Tire reviews: First hand experience.

[MisterSquared]

Okay, I'm sort of a tire (or tyre, depending on which side of the Atlantic you live on) freak. I basically try out a different set every time I have to get new tires, just so I can see what’s up with something else, even if I liked the previous ones I had.

In any case, I have so far tried using (in order of best to worst, top [best] to bottom [worst]). Ratings are purely subjective and are based on dry/wet grip as well as wear & cost. Ride quality, and rolling noise are NOT a major consideration. Also, I tend to give much more consideration to grip then I do to anything else:

*The tires listed are all of the 215-40-47(F)/245-40-17(R) variety; although I have also used most of them on my 00' Civic coupe in a 215-45-16 variety. All reviews below are based on the 17" versions.*

Hankook Ventus RS-2
Toyo Proxies T1-R
Toyo Proxies T1-S (discontinued)
Yokohama Parada Spec-2
Yokohama Parada (discontinued)
Yokohama AVS ES100
Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 (discontinued)
*Kumho ECSTA SPT (I am currently running these, but they are only 4 days old so I can't form a solid opinion as of yet. These are NOT to be considered "worst".)

Also, please keep in mind that these are all used primarily for daily driving, but I also do use them for the occasional auto-x and drag run.

Ill now give a short review of each tire (minus the discontinued ones, since it has become irrelevant for anyone looking to buy them)...

Yokohama AVS ES100 - This is a really crappy "high performance" tire, and a merely adequate "all season performance tire". I basically got these because I was low on cash and I needed a tire badly (I typically wait till I can see cord before replacing my tires, heh). The Dry grip is lackluster, and the wet grip is merely average. Also, the sidewall is rather soft, even for such a low profile sized tire. I could also feel tread squirm during hard cornering. The best feature of these was straight line performance (off line traction), but even that isn't all that great. These tires also put up some serious protesting (tire squeal), under hard cornering. Speaking or hard cornering, I was surprised a few times as they broke loose without warning. I would only suggest someone buy these if they are low on cash AND aren’t planning on doing ANY track events, or doing hard daily driving. This goes double if you are putting them on a heavy car.

Yokohama Parada Spec-2 - This tire is a HUGE leap ahead of the ES100s. For one thing, the sidewall is MUCH stiffer, there is NO detectable tread squirm at any time, and the overall grip is a LOT stickier. The only place the ES100 wins out is in wet grip (and in price). Now, I do live in San Diego, CA, so I hardly ever have to drive in the rain. This is something to keep in mind. Knowing that, I have to say that this is a GREAT tire. Traction is very good, so much so that it would make a rather good weekend warrior track tire. You know, the kind you drive to the track on and keep on as you do your auto-x event. They break way all at once, but in a predictable manner. While there are tires which have a better performance to cost ratio, I can't really think of anything super wrong about these, other then they aren't that great in the rain. If you live in an area where it rains a lot and/or are currently in your rainy season, you might want to rethink getting these tires.

Toyo Proxies T1-R - I have to say that I LOVE these tires. I started out by getting the T1-S, and I loved those I went back for a second set after they wore out. Problem was, they discontinued them and replaced them with the T1-R. So, I decided to get the new model, and I am glad that I did. They were every bit as good as the T1-S, but these lasted a little longer, which is a very good thing, especially since the T1-S was one of the longest lasting ultra-high performance tires I've ever used. Dry AND wet grip is superb on these tires. In fact, I couldn't (or wouldn't due to the lack of being insane) find their dry grip limit on public roads. Breakaway was gradual, which you could feel coming a mile away, making them one of the safest tires I've ever used as well. The same can be said about their wet traction. In fact these things handled better in the wet then the ES100s did in the dry! A LOT better. The ONLY downside to these is cost. These are by far the most costly tire on the list, but are worth every penny if you ask me. There may be better tires in terms of ultimate dry performance as well as tires which have better ultimate wet performance, but if a tire exists which can outclass the TR-1 in BOTH scenarios, I've yet to find it. These are also very good track tires. They will stick like glue all day long, and let you drive home with great ride quality and very little rolling noise. Tread squirm and sidewall flex is nowhere to be found. I also have to say they have an uber cool looking tread pattern, not that I give a rats ass about that when choosing a tire.

Hankook Ventus RS-2 - These are by far my favorite tire. They are low cost comparatively speaking (I paid $109/ea for mine), and thus have THE best performance to cost ratio out of any tire I have ever used. On top of that these also have the best dry grip out of any non R compound tire that I have ever used. As for wet grip, they are also very highly rated. They don’t match the wet grip of the Toyos, but its close. I have read that some people find the sidewall too soft for track use on these, but that HAS to be on tires with a taller sidewall then what I was using because this was a complete non-issue for me, even at the auto-x. The tread is super soft, but they do last longer then you might think. They didn’t last as long as the Toyos, but again, it wasn’t that bad at all. I got about 9+ months of hard driving out of my rear tires. The fronts were still almost new looking when the rears balded out though, heh. On my Civic, these lasted well over a year. These also make a great track tire. They stick like glue on fly paper, and it seems like they will never break loose. When they do, it is very predictable and controllable as well. I would recommend these for anyone looking for a high grip street tire and or anyone looking for a tire they can drive to the track and use all day long without needing a separate set of rims and shoes. I can’t recommend these enough to my friends and everyone who has tried them have fallen in love with them as well.

*Kumho ECSTA SPT - In regards to this tire, I don't have enough information to base an opinion. I bought these due to the price as well as reviews made online and by the guy at the tire shop. Plus it was going to take a week to get another set of Ventus RS-2's into the shop and I needed new rear tires NOW. What sucks is that these actually cost MORE then the Hankooks! I've yet to drive them in the wet, or take it to the track, or even take the car out to the local twistiez. That being said, these tires are very comfortable and quiet, and as far as daily street driving go they are holding up very well. No tire noise under somewhat hard cornering, no tread squirm, the sidewalls seem pretty stiff, they have a rim protector bead, and they seem to be holding up rather well around the odd corner on which I take rather aggressively. As a little bonus, Kumho states that they have a multi-layer compounding, meaning that the inner rubber is of a softer compound then the outer so you have "like new" grip even when the tires wear down. That's something which got my interest right away. Ill be very happy to try this out as mine wear out over time. Ill keep you up to date on how these work out when I get more feedback as well, but to put it in a nut shell... so far... these tires are quiet, have a nice daily ride, have a properly stiff sidewall, and seem to have adequate dry grip for hard daily street driving. Anything else is up in the air as of now.

-Joe