Tire recommendations
Heel & Toe
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
tires
I just replaced my tires on '94 with Kumhos. Got the ectacy asx I believe, all season. 285/40/17 and 255/45/17. Price delivered to my door was $464 . Finally got them on and what a difference! Old Eagles were hard and NOISEY. Now have a quiet ride and softer ride. I don't know anything about wear, but at the price I'll take my chances. They are 168 mile rated. Very happy to this point.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 666
Likes: 0
From: Walton KY
275/40-17 Sumitomo HRTZ Tire Rack for like $85 a tire. I have about 12,000 miles on mine and I was shocked at how well I liked them. I was running BF Goodrich KDWS 255/45 front 285/40 rear before and LOVED them but they were too pricey for all the iron in my right foot that turned to lead.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 16,028
Likes: 170
From: oregon
since you are only driving dry you can jump up the traction quite a bit.
My first choice for a lower priced tire is the Falken RT-615 it has a 200UTQG and a very fat amount of rubber touching the road. the BFG KD might still be on ebay for $300 a pair. this is another kickin tire that performs really really well. keep in mind that while there are cheaper tires {like the sumis} they are downright scary if you start driving heated on the country roads {not that any of us do anything illegal} how you drive the car and how many miles you want from the tire should be your focus, it's much easier to refine what tire to buy after that has been established.
My first choice for a lower priced tire is the Falken RT-615 it has a 200UTQG and a very fat amount of rubber touching the road. the BFG KD might still be on ebay for $300 a pair. this is another kickin tire that performs really really well. keep in mind that while there are cheaper tires {like the sumis} they are downright scary if you start driving heated on the country roads {not that any of us do anything illegal} how you drive the car and how many miles you want from the tire should be your focus, it's much easier to refine what tire to buy after that has been established.
Racer
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 313
Likes: 0
From: Laurel MS
Right you are sir....got 15K on mine although rated "summer performance",
not a factor in my climate zone. Quiet, track like an arrow, and wear factor is exceptionally good. Ran Michelins and Goodyears, but the Firestones met or exceed both performance-wise. Very reasonabilty priced.
Get em from TireRack next day. Will go w the Wide Ovals in a New York minute next time.
Curious foot note..during the Goodyear strike(18 mos), GY became Firestones(Japanese owned) most favored customer. Many FS dealer/franchisees inventories were down 50% or more since factory production runs were earmarked for GY. Strange corporate mentality.
Cheers
Check your 6
not a factor in my climate zone. Quiet, track like an arrow, and wear factor is exceptionally good. Ran Michelins and Goodyears, but the Firestones met or exceed both performance-wise. Very reasonabilty priced.
Get em from TireRack next day. Will go w the Wide Ovals in a New York minute next time.
Curious foot note..during the Goodyear strike(18 mos), GY became Firestones(Japanese owned) most favored customer. Many FS dealer/franchisees inventories were down 50% or more since factory production runs were earmarked for GY. Strange corporate mentality.
Cheers
Check your 6
Last edited by jim_hewett; May 22, 2008 at 08:59 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 21,094
Likes: 282
From: Phila., PA burbs
Since you're looking for a summer, dry weather tire I would recommend BFG KDs as racebum mentioned. There are probably many tires that are better in wet conditions, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a tire that even comes close in dry conditions. The only problem is that they have been discontinued, but as others mentioned you can still find sets on ebay. 
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Pro
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 666
Likes: 0
From: Walton KY
. keep in mind that while there are cheaper tires {like the sumis} they are downright scary if you start driving heated on the country roads {not that any of us do anything illegal} how you drive the car and how many miles you want from the tire should be your focus, it's much easier to refine what tire to buy after that has been established.
I agree that your tire decision depends mostly on how you drive. Do only straight dry highway driving....go to Pep Boys. Drive it like it was designed, got with the BFGs or Sumis. Drive it like most of us on this forum, look for some DOT legal race tires. I went with the Sumitomos since I was basically burning my money away sliding, drifting, and dragging.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,204
Likes: 4
From: Midland Georgia
St. Jude Donor '06
Think carefully about this.
The cheaper tires are cheaper for a reason. That is not to say that the cheaper tires will not be perfectly acceptable/adequate for 95%+ of your driving. I found a great deal on some Goodyear F1-GS-D3s. I took off the Sumitomos to put on the Goodyears. Here is what I found.
1.) The Goodyears look 100% better, the should and the tread design have simply put the car over the top in looks.
2.) Closely examine the inside of the unmounted tire. You can tell a quality difference in construction. The Goodyears are beautifully made and very precisely constructed. The Sumitomos are well made but you can tell not quite the quality of the Goodyears.
