What tire brand do you currently have on your 6? Sorry if I missed any other brands. Just tell us what you have anyway.

This is gonna be interesting! I can't believe I didn't think to do this!

TOYO!!!

well...Toyo on the new 18's
Falkens on the stock 17's

nice poll idea. that'd be cool if this was a permanent poll.

mishitlins for me!

Kumho KH18 in the factory 16" size, not once has the traction light come on during hard driving in the rain (I leave TCS on when its raining), whereas it came on all the time with the shitty stock Michellins.

Would be a nice sticky.

I'll make the thread all sticky.

Michelin! People keep telling me those tires are very expensive!

They are. And they suck. Well I didn't think they handle well to have that name.

so.... is toyo proxes4 is good for all-season or something else for all season..... i dont have the dough to spend on tires... but i want to get ALL AROUND... any suggestions?

Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S for the win.

Toyo Proxes4 will do the trick for Ultra High Performance for all-seasons.

should have made this an "if you have non-stock tires" vote

What if you have multiple tires???

I got a set of kumho's and michelin's

Falken Ziex 512

Well I think you need to get 4 tires that match.

Falken Ziex 512 225/40/18

love em!

Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 225/45-17. A great all around performance tire.

Yokohama Avid V4 I think they're called. I'm sure about the Yoko Avid, but it might be S4 or something like that. It's raining right now

parada spec II

yokos

I have some most havnt heard of yet. They are called (Wanli) 225 40 R18. I had Toyos but I sold them. I like these much better. Look at my profile then click on my car domain page if you wan to see them. Nothing too special just different.

Toyo Proxes 4 225/40/18

Great tires. I love them.

Ditto.

I do. One is summer tires one is all-crappy-season.

Mishitlins here too!

BF Goodrich g-force sports for me.

Yokohama EV 100 tires

They rock, but they are a bit pricey at 141 bucks each.

I have a set of tires you havent list on you Poll!

COOPER TIRES> sponsor!

TOYO PROXES 4 for the win!!

Yokohama AVS ES100 on factory 17" wheels. Much harder to spin the tires than the stock Michelins. With stock sways / springs / dampers it still understeers like crazy though. We'll see how they do once I get my RB sways installed...

In Stock Rims 16x7. Bridgestone Turanza ER30 205/55 91V

Then change my rims to SSR GT1 17x7,5. Toyo Proxes T1S 225/45ZR 94W

Actually I am running with Toyo T1R 225/45ZR 94Y in the front and
Hankook K-104 225/45ZR 94Y in the rear

Yoks-ES-100 on the wagon

Bridgestone-SO-2A's on the hatch

BFGoodrich 235/35 19 g-Force T/A KDW Tires

Just bought Fuzion ZRi(s) for $91 each at tirerack.com. So far the difference is night and day compared to those HORRIBLE stock Michelins. Better braking, no squalling, VERY grippy, less understeer, strong sidewalls (very little "bulge" and no rolling even at a 35psi inflation rate--max pressure is 55psi!). Going to the race track this Saturday to give them a *real* test. WOO HOO!!!

I have some Goodyear Eagle LS on there now. They were ok, but wore out now.

In a couple weeks I am replacing them with Bridgestone Turanza LS-H tires. They are priced at $150 a tire at local tire shops, I talked them down at $112.25 a tire, which was cheaper then what tirerack.com had them listed for.

I'll let you know how I like them. They better be worth it.

Toyo T1-R's 215/47-17

i'm the only dunlop guy


sp sport maxx

where the hell is NITTO?

Sorry I forgot about that one. Can't seem to edit the damn poll on this forum.

They are probably H-rated. Really crappy if you do any spirited driving IMO...oh wait you already have GY LS's...nevermind, you already know . I had Dunlop W-10's V rated on another car in 205/50/16 and then switched to Firehawk gta's in H-rated.....almost killed myself driving they were so night and day. I suggest the LS-V's...check them out instead.

i have fuzion hris got them for 94 a tire installed

I currently own Michelins, a set of Bridgestones, a set of Toyos, and a set of Falkens. I've had two different sets on this week. The tires I currently have mounted are not the ones I wish I had mounted. Which do I choose?

Not to be the downer, but I honestly don't see the usefullness of this thread. Michelin makes some great tires, and they make some crappy ones. Most companies do.

One thing that's clear is how much influence ToyoGuy has had here. Holy crap! Well, good for ToyoGuy, I guess. I didn't realize so many people were buying Toyo tires!

Toyo does make decent tires, but I definately prefer Falken Ziex 512's to Proxes4's (if you want a four season tire) and Azenis (and FK-451's) to Toyo T1-R's (if you want a three season tire). Falken, thus, is currently my favorite tire company. Hankook seems to have some nice values out there, and I may try the Z212's next year. The Goodyear GDS3 is also supposed to be wonderful.

