Okay,

Im trying to replace the Bridgestone Potenza RE 050 tires on my car.

Im okay with a summer tire (not planning on driving in snow) but I dont want to worry about flying off the road fi the temps drop below 40 degrees either.

They are going to be on my daily driver, If i can get 25k out of a set ill be happy

Current candidates are

Sumitomo HTRZ lll
Firehawk Wide Oval
and Nitto NT NeoGen ZR

I dont do track days or the like, but will sometimes push the car a bit.

What you guys think.

1/22/2009 2:12:48 PM

my BF Goodrich g-Force Sport's have been good to me so far. Wet and cold performance is still pretty decent. I'm not sure how many miles I've had on them, but there's still a good bit of tread left and I've had them on there for awhile now, so I'm sure I'll be getting 25k or more miles out of them.

no experience with any of those tires though.

1/22/2009 3:04:32 PM

Quote :

"If i can get 25k out of a set ill be happy"

if you drive hard, i doubt you'll get 15k.

[Edited on January 22, 2009 at 3:14 PM. Reason : d]

1/22/2009 3:13:49 PM

well allot of my miles are highway 2 and from work, but every now and then i might push it a little hard...

I got 20k out of the RE 050s

Also im trying not to spend more than 150 a tire.

1/22/2009 3:16:37 PM

if you do just highway, you will get 35k out of the neogen. trust me, you will. if you do an auto cross or spirited driving from time to time you can get about 28-30, ive seen this happen on a lot of Acura TLs

1/22/2009 4:01:42 PM

i've heard a LOT of good things about the General Exclaim UHP

another one for you to consider..

1/22/2009 4:04:02 PM

^they are a great tire for someone thats hurtin for tires and money

1/22/2009 5:19:03 PM

i just quickly searched for the sumitomo and it looked like the generals were about the same price in that size (a little cheaper)

1/22/2009 5:26:27 PM

get R-compounds

LOL who was it that absolutely needed R-compounds or something because they fly around every corner like the world is his personal track?

1/22/2009 5:40:51 PM

I would get the re050's if i were you. I liked that tire.

1/22/2009 6:41:38 PM

had the RE s on a si a while back. they were very quite. would buy again

1/22/2009 7:44:51 PM

I love my Continental ContiExtremeContact high performance all season tires. They have pretty good grip in the dry and wet, last a pretty long time, and were pretty damn good in the snow the other day.

I understand you don't want to spend more than $150/tire but how cheap can you go with 18" wheels?

1/22/2009 8:14:04 PM

Price wise, i know tires make a huge difference, but im not driving it in a way that i need great tires on a consistant basis.

I put the best i can buy on my bike (usually PP 2ct)

this is a little different. As long as i can go aroudn a corner every now and then and get a little feel of exhiliration without having to worry about the front end pushing or the back breaking loose suddenly im happy. And i dont want any suprises, the RE 050 are good tires in that reguard, they have never suprised me.

The HTRZ III are about 110 a pop, im looking at 225/40/18 to fit on the stock 18*7, if i could lay hands on a cheap set of rx8 rims i would love it but its just not fiscally responsible right now. Stock tire size of 215/45/18 sucks, because there are about 15 tires made in the damned size

so pricing

Sumitomo HTRZ iii $110
General UHP $106
Firehawk Wid Oval (TR top rated) $129.99
Nitto NT NeoGen ZR $115
Potenza RE 050 $215 a tire

It seems like there are some good tires out there for cheaper than the RE 050

Also the RE 050 seem to have ZERO ability in the snow, and under heavy acceleration in 1st and 2nd seem to break loose easily if they haven been warmed up esp in winter even when the roads are clear.

I want a tire that i can make it on all year long in north carolina... If i move to somewhere else ill buy some snow tires or all season, but can i get away with Summer tires for all year riding in NC?

Also what about snow proformance, the RE

[Edited on January 23, 2009 at 6:57 AM. Reason : dd]

1/23/2009 6:43:46 AM

I think the Potenzas are a cut above the rest. Low temp ought to be OK, I wouldn't drive them on the snow as suggested above however.

1/23/2009 7:07:34 AM

You should try snow + oversized azeni's

Fugetaboutit

1/23/2009 7:28:28 AM

Potenza are great tires, but im just not willing to drop 215 a tire right now.

1/23/2009 10:04:53 AM

goodyear f1 gsd3 = best tire I have owned.

getting some new rims and pole positions put on monday.

1/23/2009 10:30:55 AM

Quote :

"You should try snow + oversized azeni's Fugetaboutit"

exactly why my car hasnt moved all week and still has snow on it


Falken Azenis RT615's

good tread still showing, not so good cold weather traction

very affordable though

1/23/2009 1:49:13 PM

Quote :

"You should try snow + oversized azeni's "

i did that once.. the day the whole city shut down and it took everyone like 6 hours to get home. i got stuck on st marys. i probably could have made it home but the people in front of me thought it would be a good idea to stop halfway up the hill. i tried a few times (it happened every time) then turned around and got stuck at a light.. then parked on a side road and started walking. i walked about 4 miles that day and a guy from work that was going to give me a ride drove about the same distance in the same amount of time.

[Edited on January 23, 2009 at 2:00 PM. Reason : .]

1/23/2009 2:00:23 PM

I think the azenis feel terrible. I feel like my steering link was replaced with a piece of rubber.

1/23/2009 6:08:06 PM