Of all the areas on my car (or any car) where I would try to save money, tires are the worst place -- they are the only contact your car has with the ground; all the HP and suspension mods you can install are worthless without the contact patch to back it up. Never go cheap on tires.

 

Yes, but this isn't the difference between wal mart specials and real tires, all the tires being discussed are very good at what they're designed to do. This is more about spending the extra dough to get a little bit more performance, because you can get 8 or 9 tenths the performance of the F1 with the Falken tire and save a significant amount of money.

 

I see what you are saying. From my experience, tires are one of the few pieces of car hardware in which you truly get what you pay for. The Falkens are a great tire, but I never settle for 9/10ths unless that final 10th really breaks my bank :-)

Like that APS intercooler I'm saving up for... ugh that's gonna hurt!

 

as meilers said, when it comes to tires i don't feel comfortable cutting corners and i got the f1's bought for $100/tire so only a notch or two above falken in price AND quality

 

Price depends on size and such too, getting the Falkens really isn't cutting a corner though, getting Eagle LSs would be cutting a corner.

 

ive also heard that manufactured location plays a part in the tire price..for example the goodyears from germany ive heard were more expensive than the reduced gs-d3's from australia, thailand, china, etc

 

I am not quite sure what you guys are talkin about. Just because a tire is more expensive does not mean it is better in performance. Personally and i know from experience, the rt-615's grip alot better in the dry than the f1's. Hadn't ran a track day in the wet with the falkens yet though. The falkens feel alot more like an r compound tire and the goodyears feel alot like a street tire. They get hard and chunks start flying off after hard driving.
May be I drive a little harder than some of you guys do? I will tell you that the f1's will last longer though.

 

check out the Dunlop Sport Maxx at Tirerack. They rated the 1st in Max Performance Summer. I got mine installed last week, quiet, confortable, and they can turn.