TalkingPie

I'm about ready to retire my BF Goodrich Comp2, which have treated me well for street and some track over the last six years and 15k miles, but they're getting hard and have flat-spotted slightly. What are people using these days for fun street use and maybe the occasional casual track day on stock 15s?

Are the Conti EC Sports living up to the hype they had a couple of seasons ago? Available only in 205, which probably isn't a deal-breaker if they're as great as what I remember people saying.
Comp2 were perfectly fine and don't seem to have changed.
How are the ZIII Star Specs?
S. Drives surprisingly still exist. These were old hat when I last changed my tires in 2014, and don't seem to have changed, have they?
People seem to like to play on the track with Federal 595. Decent road manners?

Anything else I should be looking at?

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

I like my Conti ECS on my beater. Not much reason to buy anything "better" for a casual dual purpose car, and they're flat out incredible in rain.

wackbards

iTrader: (2)

I've run conti ECS on my turbo NA & my ND here north of Seattle. They work really well for a street car in cool damp conditions where many performance summer tires suck.

doward

I am a retired "tire guy" from the retail/wholesale world and just ordered another fresh set of ECS for my daily.

The replacement for the Yokohama S.drive was the only new development I considered(Advan Fleva V701). If I was in a drier climate, I might have tried those. I really liked the S.drive back before the ECS arrived, but by now, even the ECS has been eclipsed by the PS4S in sizes Michelin serves.


Edit: like other above, this is all pertaining to >200tw.

andym

I run Conti ECS on my girlfriends NB that is her daily and it performs surprisingly well. Would highly recommend them.

TalkingPie

Looks like ECS are the way to go. Are you guys running them on stock size 6" wheels?

wackbards

iTrader: (2)

I was running 205/50/15's on 15x8 wheels. Now I'm running 205/45/16 on 16x7.5 wheels. In both cases I'd think 7" would be pretty nice. 6" strikes me as kind of narrow. Having said that, the 205/50/15 is rated down to a 5.5" wheel.

TalkingPie

That sounds right to me. The Miata performance canon, which doesn't take street comfort into consideration, dictates 195 on 7", 205 on 8" and 225 on 9". If I had the choice, no question I'd be putting 195 on my 6" wheels, but of course I don't have that option with the ECS. In reality, I assume that a better tire is worth compromising 10 mm on width, especially since my current Comp2 supposedly run wide for their 195 rating, but I'd like to hear from someone who's experienced otherwise. At the moment, I'm not in the mood to replace my wheels with wider ones.

I'm most likely overthinking this for a street car.

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

I ran ECS's when they first came out on my '01. 205 on a 15x8. They are indeed incredible in the rain. I sold the 01 and now I have the full set of 15x8 Enkei PF01's with them still on there sitting in the garage. They only have a few thousand miles on them. I need to sell them.

Z33Taxi

I plan to run ECSs as my street tire and drive them to the track, so I can change into my NT01s. However, I have friends that track their ECSs in the rain and they really like them. If it rains I'll put the ECSs back on

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

I run a 255/40r17 on a 17x9. Relevant, right?

TalkingPie

If I could find a reasonably-priced way to ship them, this would be relevant to my interests.

UnderPSI

I am running the Comp 2s on my stock wheels in the 195/50 size as well. They are getting long in the tooth though so I was happy to see the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 as an option although I dont really street drive it much anymore. Seems as though the tread blocks on the outside arent segregated with the Fleva like the Comp 2s are. My biggest issue with the Comp 2 is uneven wear, even with a decent amount of camber and playing with tire pressure. They just seem to really like to roll over. Not sure putting a 205 on the 6" would do me any favors but track use is a higher priority for me than street use.

I also have a set of 225/45 Hankook RS4s wrapped around a 15x8 6UL which I bought used. Once they are worn out I want to put the "proper" size 205 on them, potentially with the ECS as a rain tire and getting a different set for dry use. With that said, the RS4s are just as comfortable and no drastic or perceptible increase in noise. I would highly recommend a 200tw tire for track use and even summer time street driving if you arent putting a ton of miles on it.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Our shop NB has 15x8's and 205 ECS
Sonny's 30AE 17x8's and 215/45 ECS
My 30AE 17x9's and 245/40 ECS
Shop 86 "Blub" 17x8 225/45 ECS

I particularly like the balance between responsiveness and NVH. Most other options are either mushier steering, rougher riding or both. That the treads are nearly silent is a bonus. 200tw's are fun right up until you try to hear the sound system or take a bluetooth call.
To me the ECS is the current state of the art in a 6/10ths tire. I should point out that I never slide the tires in my daily nor does Sonny.

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

Do you have to pay border taxes? I just realized you are in Canadia. They are taking up space in my new garage and they need to go!

TalkingPie

Border taxes are a bit of a crap shoot; sometimes you pay, sometimes you don't. My bigger worry is finding a shipper that'll bring them up for less than hundreds of dollars. And while I have no trouble driving to upstate NY, Albuquerque is a little farther than I can justify.

My postal code is J7T 2M2 in case you have a better hookup with a shipper than I do.

Aaroneous

They're different foci, obviously, but how would the Conti ECS compare to the Yokohama ADS08? I would expect the ADS08 to handle better and the Conti to be quieter and last longer, but I don't have much sense of scale, not having driven them myself. This is for an LFX swapped NB on stiffish suspension, spirited canyon driving with some freeway segments.

Roda

Bumping this thread to see if anyone has had any more experience with the Yoko Advan Fleva V701 over the last couple years?

These will be going on my street NB, which currently has a stock engine, for basically DD type use, with the occasional fun drive around the mountains. What I'm looking for is a year 'round tire that's OK in cold/dry weather. It's not uncommon for us to have overnight temps in the 20s, with daytime highs in the 50s. I've used S.Drives in the past, and they were a great year 'round DD tire for the climate here. I'm hoping that the Fleva V701s can fill that role, as I'd rather not step down to an A/S tire if I can help it.

I know ECS is the answer for performance, and I have a set of ECS (rain set for the track car), and they may spend part of the summer on the NB, but I don't really want to drive on them through the winter.

doward

Yea. I have sold several sets of Flava Flavs and like them alot. Its a really small market obviously, as in 2055015 its basically the v701, the ECS, or Kumho/Hankook stuff to hit lower pricepoints.

Roda

Thanks Dan. They seem to get decent reviews over on M.net as well. I'll probably order a set tomorrow.