You will hear a bunch of options, but I'm running Riken Raptors which are affordable, have good grip, good wear, and an interesting direction tread pattern. They are made by Michelin, but you won't find the Michelin name on them. I did have one with a bad belt and unfortunately since it was put before I bought it and I had no paperwork, I had to pay for it, but I still like these tires. I just put on a fresh set of rears and I should be good for quite a while on them. I may try something different in the future, but for the cost that these tires are, they are easy to recommend.

I believe Matt (H20boy) has Hankook Ventus on his car and he has a nice writeup if you search for it.

 

I've always been very happy with Falkens, great price and performance in my opinion. Their performance line is a little grippier than most mainstream brands at the expense a slightly shorter life, but they have excellent grip and most in my local autocross circle run them (softer tread, sidewall is nice and stiff so you don't get the roll feeling through turns).

 

I just put all season Generals on my '07 x-type. Will be replacing the Kuhmo's on my '98 XK8 with the same. Both cars are daily drivers. Generals are much quieter and smoother riding then the Continentals from the x-type or the Kuhmos. Price for x-type $114 at tire rack. Jack

 

My 2002 XKR has Continentals, which are fine on dry roads but terrible on wet roads. They were almost new when I bought the car about 6 weeks ago but they are so bad in the rain that I'm thinking of replacing them. Does anyone else run Continentals? I looked them up and they are not cheep tires (about $400 each) but I feel like I'm running on bald tires in the rain.

Mark

 

I have Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires on my car. I love them.

Eniot, go to tirerack.com, filter for summer tires of your size, and then look at the ratings and reviews other people have given them.

 

Second that. I have General Summer Tires on my car and they are Superb: Quiet, Smooth Riding and very reasonably priced.

 

I have the Riken Raptors on my 01 KKR and am very pleased with them. Good grip and very quiet. Three years on them now and are still going strong. When it comes time to replace them, I won't question success and will again get the Rikens. Their tread pattern is very similar to the Michelins too.

 

I'll have to check what model Continental I have; as I said, they're fine on dry roads but not in the rain. This may indicate a cheeper, higher milage (harder) tire. What do the Extreme Contact DWS's run?

Mark

 

I too, have the Raptors on my R. Based on the conversations on this forum and the cost, they looked like a good choice - 2 years & 15,000 miles later and no complaints. Quiet, smooth, and very "grippy". DaleD

 

I went with the Continental DWS tires on Sam's recommendation. I think they were about $140 apiece mounted and road forced balanced. That was last spring and they have gone up in price. I checked Tire Rack and they are $168 now. I have no complaints about them...they are very sticky and feel good on wet roads.

 

I hate Continentals so I went with Bridgestone Potenza which have been great.

 

My 99 XK8 came with brand new Pirelli P Zeros, but they seem to flat spot a little since I don't drive the car every day. They don't feel that good, but they'll be with me for a long time.

On my daily driver, I switched from Bridgestone 18" highway tires (140 A-A code and $240 each) to Goodyear GT's--a $140-160 budget Ultra High Performance All Season ZR coded tires. They were great the first 15,000 miles, but started roaring recently. I'm not satisfied.

From my reading, Michelins remain highly rated but high priced and not as good as they used to be. The Yokohama Advan's appear very good. Some of the above mentioned budget tires (Nitto and Hancook), but they don't receive as good of ratings as some other slightly more expensive tires. Some Bridgestones appear very good, but they're very pricey. Kumho has a full line of tires, but they've had big price increases recently.

I understand ultra high performance 18" tires just don't last as long as more conventional, taller tires. I'm in the market for 17" tires for the Civic SI, and I'm also in a dilemma which tire is best for the money.

TreadDepot.com and TireRack.com seem to be the place to save $50-75 per tire over buying local. You don't have to pay all the enviornmental fees, tire dumping fees, high performance tire installation and tire monitor upgrade fees if you find an independent tire shop to install them.

 

I ran Michelins on my '99 xk8 for years. Just put a new set of 20" Michelin Pilot Sports All Seasons on my 2003 XKR. They are warranteed for 40k miles. The All Season are a bit harder than the regular Sports, but the regular Sports only last about 20K.

Very few passenger tires out there can match the All Season Michelins in performance in dry pavement, rain, mud and snow. Super safe, super comfortable.

They eat hard corners for lunch with great feedback at the steering wheel.

Unfortunately, they are a bit pricey. $333 each with $70.00 cash refund with purchase of four from Discount Tire.

Discount tire also does a computer ride match for an extra $5 per wheel. It puts a load on the wheel during the balancing. Two of my tires were rotated slightly on their wheels to get a perfect vibration-free ride at any speed. Yes, I used to have a bit of
vibration at about 110mph. Not any more. Hey, it's not a Prius.

 

My daily driver XK8 came with Bridgestone's Potenza RE050A, but they wore down too fast and were scary in the rain. Also, they could not be rotated, because they are directional. Decided to switch away from performance tires to all weather touring tires. After checking Tirerack.com , found the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity. Fabulous on the highway and in the rain. Lasting 1.5 times as many miles.

Most tires will perform well when new, but you can only give them a fair rating after using them up. As the tires wear down, you could suddenly loose traction in the rain.

rear Potenza RE050A 255/45R18 lifetime: 21,930 mi.

front Potenza RE050A 245/45R18 lifetime: 35,783mi.

rear Turanza w/serenity 255/45R18 lifetime: 35,180mi.

front Turanza w/serenity 245/45R18 so far: 41,220mi.

rear Turanza w/serenity 255/45R18 so far: 19,893mi.

 

I'm running Michelin Pilot Sports and I'm very pleased with them.

 

pirellis are best..recomended by jaguar