Okay, so after this last bout of snow/ice and a lot of sideways driving, I decided to replace my tires and went to TireRack.com to get them. After a couple of days of reading reviews, espcially by drivers of S2000, I went with a pair of Sumitomo HTR's. While I've only driven on them about 100 miles, these are an excellent choice as a DD tires. They are quieter and a little softer. For those of you who dont autoX and use the S as your DD, you may want to consider this tire. I'll update this post as I rack on some more miles (I average 300 miles/week).

Stay tuned...

 

Price per tire?

 

i have the htr z III and they're awesome. They're a little more expensive but supposedly better for track use... i had the regular htr's highly recommended for daily use.... the z III is MUCH MUCH better on ice than stock tires, i could actually steer without randomly going places

i've only had mine for about 2000 miles but love them

 

Fronts: $63.00 x 2 + shipping (214/45zr-17) = $152.16
Rears: $71.00 x 2 + shipping (245/40/zr-17) = $164.15

Originally, I was only going to replace the rears with OEM tires because my fronts were in such decent shape, but I was able to get all four wheels for cheaper than the two rears so I went that direction instead.

As promised, I'd continue to report on these tires and with todays showers and mixture of oil/grime and left over sand from the sleet we recently had, the tires are doing as well as expected. Of course with the sand, it is easy to break the rear-end loose but it breaks when expected, no surprises.

 

Ive had those. good DD tire... but very very soft sidewalls.

 

The sidewalls are a bit softer than I would had liked but I think the trade-off on the ride comfort is okay. I have noticed I can kick the rear out to the side with a bit more control and smooth action than with the Bridgestones so in that regards, these tires rock!

 

Does anyone local carry the Sumitomo's? Or can you only get them through TireRack?

 

I was wondering this too.

 

The HTRs aren't carried by the local tire shops but most carry either one or both the HTR II and HTR III. NTB has the HTR's listed on their site though. When I contacted the local NTB, they said the HTR's haven't been made for 3+ years however, when I contacted TireRack, they assured me the manufactured date of my tires were Nov 08 (front) and Oct (rear). They were shipped to me from different locations (they had to call me back with this information, they didn't have it readily available). They offered to look this up when I questioned the safety of the tires and about their age.

For any others who are considering this tire, the sidewall is soft. For me, 75% of my driving is on the GWB freeway so it isn't a big deal. There are a few turns that I like to take a bit fast on the Potenzas that I now slow down just a bit for now. Perhaps it is because I'm still getting used to the tires manners but the softness does make me take pause. Yesterday during lunch running an errand, I was back on the GWB and it was actually totally empty so I ran it up to 100 for about 30 seconds and backed up. I could feel the car "wallowing" a little bit. While I am pleased with these tires, I will be consiering the HTR II's next time. They are about $14 more per tire but I believe the sidewall is a little harder than the HTR but not as hard as the Potenzas so it might be a perfect trade-off.

 

"There are a few turns that I like to take a bit fast on the Potenzas that I now slow down just a bit for now."


--I'm gonna say one of those turns is the loop going up on to the Garden Ridge overpass right by Sneaky Petes....?!