Hey guys, I'm in need of new tires. Last night while driving I felt really unsafe driving in the rain and had a litttle push when taking a long sweeper. What would you recommend that meets the following characteristics..

1. Quiet, or at least not too loud over stock RE92's.

2. Excellent dry and good wet weather performance

3. Fits the stock WRX wheel. Hey can I go larger then 205/55/16? Like 215, or even 225?

4. Price! I dont want to go over $110 per tire not including shipping if I do go with something from tirerack. Although I may splurge a little if needs be.

5. Great thread wear rating.

So far I've been looking at Falken Azenis, Kumho MX's, Sumitomo HTRZ II, and the Yokohama AVS ES100.

I've heard though that the Azenis is a tad on the noisy side and the the thread wear rating is rather low. But the grip is amazing from everything I gather. Perhaps Raudi can comment on the MX's? Anyone else have a suggesting?

 

With the Azenis at stock pressure (32 and 29) they are not much louder than the stock ones. They start to get noisy at 36 or so.

 

Love my Azenis! Then agian you all know that I don't hang corners...
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from what i hear the mx's are almost as good as the kd's =)
dude for the money try tire rack kumho 712's good price gotta be better than re92's(thats not saying much) =) i just got my 17's for 416 shipped here if i remember the 16's are even cheaper =)

 

From what I've read about the 712's WARNING: HEARSAY they are a great tire. Reviews I've read, and posts I've read say their GREAT in almost everything except the wet. In the wet their only GOOD. END OF HEARSAY

Last I saw they were $68 apiece, and TireRack runs roughly $100 out here. FAST SHIPPING, too. My last set of tires and rims got here in 3 days from the time they left the factory. 5 days from initial order.

 

I thought of the 712's, but I didn't want to sell myself short. If I'm going to stick with the stock 16's, I might as well get something a little better then the basic tire upgrade of the 712's. That is where the HTRZ II's come in. They are in the same price range but the Sumitomo is better in the end.

But no one answered me if I get something larger though then 205/50/16? 215 would be nice I just would like that extra meat to hold on to the road better

 

I just found out that you can do 225/50/16 that is the absolute max for a 6.5" wheel

 

look at Pat's tires, ... he has 225's on his, ... I think! Kinda "fat" looking, but in a nice sort of way, ...... maybe ...

 

I've heard nothing but good things about the dry handling traits of the azenis, though some have complained about noise or wet traction. Personally I feel that the kumho 712 is overrated, but is a very reasonably priced tire with good performance. Yokohama es 100's are supposed to be real good, as are the dunlop 901's.

I'm not sure about mounting 225's on a 6.5 wheel, the tires would probably bulge out alot, and cause uneven wear as well as crappy handling...

Just a minor coment, but Why is tire noise such a big issue? I mean most of us have loud to Extremely loud exhaust, intake, blow off valves, etc. which make constant noise, why is a little tire noise so objectionable?

I guess sounding like a 4x4 on the highway isn't as cool as a droning exhaust...

 

Well I dont have a BOV, I dont believe in them with my current setup and future plans. I do have one hi-flow cat in my exhaust system so no loud exhaust system for me and I still run the stock air box. I dislike road noise very much. I've already added some 30lbs or so of dynamat and plan to add a little more very soon prior to my stereo install if that ever falls through...

I dont see why I can't have a quiet tire that is also a great dry and wet weather performer. Perhaps it's too much to ask for.

But thanks for the tips Shin

 

Hmmm, I think a BFG KDW would be a good choice then, good dry and wet handling, Onlything though, since the contour SVT was discontinued, the 215/50 16's have jumped in price... They used to be only about a hundred bucks. If not, a smaller size would probably do just as well. Also the ES 100's are supposed to be pretty good all weather handlers, as are the Bridgestone re730's though they get noisy when they're worn down.

Happy hunting