[s-cars] Summer/Winter Tire recommendations

[Taka Mizutani]

Tires I'm running currently:

Summer tires:

Falken Azenis RT-615 (sharp turn-in, incredible grip, very stiff sidewalls)

Bridgestone Potenza RE-070 (very good turn-in, very good grip, very stiff
sidewalls)

Pirelli P Zero Rosso (mediocre turn-in, mediocre grip, very comfortable
ride)

Toyo Proxes 4 (better turn-in than the Rossos, I think, very good grip, very
comfortable ride)


Winter tires:

Hankook W404 (I don't like them, too mushy in the dry, average in snow, kind
of scary in the wet)

Nokian Hakkapellita NRW-H (slightly mushy turn-in, notable loss of grip
compared to summer tires, but more
like driving an halfway decent all-season tire when dry, pretty good in the
wet and pretty good in snow)

Nokian Hakkapellita WR-V XL (much better than the NRW-H in all aspects- dry,
wet and snow, much
better turn-in, better braking, better dry and wet grip, excellent in fresh
snow and very good in packed snow)


For a non-sports car, I actually like the Toyo Proxes 4 as a 3-season tire
(I've never driven them in the snow so
I can't really comment on snow performance). Very comfortable ride, quiet
tire, decent turn-in, decent grip,
inexpensive, can't beat it for an all-season, just don't expect Azenis-like
performance in the dry or wet.

I like the Falken Azenis RT-615 for a summer performance tire- it is really
fun. I would not put this tire on a car
like the Audi, though- way too harsh of a tire, really doesn't suit the
character of the car. I like the Michelin PS2
as it is much smoother (but still quite stiff), has excellent grip,
excellent wet and dry performance. I'd take the PS2
over the Goodyear F1 GSD3, Dunlop SP Sport Maxx, any of the current Pirellis
or the Bridgestone S03. I haven't
driven the new Bridgestone RE-050PP so I can't comment on that. With cost as
a factor, I'd probably compromise
on ride quality and noise and go with the Kumho MX or Hankook RS2-Z212, with
grip being the bias. If I needed to be
more biased toward comfort and noise, I'd go back on my recommendation and
do the Goodyear or Dunlop, with
the P Zero Rosso a very distant third.

Hope this helps.

Taka




On 6/14/06, JR <audiurs4 at mailforce.net> wrote:
>
> Since the consensus from my "All Season Tire recommendations" email was
> that there is no such thing as a good all season tire, what are you guys
> running for summer and winter tires?
>
> Thanks,
>
> JR
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