New 205/50R15 TIRES : Opinions welcome

CU_rob · Post by **CU_rob** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:59 am

OK,I have new 15" wheels (momo arrows) that I need to put some shoes on.

Requirements:
205/50R15 size
Under ~$70 / tire
Performance (all seasons ok, but i live/drive down south, no snow/ice)
Good handling
Good treadlife *(daily driver + married, so can't drop $$ every 10 mos. on tires)
Will be subjected to daily driving, occasional autocrosses (~4/yr), NO draging, drifting, burnouts.

Acceptable brands:
Michelin, BFG, Yoko, Dunlop, Kuhmo, and will consider others not listed below.

UNacceptable brands: GY, Firestone, Bridgestone

I know a little something about tires

, I am really looking for ACTUAL OWNER opinions/reviews of the brand and model. Please consider items like dry+wet traction, road noise, abnormal wear, tread life, etc.

Also anyone who can recommend online dealers besides TireRack and Discount Tire?

I have Yoko AVS ES100's on my Z and like them very much, any one got them on a neon?
I have also had BFG Comp T/A's, liked them too.
Some of the Tires I am considering so far....that i don't know much about

Kumho ECSTA 711
Sumitomo HTR 200
Kumho ECSTA Supra 712
Hankook Ventus HRII H405
Falken Ziex ZE-512
Nitto NT 450 Extreme Performance

Let the great Debate begin...

noTe · Post by **noTe** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:15 am

-Under ~$70 / tire
-Performance
-can't drop $$ every 10 mos. on tires
-occasional autocrosses

Yeah um, good luck with that.

Tip: Never go cheap with tires. Especially if you plan on autocrossing. It's one of the most important pieces of the car in autocrossing.

Buy a set of cheapo crap tires, and buy a seperate set of nice tires for autocrossing.

grindpunk16 · Post by **grindpunk16** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:20 am

u want a good performance tire for auto x get azenias period

evlneon · Post by **evlneon** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 11:03 am

well i can't help you out much in the personal experience department as the only tires i've owned that i really liked aren't made in that size. the pirelli p7000 supersport (in 205/45wr16) has been a really good tire to me, but it seems pirelli as a brand doesn't even make a tire in 205/50r15. and the other set of tires that i have that i've most recently fell in love with are the BFG traction T/A (195/60hr14). these handle just as well as the pirellis i have, if not better, and were only 55 bucks a pop.

but my reason for going on about this is to say that i have much respect for BFG's entry-level line of tires. i feel the g-force sport falls under that category at $75 a tire (while most the other tires in the same category fall between $90 and $140), and could potentially be a very good tire. the reviews from owners on tire rack appear to be very positive on the tire as well.

and randy: cheap tires doesn't necessarily equate to crap tires. the falken azenis, which seem to be praised by the auto-xers, are only $56 in the size i use (195/60r14), and $77 in 205/50r15.

ps. before anyone asks or says anything, no i don't work for BFG. i used to work for firestone and got a set of FS firehawk ss20s with my discount for $75. compared with the BFGs i got for $55, the set of ss20s (which are the same size) are shit.

noTe · Post by **noTe** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:37 pm

evlneon wrote:and randy: cheap tires doesn't necessarily equate to crap tires. the falken azenis, which seem to be praised by the auto-xers, are only $56 in the size i use (195/60r14), and $77 in 205/50r15.

I never said cheap tires always equal crap tires. But if your autocrossing in your daily driving tires, your going to end up replacing them alot quicker than 10 months and then buying a cheaper tire means nothing when you have to keep replacing them.

mynameiskiller · Post by **mynameiskiller** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:05 pm

i have the Hankook Ventus in that size, they are a good tire for the price, ride and handle nice for everyday driving, but ive never autocossed them, so i cant opinionate on that aspect...
ive had mine for about 6 months and they dont even look used yet.

CU_rob · Post by **CU_rob** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:06 pm

evlneon wrote: and randy: cheap tires doesn't necessarily equate to crap tires. the falken azenis, which seem to be praised by the auto-xers, are only $56 in the size i use (195/60r14), and $77 in 205/50r15.

ps. before anyone asks or says anything, no i don't work for BFG. i used to work for firestone and got a set of FS firehawk ss20s with my discount for $75. compared with the BFGs i got for $55, the set of ss20s (which are the same size) are shit.

Phil, I agree with you cheap tires doesn't mean crap tires, nor does pricey mean great tires.

