i was looking at 285/30/18's..or 295's.. but nothing taller than the 30's bc of clearance issues. ***just purchased some new karlton flares and a new set of wheels for my 05, 18x10.5"+15. *i live in GA, about an hr southeast of atlanta, so it rains alot and still pretty warm, not much snow here in winter, but it might happen. GA weather is pretty unpredictable.lol i use to run TOYO Proxes 4 on my old set of wheels (300 tread). i do no track days nor drag racing. mostly 75% city / 25% hwy but i go to the Tail of the Dragon about 2-3times a year. At first i was either looking at the: -Hankook VENTUS V12 EVO K110 (280 tread) $206 /$177 -Continental ExtremeContact DWS (540 tread) $224 because ^those are around my price range and tread wear, but then i noticed and found other tires, i might be interested in. -Sumitomo HTRZ lll (300 tread) $143 -Continental EXTREMECONTACT DW 93Y BSW (340 tread) $263 -Federal 595 EVO (240 tread..kinda too low than i wanted) $108 -Bridgestone Potenza S-04 (280 tread) $256 -Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus (500) $360 has anybody had good/bad feed back?... any help/insight is appreciated or if youre running wide wheels and karltons which tire did you go with?
The HTRZ iii's are your best bang for buck. The dw and the s04's are the top performers of the group with a price premium. I would skip the k112's, they are a good tire and directly compete with the HTRZ iii's, but according to tire rack tests get out out paced by the sumi while costing more.
For all seasons, the continentals are great. I've had them on two cars. Wouldn't consider them a performance tire, but they'd make a great winter/non-performance tire.
I agree with Jake, I ran the dws's on my 18s a while back, great dd/winter trip tire. But like I said the sidewall is soft, so they flexed a lot and thus had a vague steering feel, and also didn't hold up too well tooling around in the GA mountains, and I'm one of the slower guys up there. However, since you suggest you are mostly cruising, daily-ing the car, maybe the dws will be fine, or the sportier dw. I just have no experience with the dw. I have heard good reviews on the S-04's also, they were on a pretty big sale last month in your desired fitment, and it looks like its over, so thats sorta a bummer. I still stand that the ventus v12's are mediocre, I vaguely recall a lot of mixed thoughts on them on iwsti and nasioc, but maybe I'm wrong. If you go 295, you are left with extreme/max summers, and r-comps. Highest wear rating is then mid 200s from what I recall a few weeks ago. All in all, I think you should make a call as to whether you want a high performance all season or a max/extreme summer, as you have listed several from both areas, and it makes it tough for us to help you narrow it down.
I never had a problem with the DW in any wet conditions (RWD) I.M.O they actually have better wet performance than most All seasons. The downside being loss in snow performance. They do fit a little wider than others so fitment may be different depending on your wheels. Sidewalls are nice and stiff too! they are a little cheaper than the Michelin PSS :clap: Of all the tires ive seen on performance vehicles, i think the Michelin PSS and Extreme Contact DW/ContiSportContact are a very good middle ground between All seasons and R comps Edit: i see the DW on the list now haha
I had the Dws on my old Wrx. The one thing I can say about them them is, I don't remember having any tire noise from them. I did get to drive on them in the snow back in 2010 and they did get me home with a bit of fun.
thank you everybody, for actually helping and good insight and great advice from a couple of the posts.. im not sure why nasioc is filled with so many trolls, who just wanna talk down and post abunch of BS, saying stuff like one scooby guru said "idiot buyer, buying some idiot wheels and now tires"... why even post if youre gonna talk negative and etc. i mean if youve been in the subaru enthusiast for years, im pretty sure youve had a fare share of tires. and why not just help others out. smh, i will never understand nasioc's admins who let stuff like that occur
hey no worries, there is a lot of knowledge amongst the members here, I've only been around a few years, and have learned a whole lot from other members. For your end goal, tire choice is tricky as I had the same problem as you since we're both doing flares. Since, I'm not needing my sti as a primary car, I went full summers and ended up with yokohama ad08 R's. However, those fall out of your needs and are pretty known for not lasting long at all
I would have to say one of the best things about WRXAtlanta is that we very rarely shout anyone down. I've run Yokohama S-Drives and the Ventus EVO's and between the two I'd rather have the EVO's. That being said if you can get PSS's do that. Never heard a bad word about them.