I need a new set of tires, but there are SO many choices out there. I have narrowed my choices down to a few different brands but I would like your help to decide which one would best suits my situation.

From the tire you can see I would like a good mix of mileage, affordability and performance from the tire; however, if I had to choose one over the other, it's mileage (I know no UHP tire can give me as long of tread life as I want). I'm an average driver and I don't race or anything but I do want a relatively smooth and quiet (quieter at least) ride.

I have researched over and over and have seen conflicting reviews of tires no matter which brand you look at. However, there is nothing better than asking someone who's already been through this. So any personal experiences or general knowledge about these tires would be greatly appreciated. Here are the tires I am considering:

Goodyear Eagle GT

General Exclaim UHP (My current favorite)

Kumho Ecsta SPT

Kumho Ecsta ASX

Yokohama S.drive

Dunlop Direzza DZ101

hankook ventus v12k

 

I was just look at tires a month ago. I honestly believe the hankook ventus v12k gave close to the best tread life,280 compared to 300,and you get great looks with great performance. I also heard a lot of good reviews on them.

 

Isn't this thread a repeat of thread:

https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-...new-tires.html

See Post #31 on the link referenced above.

--Spike

 

I have been recommended those tires however I read a review that it's tread life is only decent. (280 compared to General Exclaim's 380).

What tire did you end up buying?

 

Sorry Spike. I wanted to start a new thread because I felt like I kept switching directions in my other one (from tire sizes, to why my tires wore unevenly, to which tire to get). I wanted to stick to the heart of the matter in this thread seeing that I need to order the tires ASAP. I was trying to be less confusing but I guess I made it worse, haha. Sorry. I can delete the other one if you think that would be better.

 

The problem is getting responses on two different threads that are really the same quesion. There will be duplicates, and some people who post will resent this.

I'm not sure you can delete the first thread (not sure about that though).

--Spike

 

Well the coast ended up around $800+. I was like "well why not try to find a used combo with tires and rims." I wanted to get rims and thought it was a good time to do so sense i was thinking of getting tires for the stock rims. The ones that coming with the rims are toyo t1r which is also a 280 with about 80ish percent tread life left.

Ya, but 280 compared to 380 that a big differance. Some times you got to sacrifice some long tread life for performance.

 

I can vouch for the V12s for decent grip (DD, autocross, track) and noise but only have about 1K miles and 2 AX and 2 track days. I choose the V12s for the very good performance reviews (some mentioned above) and 280 treadware. YMMV.

 

I'll say from personal experience, the general exclaim UHP's are a crappy tire. Yes they are cheap, but they perform poorly and don't last very long, despite having a decent treadwear rating.

 

Wow, thanks for the heads up. I was really leaning towards those because of all the good reviews on tire rack. However, I wasn't sure how well those reviews really reflected the tires use on a 350z.

Anything you would recommend instead?

 

I never ran them on the Z, i'm still on the OEMs, but on my last car, it had Pirelli P-zero Rosso's as the OEM, which were not too good. They worked nice for about 8000 miles, then got quite hard, and were down to the wear bars by 11.5K miles. I switched to BFG KDW2's, ran them for my next two sets, got over 25K out of each set (I'm VERY hard on tires), incredible grip, awesome in the rain, no degradation of performance once the tires were heat cycled, maintained high performance right until I took them off. Only downside is that they were noisy, but the RE050A's are so freakin loud, thats not really a big difference. As my last set on that car, I decided to be cheap ($86 a tire for generals vs. $145 a tire for KDW's), and while they were nice for the first couple miles, they got hard and slippery quickly, wore out in about 16K miles, and were just overall a poor excuse for an "ultra high performace" tire. They are a good summer tire, thats about it. Not in the same category as the higher end stuff.

The Eagle GT's have always treated me well, and I know we used to put the Kuhmo ASX on many a customer car and never got complaints (corvettes and such, sports cars), but I've never run a set myself long enough to give a treadware comparison on any of the other tires you listed.

 

Thanks a lot for the feedback. Looks like I might go with the Eagle GT. I wouldn't mind having some KDW's but I would rather not spend that much per tire at this point.

We have progressively had heavier rains and colder winters in the past few years and I believe the Eagle GT would prove to be a good tire for a couple of years. Plus, Goodyear is currently offering a rebate...

 

I was told that for my 2006 stock 350z rims I would be better off with this combo of tire sizes:

F: 245/40-18 (rather than 225/45-18)
R: 245/45-18

I would get the 225/45-18 size just to be safe but in order to get the Goodyear Eagle GT I have to get an XL tire whereas I could get the standard load tire in I substituted the 245/40-18.

Have you heard this is a better combo of sizes for the 350z or would I be better off to disregard the bit of noise that comes with the XL tire and stick with the stock sizes?

 

roflmao, this forum is so old chances are EVERY thread has been repeated.

So why post anything new when you can just use this forum as a database?

gg noob.

 

I had these on my G35 and they lasted a very long time, but didn't have as much grip as I would have hoped. They were great for the price though.

 

Not sure if someone posted this or not, but car and driver did a tire comparison, not too long ago, on just about all the tires you were considering in your first post. There was a thread started about the comparison, but here is the link. Hope this helps your decision.
Car and Driver Tire Test

 

I just put Eagle GT's on my daily driver (2003 WRX) about 500 miles ago and so far so good. Not very noisy, did ok in the little bit of rain we've had, but haven't really pushed it that hard through corners yet. I don't really drive that car very hard so i may not give the most useful review. I'm curious to see how they do in the snow. The tread looks beefy so hopefully I can get some decent traction. Out of the tires I was looking at in the wrx sizes (16") the Eagle GT's got the best overall reviews.

 

I used to spend the $ on expensive tire's but to me changing them every year or year and a half simply didnt warrant the hefty price tag. No i dont drift around corners or do burn outs and yes alignment is on point, doing those things yes fun but very expensive. Sessanta's are very good budget tires even decent in snow but just didnt last long. UHP's have raised there prices dramatically which was my next choice. So this time around I asked myself why do i need a high performance tire for regular street driving so I just wanted a very inexpensive tire. I went with a set of cooper's which were $130 each which I'm very satisfied with. They have a 280 rating there quit good in rain and good traction with 5k on them they still look brand new. So basically got 2 tires for the price of one.

 

Depending on the size you are looking for, you may want to consider the Sumitomo HTR Z III. It has a wear rating of 300. I heard of these first when I was driving a 3rd gen RX7. A guy who has tracked the FD for years used them and was very impressed by their performance for a street tire. They also are inexpensive like the Hankook Ventus. I've not tried them myself however.

 

there are many determinates when it comes to purchasing the "right" rubbers. i usually go with a brand that i like and trust; in this case, nitto. if you desire performance you will end up with a hefty price tag; based upon the fact that the treadwear may be much lower than non-performance rubbers. price is and always will be a factor when it comes to the purchasing equation. how much are you willing to pay? have fun deciding but here are my two cents... nitto or toyo.