Introduction
So you might be thinking to yourself "What the heck is this page going to offer?" Maybe this guy's vast knowledge of different performance tires from his racing and driving experience?? Well to be honest I have only had four sets of tires and two were old and dry rotted. The first were Dunlop SP 4000s that came on my car. They were ok. Next I got a set of original equipment tires still on the rims from a 1994 Rx-7. These tires were very old but still out performed the Dunlops. I know this because when the rears wore out I put the old Dunlops back on. At my next AutoX I was fishtailing badly indicating that I lacked traction in the rear. My car is normally neutral. So anyway when it came time to buy my first set of new tires I found the choices overwhelming, which is why I have decided to make this page. I have done the research and found various sources and methods for comparing tires and this is the information I am going to pass on to you along with a few general comments. At the end I'll reluctantly offer my choices in the performance category. Also, if you don't yet know the basics like what offset is or what the different speed rating mean go here first. Aftermarket Wheels & Tires FAQ
General Thoughts on High Performance Tires
When I started my search I was convinced I wanted a high performance all weather tire. I drive my car every day and have gotten caught out in the snow. My choice was going to be the P-7000 Super Sports. They seemed to be on the same lines as the Michelin Pilot XGT Z4s but at a lower price. However I kept hearing stories of their poor snow abilities and considering that dry traction is compromised for snow traction I figured there was no point. This goes for all the tires in this category that are suppose to be very high performers. Naturally the more dry traction you give up the more snow traction you will gain. It is up to you to do the research. My research led me to believe that a good summer tire could be found with both dry and wet capabilities. Gaining some snow capabilities wasn't worth the price and reduced dry traction. At any rate choosing a performance category should be your first step. Next is the age old price vs. quality problem. This is where I am going to try to provide a little help.
Choosing a Tire
There are many sources of information to
help choose a tire. For example I did a simple search and found this link:
High Performance Tire Poll.
There is also word of mouth, survey sites like
Epinions.com/CarReview.com,
forums like the
RX-7
Forum, magazine articles and even e-mail lists. Don't ever take just one
opinion to heart though. Each opinion should be repeated several times before
you believe it. Even what I said above about high performance all weather tires
should be ignored until you find more similar information! With this said there
is one source of information that surpasses all of the others. It is the
The Tire Rack...Your Online Performance Source.
It has surveys, knowledgeable staff, in-house comparison testing and
really good prices but we will be getting to prices next. I should mention that
many owners that fill out those surveys replaced old tires with new ones and
then fill out the survey. A new tire will almost always out perform an old one
and the surveys and comments reflect this. The testing is much more helpful but
doesn't always compare the tires you want compared. At times I had to use two
tests that had one similar tire that could be used as a bench mark for the two
tires I wanted compared. I.e. Tire A did better in the dry than tire X and so
did Tire B in the second test but not by as much. Generally speaking there are
several aspects of a high performance tire that you might be concerned with.
First is traction. Naturally this is important. It impacts braking distance,
forward anti-wheel-spinning traction and lateral road holding ability. All very
important. Something that is often over looked that also effects handling is
sidewall strength. Naturally this goes up with a lower profile tire because
there is less rubber to flex. But different tires of the same profile (or aspect
ratio) will also have different side wall strengths. This goes up on tires with higher speed ratings. A trade off in this area is that
a stiffer side wall will usually make for a harsher ride but I don't really care
about this. Many do though and they care about road noise too so both of these
things might be considered. Next is tread wear. Each tire is rated with a "UTQG"
tread wear rating but these numbers mean next to nothing when comparing
different brands. Look for comments in this area and only use this rating system
as a very loose comparison method. Another aspect of tire life is how many times
it can be cycled. This means how many times it can be heated up (tires get warm
when you drive on them from friction) and cooled back down. Over time tires lose
certain compounds that are added to make the tire sticky. If these things
disappear too fast you might end up with a tire with lots of tread but no
traction. Normally this isn't a problem except with racing tires but now you
know what it is if you read a comment on it. Lastly is adverse weather
capabilities like hydroplaning resistance and snow traction. The degree of
importance of this category is up to you so just try to think of what you might
drive in and how often.
