What tires for the daily?
 

So since we seem to spend most of our time in here talking about our dailies (Subarus); what tires do you guys run on your daily driver?

I'm talking mostly all season real daily driver tires that have good wear and low noise. I'm looking for something for my wife's 3 first (need to buy tires in like a week) and then something for the WRX down the road.

I've had 3 sets of Kuhmo Ecsta AST's because I'm cheap and I get a decent discount on those through work. Wear is good, and they're quiet. Grip decent, nothing too spectacular.

205/50R15 Direzza ZII on the Miata with a moderate alignment. Works fine for occasional track/daily.
235/45R17 Direzza ZII w/ OEM alignment on the WRX.

Had 195/50 Falken Ziex for a cheap tire daily duty, worked ok for spirited driving, now using 205/50 Nitto Neo Gen and so far I'm happy, but haven't taken the car on a spirited drive yet.

I absolutely LOVED the Kumho Ecsta 4Xs I put on my '05 GTO. I didn't have them for very long (maybe 1000 miles before I sold the car) but they rode great, they had excellent grip in wet and dry, and I paid less than $100 apiece for 245/45/17s.

I will buy those tires again.

Conti DWS

Whatever's cheapest and has reasonably good road-noise reviews.

What's your price range? Best in the biz is the Michelin AS/3. Conti DWS is great too, for a little less than the Michelin. If you want something cheap, the Kumho Ecsta 4X I mentioned before is excellent.

Just came in here to post this. Good all season that is quiet and has decent grip. Have them on my 335i.

I also have a set of Kumho ASX that are decent that I used to use on my Miata when it was a DD. They are a couple of years old and maybe they were replaced by the 4X?

For WRX, I'm willing to shell out up to like $200/tire probably, less is more but don't mind paying for quality.

For the wife's 3, I'm thinking more like $100-$130 range--it's just a commuter, but I want something decently quiet with good wear so I'm willing to pay for that... e.g., no $60 specials :P

Thanks for the help fellas your input is much appreciated. Thinking I might get the Azenis PT-722s for the wife mobile, they get good reviews for noise and wear. Wet traction is decent, but it doesn't rain much here in Sacramento so I'm okay with that.

The Ecsta 4X was consistently rated best performance all-season in its price class, and they're right in your range from Discount Tire.

What type of weather? Snow? Size? Im too lazy to look it up.

I run Bridgestone 760s on the Z28 and couldnt be happier, tire performs great and is quiet. When I wear them out Ill probably move to the S04s looking for a little more performance, If I go to a 315 setup Ill probably use the Kuhmo XS, or Nittos.

Weather here is mostly dry, some rain but we do go to Tahoe a lot to ski so snow/wet traction is important.

WRX is 225/45R17, 3 is 205/50R17.

turbofan did you ever drive the 4x in snow? Reviews online seem to say its suboptimal.

I never drove it in snow. I drove it in very very cold rain and it was very good. It's no snow tire but it's quite good. If snow is important to you though then it's probably not the best choice overall. I still think it's a super strong choice in its price bracket.

Choices I like for the 3 if it has to have some useability in the snow.
Conti DWS
BFG s/s a/s
Michelin A/S
Bridgestone Turanaze Serenity +
Bridgestone Ecopia.

If you really want something to be safe in the snow and ice, buy some real snow and ice winter tires. The highest rated units I've seen are the Nokian Hakkapalaetatasatas. Or however those Finns spell that shit. Their WRG2 I think is an all season tire that has gotten good reviews.

Else, the Conti DWS, BFG S/S A/S, Mich A/S3, Hankook s1 Noble2, Goodyear F1 Asymmetric. The Hankook is a good price and I've had no complaints from customers. I've really been pleased with Hankook's quality. They started selling an El Cheapo line called the HK Kingstars, and they are much better than the average El Cheapo.

RA1s in summer, Winterforces in winter.

The Cherokee gets Yoko Geolandar AT/S.

I threw on a set of these bad boys onto the fxt and was surprised at how well they handled
FORCEUM 225/45R17 94W HEXA | FORCEUM HEXA Tyre - OzzyTyres
used em year round no issues, they were good at everything, and only cost like 320 mounted and balanced at the local tire place.

Those tires would be beyond terrible in anything approaching snow.

They're pretty much a combined knockoff of the AST and old Parada Spec 2.

Yeah so I bought DWSs for both cars on Saturday, Discount Tire was having a $100 rebate thing on sets of four so I figured it was probably as good as it would get. Great tires so far, going to try and find some snow this weekend to try them out before my 30 trade thing is up but they've been great in rain and dry thus far.

Thanks guyths!

