I got 225/50-16 AVON Tech M500's mounted and ballanced for $450 from AutoInnovations.

 

my old tires were the Kuhmo Ecstas, they were 'OK' but nothing I would write home about....my current tires are Hankook Ventus K104s. They are comparable to ES100s as far as tread wear, and rubber compound goes, but they have a reinforced sidewall, so the cornering abilities are reduced slightly due to a stiffer sidewall, but they are more resistant to potholes and crappy road conditions, Plus they handle quite well in heavy rain, I have even driven them up to Reno this past winter a few times, and they handled that ok too. I'd say they are a good all around performance/all weather tire, and they were fairly cheap when compared to other performance tires. They also let you know when they are reaching their handling limits....they get pretty loud (squealing) in hard corners, but tend to hold the road.

-Ted

 

Ted:

How much? And where?

 

Toyo Proxes 4- $78 each from edgeracing.com

 

get some bf goodrich kdw2! excellent in rain And excellent in dry as well. they are very cheap for what you get out of them. if you join the group buy in fremont you can have 25% off retail price. (on selected bridestone tires, such as so3, theres additional $100 rebate)

Justin

 

tires in 16" are made differently than those for 17", even the same type.

for instance, Bridgestone Potenza S-03's have a much softer sidewall in 16" applications than their 17" siblings.

bottom line is, for the most appreciable improvement, go to 17's.

S-03's in 16" are still decent though, you should be happy with them.

 

I'm sure if he's been driving with RE92s for 40k miles then,O he's not looking for a track tire but more of a daily driver tire.

DON'T LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO USE ES100s. THEY SUCK MAJOR ***** EVEN FR DAILY DRIVING. They have no mileage on it, and that's the reason why yokohama took the mileage warranty off of that tire. Plus, they have a HUGE tendency to cup and create bad treadwear. My friend went through a set of these in less than a month on just daily street driving.

If you're looking for a tire w/ a limited budget look for a tire w/ a mileage warranty on it. For example the Falken ZE-512 ZIEX is a decent daily driving tire (V rated of course) and has a 30k mile warranty on it.

Though, I'd personally go w/ the Bridgestone Potenza RE950 as I've heard nothing but great reviews about it, it has a 40k mile warranty on it and TireRack has a 100$ off all 4 right now.

 

I use the Falken 451's...http://www.falkentire.com/tires_451.htm they are awesome in the rain and dry. They Have a great tread wear rating...they are pretty damn quiet when taking hard turns. They make the size you need for your stock rims too. I would chack them out at least, if I were you. THEY ARE PRETTY CHEAP TOO!!!!

I used to run Pirelli's, and Yokahama's...I would say you can do what those tires can do on the streets with these Falken 451's.

http://www.carreview.com/Tires/Falke...1_1577crx.aspx

on some (2) of the reviews...the guys complain about getting no traction going up hill....which is completely not true, unless you dont know how to drive...plus we with AWD dont have that kind of issue. Overall most reviews and great.


-freddie

 

Razorlab is selling 17" rota actions with conti sport tires that have 80% treadwear left for $500.

TIA

 

hmmmmm, I [/b]think[/b] they were around 115-120 ea. I got mine at Americas Tire Co. on Brokaw in san jose. I would imagine that TireRack would have them too.

 

DON'T LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO SAY ES100s SUCK

More important than simply not listening to a person that likes a particular thing is to take ALL this advice with a grain of salt and use your own judgement.

If someone really went through a set of ES100's in a month on street driving, there's other issues at work there that even more expensive tires won't fix. In 3 sets of these, I have never experienced the 'bad treadwear' or cupping you speak of. My last set needs to be replaced, and all are evenly worn as they should be on a RWD car. They lasted about a year - bought them last April, and this car has been daily driven and seen about 250 hard miles on T-Hill. Not sure what "they have no mileage on it" means but I am sure that more expensive grippier tires would not have lasted longer. We will see how long my S0-3's last...

I have taken 2 sets on Laguna, Sears and Thunderhill - on my WRX (225/45-17) and my Celica (205/60-14). The only cars to hold me up in my 1980 Celica the last time at T-Hill were 2 STis and a Boxster. This was in a ~100hp POS on these tires "that suck" in NASA group 3. These tires are inexpensive and offer tremendous grip for their price. They are also EXCELLENT on the street, and waaay more than adequate for someone who actually doesn't mind RE-92's.

 

Are they made specifically softer, or do you think it's because 17's usually have shorter sidewalls when used on the same application as a 16? Like, is a 225/50-16 S-03 basically a totally different tire than a 225/45-17, or do you think it's just that the sidwall is a little shorter? I don't know either way, just curious if maybe that's it.

 

couldn't have said it better man...

 

After asking a couple times, and getting "they are teh sUck" I agree with you there.

 

I've told you before why they I think the ES100s suck. Yokohama pulled the mileage warranty because they were getting raped up the *** because these tires couldn't last for the 30k stated in the mileage warranty.

Also, these tires have so little traction that at auto-x these tires break traction before the sidewalls fold over. And this is a 50 series so there is no steel insert in these sidewalls so they should be soft and fold over easier. RE92s held up better than these because they break traction easier and more progressively than ES100s.

As for cuppage, 3 sets of tires isn't much of a sample of the tires considering I work at America's Tire Co.

As for price, and quality, since you think these tire are so sticky, he doesn't need sticky tires. Like I said earlier why not go with a Falken ZIEX ZE-512 that costs $20 less per tire than the ES100s, it has a 30k mile warranty, and IMHO a better quality tire.