[worth_fixing]

Although my car will never see a track, or autoX, I still want something with great grip and a tight responsive feel. Treadlife is important to me, and so is price. Ride comfort and noise are somewhat important, but less. Traction on dry and wet are very important. Snow = 0 as I have a set of designated winter tires.

The size I'm looking for is 215/50R17 to fit on a 17x7" wheel.

I've been doing some research and the most attractive I could find are Continental ExtremeContact DW sports.

340 Wear Rating
AA Grip
A Temperature
$148.95/tire (in the states of course)

Monsters of Grip: Nine Summer-Performance Tires Tested Comparison Tests - Page 6 - Car and Driver

They finished 5th place in Car&Driver's top performance tire comparison test, but was the least expensive of the bunch. However, I should get real, unlike Car&Driver, I won't be racing a 1700-kg sports sedan around a track, at the most I'll be taking some tight corners on public roads with a 1300-kg front-wheel drive hatch.

I'm looking for a little cheaper than that, something like $115/tire or less. Can anyone suggest me a good alternative?

 

[stegl]

Wow , that is a tall demand with all those parameters !

 

[worth_fixing]

Wow , that is a tall demand with all those parameters !

Yeah you're right. Basically, I just want to see what the best thing there is out there for my money, and if people tell me that $115 for a tire is too stringent, then I reconsider.

I have little experience with purchasing tires; for my past 3 cars, I've always done with the tires that were on the car.

I also talk too much and enjoy writing. :wink:

 

[stegl]

In most cases your OEM tires on say Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and many others are just to get you on the road as new car selling is so dollar competitive that the car manufacturers get tire companies to bid in very large lots for new car tires ,so you by no means get anywhere near better tires. I have been buying my tires for some time from Costco as I can get a good tire for a descent price and have been very satisfied . I buy either Bridgestone or Michelin usually and stay away from Pirelli plus many of your tires made in a China, not to say some May be ok . Just my experience ,my ride and my dollar.

 

[deepblue3]

re760 is pretty good at everything. costco has them at a discount + coupon.

 

[Oshiguru]

A bunch of the guys on my local forum run the Hankook V12s on their cars for the spring/summer. I've driven a 350z and an e46 m3 with these tires and they have really good grip and wet traction. Here's a review : Tire Test: Nine Affordable Summer Tires Take On the Michelin PS2 Comparison Tests - Page 10 - Car and Driver

Seems like it's $111 a tire on discount tire and $85 a tire on onlinetires.com. Discount tire will match onlinetires if they're closer to you.

 

[doublediz]

I run the Hankook Ventus V12's on my 2011 and they are an exceptional tire for the price. Might get another set for the 2014 or go with some Nitto's.

 

[Grumpy]

If you're thinking strictly summer tires, Treadlife is likely to suck. I was lucky to get 25-28k out of my Summer tires on the Miata. I had sumitomo htr zIII, and gen. exclaim uhp's. both lasted about the same amount of miles. Neither was great in the wet. passable, but not great. I was going to get summers for the 3, but with the amount of driving i'm doing for my job, and the fact that I"m back in a 4 season locale ( I was in So. Cal when I had summer tires on the miata) I wound up going with all seasons (215/50R-17 Kumho Ecsta PA31 XL) on my "summer" wheels. Come the fall I"ll hopefully have the $$ to shell out for winter tires on the stock 18's.

 

[Rherold9]

V12s are a good choice for a cheap and good grippy summer tire.

 

[worth_fixing]

V12s are a good choice for a cheap and good grippy summer tire.

I too heard they were very good, but were a little softer and less responsive than your average performance tire.

 

[srt4evah]

I just ordered a set of Extremecontact DWs myself, I'll have them on probably by Tuesday/Wednesday.

The tread life is not great, but not as bad as an extreme performance tire, and not as good as an all-season or grand touring tire. 340 should last around 20-30k depending on how you rotate them.

The DWs were my choice because they favor ride comfort and quiet a bit more than competing tires, but still have good grip. Not as sharp as the Bridgestones but I'm not looking for autocross tires.