Jump to content
LegacyGT.com

Compendium of Tire Reviews: Please sticky


LawGT

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 327
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

#1) Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 215/45/17 on stock wheels - Winter tires - price paid ... well, I got the buddy deal. $580 out the door with mounting, balancing, and road hazard protection.

 

34,900 miles at time of mounting.

41,800 miles when swapped out for summer tires (RE050A PP in 225/45/17 - see post #87 3/31/07)

53,200 miles when mounted on Rota Tarmac I rims for winter

 

#2) Minneapolis, MN

 

#3) Standard city driving, Commuting, Some aggressive leisure driving.

 

#4) Probably 50/50 highway/city driving

 

#5) Formerly running stock RE92s (and updated after running RE050A PP for a summer)

 

#6) This is an early review as I just got these 2 days ago and put about 100 miles on them. The weather has been in the 40's and 50's so the tires aren't in their element yet. The RE92s were getting really loud at 35,000 miles, so the improvement in road noise was immediately welcome. As for handling - braking, cornering, ride comfort, etc ... The biggest thing I notice is the softer sidewall than the RE92. Under harder cornering, the car seems to wobble a little bit with more understeer upon initiating a turn and a slight tendency toward oversteer when easing out of the turn. Braking seems to be similar to the worn RE92's. Maybe a little less grip, but hard to judge and it's still a close call. I'm looking forward to trying these tires in colder weather and wetter conditions where they should begin to shine. I'll update this review as those opportunities come.

 

Ok, I'm up to 1,200 miles on these shoes and my opinions have changed a bit. These tires are awesome so far. They're better than the RE92s for sure, and the issues I was running into at first with what I felt was a softer sidewall I think turned out to be more from the unusually warm (50's) weather I was experiencing. In cooler conditions (20's, 30's and 40's) these tires don't seem so mushy. Also, turn in seems to be just fine ... it took a couple days is all to made adjustments from the old rubber. If anything, turn in has been improved and it takes less input from the wheel to point the car where I want it. Funny how we adapt and don't realize just how much we change our driving style over time to accomodate for things like that.

 

Currently, my only complaint is that while the tires are very competent, they don't give much in the way of feedback, so while they seem to hold very well in the wet, they don't necessarily inspire confidence. On the other hand, it could be that I haven't pushed them yet, but I'll worry about that later.

 

Update: now at about 2500 miles. Drove in light snow yesterday and tried to get a feel for the limits of the tires in light snow yesterday. In the open parking lot ... I couldn't shake the car loose. I'm looking at about a half inch of wet snow and I just couldn't get them to break away. Plenty more miles in the dry too and they stick very well. Cornering is solid and I still haven't pushed them to the limit at all, but regardless, the limit is a bit higher than I'm comfortable finding. Very good in the rain. While cornering seems solid, I still have some small questions on braking performance. I made a "panick" stop the other day, and they didn't seem to bite that well, but it's only one example so far and can't say the tires have performed poorly in any other instance. It could have just as easily been that the ABS didn't react as well to that situation.

 

6,000 mile Update: Still love the Blizzak. My new complaint on these tires is that they stick so well on wet, snow, slush, etc. that when I actually encounter real Ice, it freaks me out that they aren't sticking anymore. These tires have been awesome through the winter and the couple real snows we received in Minneapolis. Tires are plenty quiet, ride nicely, handle very well (still don't feel comfortable finding their limit. It has eluded me for the last 5 months. I'm starting to think that with the warmer temperatures lately, it's time to start looking into my summer rubber. I still think I'm going to go with the RE050A PP (in 225/45/17 guise). Just need to figure out where I'm going to store the winter rubber. I hope dad is feeling generous with garage space. :)

 

7,000 mile update: Just installed these on 11/9/07 again for a new winter, now from a cold Minnesota winter to a new Colorado winter where these will see plenty of duty driving up to the mountains for skiing on the weekends. They sure do feel mushy compared to the RE050A PP's, but ride is compliant, noise is minimal, and handling is adequate for dry. I need to take them back to be rebalanced, but otherwise, I'm looking forward to a new season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First impression while mounting........thin sidewalls and no rim protector. The 225's are a must for rim coverage. They balanced nicely. I did not perform an alignment yet as to get a subjective opinion on their performance.

 

I will start with my only bitch right now, they flat spot when the car sits and cools.:icon_mad: Tire presure is set to 35 frt and rear.

 

1. Ride comfort is cushier on impacts, but the BS's were overall smoother. I think once tread wears down, they will be comparable.