Now that the purchase is settled--a rant/hijack but DWS related, lol. I was upset today. Dropped two wheel/tires from my BMW off at the tire shop because I had nails in both of them. They fixed one but the other had a nail said was "too near the sidewall to fix". The tires have 10K on them. Told me I needed a new tire. I told them to mark the nail hole with a tire crayon and I'll stick a plug in it at home. He said "no problem, it should be fine, we just can't do it". Damn lawyers anyway.

OK, rant off.

This is actually why I go to Discount Tire/America's Tire Co primarily. My wife is a tire killer, like within five years of marriage she has destroyed 9 tires (hitting random rail road spikes, curbing them, etc.) and America's Tire Co has a no questions asked warranty. If they can't fix it, even if there's less than a 1/16th of usable tread left, I've had them give me a replacement tire with 0 hassle.

Sam, is that the standard warranty from ATC or an upsell/addon? Either way, I feel our wives may be somehow related :rofl: If the warranty is that good I may start shopping them for her tires.

My subaru is on shitty all seasons right now, but I'm looking to get some blizzaks for winter and some kind of dirt/gravel tires for summer. Not sure what kind yet though, probably whatever is cheap so I can tear them up.

Discount has shitty policies when it comes to tire repair. An independent shop will repair it if the sidewall cords aren't damaged. Any damage in the sidewall WILL damage cords. I'd tell the guy at the shop to take his time. When you slap patches in and rush them out the door the glue doesn't have time to cure, which causes them to fail when they're in high flex areas like the crowns. They also have to do a good job removing the inner liner, or the patch won't stick at all. Michelins are the worst for flat repairs, because the inner liner is so thin. It's really easy to damage a tire beyond repair while trying to fix it. I found out it was easier to use some rough sandpaper and do it by hand, rather than use the slow speed grinding stone designed for that very purpose.

Be careful with those snot plugs. They can rip out while you're driving, and give you quite a fucking scare. Sudden deflation through a 1/4" hole on a 270* on-ramp? Scary. You're also increasing the odds of a tread separation, because you're not plugging the hole in the tire, and air can leak between the plug and the inner liner to the area in between the belts. If you air up with humid air, you can even get rust in the steel belts which would accelerate the separation process. If you can't find an independent shop to patch it for you, see if you can slap on your spare and take the tire home off of the wheel. You can buy the stuff to do it yourself from nearly any auto shop. Make sure you get the patches that look like these.

Shitty note about Continental/General Tire. Any flat repair voids the manufacturer warranty, and the mileage warranty. Period.

There normal warranty is a prorated warranty, you have to purchase the free replacement certificates, but im pretty sure the policy is to only replace tires ABOVE 2/32nds, after that they are beyond their service life so it wouldnt make sense to replace one for free.

You are correct that continental says a repair voids the manufacturer warranty, but really manufacturer warranties are rarely even used, a true manu defect is normally caught at a very early stage (like during mounting or the first few days of driving) and the tire is likely to have never been repaired, the other part is the mileage warranty (if they have one), which on a well maintained good tire is also very rarely needed, most mileage problems st0.em from lack of maintenance, could be lack of rotations or mechanical problems like bad parts or a bad alignment, which also voids the warranty, it's not the tire's fault.

I used to work at a Continental dealer, and dealt with there warranty department a few times, and weather the tire was patched never came up, I told them the problem, and they gave me a PO, so I could bill them for part of the customers tires. Most reputable tire manufacturers want to take good care of the customers, should an issue arise. Research has shown a customer feels better about a company when they fix a problem in a positive way, than just a general good experience, and given my experience with tire manufacturers I'd bet they also know this.

Plugged it. It is holding air. Zero fucks given.

Warranty is extra (you buy replacement certificates per tire). Looks like other people in this thread have had issue with their warranties so maybe I've just had luck in dealing with cooler guys there? Every time I've gone in with a damaged tire they've given me a free replacement without any hassle and prorated the cost based on life left in the other tires if I wanted to replace any other ones at the time.

Granted, they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed (typically don't line up valve stem marks unless you ask etc.) but I'm willing to harass them a little about that stuff because they'll match anyone's printed price and I've had such good luck with their replacement warranty. There's also enough of them around that pretty much anywhere you go on a trip or whatever if something happens you're covered.

Just bought some Dunlop Direzza 101 (not starspec) for my DD mazda 3. We shall see how I like them.

I love having the Shreveport tire rack warehouse right across the state line. Ordered Thursday morning, tires at my front door in Houston by 2pm Friday.

DZ101's? Ah. I hated them on my GTO, but perhaps you will have a better experience.