3.) The Goodyears balance right up perfectly while my suspension/tire guy had the shave rubber off of the Sumitomos to get them balanced to my liking.
4.) Rubber compound-The Sumitomos are a harder rubber than the Goodyears. These means more stick. I want stick when I am driving in the spirited mode.
If you cruise - Sumitomos are fine.
If you "drive" - Go with a premium tire Goodyear, Michelin, Bridgestone, or BFG. (Maybe Firestones)
1.) The Goodyears look 100% better, the should and the tread design have simply put the car over the top in looks.
2.) Closely examine the inside of the unmounted tire. You can tell a quality difference in construction. The Goodyears are beautifully made and very precisely constructed. The Sumitomos are well made but you can tell not quite the quality of the Goodyears.
3.) The Goodyears balance right up perfectly while my suspension/tire guy had the shave rubber off of the Sumitomos to get them balanced to my liking.
4.) Rubber compound-The Sumitomos are a harder rubber than the Goodyears. These means more stick. I want stick when I am driving in the spirited mode.
If you cruise - Sumitomos are fine.
If you "drive" - Go with a premium tire Goodyear, Michelin, Bridgestone, or BFG. (Maybe Firestones)
Last edited by jakers; May 20, 2008 at 10:38 AM.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 579
Likes: 2
From: High Bridge New Jersey
Kumho Ecsta
either SPT for about $124 each from Tire Rack, or you can pay almost double that for the Goodyear Eagle F1. Nothing wrong with the Kumho at all, highly rated, Goodyears are nice but lot of $ for a name.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,833
Likes: 4
From: Calgary, Alberta
Been running mine for over a 1 year, and no complaints, and great in the wet. Goodyears are just to expensive for what I do, which is mostly weekend cruising, and about 10 runs down the 1/4 a year. I usually end up replacing tires due to age rather then tread wear lately..
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 90,675
Likes: 304
From: SE NY
Cruise-In II Veteran
My '88 came (to me in 2000) with GY Eagle HP Ultra Plus and I so liked the look, traction in all weather (even at the strip) and wear (>40k miles) that I had the 2nd set installed nearly 4yrs ago and they still look and drive fantastic after 42k miles.
Last edited by 65Z01; May 20, 2008 at 12:45 PM.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 666
Likes: 0
From: Walton KY
I have turned away from Goodyears for good. My wife and I put Wragler AT/Ss on her Wrangler. When we got new rims and and them remounted and rotated the Jeep shock like heck. After two different shops rebalanced and checked everthing out we found that one of the tires was out of round by almost a 1/4" and even though the weights balanced out on the balancer it showed on the highway. Goodyear refuses to help us since that tire was dicontinued and the retailer won't help citing "manufacturers problem that needs to be worked out with Goodyear". The tire has to stay on the back of the Jeep forever. On the front, anything over 50 shook the wheel pretty bad....anything over 70 shook the truck violently.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 210
Likes: 0
From: Racine WI
And the winner is....Kuhmo SPT's
Went with Kuhmo's all around. Drove home from the tire shop on the slow side because I had a lot of junk in the car that I didn't want flying around. Seemed a lot better noise-wise, but then again, the Kuhmos that were on there were crap.
Car was in the garage overnight, which was about 50 degrees here in Wisconsin, and when I took it out early this morning, I could feel vibration in the steering wheel at around 40, and then in the seat at around 55. So I took the long way to work up the Interstate, got it to 80, and when I backed off, the vibration in the seat was more noticeable.
Took it back to the shop, had the owner ride with me, and couldn't reproduce the symtoms (of course). So all he and I could figure out was it's a temperature thing. The tires were on a cold garage floor overnight, and were stiff. Best hypothesis we could come up with, and I am buying into it, because the car sat out in the sun on asphalt while I was working all day, and the drive home was normal.
I only drive it on dry roads in warmer weather, which is why I bought SPTs as opposed to all seasons, and the cold weather days are coming to a close, so I guess I will be all right.
Thanks for your input everyone.
Car was in the garage overnight, which was about 50 degrees here in Wisconsin, and when I took it out early this morning, I could feel vibration in the steering wheel at around 40, and then in the seat at around 55. So I took the long way to work up the Interstate, got it to 80, and when I backed off, the vibration in the seat was more noticeable.
Took it back to the shop, had the owner ride with me, and couldn't reproduce the symtoms (of course). So all he and I could figure out was it's a temperature thing. The tires were on a cold garage floor overnight, and were stiff. Best hypothesis we could come up with, and I am buying into it, because the car sat out in the sun on asphalt while I was working all day, and the drive home was normal.
I only drive it on dry roads in warmer weather, which is why I bought SPTs as opposed to all seasons, and the cold weather days are coming to a close, so I guess I will be all right.
Thanks for your input everyone.
