Tire preferences?

[Ludachris]

Bridgeston Potenza S-03
Yokohama AVS ES100
Kuhmo Ecsta MX

Which one would you choose for best overall performance? I'm not concerned with wet traction. I was set on the S-03's but a shop I called said the EVS ES100's were a better tire. Anyone have input on this?

 

[GRNDSM]

Chris,

I went through a similar debate and decided to get the Kumho MX's. They offered equal performance, but at a lower price.

I am happy with them on my 18" rims, but then, I haven't tried any other tire in 18" .

But if you are not worried about wet performance, have you looked at Toyo RA1 tires? They do not last very long 7-10k miles, but you will not beat their dry weather traction! I couldn't use R-compount tires, or I would have gone with RA1s.

Leon
RR

 

[loreak]

ive heard the bf goodrich g-force kdw are pretty good

 

[cait sith]

I've never been impressed with Kumho's Escta line, personally.

If you want the stiffest side walls, go Yokohama.

I don't have that much input on Bridgestones... :\

 

[GRNDSM]

>I've never been impressed with Kumho's Escta line, personally.

I have long held the same opinion about their Supra 712 tires. They were basically the cheapest tires you could get with very mediocre performance. Their new tires: MX and V700 are much better and people are having much better luck with them.

So have you actually heard something bad about the last two tires or are you condemning the Escta line because of Supra721s?

Leon
RR

 

[NDgsx]

Originally posted by cait sith
I've never been impressed with Kumho's Escta line, personally.

If you want the stiffest side walls, go Yokohama.

I don't have that much input on Bridgestones... :\

S-03 has a much stiffer sidewall than the yokohama ES100. Sidewall stiffness is only half of the area you should be looking at in terms of responsiveness and feedback, tread design is VERY important. I got a chance to drive on both the new Bridgestone RE750 and the BFG KDW (new tread) back to back on a course. Both were 225/40r18 on 18" enkeis driving identical Lexus IS300s. The 750 and KDW both have very stiff sidewalls, but the difference in feedback between the two was night and day. The KDW gave much better feel of the road, it also had more overall grip, and was very progressive at the limit. Never discount tread design and rubber compound.

Whoever told you the ES100 actually outperforms the S-03 was smoking crack. Maybe they meant better due to the lower price? There are a ton of factors to look at in a tire and very rarely is one performance tire flat out "better" than others in all catagories.
The S-03 will outperform the ES100 in the rain and have more grip as it is worn. In terms of feedback I have never had the chance to drive them in identical setups so I won't comment there. The S-03 will tend to tramline more, but in the narrow widths we run it's not a huge issue.
Now does it's increased performance justify the cost? This is something for you to decide. Keep in mind how much of your driving is actually very agressive and how much is just driving miss daisy. If you don't get to actually drive your car hard frequently what is the point of spending more on a tire when it's higher handling limits are rarely used?

I personally just got 245/40r17 kumho MXs to replace the RE730s I currently have. I like what kumho has done with the tread design on these tires. One interesting feature is the rubber connecting the center rib to outer tread blocks. This should help reduce tread squirm significantly and give great straightline stability at speed (not that the S-O3 or ES100 are bad in this respect). Due to this Kumho was also able to get away with a softer sidewall which will be more compliant with irregularities in the road and help reduce tramlining. I have gotten a lot of good feedback from customers on this tire.
I chose it for my car because it has a rubber compound designed to take extremely high heat for a street tire and will allow me to run one tire for track days and the street. I can't fit four wheels and tires in my car because of the cage and I don't like the idea of driving on R compounds to tracks over 40 miles away
Hopefully in a week I'll have some real world feedback of these tires, I just have to finish my tranny.

 

[Ludachris]

Any word on Parada Spec-2? I've heard mixed feedback, and much of it was positive. I know the spec-1 was a completely different animal and wasn't very good. I don't care about the trendy look, I just want to know if they stick.

 

[NDgsx]

My co-worker has them on his GTI and is very happy with them, of course he went from some crappy no name Kmart type tires to the paradas though. I've never driven on them personally.