driving: 40/60
#5) Tires used previously: continental contiextreme contact 215 45 17
dunlop sp5000 sport 215 45 17
bridgestone re92 (OEM)
#6) Your review and personal comments
Well the RE92s sucked in pretty much every manner possible. CRappy wet traction, virtually NO lateral wet traction, poor snow performance, poor dry pavement performance, noisy, mushy, just plain sucked. Pretty much after being round and sort of light, it all fell apart. They had to go after 12000.
Dunlop SP5000 sport. NIce tire, I had used them (multiple sets) on my previous car in a different size. Nice wet performance, so-so snow performance (wouldn't use them someplace snowier or without awd), quiet. THe stock tires did this some, but these were worse. They stopped nicely, and you could stop on dry pavement without setting off the ABS (this also got rid of my "rotor warp" that kept on cropping up). On the downside, they are heavy, and over rough road with the LGT, they would tend to skip a bit much. On top of that, they changed the way they constructed the sidewall, which resulted in a heavier tire with less sidewall ridgitiy. Cheaper to make, but they didn't pass it on to me. In fact the price went up. On top of that, they flat spot a fair bit when left overnight. HOwever, they doo sort that out ina couple of miles of travel at highway speeds. After something metal off someone's pickup trashed two of them I tried....
the contiextreme contacts in 215. I also got rota rev wheels to try to keep the unsprung weight down and reduce the floatiness over rough surfaces at speed. With the wheels and tires, I shaved about 5.5lbs off each corner. With the low weight, acceleration felt better as well, and the stering a bit lighter. THe former good, the latter not so much IMO. THe contis were awesome in the wet and snow. On dry roads, they were ok. HOwever, the most annoying thing was they were noisy. Road noise was on par with the RE92s (i.e. annoyingly loud), and they would squeel if you looked at a corner funny or thought about stopping short. GOt me lots of nasty looks, sometimes form cops, for not doing anything remotely questionable. The sidewalls wer soft, and they were mushy in the corners.
You could set off the ABS on dry pavement with them, but not as bad as the RE92s. They also flat spotted pretty bad when left sitting for more than about 8 hours. FRom overnight in winter, it could take as much as 5 miles to get them mostly normal feeling. After 3 got eaten by potholes, I decided I was sick of them. Also, for 215s they were narrow. Narrower than stock. Despite the manufacturers claims, they did NOT take to an 8" rim well at all. If you get them, get them in 225 45 17.
Now for the ecsta ASX in 225 45 17. These are the tire the car should have come with. Seriously. DEAD quiet, like whole different feel to the car quiet. Good dry traction. On par with the dunlops. In the wet, it has better lateral grip than the sp5000 sport, but slightly worse hydroplaning resistance from my brief experience with one good downpour since I have gotten them. Not as good as the contis, but lightyears better than the OEM tires. Sidewalls are stiffer than I expected for what it is and what it cost. Weight is pretty close to stock, and with lighter than stock wheels, the skipping over rough surfaces is reduced from stock, but still there in some situations. HEavily patched offramps are the biggest issue. They flat spot surprisingly little, and at least in the summer temps are sorting themselves out within about 2 minutes of driving as long as you get over 40. A little longer if you don't. They really give the car more of the luxury sport sedan feel subaru was going for. Also oddly enough, with the diameter change, the fuel milage estimates are MUCH closer to stock, and my speedo is almost dead on. FRom gps, 60.2mph at an indicated 60mph on the speedo. Better than OEM, WAY better than the contis. With these tires, the car feels much more planted at highway speeds. If they are ok in the snow, and the tread holds up for 30k miles, they will be what is on this car as long as I own it.