I do like the durability Toyo's RA1's, but I think I'm the only person running those. I hear Kumho V710's are The Thing To Have now, as they grip like Hoosiers but last far longer. RA1's last a while, but don't grip anywhere near Hoosiers.

Actually, I think this is very informative. It certainly shows what brands people prefer when replacing their stock Michelins. I would think most people that have voted that they have Michelins are people that still have the original tires.



I appreciate the compliment, but I only wish that were true! Many people on this board were running Toyos long before I got here. Remember, I've only been on this board about a year.



Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and more serious drivers may have preferences outside the mainstream as some tires' personalities suit their driving styles better. However, Toyo Tires have been rated #1 in product quality for 9 years in a row by tire dealers themselves. This is compiled by Tire Review magazine, an industry trade publication. Toyo T1-S tires were used as the spec race tire for a couple of seasons for the Speed World Challenge Series! Vehicles equipped with Toyo Tires have won many magazine handling tests over the years. The Toyo Open Country M410 light truck tire was rated #1 in Consumer Reports in 2002. To call Toyo a "decent" tire is a backhanded compliment at best.

Not to knock Falken (as I think they make a pretty good tire), but they're not even ranked on the list (and there's 14 brands on the list, including Kumho, Hankook and brands you might not know like Dayton, Mastercraft and Sumitomo). Obviously, Falken is not on the radar screens of the consumer or most tire dealers. That's not to say they are not a good tire, but if there was huge demand for Falken, most dealers would have it. Quite frankly, Yokohama would be my second preferred brand, as I like their tires, too. Especially the new Advan series.



This is true, but the RA-1 is not a direct competitor to the Hoosier. Although they are both race tires, the Hoosier is designed for all out grip at the expense of treadlife (you're lucky to get two race weekends out of them) while the RA-1s offer a balance of grip and treadlife. It was designed to be a spec tire for several race series (Spec Miata, Spec RX-7, Speed World Challenge, etc). Competitors can easily get a full season out of a set of RA-1s. It depends on the race series you are competing in and your tire budget as to whether the RA-1 or a tire like the Hoosier would make more sense for you.

Since ToyoGuy likes me to elaborate on everything, heregoes:

For the record, I do like and recommend Toyo tires. They are among the best in the business. I still find these results surprising because three times more people are buying Toyos than the next highest non-stock tire company. Certainly Toyos are good, but I don't think they're universally the best, and they're certainly not the easiest to find!

I think the Proxes4's are a higher performance tire than the Falken Ziex 512's, but only by a very small margin. I like the 512's better because they are quieter and perform better (though not well) in the snow, and that makes them a better tire for the typical "all season" audience. I have not tried the Toyo TPT, but as it is marketed as a touring tire, I suspect it will not have the grip of the 512's (or the Proxes4). The tread widths looks small for a given tire size, too. The Proxes4 would make a great 3-season long-life tire because it is comfortable, but the droning hum prevents me from recommending them for that, too. It's minor, I'll admit, but it's there.

I thus consider the Proxes4, which I think most people here run, is a 3-season tire for those who need long tread life, don't race, and have aftermarket exhausts or always play loud music. That's a very specific audience. The reason the results of this survey surprise me is because I would expect the Falken Ziex 512 to have a much wider appeal.

The other popular Toyo tire, the T1-R, is frustrating. Crossbow is in the midst of selling his. Neither he nor I like them as a performance tire. They squeal easily and early, even now after many thousands of miles and track events with which to wear the tread down. Other summer tires I've had don't make a sound unless you drive really stupidly on them, something I value in a street tire. I don't like people to notice me when the tail slips out or the inside wheel starts spinning. I can't speak much for the T1-R's limits, but Crossbow says they're somewhat disappointing. This doesn't exactly make sense because the T1-S was very impressive.

Crossbow suspects this is from mounting wide 245's on 'skinny' 8" wide wheels, whereas he used to have 225's on the same width. I'd argue that this size would be a good fit with a stiff enough sidewall (it works for me, along with many others), so perhaps the problem is that the T1-R's have too soft of a sidewall. That's only speculation. Crossbow has played with tire pressures. Do people running 225's on 7" wide wheels have the same problem? In any event, while I haven't tried all the high performance summer tires, I'm disappointed enough in the T1-R to say that there is a better choice out there for the enthusiast, whatever it is. Again, I'm not sure where the market is for this tire such that three times more people are buying Toyos than any other brand.

For balls-out performance, there is nothing better than the Falken Azenis RT-615. That's going to be just a niche group. For something less raw, the Hankook Z212, Goodyear GDS3, and Falken FK-451 all seem to be great choices. I'm sure there are others, too. Especially for the price, there is no way I'd ever consider the T1-R over the Z212. Being that Goodyear, Hankook, and Falken all seem to be easier to find (is that just me?), how'd everyone get Toyos? Tireswap.com?

