I guess if your running -6 camber and wearing out the sidewalls rolling from parking lot to parking lot, the cheapest tires available make sense. Garbage.

 

You seem to have a real chip on your shoulder about these tires. I'm curious as to why you come to such a negative conclusion here when most everyone else who has used these on the S2000 seems happy with them.

The right tool for the right job, IMO. You wouldn't use these to autocross with the same way you wouldn't buy Hoosiers to drive to work on. I don't see what the big deal is.

 

Because they are a totally inferior constructed tire. They are fine for a Toyota corolla. But the S demands a stiff sidewall tire to handle properly and be safe. They were fitted with some of the stiffest constructed sidewall tires on the market right from the factory for a reason. The suspensions and set up of the car was built around a tire that doesn’t fold over under spirited driving and wont flex to such an amount under normal driving that causes overseer. A single ply sidewall like the v12 isnt even considered a decent handling tire, it’s unsafe on our car. Pull one off the shelf sometime and feel how flimsy they are and then grab any performance max or extreme summer dual ply sidewall tire and feel the huge difference. That difference translates directly to the road and how the car behaves in maneuvering. I tried a prox 4 single ply sidewall tire years ago before I new better (was looking for cheap and available) Just changing lanes at highway speed was a white knuckle experience. It felt like the rear end wanted to come around on me, swaying back and forth. I returned those pos the next day needless to say. The way I figure the v12 are popular is because they are cheap and the guys buying them just cruise their cars so they don’t know any different. There are other tires that are constructed right for our car which are the same price point as mentioned before, so it doesn’t make any sense why these would be chosen over those, except if people just didn’t know any better. Nothing annoys me more then blatant ignorance. Cant afford proper tires, you shouldnt have bought a car that comes with them. Sorry

 

Here is the Federal 595. Much better performing tire option for you guys that are on the cheap.

http://www.frsport.com/Federal-14BK7...1V_p_2165.html

 

^ Junky, what's your opinion on the Sumitomo HTR Z3?

 

My friend had these for some time, his impression coming from the oem re50 was they gripped pretty good, a bit softer in the sidewall then he would have liked but they were comfortable and they lasted forever. I think its a better option then the v12 for sure, but driven on the 595 in this category myself, I think for the money those tires do everything a little better.

 

Tirerack is the best place to go to learn about these or any other tire, I've yet to read anything objective in this thread.

For my part, I can give you my experience with these tires. They do take time to break in, they are a little on the soft side, but I put that down to tread design more than the sidewall, most of the flexing seems to disappear after a few hundred miles. They seem to start off extremely quietly too, but get louder early on, again I put this down to tread design.

They are good in wet conditions, and clear plenty of standing water. They are not bad on track either, I've shown plenty of S2000s the way round on these tires, the others wearing the usual stuff, oem bridgestones, yoko advan sports, falken 452s...They are not dangerous or unsafe, what a rediculous comment. This is my opinion of course , take it for what it's worth, I've tried to be as objective as possible.

 

The tires in question ARE Max Performance Summer Tires. They ARE two-ply. The Proxes 4 is an Ultra Performance All-Season tire. It isn't even in the same class as these tires. If you're driving over the limit of a tire like this on the street, you shouldn't have a license.

Also, how can you judge others for buying reasonably priced tires and then suggest a tire in the same price range/class?

 

I just bought a set of V12s. The tire rack reviews were not bad. The test results were not bad. In FL the rain can come down like a river, so the OEM S02s were a no go. The heat means no all season tire needed. I hit redline every trip out, and tail out round 90 degree turns when traffic is absent frequently. Florida is flat and rarely do we have turns that are not 90 degrees. The roads are a bit dull, but great for cruising top down.

$220 OEM vs $68 for the V12s. Even the DWs were $110/ea. +60% more. If they are as sh!tty and flimsy as you claim, then I'll burn them up on the road and try another brand next time.

There certainly always seems to be a holier than though mentality when it comes to not buying the most expensive parts for your car on forums. To each his own.

I'm not brand loyal... yoko, falken, pirelli, bridgestone, michelin, hankook, etc... each tire has its own characteristics, but I'd say I've never had one that was objectively unacceptable. Maybe i'm just easy to please and softcore. LOL

 

Irony