Summer tire questions

Hey all, had a couple questions about summer tires I'd figure I'd ask on here before I went about purchasing some. My only main requirements are that it's a name brand tire that does well in dry and wet conditions, don't really care about snow performance as I have dedicated winter wheels and tires. As far as size goes, what would be the best size to fill my wheel wells (2011 2.5i stock suspension) without looking too big? I have some 17x7.5 wheels, and I was planning on going with some 225/50/R17 tires since those are very very close in size to the stock 16 inch tires that the car came with, but not sure how big the sidewall would look. And as far as actual tires, I was looking at the Kumho Ecsta PA31, the Toyo Proxes 4 plus, and the Nitto Motivo. All 3 tires I can get through my local Les Schwab(tires will be charged to an account, that's why I'm limited to them), but only the Toyos are in stock, the other two would have to be ordered in and as such would have fairly high freight added on (~$100). Are the Toyos a good tire, or should I spend the extra money on the Kumhos or Nittos? All suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

Date codes are important (to me) when some of the tires have been at a dealer for awhile and some are being ordered. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

 

Tire choices are endless good luck. I just buy Michelin.

Hey all, had a couple questions about summer tires I'd figure I'd ask on here before I went about purchasing some. My only main requirements are that it's a name brand tire that does well in dry and wet conditions, don't really care about snow performance as I have dedicated winter wheels and tires. As far as size goes, what would be the best size to fill my wheel wells (2011 2.5i stock suspension) without looking too big? I have some 17x7.5 wheels, and I was planning on going with some 225/50/R17 tires since those are very very close in size to the stock 16 inch tires that the car came with, but not sure how big the sidewall would look. And as far as actual tires, I was looking at the Kumho Ecsta PA31, the Toyo Proxes 4 plus, and the Nitto Motivo. All 3 tires I can get through my local Les Schwab(tires will be charged to an account, that's why I'm limited to them), but only the Toyos are in stock, the other two would have to be ordered in and as such would have fairly high freight added on (~$100). Are the Toyos a good tire, or should I spend the extra money on the Kumhos or Nittos? All suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

 

 

For what it's worth - I tried the Nitto Motivo's on my '02 Camaro SS (275/40/17). I **hate** them. Granted they are all-seasons, but they don't handle on the dry, in normal day to day driving, near as good as the all-seasons from BFGoodrich I used to have on it. And the Nitto's Refuse to stay balanced more than a few months.

 

I put Kumhos on my '05 Legacy and they were fine. Balanced well. Rode fine. Not really anything special to write home about.

All 3 are good brands in general.

 

You can check online for reviews for each particular model, and read as many reviews as you can for each. I find the overall picture I get from reading various reviews to be pretty accurate.

Date codes are important (to me) when some of the tires have been at a dealer for awhile and some are being ordered. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

 

Good point about tire dates. I actually got screwed over on a set of close out from tire rack for my summer vehicle. I bought a set of close out tires in the spring of 2005 and installed them in the summer 2005. Long story short I had a motor issue in 2006 that put out commission for almost 3 years. When I when to go back to the track in 2010 the tires were junk. I initially blame the tire brand, but someone pointed out the tire date code, which was summer 2002. The close out tires were 2 3/4 year old when I bough them and 3 years old when I installed them. I got about 5000 miles of that set but they were probably only good and sticky for the 1st 1000 miles that I put on 2005 into 2006.

 

The tires list above are all season performance tires and I don't have any experience with them. I would check the comparison reviews (if tire rack has any), but I would initially lean toward the Toyo's.

I have these on GT wheels (225/45/18)

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+V12+evo2&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=25YR7K120XL&tab=Sizes

Amazing tyre, wet and dry. That price is frakking cheap too.

If you want to go toward the less expensive side, I've run those Hankook's on my old 92 Legacy Turbo and they were great in both the wet and dry.

 

I run Bridgestone S04 Pole Positions on the GT.

Kumho Ecsta PA31, the Toyo Proxes 4 plus, and the Nitto Motivo

 

I've ran all 3 in capable cars, meaning they could handle far better than your stock 12' Legacy (not putting your car down, just comparing usage). The Ecsta I ran on my 02 WRX with STI springs and 25mm bars and the Motivos I ran on my Mazdaspeed6 (bilsteins, large rear bar) and I could break them loose in hard corners, but they are both all season tires too. The Proxes 4 I ran on an SVT Focus and could not break them loose. I watched an Acrura go in the ditch trying to keep up in a sharp corner, but they wear fast, I couldn't get more than 10k our of a set with aggressive rotations. Now I run 235/45/18 Yokohama YK740 GTX (Discount tire exclusive) on the 14' 3.6r year round and love them. Did good in snow, rain and places I could break the 225/45/18 Motivo's loose with the Mazda these stick and hold with the Legacy (yes the Legacy has a bit wider tires). They are wearing well and quiet. For an all season they are pretty good.

After finding out that every tire I was looking into save the Kumhos would be the same price within $100 after shipping and handling, I ended up going with some Continental Extreme Contact DWS06's. They weren't one of my orginal 3 options but they seemed to have far better reviews than the others.

I have the Extreme Contact Sport's. I haven't had a chance to test their limit in the wet with a good alignment, but I am very impressed so far. I can only imagine the dws's would be better.

 

I personally have a beef with kumho tires, as the last set I had (came on my previous car, Ecsta 4x) are technically all seasons, but driving on a damp road felt like ice. They also only lasted 5k miles.

I thought you were getting summer tyres, not all seasons?

I Just purchased (225/40ZR-18 RIKEN RAPTOR ZR RF) On sale at Tire Rack for $72 ea...Reviews are Great and so far they are really sticky...Haven't had any rain yet to know how they are in wet conditions...I'm hoping that because they are really soft that the wear on them isn't to quick!

I Just purchased (225/40ZR-18 RIKEN RAPTOR ZR RF) On sale at Tire Rack for $72 ea...Reviews are Great and so far they are really sticky...Haven't had any rain yet to know how they are in wet conditions...I'm hoping that because they are really soft that the wear on them isn't to quick!

 

Hope all you want, the UTQG rating for treadwear will tell you how quickly that sticky disappears.

I Just purchased (225/40ZR-18 RIKEN RAPTOR ZR RF) On sale at Tire Rack for $72 ea...Reviews are Great and so far they are really sticky...Haven't had any rain yet to know how they are in wet conditions...I'm hoping that because they are really soft that the wear on them isn't to quick!

Ive rolles on riken raptors on my 2.5i until last summer, on the dry they are extremely sticky but on the wet they are really bad, ive been really surprised by their lifespan, they were on my focus for 3 or 4 years and 2 years on my legacy, they still had a bit of thread but i had a blowout so i had to get rid of them and they were starting to get scary under moderate to heavy rain...

 

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

I thought you were getting summer tyres, not all seasons?

 

That was my initial goal, but with everything coming to the same price(Ventus V12 came out to maybe $50 less than the DWS06's), I figured it wouldn't hurt to get more of an all season tire. I just have a 2.5i so it won't be doing any top speed runs or flying through the mountains, and the weather where I live can change pretty quickly(50*+ on Saturday, snowed half the day on Sunday, now sunny and around 50* again today), so an all season is probably a safer bet.