Performance tires - do you bother?

[Eurodriver]

I have ridden on high performance tires in the eurocars since I've owned them.

168+ MPH speed ratings AAA traction. The amount of handling is phenomenal. I've ridden at triple digit speeds in Florida thunderstorms without issue (not smart for many reasons, but stating a fact). I regularly handled curves in my 4 door sedan that most American "sports cars" would struggle with.

But it came at a cost. The ride was rough. After about 10,000 miles they would need to be rebalanced and at 25k they were usually toast. At $300+ a piece and uneven wear times (rears went way faster) this meant that I was replacing at least one axle a year which by itself isn't bad, but after 10 years of eurodriving I shutter to think how much I've spent on rubber.

Anyway, yesterday I threw on some OEM continental contiprocontact tires. Less expensive and 60,000 mile tread life. They were cheaper, and they are very quiet but the performance is killing me. I never realized how much tires affected your handling. I feel like I'm riding on a cloud and have no feel for the road.

Does anyone else care about tires as much as I do? Do you have any suggestions? Do you care?

[Alex V]

Though I could care less what tires my leased daily driver is on, my Trans Am always had performance tires on it. The Goodyear F1s that came on it stunk, they had zero traction and were hard as a rock. I first went to a better tire in the form of Firestone Firehawk. They were better but the did not do everything I wanted.

I realized that there is no magic bullet when it comes to tires. At that time I was drag racing and AutoCrossing the car. There was no way to do both on one tire. I soon had a set of BFG Drag Radials on the back when driving around, just in case I needed to get on it. I also got a set of Nitto 555R2s which were awesome for Auto-X. For the drag strip I quickly graduated from a steel belted drag radial to a bias ply full slick.

I did drive the car on the Nittos a lot on the street and they became my regular tire. I still have 4 of them mounted but with the current gearing in the car I cant use the rears because they are too short and cant use the fronts because the front suspension wont allow that wide a rim to be installed. Oh well.

Yes the Nittos wore down quick, and they would kick up all sorts of sand and rocks into the wheel wells because the rubber was so sticky but mad did the car handle well. You have to have a trade off somewhere. If I had an M3 or a S4/SR4 I would have them on a sticky tire. Those cars are meant to be enjoyed in the curves, I would give up some road noise and short tread life for the ability to use the car to its potential.

[Mr.Anderson]

I had a more street performance tire on my truck ('06 Dodge RAM 1500 QC HEMI 3:72gears, 5spd auto, Diablo Sports T1000 running a "HEMI FEVER" 93 oct performance tune.

But I use the truck for towing our 31' camper so I needed a better tire for that. And, I wanted a more aggressive/off road tire, so I bought a set of Toyo Open Country Extremes (60/275/20). They cost $1,300 so Im really feeling ya about the price lol.

I lost all of my performance. They are a 80psi tire. I run 60psi when Im towing and 32frnt/30rear when not.
If I dont run lower psi they wear out i. The centers on the rears quick.
So I get too much bounce/float now and wont hold in a curve. Especially on a wet road.

Short story long, Capt Obvious here, make sure you have the proper psi air in them.

[uffdaphil]

This is a no-brainer to me. A car designed to handle without the right tires might as well be a mini-van. My answer was always to have a fun car with Ferragamos and the everyday vehicle with Red Wings. Sadly the sports car is gone and I wallow in my Land Cruiser beloved for its other fine qualities.

[Mak8080]

Yup, the downside to "Summer" tires vs performance all-seasons is cost. Conti DWS, Bridgestone 960/970, or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S all last much longer and from a cost to performance standpoint, are a winner to me. I got tired of replacing tires every 20K-ish. It was pricey, especially when you're talking about 285/295 and 30/35/40 series tires. I can feel the difference, but I don't think I drive nearly hard enough to see a value added increase of perf all-seasons versus summer tires. Yes, summer tires are nice and stick to the ground no other, but for a daily driver, I couldn't justify the cost. For what it's worth, I was always scouring Craigslist to pick up a set of summer tires for the next changeover. I was stacking tires in the garage...haha.

[SilverBullet432]

I had some Hankook sport rubber on my truck. 275/50/20 size. (2010 F150 5.4 6 speed auto, s&b cold air intake, long tube headers, hi flow cats and tuned by Jon Lund of Lund racing (world record mustang tuner). The tires didnt last very long now I run yokohama's. They are nice on the highway. My truck is lowered, but the kit i run leaves a ride very similar to factory.

[RCI1911]

There is always a trade-off with tires. You have to give up performance and traction when moving to a longer lasting (i.e. harder) compound. Cars that merit the better tires always have job-specific tires on them. All-seasons suck for pretty much everything but going straight down a highway. Our CUV sports snow tires in the winter also, and are well worth dealing with two sets of tires.

[Hmac]

My car (370Z) is a summer-only vehicle, so has summer-only tires. Tires are Bridgstone Potenza S-04's. Fantastic grip. Noisy, not ideal in heavy rain (better than the stock Potenzas though) and completely unusable in the snow. I'll get about 15,000 miles out of them, and they're about $900-$1000 for the set. Given the nature and purpose of the car, I wouldn't have any other type of tire. No trade-offs, if I can't drive the Z, I drive the GMC 3/4 ton.

[Eurodriver]

Do you guys have any recommended tires?

My rears are 245/40R17 fronts are like 240/45 I think. and need to be rated to at least 150mph.

I live in FL so while there is no snow, there is a strong Need For wet performance (rains every day, hard)

With that said, I just cannot believe the loss in performance from these OEM tires. It's almost dangerous. Massive amounts of under steer and the car just feels bouncy. It's so insane how much of a difference tires can make.

[glocktogo]

Back when I had my WRX, I went from Pilot Sport AS2's to Dunlop SP Sport Maxx summer performance tires. To be honest, it increased the limits to a point that I was no longer willing to explore the edge on the street. The speed you could carry into a turn was impressive to say the least. The tradeoff was ride quality, noise and wet traction (though that wasn't too bad). Once they got past 50% wear, hauling it in rapidly sounded like a squadron of alien warships descending on you.

I guess it depends on the capability of the car, but I just didn't need them in my case. I actually had more fun hanging it out with the AS2's.