I've come to the conclusion that the ADVAN's can't be beat by any other tire I've researched (other than maybe the "longevity" category). But in the stock 235/45-17 size anybody have an opinion on better shoes?

 

Yea...advans A048 or 49's .

 

Can't be beat... based on what measure of performance?

I've run two other tires in the stock 235/45R17 size on the street. Both of them are in some way "better" than the A046 tires.

Dunlop Winter Sport M2 are much better tires in snow or ice.

Toyo RA-1 have better grip in the dry, although they don't seem to last as long as the A046.

 

Brigestone Potenza SO3
GoodYear F1 GS-D3......these may not be as good on dry(comes close), but you cant beat these in braking and on wet

 

if $$$ is not a problem.....you should have many choice:

Advan 048, Advan Neova AD-07,

Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R
http://www.potenza.jp/index_sd.html

Toyo RA1

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup

 

The Goodyear GS-D3, Michelin Pilot Sport PS-2, and Bridgestone S-03 would be my top 3 picks. It is hard to beat the Advan though!

 

Track star shoes...
AD048 Super soft compund... but be prepared to watch them melt off quick...

 

If you don't mind wearing out tires, try the Toyo RA-1s.

I've been running RA-1s for my track tires all summer. They have more grip than the Advans did, but you have to be driving REALLY hard figure that out. They also don't heat up and get greasy like the Advans did after 10 to 15 minutes on the track. For an R compound they seem to last quite a while, too. Once they wear a bit avoid the rain, though.

My goal was to get an entire season out of my RA-1s as track tires. They'll manage that, but just barely. By the time they are done I'll have about 5k in road miles plus several track days. If I had bought them "unshaved" I could probably have managed 10k to 14k in street miles without track days. My original Advans lasted about 18K with several track days.

 

In the wet the Toyo t1-s is hard to beat it realy grips even through puddles of water with out slipping under full boost very good under braking in the wet compared to the A046 but you give up dry performance braking and grip . I want to try the toyo ra-1. but so far the ao46 is the best dry tire I have driven.

 

The RA1s definitely do heat up when pushed... But from my experience with them, they don't "go off" as they heat up -- they still grip really really well even when really really hot. You do need to watch the tire pressures, though -- even the best rubber compound can't keep the psi from creeping up as the carcass temperature increases, and over about 42psi the tires will start to lose grip.

And I'll second the recommendation to avoid driving on worn RA1s in the rain. On a fairly empty interstate in a downpour, my worn RA1s started hydroplaning at around 55 mph.

 

Money no object, performance = dry weather grip I assume?

Bridgestone RE070

Then you have a bunch of semi-slicks like Advan A048, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup, Dunlop slicks (I forgot the name sorry), Hoosiers, etc. etc. PLENTY of choice IMHO.

 

how about the falken azenis tires? are they up to par with the stock advan tires we have?.. i heard a lot of evo owners are using them.

 

the azenis are better and far cheaper. size availability is a problem though... 245/45-17 or 225/45-17 are your choices. I'd pick 225/45-17 and lower the **** out of the car.

instead of a 235/45-17 my choice would a 245/40-17 BFG KD though.

 

So much for the short form! jbrennen is right, they do heat up but stay sticky. The problem I was running into with the stock Advans was that they lost grip when they became very hot.

I'm debating between a set of unshaved RA-1s for a summer tire and another set of Advans. If I use the RA-1s, I can track them when they wear down past being street safe, but they won't last quite as long as a set of Advans. I'm also not sure how good a set of full depth RA-1s would be in the rain compared to the Advans.

 

I too am trying to make the decison of advans vs. toyo ra-1s for summer tires. Can anyone contrast the wet performance of the advans vs. the ra-1s? On this review (not sure if they were worn or not), it seemed like they were not great:

http://www.mach1review.com/D.O.T.Com...resReview.html


Also, what extra precautions would be needed for winter storage (a likely possibility as I don't put a lot of mileage on my car and basically store it for the winter), such as not storing them in below freezing temperatures/deflating them in the winter. What's the lowest temperature that's safe to drive them (I think its 40 degrees for the advans)?

Finally, I assume ra-1s are considered "race tires" and advans are not for track days and you'll pass tech inspection when you are in no man's land between the minimum tread for the event (such as 5/32") and when the tires need to be replaced on the street (2/32").