My father worked for michelin for 15yrs, as well as general tire(<- now there is a crappy tire company) and I, myself have done a trackside internship with michelin racing data collection with an American Lemans support series Woman's Global GT (Panoz GTS cars running Pilot Sport MX's), and a college engineering buddy works at MARC ( Michelin R&D in Greer,SC). When I saw him this past oct, he told me that there were several of the Asain brand tires that were kicking the ass of some of their best tires in testing.
I do have a little bias towards Michelin/BFG, so that is why I am here asking, and welcome opinions on these Asain brands that I am not as familiar with.

So Randy, thank you for your opinion, and Everyone keep the opinions coming, as thats what a forum is for, discussions.

~4 autocrosses a year won't kill tires any more than one weeks worth of driving each race, but when i get more time to autocross i have 2 extra rims for a pair of autocross abusers.

noTe · Post by **noTe** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 1:55 pm

~4 autocrosses a year won't kill tires any more than one weeks worth of driving each race, but when i get more time to autocross i have 2 extra rims for a pair of autocross abusers.

Heh, with my driving they would.

I did three laps autocrossing this year and ended up finishing 20th out of 84 cars on stock tires, stock suspension. The car that finished 21st was a Z06 with slicks on it.

After seeing my tires, I'm not autocrossing again until I have a seperate set of tires.

Brett R/T · Post by **Brett R/T** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 4:24 pm

some cheap places to buy from if you didn't already know:
www.edgeracing.com
www.vulcantire.com
www.discounttiredirect.com

Falken Azenis are $65 and are great for auto-x.
AVS ES100's (i'm getting them shipped now) should be great for daily driving and alright for some auto-x (not as good as azenis)
AVS ES100's>Kumho 712's>kumho 711's in terms of performance

I wouldn't get all seasons because you don't need them, but if you're looking for some long tread life falken 512's wouldn't be bad.
I have the new Toyo Proxes 4's. They're great for an all season tire.

I don't know much about them but the Hankook and Sumitomo are lower cost, cheaper options but would be great if you're on a tight budget.

From your criteria i'd almost go with the AVS ES100's. The azenis seem a little short on tread life, and wouldn't be to smooth riding for your wife either. Kumho 712's have a little longer tread life than the yoko's.

CU_rob · Post by **CU_rob** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 11:28 pm

Brett R/T wrote:some cheap places to buy from if you didn't already know:
www.edgeracing.com
www.vulcantire.com

Brett thanks for the links...never been to either, but Edge has the
Hankook H405's for $45 +$7 s/h per tire.
and the Falken 512's for $46

Another place for people to look is :
http://www.tiresavings.com/
They have a wide selection, included harder to find Cooper Zeon tires.

03rtneon · Post by **03rtneon** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:13 pm

sumitomo's are a good tire for the price and so are kuhmo's. i love my yokohama's....but the parada spec 2 isn't made that small...the AVS series is a nice tire too...had 'em on my 99 neon coupe. good traction and the tire noise wasn't too bad. I've got lemans hr's (firestone dealer cheap brand) on my 88 toyota corolla gt-s. they get good wet traction, handle wonderfully and no noise. they came with the car when i bought it for my to and from work beater and i was so impressed that when the front 2 wore out i replaced 'em with the exact same tires.

Knoxville_R/T · Post by **Knoxville_R/T** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 6:31 pm

i have the avs es100's and love them. only problem is i now need some solid motor mounts(all 3) b/c i now have major wheel hop b/c of the traction(i have rex inserts) . they are 195/55/15's. when i had my 16's still i had some wynstar r-27 tires(195/50/16) pretty nice but they didnt give me wheel hop on inserts like the es100's.
-Brian

Silver2gn4me · Post by **Silver2gn4me** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:12 am

AVS ES100s would be the way to go. I ran them on my first 2gen and they were awesome. Falken 512 would be a good choice also. For the $$ they are pretty good. And as for a place to buy them........WWW.DISCOUNTTIREDIRECT.COM!!!! I am a assistant manager at one of our Charlotte stores. So I guess I am a little bias....

