Help me choose some new tire guys, I am at a loss.
 

Ok, My stock tires (19" Sport) are finally almost dead. I got about 24,000 out of the front, and about 14,000 miles are on the back. The back has some treadlife left, but not much.

I am choosing mostly between 3 new tires, and this is what I have researched about them:

Conti DW: Good grip, longer life, great in rain, nice mellow ride, soft, unresponsive, marshmallow handling, good price.

Mich Pilot Super Sport: Best of class, amazing performance, good ride, decent treadlife, expensive

Bridgestone s04 Position: great performance, heavy, excessive treadwear, good price.

My car is my daily driver. I do enjoy spirited driving when I can, but I am mostly on the freeway, and Houston is pretty flat and straight. I would like to have at lest the same treadwear as stock, preferably more.

I know the PSS are supposed to be amazing, and I would love to just buy them, but they are freaking expensive compared to the other two. The DW sound good, but giving up performance from stock would suck. Are they really as soft and mushy feeling as I hear? The S04 sound great, but if I can only maybe get 10k miles out of them, it could get expensive quickly.

Those of you who have these tire, please help me choose. I am leaning toward the DW, but really dreading dumbing down my car to less than a sporty feel.

I had the Hankook V12s for awhile - 32k+ I believe. They were great..

I am a highway driver myself. Don't like much road noise. I like to stretch the life of the tires.

I replaced them with the Falken 452s - Not much of a difference to me. But the Falkens have worn down a lot faster. I think I have 20k so far outta them and they have around 40-50% left. I also went from a 245 with the v12s to a 275 with the Falkens. That probably has a little to do with it..

Pirelli P Zero Neros in the front - Love those.

Good luck!

I ran the MPSS for about 2 years (245/35 and 275/30 - stretched on a 9.5" and 10.5" rim so kept at about 38psi). Performance wise they were the best I've had. great cornering ability and acceleration. Comfort wise they were horrible. now, i did step down a size so that has to be factored in. but these tires were HARD. over the smallest bumps it was pretty jarring. felt it all through my back. Both on stock suspension and after lowering on H&Rs. Height had no difference. They were also REALLY loud once they got pretty worn down. Also mine suffered from really bad flat spotting. Even just sitting in my garage over night it would occur any times the temps were below 60ish. So pretty much 80% of the time for 4-5 months a year. I only have a 6 mile commute to work so very rarely did they even out in that time - I was alway driving with what felt like an unbalanced wheel. I had them rebalanced twice so know that wasn't it. At the end of their life I was debating on trading in the car on a used CTS-V and was ready for a drastic change.

I then switched to the Continental DWS all seasons (245/40 and 275/35 - with the smaller stretch I can run 34psi). I like these tires a lot. for my every day driving they handle everything I throw at them. They do squeal when I push them (where the MPSS never did) but so far I haven't lost grip, they've managed to hold on as well as the MPSS in spirited every day driving. When crusing they are uncomparably better IMO. I can go over lane dividers without ever feeling a thing vs feeling it up my butt and into my spine with the MPSS. They are super comfortable. They are also a lot quieter than the MPSS were. Still a little noisy over concrete highways, but anytime I go over asphalt the car is deathly quiet (I also have a lot of sound deadening from the front footwells all the way back). I really love how my car is now. It's fast when I want it to be, still really quick through the turns when I need it to and a lot more comfortable then it was with the MPSS without giving up much in performance for everyday spirited driving. If you're gonna go with the DWs then you'll give up even less performance than I did.

In short I'd say if you don't track the car you'll probably be very happy with the Conti DWs. I don't regret my decision at all. If you do track the car and do want ultimate performance then the MPSS can not be beat.

Michelin A/S 3

I have a similar thread as well... in the end.. Im going with the Hankooks V12

good prices, on the lower end of the scale.. but I had to ask myself... will I be rewarded the 30-40% more I spend.. in 30-40% tread life? not always

although the TXspeedDemon ^^ almost convinced me to go the Conti DWS....

DING! Winner! 500 treadwear, summer performance and handles Houston summer downpours! Not cheap but perfection never is :)

My ISF has A/S+, and they are much better than stock Potenzas (ISF comes standard with them too) and the A/S3 is cheaper, supposed to have more grip, and as long life. And they're quieter than Potenzas too.
AND they tackle Houston's rain without breaking a sweat.


Oh, but them from Costco. Free nitro fill and road hazard. And they'll actually honor your mileage warranty without beating them (just need little/no camber wear)

You have an IS-F too? Thats what I want my next ride to be.. I think its a good step-up! Ill have to look at those A/S tires from Costco lol - I usually go Discount Tire because prices cant be beat. They do get you on mounting, warranty, etc..