 

2. Dry road grip is 100% better that the BS's......no squeal and I swear the car feels more neutral, less understeer is very noticible. You can enter corners much, much faster than before. Grip coming out of corners on full throttle GRIPS.

 

3. Straight line stability is top notch, gets better as speed increases.:icon_bigg No shimmy at all once warmed up. You can feel more "road feel" with these tires.

 

4. Noise; They seem quieter than the BS's but it is a different type of tire noise....more of a "white" noise if you will. You don't get that "hollow" sound I had before.

 

Rain and snow still have to be determined, but for $87.00 each including shipping, they are a great tire.

 

I rate them an "8". If it weren't for the rumble while they are warming up, it would be a "9".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#1) What tire are you offering for review (size, model, type (summer, A/s, winter, race, etc), price paid, miles driven on tires, etc): Avon Tech m550 A/S. Stock tire size. $103 per tire plus shipping at tirerack.com. 2,400 miles on them so far.

#2) What is your geographic location: Northern NJ

#3) What types of driving events if any (Track, AutoX, Commute ;), etc): Plain 'ol spirited driving

 

#4) Percent of highway vs. city driving: 70% highway, 30% city

 

#5) Tires used previously: Stock RE-92's

 

#6) Your review and personal comments (Dry, wet, and snow, if applicable. Also, please compare to other tires used): I found these tires to be a significant improvement over stock in terms of wet performance. They give the car a much more neutral feel, instead of the understeer sensation that I felt with the stock tires. I haven't tested them out in the snow yet, but I'm expecting great things.

 

Noise: These tires are significantly noisier than stock. I would assume this means that there is a stiffer sidewall, but I need this in NJ with our crap roads and whatnot.

The Dude - Two inches and counting...:lol:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of reviews and ratings I don't know if you have seen it yet but Consumer Reports just did a review of H and V rated all-season tires as well as "performance" winter tires. They tested them for 16,000 miles each and did what seems to me to be one heck of a job. It is in the most recent issue, November 2006. You may or may not agree with their ratings but it's a good read with a fair amount of information and some food for thought. Can't say they've ever really steered me wrong when it's come to buying stuff they've tested.

 

As long as you are aware that CR will not release the raw data - just their scores; and use other tests not shown in the ratings to come up with their ratings (according to them); and only tests ice stopping and acceleration on an ice rink at 10mph or less - yeah, they're wonderful.....

 

 

The results of those tests have already been posted in other threads, I think.

Who Dares Wins

スバル

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1.) Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S 225/45R17 $130 each wrapped on Rota G-Force's, 5000 miles

 

5.) Continental ExtremeContact 225/40R18's on MB Weapon's

How would you compare the Pirelli's with the Continental ExtremeContact's?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) What tire are you offering for review (size, model, type (summer, A/s, winter, race, etc), price paid, miles driven on tires, etc): Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S. Stock tire size. $148 ea mounted at Etd Discount Tire. 42,337 miles.

 

2) What is your geographic location: Northern NJ

 

3) What types of driving events if any (Track, AutoX, Commute ;), etc): Very spirited driving.

 

4) Percent of highway vs. city driving:75% highway,25% city

 

5) Tires used previously:Stock RE-92's & Toyo Proxes4

 

6) Your review and personal comments (Dry, wet, and snow, if applicable. Also, please compare to other tires used):I found these tires to be a significant improvement over stock in every aspect of performance, except with the exclusion of winter snow. They give the car a much more positive feel, like you are connected to the road with rails! They were quiet for the 1st 6/32 of wear, then they developed a humming noise around 40-50mph right up until I took them off. They also road stiff, a bit more than the RE92's did even. The snow performance of the Pzero's were really no better than the RE92's, so if you are thinking of using these as 3 season's with a touch of snow then they are perfect! The RE92's were ok in dry, pretty bad in wet, and surprisingly good in dry powdery snow. If it was wet/frozen slush they were terrible.

 

I did get some good mileage out of the Pzero's, and they performed the same from start to finish, except for the humming noise near the end.

 

I also briefly had Toyo Proxes4, they were much worse than the RE92's, in terms of road feel, noise, and their grip didn't impress me. They are awfully loud, constant drone on the hwy, and mushy soft turn in, no matter the air psi. I returned these within 2 wks to get the Pirelli's. I now have Conti Extremes in 225/45/17 and so far they seem to be the best of both worlds for me. I'll follow up with a review on them once I have a few more miles, and some winter snow driving on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#1) Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2, 215/45/17 on Rota SDR 17x7.5", Super deal @ $400/set, 21K miles then replaced

 

#2) Detroit MI area

 

#3) The tires had four track days, plus daily 3-season driving

 

#4) 60% highway, 40% city

 

#5) previous tires were the RE92s

 

#6) These tires were excellent, and worked very well on the track. They worked very well on the street in both the dry & wet. Highly recommended. I did not get another set as I feel that $160/tire is a bit pricey when there are comparable tires for less money out there.

