My vote also goes for the Falken Azeni RT-615 255/40-17 on stock-sized rims. It bothers me when people suggest these other cheap tires and claim that they perform well without actually testing them in a race situation. When I put on my RT-615s, I could tell they were better than the Blizzak's that I had been running all Winter, but I couldn't remember if they were comparable to my original Advans. Combine that with the fact that I never push it on the street like I do when racing, and I wasn't really able to give a good review. All I knew was that the RT-615s were nice and wide, very cheap, and looked cool. They also did well at the drag strip, but hell, you can do well at the drag strip on all-seasons, so that didn't tell me much.

So, that's why I decided to try out my RT-615s at the road course this last weekend instead of using my race tires (Kumho V710). The results can be seen in the Motorsports section. I have an in-car vid and a write-up, but to cut to the chase, I was able to put down the fastest lap in HPDE3 (faster than 3 Z06s on race tires), and the 4th fastest lap overall behind 2 race cars and one Time Trial Unlimited Z06 that had to go 6 sessions before finally surpassing my best lap from session 1. I didn't get to do more than 2 sessions, because I had a brake pad failure, but it's likely I would have improved through the weekend and gotten an even lower time. Still, 4th overall fastest lap of any car in any class while on these street tires tells me they grip pretty well, especially since I still have the stock suspension.

 

kumho 711 are the way to go. been great wet and dry, and are holding their own very well on the autox course as well.

 

I'll put in a vote for the RT-615's, once they have a few hundred miles on them they stick great and break away predictably. The stock Advans are a better tire but not by much.

 

I see you got the new IS350, how do you like it performance wise? I like the shape of my IS300 but the performance of the 350 is comparable to the evo that I have also. btw, thanks for the input on the Bridgestone Duelers A/T revos that you suggested for my pilot. it held up well during our snow and ice episode here in the south plus it looks mean . when the time comes to replace the tire of the evo, I will stick to the advans A046 and replace my Bridgestone Potenza RE011 of my IS to the advan neovas.

 

Yeah and what else is cool about these tires is I have 2 HPDE days and over 15,000 street miles on them, and they still have 4/32" left (out of 8/32" new). Although I can tell the either compound below 4/32" isn't quite as grippy, or maybe I've heat-cycled them too many times. Regardless, I don't think you can't ask for more from a street tire.

 

I've tried a half dozen 150-180$ tires and now I'm running Kumho Ecsta MX.. I'll probably stick with these.. good grip and they are half the cost of Advans.

 

Advantas
I love them.



.

 

Good grip, not so good turn-in with the 17's. It's like when you want to do a quick lane change...you turn...wait 0.5 seconds...front turns...wait 0.5 seconds more...back turns...turn straight...wait 0.5 seconds more...front finishes turn...wait 0.5 seconds more...back wiggles back into going straight. Also, if you activate your ABS it is pulsing faster than the sidewalls can react to so you basically have wheel lockup instead of ABS effect...

At least that's my experience. Although I will say I plan on getting these in 265/35/18 where the sidewall should not make much of a difference.

I would say in 17" the MX's bad properties outweigh the price benefit of a tire like the RT-615, but in 18" I'm hoping the opposite is true....since in that size the MX is like $180 and the RT-615 is like $245...ouch!

 

these tires are unbelievably horrible for anything evo-related, at least get the 712s

 

The what

 

Just saying that I'm happy with the stock tires.




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Agreed. For price I was willing to compromise... although the sidewall does feel stiffer than the Michelin PS2's... I run a few psi extra in each tire to attempt to compensate. I looked at the RT-615 but I needed something better suited for rain... we get plenty of it here.

BTW I got stock size but I'm probably going to move to a 8.5" rim... I'll go with something with a lil less sidewall/and wider this time

 

Oh, Advans I wasn't sure what "Advantas" tires were...probably because they don't exist...

 

Stock Advans have an overall diameter of 25.3" If you go lower profile on 17's it will mess with your gearing. It's good to shoot for the same overall diameter, and if you want thinner sidewalls just increase the wheel diameter while keeping the tire diameter the same.

 

I agree with you Machron that the BF Goodrich KDW's can't compare with the KD's but if you're on a budget, like scb1999 that started this thread, then the KDW's are a good tire for the money. I doubt if you're on a budget then you can afford to buy a new set of tires when the season changes.

Maybe I'm just a little partial because I'm running the KDW new tread's and I think they handle very well for the money

BTW, you in Beaverton much? Maybe I've seen you around...