silvermonster

Hello everyone. well its that time again to purchase some rear tires. Currently on the car is

Front: Star Specs 225/45/17
Rear: RE11 255/40/17

The rear is almost gone and with the rain season approaching, I want to be safe then sorry.

I was originally going to go with the Star Spec so it has matching front and rear, however I'm considering going with something else to get a little more miles out of it. I do a lot of highway miles with the occasional mountain runs or aggressive driving. So I have come up with 3 option

Star Spec, HTZ 3 or S drive.

Wouldn't mind saving a few bucks but would like to get your opinion on which one I should go with that is the best for the buck. I hate spending on tires that aren't getting full use of it but also don't want to sell myself short and have the car handle horrible.

1nate7

Star Specs. Wait until you replace all 4 (or front only) before changing to a tire with less grip.

silvermonster

thnx for the response inate7.

What do you guys think about the nitto NT05?

DocS2000

It's a great tire, very similar to the Star Spec. Might as well match them, or remove all four, and go with a little harder tire.

I love the BFG G-Force Sports myself. I got about 30k out of them, and that was on a WS6 Trans Am (Not very nice to it's rear tires). Great grip and superb tread wear. My .02

TTMartin

An '07 has less overstear than an AP1, and would be less sensitive to higher mileage tires on the rear than an AP1.

DocS2000

Your right, but I think he was insinuating that the 100 tread wear tires in front would easily overpower the 300+ tread wear S-drives, causing a possible dangerous oversteer tendency.

silvermonster

The setup that I have right now seem to work good for me and seeing the nt05 has a 200 threadwear just like the starspec, I was thinking of going that route to save a few bucks?

I don't push the car to the limit on a daily basis or even when I go up to the mountains, just some aggressive driving here and there.

Thanks for the input so far, it is much appreciated.

silvermonster

would like to add that rain performance is taken into account as well so I might go with star spec for that aspect. As it does both wet and dry pretty well.


Any opinion on how the NT05 work in the rain?

ZDan

Star Specs have great wet grip, but won't be able to handle as much standing water as a good Max Performance tire before hydroplaning.

Which is why I went with Dunlop Sport Maxx TT's recently after struggling mightily at the track and on the street through torrential downpours my last track road trip to Mont Tremblant.

I did Watkins Glen with Star Spec fronts and Sport Maxx TT rears, and the rears kept up fine once scrubbed in.

I think that for most people who dd their cars, Max Performance category tires are a better bet for greater water-channeling capacity and hence hydroplaning resistance in heavy rain/standing water.

chilidip

^^ That's exactly what I did. After reading Dan's comprehensive review, I went with the Sport Maxx TT's. Once a drop of rain hits here in Los Angeles, everyone forgets how to drive.. I'm no different. Having the strong rear wheel bias our cars have.. I tended to go towards a little protection. I have no problems with the marginal loss in dry weather.

Jim at tirerack is great! They have the TT fronts in stock in their Louisiana warehouse so call Jim directly for help.