Yeahhhhhhhhhh... It's in Houston, lol


Costco will be cheaper overall or within $10 all told. AND it's $70 off right now

Someone please chime in with the S04 poles! Anyone get 10K+ from rears?

They're pretty new, so far they have good reviews, but if be shocked if you got more than 10k. They were designed as a budget tire

Christ

Honestly. I lied. I can see 10k if you aren't heavy footed and you have low camber. I definitely don't see 20k, don't see 15k either. But 10-15k at best

Danke for the data! I am about to order from Tire Rack and ship em over for my Gti! PSS on Z already.

You won't be sorry!
They're not going to be as good as PSS's in the dry though, I hope you know that

I got 7k on both s04s and PSS on the rear, and I hate the PSS btw, they suck.

Potenza RE760's

Anything more expensive is overkill for the street

I've had 2 sets of the s04 already on the rears. The first set I got maybe 13k and I was babying the car. The second set I barely got 10k. The fronts still have another summer of meat left. I drive mostly highway.

Just picked up new wheels and they need tires. I'm thinking about giving the conti DW a try. But the s04 where a really good tire in the rain and dry. I ALWAYS had traction.

Those re760 stink. I had a set of those on the rear for a summer. I lost traction in the rain all the time

PSS is the best tire I've had on any car.

At Firesone getting the Conti DW installed right now. Bought themm on tirerack, who managed to get them shipped and delivered the next day. Way to go Tirerack. Hopefully I like them. I'll review once. I have some mileage on them.

I've ran all kinds of tires and I like the RE760's, I've never noticed this traction loss that you explain but I have been driving a RWD car for a very ling time so I don't mash it in the wet from a standing start.

For my purposes (SoCal Weather) they work great :)

clean the sidewall real well with RC car motor spray or this before dressing.

http://www.amazon.com/Goof-Off-FG659...words=goof+off

Do I do that now, or later when cleaning the tires? Is there an issue that I don't know about?

What size did you go with? And what was the end price on them at Costco? Im currently looking to change my stock sports as well. Im currently at 33k miles. Im sure I can get to 40k, but Im shopping ahead of time, planning the expense!

Nitto Invo, the grip is that of a race tire and it makes the car amazingly quiet .... you will not want to use another tire again. But everyone has their own opinion, a friend of a friend that didn't like them, etc. I had them 3 times on my 350z and can't wait to burn the Bridgestones in my 370Z to put Nittos instead

Good thing I saw this thread, was planning on getting s04 over v12 since they're on sale now

The ISF has narrower tires, and it was $1k, $1200?

I have no clue how you're getting 33k out of the rear tires, if you are, stay with stock tires. God knows you aren't going to get any more miles out of anything else

You gettin the S04s? Where they on sale?

Anybody have any experience using the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Spec ?

PSS the minimal cost verses performance increase is worth it. The Conti is a decent tire but man are sidewalls soft. I really don't like that marshmellow feel. I drove PSS on grand sport vette for entire day on Spring mountain track and have to say those tires are truly impressive. Predictable and grippy. Excellent traction during hard braking and acceleration too.

I have a set of dW on my mini and they are decent commute tire but man do the complain when I push them. And agin that squishy feel isn't best. I wish I had spent more and just got PSS.

Yeah they are decent competition tire. Terrible wear though. Wouldn't consider them as a street tire . More like a street tire you can drive to the track. The Direzza Ii is event better. I use those as my street ax setup on my Mini Cooper . They are the bomb.

Fully agree! I ran these on my Z32TT until they were no longer available in stock size and found that they gave great street performance with longer tread life, a bit smoother (esp when cold) and quieter than the S04s. I also ran one set of RE11s and rears were gone in just over 6K mi.

These were also first set I bought for my 370 and I'm equally satisfied. I paid $1047 @ Discount Tire (fully mounted, TPMS kit, NO mileage warranty) and got just over 12K on the rears, and am currently at 14K on the fronts. I also tracked just after replacing rears and they performed decently there as well. From previous experience with my Z32, I would probably go with Michelin PSS if I wasn't concerned about cost, but RE760s has been the best all around compromise for me. I can enjoy my spirited drives without completely emptying my wallet.

Tirerack. They are still on sale

well..just to chime back in, I went with the Hankook V12's. haad em installed Friday. of course any new tire is a nice ride in the beginning when they're new.. but I am happy. look great, I like the appearance of the tread.. we'll see how they are in wet conditions.. but Im happy enough, the price was right. apparently, Hankook is building a US manufacturing plant I was told as well.

What did you pay a tire, if you don't mind me asking

well.. I paid a bit more than Tire rack pricing, because I went to the dealer. I'm ok with that.. was worth the simplicity of the deal. I pd $210 / $240, and $25 ea to mount and balance. ( which when you add in shipping.. its actually pretty close )