Yo, folks,

Time to outfit Neb with its summer tires. I have aftermarket 17" wheels whose offset limits me to 245s in the rear, which is just fine with me.

But, I'm just fishing for opinions... I used to use S-02s and S-03s, but I have more recently been using Falken FK-452 (I think), and I like the fact that they're MIJ, but I'm open to suggestions... I wouldn't mind tires that sacrifice a little grip in favor of more life.

What are you guys using for summer?

 

Charlie.

Rick bought Continentals last year. He's happy with them. He may have given up a little of the performance rating for a better rating in the rain. Rain always seems to find us on our road trips, and it's a concern with the heavy load in the trunk, especially since my "off road" experience in Canada.

 

No more off-roading allowed, Lainey!

Hey, do you know which Conti model he got for the S?

 

Hankook RS3. Low treadwear raring (140) but fantastic grip and pretty good in the wet too.

 

Charlie, I'm still using 16" SO2's.
Levi

 

No, I don't. I'll have to ask. Tires are his department.

 

I run Yokohama S-Drive.

Just changed out the rears with about 25k miles on them and fronts are still going strong. I drive decently hard so they probably could have lasted longer but there was a lot of highway commute too. I like them in the rain as well as the dry and I put down some good times at autoX today so they are pretty sticky. I figure that at around $700 a set (for 16's anyway) they are pretty good bang for the buck!

 

Hankook Ventus V12 EVO's on the S & the FD. Drove all last year on em with the S, definitely satisfied with the grip and the tread rating isn't bad either

 

This

 

I, too, went with the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo (K112) last year on my stock AP1 16" wheels. I was running the OEM Potenza S-02s, which were rock hard, especially since they were completely worn down. (I didn't drive in the rain at all the last year I've had it, but towards the end, I wore the rears down to the cords!)

I don't know how much of the noticeable change was due to the S-02s not having tread blocks anymore vs the Hankooks having a softer sidewall, but at first I thought I'd made a bad mistake. But after a few hundred break-in miles, I quickly got accustomed to them. They grip very well, handle colder temps better, and provide a slightly softer ride that doesn't rattle my teeth if I hit a pebble. Once I got used to them, I like them better.

The real icing on the cake was that I caught a fantastic rebate deal, and was able to get the set of 4 shipped and mounted for under $400. Hankook seems to offer those now and then, so keep your eyes open.