Time for tires . . .

The V is in needs of new shoes. It came with Nexen 3000 tires (245/45/18) on there and they were pretty meh.

Trying not to spend anymore that $150/tire . . .

Suggestions for a decent DD tire?

Summer or all-season?

I'm on the hunt for summers for the WRX for after the winter, so I'm looking now too.

CS5 ultra touring if not using for auto-x/track use

All-seasons would be fine . .. Or that middle category . . . High performance all season.

Weird. I'm shopping for tires for the V as well (Not that weird I suppose. I go through rears quickly for some reason )

Here's what I'm coming up with:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?skipOver=true&performance=ALL&width=245%2F&ratio=45&diameter=18

Kumho ku22 are quite a nice budget all season. The ku31 is also pretty good though more of a summer tyre.

I was thinking about going back to Kumho SPTs like I had on my M3. They were pretty good. The General G-Max look to decend from the first view . . .

I may put all the names in the hat and dump it down the stairs. First one I grab would be the winner.

That's a pretty restrictive price range for that size. I have the Kumho Ecsta 4X on my Mazda2. Good tire for that car, but I wouldn't want it on a high hp RWD sports sedan. Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval AS is only $127 each and looks decent. No personal experience with it, but if I were shopping that size with a $150 price limit, that's probably what I'd go with.

Online tires has the Riken Raptor ZR in that size for $136.

I've been happy with them so far on a heavy car and their rain traction is excellent.

Do you have to worry about snow? If not, don't burden the V with All-season tires which compromise to the lowest denominator and excel at nothing but mileage. Poopshovel's search he listed above is for Max Performance tires, which is what any driving enthusiast should be looking at for DD duty on a performance oriented car. You go with Max Performance Summer tire category for 3 season driving capability because of two main reasons: (1) The best wet weather tires available are ones in that category and (2) for dry grip they have what it takes for performance cars yet are not super sticky like dry grip/track orientated Extreme Performance category. Cheap All-Season tires on a very high performance sedan is frankly not a good idea...you'd be making the car less capable than it came stock. The compromise you make is less tire life with a softer compound...but it's more than worth it.

For ~$150 a tire in 245/45-18 size I'd go with the Kumho Ecsta Sport LE's...phenominal wet weather tire (best wet weather tire I've ever driven on - today was very wet and cold and I had fun blasting down the tollway in my FR-S on them at very high rates of speed with standing water everywhere, all with extreme stability and zero lack of traction at any time) and dry handling that is excellent as well. They also do much better in handling colder weather than Extreme performance category tires like the Ecsta XS. The Michelin Primacy HP's that came stock on the FR-S were a good daily driver tire except for wet weather performance - had an unsettled feeling when driving hard in the wet. The Ecsta Sport LE's have no such issue, they inspire absolute confidence no matter the speed or weather condition and are better in all areas of performance - especially when in wet weather. They may wear quicker than normal on a big heavy powerful sedan than a lightweight sportscar though...

I put a set of Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring's on the Grand Prix GT in July when they first came out. We have a little over 5K miles on them now and I have nothing but nice things to say about them. They grip fantastic for a non-AX tire, would make supreme rain tires for racing, and ride really well. I was going to try the General's on the Saturn, but I'll probably just put CS5's on it to know I'll be happy.

More options.

I'm running Toyo Extensa's on the FX16. They channel water very well. They handle okay in the wet and dry. However, the stopping response in wet leaves much to be desired (plan ahead).

Tread Depot

I've been really happy with the Goodyear Eagle GT's (?) - (I think - I'll check later,) Excellent grip in wet and dry, big blocky thread, got em on closeout for under $150, but I think they were in closeout because they're discontinued. I've found some on ebay, but am leery of buying due to other GRM'ers horror stories.

Sumitomo HTR ZIII http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=149 Road racers love 'em.

DO NOT GET FRICKIN' NO-SEASON TIRES!

I have a set of Maxxis Victra MA-Z4S on the 5. They were dirt cheap (I paid $350 out the door for all the tires uninstalled). Good grip in the dry, wet, quiet and decent in snow also.

I've been running p-zero rossos on the is(s) because they're dirt cheap and handle abuse well. I run 225/45/17s and they're like $83ea from the rack. They're a little lumpy feeling in the morning till they get a little temperature in em, but that's the only downside.

I really really like the Continental Extremecontact DW that I have on the Z4M. Great in the wet, stickier in the dry than I can use on the street, and they held up to an AutoX very well. They seem like they are wearing very well too.

Thanks for the info on the Kumho's Vracer. I was actually looking at those for the MR2. I had a set of XS's before and they were scary in the cold (near freezing) weather on a miata. It was shying me away from looking at that tire.

I would also go with the Continental ExtremeContact DW tire, the best tire in the rain, and excellent in the dry. It's really good on auto-x course, but probably not fast enough to win. I would also go with the G-force Sport Comp 2.

I'm nearing the end of a set of Kumho SPTs on my mustang. 255/50/18s They've been acceptable. Better initial grip than the Fuzion ZRis I used to run and seem to last about the same miles without becoming quite as hard at the end of the life span, but unlike the Fuzions they are really squeally at the traction limit. I find that annoying. Seem to tramline a bit more too, but that may be poor alignment currently.

Another vote for Conti DW here as well.

Continental ExtremeContact DW from the local tire dude for $830 OTD . . .

I am really happy with the used set of 205/55R16 Michelin Primacy MXV4 Grand Touring All-Season tires I got for my STX/DSP 325i last year. Great everyday/highway tires. Kinda expensive new. I just bought newish ones (DOT date) with reasonable wear.

Pretty much all the summer performance tires wear too quickly with the possible exception of the Michelin Pilot Super Sports ($$$). I've bought Kumho SPTs and Sumitomo HTR ZIIIs--both good tires. I also have DWSes on our minivan. My idea when I got those is they might be okay for winter, which they are not. The MXV4s seem a lot better dailys than the DWSes.

I don't think I am going to be buying performance summer tires again except for dedicated autocross use. I am also never going to use all-seasons in winter either. It seem like a grand touring summer could be really good (like those Michelin Primacy HPs that come stock on BRZs which pundits complained about.)

Great for low cost Daily driver is Autogrip P308 they run $69 in 225/45/18 no idea how well they autocross etc. but they handle rain great.

+1 for Kumho SPT (Ku31). Great summer street tire.