Ron
Link to comment
Share on other sites

#1) Hankook Icebear W300 225/45/17 winter tires, bought used with 8-9/32s versus 11.5/32s new, 5,000 miles last winter on the stock rims.

 

#2) Detroit MI area

 

#3) Noraml commuting driving, obviously no track events.

 

#4) 60% highway, 40% city

 

#5) RE92s were the previous tire

 

#6) I was very pleased with them. They worked better in icy conditions than I expected, as well as very well in slush. We don't have a lot of heavy snow on the roads, but they seemed fine in the little bit of heavier snow I drove in (ground clearance was the bigger issue). These will be a definite consideration come replacement time.

Ron
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Placeholder for the newly bought 960 AS, 225/45/17 on stock rims... Only have 50 miles or so on them. Will post full review later...

 

Preliminary:

 

Bought at discount tire, LaGrange, IL (just off I55). Paid $604 total, tax and installation included. They price-matched the TR price and bought my RE92's for $100 total. Need to play some with the pressures. Was running 35/33 and it felt a little sloppy. Ride def. better than the re92's. The bumps in the road get absorbed better. I then bumped up the preassures to 37/35 (it was 37 degrees out) and the ride felt a bit too stiff for me. Hot pressures were 41/39 when I measured them after a 25 mi hwy drive home...I think its a bit too much. I'll try 36/34 today. The tires felt a bit "squirelly" on the hwy (as moving back and forth on the lane, like been buffeted by high winds). It could be that the tires are new and still have not settled. The RE92 did the same for me when they were new, but after couple of thousand miles it went away. Or it could be the hwy surface, not sure. THe 225/45's look good on the rim, only a *hint* of a bulge...not sure if this is good or not. I'll take pics.

 

Random note, when I was waiting for the installation, I read the new road& track. They had a nice small comparo of 4 tires (including the 960) on a miata in the 225/45/17 size on 17 x 7 rims. The 960 was very close in performace to the all tires tested except some kuhmo race gumballs. impressive.

 

EDIT: here is the link: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=7&article_id=4228

 

 

 

EDIT: (11/20/06)

 

#1) What tire are you offering for review (size, model, type (summer, A/s, winter, race, etc), price paid, miles driven on tires, etc): Bridgestone 960 AS 225/45/17 on stock rims; paid $604 out the door installation and tax included. Driven about 900 miles on them thus far. Filled at 36 F and 34 R PSI.

 

#2) What is your geographic location: Chicago, IL

 

#3) What types of driving events if any (Track, AutoX, Commute ;), etc): Commute and "regular" driving. No track or auto X.

 

#4) Percent of highway vs. city driving: 50/50

 

#5) Tires used previously: RE 92's, had about 9000 mi when changed for the 960's

 

#6) Your review and personal comments (Dry, wet, and snow, if applicable. Also, please compare to other tires used):

 

I took a roadtrip to Minneapolis MN over the weekend which allowed me to put about 850 mi on the tires. First gripe: THEY DO FLAT SPOT! I arrived in MN and left my car parked outside form Friday to Sunday w/o moving it. Day temps were in the low 40's with night temps in the mid 20's. On Sunday when I took off to drive home the car felt like it was riding on square tires for about 1-2 miles, then it was fine. I was not too happy. When my car sat in my covered garage back home it never flatspotted before, but I don't thinkn my garage's temp has gotten into the lower 20's yet. Let's see. Needles to say I'm very annoyed by this.

 

 

Comfort, Ride, Noise, etc

 

Moving on. The comfort of the 960's is better than the 92's. Hwy expansion joints and other road imprefections get absorbed by the tires better than the 92's, becoming almost imperceptible. One still feels it, but barely. Id' rate the comfort of the re92's as a 5-6 and the 960's as a 9. Not sure if the difference is the 225 size or the tire. I think it's a little of both. The comfort is increased while the tire still retains great "feel" for the road...can't really explain it, but the tires still feel very connected to the road w/o being harsh. I did not feel any tramlining (my definition is that feeling of the car moving back and forth w/in the lane as if buffeted by strong winds). There was a small vibration from 70-80mph, that went away above 90. I was annoyed by this. I'll take it back to the shop for another balancing, since I do not think the vibration is the tire itself but rather a poor balancing job. I'll report back if the vibration persist. Otherwise the tire was very stable feeling well into triple digit speeds (won't tell you exactly ;)). Also, there was a very slight pitch or whistling sound over certain grooves surfaces. Noticed it more over concrete hwys. Not exactly sure if it was the tires or windnoise. I think it was the tires since I did not hear that same noicse with the re92's.