Jason

diablo25mn · Post by **diablo25mn** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:26 am

I'm running 225/50 Falkens ZE-512s i was going to go with TS-1s but i had to cut my funds short on tires cause of the holiday season. figured i could always get some Slicks or drag on tires later on..

grindpunk16 · Post by **grindpunk16** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:59 am

i wouldnt go anything less than an azenia

SGT BRAD · Post by **SGT BRAD** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:17 am

i have been running the falken 512 and consider it an ideal tire. i used to run yoko a008r's back years ago. they were great at track temps, but were terrifying until warmed up. i also had an older falken tire that had a rubber compound so soft that it lasted only 15k as a street tire with no auto-x time whatsoever! the 512 has lasted 40k so far and seems to have alot of life left. it has been great in the wet and traction has only been an issue in the snow. i run non-abs and threshold braking is easily modulated with the 512. it is also reasonably priced. the azenis may be a better auto-x/track tire, but from what i've read it has a soft compound. i would imagine that the 512 will outlast it by a fair margin.

Dodge00Neon · Post by **Dodge00Neon** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:16 am

I currently have a set of 205/55-15 Ziex 512's. I like these tires alot so far I've had them on since jan of 04. I've gone through 2 winters and they preformed better than expected. AS far as wear I can't say anything since I've been overly hard on them and expect to replace them by the end of the year. Dry traction and wet traction are also very good. I'm considering getting these again. Oh and i got them from http://hptire.net/ and received really good service.

I just got a set of Bfg Traction t/a's for a co-worker and so far they are preforming excelnt in wet dry and snow. however they've only been used for about 1000 miles so the wear is still udecided. I do think these will be a great tire in the long run so I just ordered a set for my wifes car.

2001 ACR · Post by **2001 ACR** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:04 pm

Dodge00Neon wrote: I just got a set of Bfg Traction t/a's for a co-worker and so far they are preforming excelnt in wet dry and snow. however they've only been used for about 1000 miles so the wear is still udecided. I do think these will be a great tire in the long run so I just ordered a set for my wifes car.

I just got some BFG Traction's (185/60/15's) and they are awful in the snow... There not even that good in the rain. Sure, there better than the 165's on my aunt's Civic, but I haven't been very happy with them... The one good thing about them is that they last a very long time.

SurfrmanX · Post by **SurfrmanX** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:37 pm

Did u considere Toyo Tires, they are so good

Post by **racer12306** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:10 pm

Just in case people don't notice, this thread is from over 3 years ago.

2001 ACR · Post by **2001 ACR** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 12:46 am

racer12306 wrote:Just in case people don't notice, this thread is from over 3 years ago.

My bad... I have no idea how I didn't notice that...

TN.Frank · Post by **TN.Frank** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:05 am

Technically the 205/55's are almost a perfect replacement for the 185/60's in heigth but since a wider tire will suck some of your performance because of more rolling friction the 50's help to give a bit back since they're a tad lower and help with the gear ratio a bit. I found some Kumho's at a local dealer for $75 each mounted and ballanced. Not sure which model they are but I think that'll be the way I'll go, Kumho 205/50/15's.

ragek23 · Post by **ragek23** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:05 pm

racer12306 wrote:Just in case people don't notice, this thread is from over 3 years ago.

haha way to point that out!

I hope CU_rob got new tires by now.

Jerome Adams · Post by **Jerome Adams** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:38 pm

TN.Frank wrote:Technically the 205/55's are almost a perfect replacement for the 185/60's in heigth but since a wider tire will suck some of your performance because of more rolling friction the 50's help to give a bit back since they're a tad lower and help with the gear ratio a bit. I found some Kumho's at a local dealer for $75 each mounted and ballanced. Not sure which model they are but I think that'll be the way I'll go, Kumho 205/50/15's.

I have the kumho ecsta spt in 205/55 on stock rims (going to swtich them over to my new 15x7 slipstreams this weekend) and they are nice. I wanted the 205/50 but tirerack was out of stock and I really NEEDED new tires so I went with the 55 series. I am pretty happy with them.

TN.Frank · Post by **TN.Frank** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:47 pm

I wanted 215/50's and from what I read they'd fit the stock 15x6" rims but I think it'd be pushing it so I'm just going with 205/50's instead. Anything will be an improvment over the 185/60's that re on it now, LOL.

CU_rob · Post by **CU_rob** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:12 pm

I just got a topic reply ... this is a really old post.
I had totally forgotten about 2GN (Sorry guys) with work and traveling. Heck I looked at my profile, its been since Oct.2006.

I need to come back here and hang out, I still have my car. Don't drive it much with a company F150 and the wife has a 06 Mini Cooper S (6spd w/sports pkg).

2GN.ORG

New 205/50R15 TIRES : Opinions welcome

New 205/50R15 TIRES : Opinions welcome

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