Price
Naturally we all want to pay less but we know what normally happens when we do. We get a inferior product. In the world of tires this can literally mean life and death. This is because a tire is part of your car's active safety system. The active safety system are the aspects of your car that help you avoid a crash like good brakes and crisp steering. The passive systems are seatbelts and airbags. I prefer active, which is one of the reasons I drive an Rx-7. I have avoided several collisions because of this car's great handling. I remember once a lady in a mini-van pulled out of her driveway without looking to her left, which is where I was coming from at about 40 mph. I was so close I could see her eyes not looking at me. If I had been driving my old Blazer she would have been dead. I had to slam on the brakes and drive between her rear and her mailbox in to her driveway. I guess she was depending on passive safety systems because she was so passive she didn't stop, go faster, or react in any way to my horn or close proximity to her van. So anyway this is just something to think about when you are tempted buy that $50 tire. With this said there are ways to save money like using coupons and looking for sales. You're on your own there. I am going to give you a bit of help with price shopping or finding the best price. This isn't as easy as it sounds because it's not just a flat price you are comparing. There is also shipping (tires are heavy ya know), tax if you buy locally, mounting/balancing/tire disposal and even the value of convenience of one over the other. When comparing two different tires all you need to worry about is the INITIAL price (minus the value of any promotions) compared to quality. This was covered above. Once you do this the Interactive Price Shopper below has all the necessary fields for comparing two sets of the same tires bought from different places. Anyway I hope you find the Price Shopper useful.
My Conclusions
After I decided against the P-7000 SSs I started looking at high performance tires under $125. At first this led me to the Bridgestone RE730s in the 245/45 size but I started to hear reports of extreme road noise and weak sidewall strength. (There is now a new version that was redesigned to reduce road noise.) Then I saw an ad promoting that when you buy 4 BFGoodrich tires you get a g-tech pro for free, a $140 value (ends 8-31-01). The BFGoodrich g-force T/A KDW (Dry Wet) looked like it might be a good choice over the RE730s. The price was the same for the 245s and the surveys on the TireRack looked about equal but I would get a free g-tech. The problem was that I couldn't find many opinions on them other than from Ford Contour SVT owners because they are OE on that car. This made me think the survey might have been inaccurate. No tests were done on this tire either. I was hesitating because I didn't want to get a crappy tire. Then I stumbled across the Firestone Firehawk SZ50s in the 225/50 size for only $73 a tire. It was a closeout tire that was replaced by the SZ50 EP that has a higher UTQG rating but in its day was a $140 tire. It even had a comparison test against the g-force KDW that did not show up in my initial search for a test on the KDW. It also had two other tests against the BFG Comp T/A, a very common and out dated tire. When looking at these tests and others that compared the RE730 and Comp T/A I basically had comparisons for all the tires. The Comp T/A served as a bench mark for the rest of the tires. It looked like the RE730 and KDW were about equal as I expected so the KDW, with a g-tech became the clear choice there. But then there was the SZ50, which was clearly compared to the KDW. It suffered slightly in the dry traction department but excelled in the wet to the point that it got a better total rating. This tire is apparently so good in the wet that even the survey comments and opinions I found on it often mentioned how great they were. But still I thought "Firestone, I hadn't even considered this brand as they aren't known for performance tires." However, the other tests with this tire rated it as a clear winner over it's competition like the Comp T/A. I also couldn't find any negative comments on it even after so many years of being around. It was even rated very high in road comfort and noise in comparison to it's competition. I decided that even after I get a free g-tech this tire's value, at $73 each, can't be beat! For a picture and to learn about my wheel refinishing adventure visit my wheels page.
My Picks
Price is no object: Bridgestone S-03 or BFG KD
All around great tire: BFG KDW2, Firestone SZ50 EP or Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3
Great Value: Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval
I need snow traction: Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S, BFG KDWS or Sumitomo HTR+
Update: After several years my SZ50s wore out and got dry rotted. They were great and it's too bad Firestone doesn't offer them or the SZ50 EP anymore. When I bought my 17" wheels it was time to buy tires again. The import craze was in full swing and budget performance tires were starting to be released. I figured that a cheap tire couldn't be too much worse than the expensive tires at twice the price so I bought Yokohama ES100s. The reviews were initially good but I basically got what I paid for. The traction wasn't even close to my old SZ50s. Now I really want a set of KDW2s but I don't have the money.
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