All the reviews rave about how good they are in the rain, as well as being a good tire all around, so sounds like a great choice for your rain magnet.

I don't plan to do any competitive driving, though I won't completely rule out autocross. I mainly don't want to "soften up" the road feel that the car has on the S-02s as far as cornering and grip go, as I've come to really like the raw nature of it the way it is. I mostly drive back roads and occasional highway miles, but I'm definitely in the "spirited" driver category. I don't care about noise, or all that much about rain, as I don't tend to drive in it.
The Dunlops are also in the "Extreme" category on Tire Rack, one step above the "Max" category that the other two are in.

Lots of S2k people like the Dunlops, but the other two on my list are more recent, so I didn't want to assume the playing field hasn't shifted a bit.

 

• Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec: $530 a set

• Continental ExtremeContact DW: $432 a set

• Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110: $378 a set


Seems these are most people's choices.

Local tire store, Tire Fair, recommended the Hankooks as the best bang for the buck.
I will need new tires in the spring and am thinking to give those a try.

-jazzman

 

It's pretty difficult to plan a road trip/vacation around the rain drops. We had driven the S in LOTS of rain in the past, never gave it much thought. We always replaced the tires before we thought they needed to be replaced. After my little incident, we are both still a bit gun shy, when the rain starts to come down and we have a trunk full of weight. We're not looking for a false sense of security with different tires, but just a little advantage, if that's possible.

 

It definitely is possible... some tires do well in rain, some just don't. I don't have a lot of tire experience, but after making non-OEM choices on my Audi and Saturn, I learned how big a difference tires can make.
My daily driver is the Saturn, which weighs the same as the S2000 (since it's a small plastic car), and has all-season Toyos on it. I wasn't looking for anything impressive, just a bit of a handling improvement over the old tires, which I definitely got. But they're just not as good in the rain. I really don't know why, but it seems to be the rubber compound, because I can spin tires on wet pavement by accident, which comes as a bit of a surprise in a 124 HP / 122 lb-ft car with a 4-speed automatic.

I never thought rain traction would vary that much, or that it'd be a noticeable issue with "family car" all-season tires, but next time I will look for something better in the rain.

 

Look into Hankook RS3. 140 Treadwear great grip just got some from Tire Rack for $134 per 255/40/17. 225/45/17 are $126 per. Get great reviews from all the track guys!

 

If road feel is an important factor, I'd lean towards the Dunlops. They have a pretty stiff construction and the large tread blocks help with rigidity. The Hankooks you list are still good, but they're targeting a slightly different market and are a bit softer in my opinion.


I've driven on the RS3s in hot, dry conditions and they've got great grip. They supposedly skate around when it's cool and/or wet out (think early spring or late fall) based on the feedback I've heard.

 

I'm on my second pair of Star Specs in the rear (2 seasons) and still on my first pair on the front (3 seasons) and still love them. Great in the rain and I haven't noticed sliding all over the place when cold. Still driving on dry cold days in the low 30's

 

Been pretty happy with the Falken FK-452s. ScottyBallistic's recommendation a few years back, and I'm going through my 2nd set. The price was good last time I bought. Can't recall if I went through tirerack or directtire

 

I've got a set of RE-11's on my S now and love them. In dry weather they are awesome, but in the rain is when the true colors start to show. Feels like it isn't even raining. As for wear, I daily my S and have had them on for a little less than a year now, with unknown crazy amounts of mileage from commuting to school and visiting the girlfriend in RI. They still have good tread depth on them except for that I was an idiot and slammed my car for about 2 months cambering the crap out of them. Meaning new RE-11's coming soon. lol! I don't think tread wear would be an issue, since you won't be dailying the car. I also had a set of the RE01R's, which are the older versions of the RE-11's, on my integra and wow, did it make driving the car in dry and wet conditions much easier, along with increase handling.

As for price, they aren't cheap by no means, but hey its an s2000 we are talking about, so why not dish out the extra money on tires and skimp out on other unbeneficial parts like say an Ebay intake. lol!

 

I must be doing something wrong ... I run the Star Specs, drive the car maybe 4-5k miles a year and I usually have to buy 2 tires at the start of the year. I run a non -staggered set-up and I shift the rears to the front and put the new tires on the back... Fronts are usually toast by the time I put the car away and they look almost new when I transfer them...

But I have no issues with the star specs once some heat gets in them. In the cold they are still nice, but I also don't push my luck to much. In the rain they are great when they have tread.