 

Dry:

 

The tires GRIP like mad on the dry. I took on/off ramps at hwys at double the posted speed limits without even a hint of squeel or the uneasy feeling I got with the re92's when they were giving up grip. Simply awsome grip. Turn and accelerate and the car just hunkered down and went. Very very satisfied. I'd rate dry grip for the re92's as a 5.5-6 (out of 10, 10 being highest) and these are a 9. I do not say ten because Im sure a dedicated summer may have better grip, but I just have not experienced summers on my car before. So 9 it is.

 

Wet:

 

Got to experience some hwy and city driving on wet roads. The grip was literally 99% as good as the grip on dry. Stunning. I was taking sharp 90 degree turns on city streets (by entering the 80-90 degree turn in 2nd gear at about 3-3.5K RPM'S then smashing the gas before the turn and during the turn) TRYING to kick out my rear end like I could before in the 92's, with no luck. I tried but could not get the back end to kick out at sane speeds (surely if I tried to be crazy with the entry speeds I could have gotten it to kick out). I then found a large empty parking area by the United Center, still soaking wet by the still falling rain. I started to go around in circles (like the mags do to test lateral G's) and the grip was outstanding. Seriously as if it was dry. Only when I really tried to smash the gas could I get the tail to begin to slide a little bit or feel like it was about to slide, but it was very progressive, and for me, the grip limits were very high. I also did a couple of "panic" stop testing on the wet parking lot from about 40 mph. The abs did not engage, or if it did, I could not feel it. VERY secure feeling when braking. On the hwy there was no hydroplaining to speak of. I'd rate the re92 wet grip as a 2-3 and the 960's as a 10 (scores relative to the re92's, and not btw dry and wet. B/w dry and wet both will then be a 9). Yes, that much of an improvement.

 

Snow:

 

Nothing yet, will update when it snows here in Chitown.

 

Overall I'm very pleased. Not happy about the flatspotting. Will wait to see if it happens to me when my car is parked in the garage and the temps begin to drop. Also, I'm hoping that the vibration I felt at 70-80 was a poor balancing job and not the tires themselves. I'll report back on these two items.

 

To be continued......

 

EDIT: 11/27/06:

 

Vibration is gone after balancing. No flatspotting while in my garage....if there is, I don't feel it whiel lugging around in the city.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LawGT...update?

 

Not yet. I haven't driven it much since the weekend. Drove today to work (Downtown Chicago) a whooping 2.5-3 miles:icon_bigg. No flatspotting. I'll try to take pics tonight and take a joy ride up and down I94:icon_mrgr . I do know that these tires ride MUCH better (in the comfort department) than the re92's. Ripples in the pavement that used to make my dash squeak, now are barely noticeable.

 

I'll be taking a roadtrip to Minneapolis this weekend, and will post a much more detailed review then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

See pics of tires here...I'm an idiot...at first I cound't figure out how to post pics...then I couldn't figure out (and still can't, so if you can teach me I'd appreciate it) how to resize them to the site's minimum, and finally settled on photobucket. Why is is that I can't paste a pic to this site?

 

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/lawgt/IMG_2898.jpghttp://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/lawgt/IMG_2901.jpghttp://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/lawgt/IMG_2900.jpg

http://

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/lawgt/IMG_2899.jpghttp://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/lawgt/IMG_2897.jpghttp://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/lawgt/IMG_2896.jpg

http://

http://

http://

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update on Kumo ASX's.

 

I have nearly 1000 miles on them. It has been raining for a week here and they perform flawlessly in the rain.

 

So far, very happy with the purchase. In short, if your not doing SCCA on weekends, this tire is a great choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update on Kumo ASX's.

 

I have nearly 1000 miles on them. It has been raining for a week here and they perform flawlessly in the rain.

 

So far, very happy with the purchase. In short, if your not doing SCCA on weekends, this tire is a great choice.

 

any flat spotting?

