Tire Make/Model: Nexen N3000
Size: 215/50/17
340 AA A
Review: $65 a tire sounds to good to be true but after hearing several people say good things about them I decided to give them a try. They are beefy tires with deep tread, fat lip to protect the rim and pretty sturdy sidewalls. In the rain they grip just as well as the KDWs. On dry pavement they actually grip a little bit better, really dig in hard and hold on even if they start to break loose (the KDWs just lost all traction in a spin). The car doesn't hop and spin in 2nd gear now, it just digs in and remains smooth. Handling is about the same, car remains very stable at high speeds and in sharp turns. The best thing to me is they are super quiet, I can actually hear things now that I couldn't before with the noisy stock tires. No regrets what so ever, these tires are for real. Edit: I have noticed that wheel hop is reduced a lot compared to the stock tires. They are still performing well.
Review: Replaced the sumitomo's (see above post). Traction is actually BETTER than the sumitomo's. Cannot break tires loose in second gear, as I could with the KDW's and sumitomos, even on wet roads.
MUCH quieter than either tire.
1k on these tires, so far, they are awesome. Best tires I have put on the car so far.
I just put on a set of Continental Sport Contact 2 tires on some Kyowa KR-228 rims and they ride very very smooth. Probably the best ride I have ever gotten on any tire on this car. They are also very responsive. I think I found my new favorite tire. These rims and tires weigh 35lbs a corner as opposed to my Nexos with proxes 4s that weighed 48.5 lbs a corner. I also took them to the dragstrip and ran a 2.13 60' giving me a 12.75@117.42 What a great tire.
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AGP Delta55 123mph pump low boost, 127 race gas and low boost.
Tire Make/Model: Dunlop SP Sport Maxx Size: 205/50/17 (17x7 Wheels)
Review: These tires are a great combination of performance, handling, and ride comfort. They are a huge improvement over the stock tires. I did have a difficult time getting them installed on the stock rims.
Pros: Quiet, comfortable ride, great handling, good straight-line performance. Cons: Roughly the same price as the Eagle F1's, and performance drops off significanly after about 15K miles.
Review: I have had these for just over 5000 miles so far and honestly I am on the fences on these. I tested dry traction with them and I can floor it in all gears and only chirps in 1st and 2nd with WOT shifts. In rain I am vary dissapointed with these tires. I researched tires with my dad, who also has these on his SRT-4, and we were looking all over the internet and reading forums and with some added help from the Tirerack.com specs we found these tires. They are .4 incheds larger tread width than the stock Pilot Sports I had on my 03 and the KDW2s that were on my dad's SRT. I wanted a tire that hooks well in both dry and wet and these RE050As were rated #1 at Tirerack and I read nothing, but good things about them. As soon as it rained I tried them out and they were ok. Could spin 1st, 2nd, and 3rd very easily and couldn't even floor it until 5th gear. Also if you are in heavy rain the 9.7 wet traction rating that Tirerack gave them must be some sort of bad joke. My Michelin Pilot Sport tires were only rated 8.0 and I could drive 75 mph in down pouring rain without any hydroplaning or slippage. Try 70 with the RE050A and hydroplaning will start in harder than a medium rain. So, I will be getting either KDW2s or Pilot Sports before any other tire. Other than that, with 5000 miles the tread wear is above expectations.
Tire: Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3
Type: Max Performance Summer
Size: 205/50/R17
Compared to Michelin Pilot Sport: Much better wet traction and tread life, better price; better tire dollar for dollar.
Compared to BFG KDW2: Better traction and handling; cost a little more but worth it.
My SRT-4 is an 03, which I bought brand new in '03. I've had it for 4 years now, driven it 85,000 miles, and I'm on my 3rd set of tires. Since it is an '03, it came stock with Michelin Pilot Sports. These tires were great for handling and pretty good for dry traction, but treadwear and wet traction were terrible. Also, one of mine got a bubble and another blew out while driving. Tread was completely worn after 12,000 miles. On top of that, they are quite expensive.
Then I tried the BFG KDW-2, which came stock on SRT-4s after 2003. These tires were generally good and got very good tread life. I got at least 35,000 miles out of them. Never had problems with bubbles or blowouts. Wet traction seemed much better than with the Michelins. The downside is they didn't have the dry grip or handling capabilities the Michelins had. Still a decent tire though, and very reasonably priced (around $135, not installed).