I mentioned the RA-1 in reference to Hoosier not because they're competitors, but because the Kumho V710 offers the best of both worlds. It looks like I'll get two seasons of racing out of RA-1's, the same as many are getting out of V710's. However, the V710's are much faster (and a little cheaper).

I'm sure you'll take the final word. I don't really care what people buy; I'm just surprised. I guess a year ago I recommended Toyos to everybody, just like everyone else did then. Perhaps everyone owns them from back then. Ultimately, I was disappointed with both new offerings (the Proxes4 and T1-R), but I expected them to surpass everything on the market when they "only" matched it.

Where did I ask you to elaborate?



Based on some of your recent posts, I hadn't gotten that impression.

I don't need to have the last word, as you say, but I'd like to address some of your comments.

Regarding the T1R and crossbow's experience, you nailed it on the head. IIRC, he has 245/40R17 on 17x8. While 8 inch wheels certainly aren't skinny, they are the narrowest wheel you can put that size on. If you want to maximize a certain size's handling capabilities, you should mount it on the widest wheel that size will accept, not the narrowest. This surely must be a contributing factor to yours/crossbow's frustration.

My own personal experience on T1Rs has been somewhat different. Although I have not put my car on a track, I have pushed them pretty damn hard on public highways and have yet to be able to get them to squeal. I will admit that when I first had the T1Rs installed, I was a bit disappointed with them. Turn-in response was not as sharp as I like. Now that I have over 22,000 miles on them, I find that turn-in response is improved.

Cornering grip is very impressive, but the T1Rs don't "talk" to you as much as I like. That is, the feedback from the steering is slightly disconnected from what the tires are doing. In my experience, there are VERY FEW tires short of race tires that can do this (to the level I like). One was the Yokohama A520. The tradeoff, though, was that the tires had an extremely firm ride and got very noisy after 20,000 miles.

As sports coupes and sedans get more sophisticated, as much priority gets placed on ride comfort and low noise as does cornering ability. The T1R is not a racing tire, but it is more than capable for aggressive highway driving for 99% of drivers. Certainly, I think the T1R is more capable than the Mazda6 stock suspension. Most drivers will not exceed the T1Rs limits on the street. Additionally, the T1R delivers an unbelievably smooth and quiet ride, even after 20,000 miles that I don't think is matched by any other low profile tire on the market. If it's a race tire you want, then perhaps the Falken is the better choice. I just don't think that's what most consumers want. Our goal is to give the market what it demands.

Regarding Toyo availability, even if Toyos are hard to find, it speaks volumes about consumer perception of Toyo that people will go out of their way to obtain them.

You don't need to say it, by now I know you always like me to elaborate!


Well, yeah, that's what we were thinking- except we've had 225/45/17's on 17x7's that behaved much better, and that's a similar situation. I know sidewall stiffness is a ride quality trade-off, but I don't think running the minimum spec wheel would be as much an issue if the sidewall were stiffer. I suspect that Toyo's newest tires are optimized for lower profile configurations (just look at how the tire sizes have changed), thus they went with a softer sidewall design. I say this because the T1-S on 17x7's wasn't this noisy.

Too bad tires are so expensive. I'd love to put 225's on his front tires to see if the car over/understeer more/less. I think part of the problem also is that Crossbow desperately needs a huge rear sway bar, softer front springs, or firmer rear springs. The car understeers a lot.

To create a similar experiment to learn from, I offered to swap my tires around (I have 245's and 225's both on 8" wide wheels) to see what happens, but being RA1's I think it'll be a whole different bag 'o beans. The sidewalls are way firmer than street tires and don't deform much at all.

Just to add something though...

I apparently have the same setup as stretch on the reverse stagger - 245F, 225R on BFG R1. I, unlike stretch, do NOT like the setup, and will end up getting 225's all around once the 245 have worn out. I have always raced in a circuit/track environment and I'm very used to a neutral balanced setup... I'm getting quite a bit too much oversteer for my tastes, considering I don't even have the sways yet.. My car will go into drift mode and end up going sideways on occasion. Mazda6sMtx has rode with me a couple of times and can attest to that.

Just my .02

i'm still so amazed at how some of you guys can put so much into your posts. i didnt even type that much for school essays. as a matter of fact, this is getting quite long so i'll cut it short.

Those 2 guys must have been English majors.

The only "expertise" I got is my Ziex 512 are wearing out faster than a bad suit. I got about 6k on them and the sides are fading fast. Never had a tire look so bad after 6k. The performance of the tire is excellent no question there.

I really dont think I will get more than 25k out of these 512s.