 

crap...just read your post. WTF! Why are all these tires flat spotting....960A\S, PNero M+S, and now the ASX..geezzz.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...Got to experience some hwy and city driving on wet roads. The grip was literally 99% as good as the grip on dry. Stunning. I was taking sharp 90 degree turns on city streets (by entering the 80-90 degree turn in 2nd gear at about 3-3.5K RPM'S then smashing the gas before the turn and during the turn) TRYING to kick out my rear end like I could before in the 92's, with no luck. I tried but could not get the back end to kick out at sane speeds (surely if I tried to be crazy with the entry speeds I could have gotten it to kick out). I then found a large empty parking area by the United Center, still soaking wet by the still falling rain. I started to go around in circles (like the mags do to test lateral G's) and the grip was outstanding. Seriously as if it was dry. Only when I really tried to smash the gas could I get the tail to begin to slide a little bit or feel like it was about to slide, but it was very progressive, and for me, the grip limits were very high. I also did a couple of "panic" stop testing on the wet parking lot from about 40 mph. The abs did not engage, or if it did, I could not feel it. VERY secure feeling when braking. On the hwy there was no hydroplaining to speak of. I'd rate the re92 wet grip as a 2-3 and the 960's as a 10 (scores relative to the re92's, and not btw dry and wet. B/w dry and wet both will then be a 9). Yes, that much of an improvement.

 

LawGT, glad to see you're as happy with the 960's as I am, the wet performance is outstanding. Similar to your experience, I'm finding the wet performance on par with the dry, it's difficult now to push the wagon to it's limits in the wet. I love the fact that when you do start to lose traction, it's completely predictable and easy to control, unlike the RE92s. I'm having no issues with flat spotting, probably because it hardly ever drops below freezing here. I'm running 38/36 right now, when I got home from the tire shop, they had each tire at 42. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lets keep this on track. Sticky :)

 

I'm going to reiterate this sentiment ... there's too much discussion going on in this thread. This thread won't be as useful if there are a bunch of "static" posts.

 

Please try to update old posts instead of making new posts for updates. Just hoping to make this as useful as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#1) Semperit Sport Grip, 225/45/17 (Winter tire for compact cars)

 

Now discountinued as Continental bought them out. You can still find 15" and 16" tires available at tiresavings.com I believe.

 

#2) Rhode Island, USA

 

#3) Daily commuting

 

#4) Highway 70 / City 30

 

#5) Stock RE92

 

#6) These tires stuck in the dry similar to the RE92. Decent in the dry, but not comparable to a summer tire.

 

They worked exceptionally well in the rain. I drove about 250 miles in pouring rain, puddles, light rain, and 1.5 inches of water. They did not slip at all! I am very impressed so far. I will update my post once I get to test it in the snow.

 

One complaint is that they squeel during some turns in the dry. But I guess this is what I should expect from soft winter rubber.

 

BTW: Running 40 PSI all around. They felt a little too mushy at 35psi.

enough zip ties and duct tape will fix anything.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Toyo Proxes 4 - 215-45-17

 

#1) What tire are you offering for review (size, model, type (summer, A/s, winter, race, etc), price paid, miles driven on tires, etc):

215-45-17

A/S

Toyo Proxes 4

never raced

13,000-14,000 miles on them now

Paid $118 per tire (mounting/balancing included)

 

#2) What is your geographic location:

Staten Island, NY

 

#3) What types of driving events if any (Track, AutoX, Commute , etc):

local roads and highways. Most of the mileage is highway mileage - never ever raced.

 

#4) Percent of highway vs. city driving:

mostly short distance city driving, but once to twice a month used for a few hundred muiles during weekend trips.

 

 

#5) Tires used previously:

Bridgestone Potenza RE92s - less than 3000 miles on them.

 

 

#6) Your review and personal comments (Dry, wet, and snow, if applicable. Also, please compare to other tires used):

Dry - good sticky tires with very sharp handling

Wet - never hydroplane and stick as if the road is dry - excellent tire for wet roads

Snow - ehhhh.... definitely scary white knuckle experiences with these tires

 

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Pirelli Sottozero, 215VR45-18. Purchased from Tire Rack and mounted on spec.B wheels.

 

I'm in Northern Virginia, suburban Washington, DC.

 

The spec.B is my commuter car.

 

Most mileage is done in suburban driving.

 

Summer tires: Bridgestone RE-050A that came on the car.

 

On cold dry roads, the Sottozero has high roadholding and handling. I haven't driven yet on cold, wet roads. After the first snowfall, I'll post a report. Last winter I used Nokian AWR 215VR50-17 tires for my 2006 spec.B. For the previous two winters I used Nokian WR tires on my 2004 Audi allroad 4.2. The Nokians are good, but the Sottozero easily outperforms them on dry roads. The Nokians were good in the snow. I used Bridgestone Blizzak MZ-02—perhaps they were MZ-01—ice and snow tires for three winters on my 2001 Audi A6 4.2. Those Blizzaks were superb on ice and just as awful on dry roads. I wouldn't buy them again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use