I then decided I wasn't really satisfied with either of these, so after a little research I decided to try the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3. This tire, I must say, is excellent!! The dry grip and handling are every bit as good as the Pilot Sport and far superior to the KDW-2. Wet traction is unbelievable!!! I drive with confidence at any speed in the rain, no problems. They are rated the highest in wet traction for Max Performace summer tires on Tire Rack, if that means anything LOL! I've driven them for about 12,000 miles so far and only minimal treadwear is evident. I will definitely buy these again and highly reccommend them to anyone with a SRT-4 who is dissatisfied with their current tires. The price is very reasonable, too (they go for about $160 apiece on Tire Rack, plus your install). Just don't drive them in snow!!!
Anyone with a SRT-4 knows that driving it in the Winter really sucks with Summer tires. I used these Michelins through the past couple Winters now and I would reccommend them to anyone driving a SRT-4 year-round in the North/Northeast, or anywhere with snowy Winters.
The X-Ice provides excellent grip and confidence in snow and are good in rain too, though they don't have the best traction on wet ground and hydroplane a little in very heavy rain.
This tire's strengths are their traction in snow, tread life, and grip on cold (but dry) surfaces. Ever notice how your Summer tires spin like crazy when the ground is cold and not even wet? These grip much better and are much safer than trying to "tough it out" with the Summer tires in cold snowy winters. They actually have very good traction even in pretty deep snow.
Cornering & handling aren't the best and you cant drive them faster than 100 MPH but that's to be expected from a hardcore snow/winter tire. Tread life is excellent. I've used them the past 3 winters (25,000 miles) and could easily get 1 or 2 (10,000-15,000 miles) more out of them. No problems with bubbles, blowouts, etc. Just don't beat on them too much.
They are priced very reasonably (around $120 apiece from Tire Rack plus your install) and they fit just fine on the stock rims. A definite winner!
After saying I'd definitely buy the Avon's again, I went and bought the Falkens instead because I was planning on autocrossing quite often and wanted to get the best grip I could from a street tire. While these tires are noisier than the Avons, they are quieter than the KDW2 tires. Dry grip is absolutely unbelievable. I have pulled over 1.1g in corners with these and Mopar Stage 3 coilovers and -1° camber all around. Steering response is great, very direct. Wet weather grip is adequate due to the soft tread compound but heavy standing water can cause hydroplaning once the tires are worn down a good bit. So far I have about 8k miles on them and have maybe 3-4k more before they are past the wear indicator, but this is with a lot of heavy cornering and autocrosses on them. Unlike the Avons, these tires tolerate higher air pressure without unusual wear. I run the fronts at 40psi cold, rear at 35psi and have a very neutral handling car with even wear across the tread surface. Straight line grip in cold (below 40°) weather is significantly reduced compared to warm weather. These tires seem to work best in the 60-120° rubber temps. If the tires get hotter than that they need to be sprayed down with water to get the best traction back for the next autocross run.
Review: kinda loud, nice grip, horrible traction in the rain when the temp falls below 40 degrees. The wear seemed exceptional good (I am very hard on tires) and at 15k when I traded them in, they were still at 8/32nds.
Review: This tire is freakin awesome... at first. Dry traction pretty close to the stockers, A++ rain traction, B- snow traction, and very very quiet. Turn in feel in pretty decent, a little sidewall flex, and good traction on take off. Great looking tire.
The bad: here is the 2 reasons I did not get them again. 1) Around 22k on the tires I still had 6/32nd's, HOWEVER, the tires went to crap. Traction was very weak, and rain traction was terrible! Snow? Forget about it. Time for new tires 2) The price went up!
The grip is awesome. But the sidewall flex was the worst I have ever seen. Under 45 pounds of air the tires look flat. Very very quiet and confortible, but I could not stand the horrible turn in (from the sidewall flex).
Nice, quiet, good turn in tire. Rain handling was great if it was not deap. Awesome looking tire, great price under 90 bucks. After 22k I had about 5/32nds... not bad, not great. BUT the sidewalls, on all 4 tires, started splitting! Ahhhhhhh.... not good.
So, Discount did me right and put on the new BFG G-Force KDW NT's (yea, I had to cough up some cash, but it was a great deal). Kewl newer looking tread and killer, I mean KILLER turn in (best I have ever experience in a SRT-4) grip for MILES, beautiful tire, but man oh man. The noise is back. I don't care.... for now... and u feel just about everything on the road... I like that. This is NOT a numb tire.
Last edited by Silver_Surfer : 06-08-2007 at 08:10 AM.
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