I have done quite a bit of research and have to decide what tires I am going to buy for this summer. My car is daily driven and I put about 2000 miles a month on the car right now. I will take the current all season tires off and save them until fall. Anyway, I need a tires that will last a good 6 months or so, so 10,000-12,000 miles is what I need out of them. Now, I have narrowed it down a little, I am almost decided on the Hankook RS-3 but I don't think they will last long enough. Also, Star Specs are another choice but they are over $100 bucks more. Would either of these tires last long enough and be a good tire for fun on curvy roads or should I get a lower performance tire like the Toyo S-drive or Sumitomo HTR Z III or Hankook Ventus V12 Evo? Thanks for any help and sorry for such a long paragraph.

 

Tires are very, if not the most, important thing you can put on your car. I personally would go with the star specs at a minimum...or AD08s. If you're a little pressed for cash, I do ask why not just continue to run on the all-seasons?

 

Well I really haven't got to have the full "experience" of the car. When I bought it, it had bald summer tires which I replaced with the all-seasons so I would really like to feel whats its like when the car handles like it was meant to.

 

I plan to get star specs for the summer, like said above, the tires are the most important part of your grip setup so put the money where it counts.

 

Ok. Mainly I was just trying to decide if the RS-3's will hold up long enough since from what I'm reading they are just as good or better as Star Specs AND cost less.

Also, if neither of those tires will last that long which tires should I choose.

 

There is always a trade off between soft grippy tires and longer lasting all seasons. If you dont plan to compete with your car and you want value, just stick to all seasons and learn to drive to suit the tires you've chosen.

The HTR Z III and II's might be a good trade off, I would expect to burn through them quite quickly though, cheap grippy tires usually shred up pretty fast.

 

its only my own opinion and tires of course are very subjective. with that, i have ran the rs3s, and i am currently on my second set of star specs and the star specs are a much better tire. your goal of 10-12k miles largely has to do with your habits as a driver and your alignment specs. yes both of them can make it to 12k miles, yes you can burn them up in 3k. dont get me wrong though, the rs3s were still pretty good, but the "just as good or better as star specs" is a stretch.

 

Well I was just going by the thread that is going now about the comparison between them. Either way to me it seems worth it to save the extra $100+ bucks and spend that towards something else.

I probably won't track the car any as I don't have the funds for that. I do love some twisty roads though.

 

You can still have a lot of fun with performance all seasons, the money investment in good tires is to just take your car to that next level, driving with lesser tires is just as fun IMO, but the point of limitation is lower.

 

RS3's are excellent in grip. If you plan on tracking the car you can't really go wrong with the RS3's or the Star Specs. The RS3's do have a softer sidewall so they do make quite a bit more noise than the Star Specs which have a stiffer sidewall. On the track the RS3's take a little longer to get up to temp but they have a higher heat tolerance than the Star Specs. The RS3's are more controllable when they get greasy.

I plan on sticking with the RS3's due to the price increase on the star specs.