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Hey,
For those of you who don't know, my car is a 1990 automatic Twin Turbo with 50,000 miles on it. It is my daily driver and I drive an average of about 7-8,000 miles per year. Very rarely do I take it out of town, except, perhaps to check out the "import scene" about 40 miles south of me. I tend to drive slowly while observing all applicable laws about 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time I tend to accelerate like a bat out of hell. I pretty much don't do stop light racing, but I favor the rolling punch in the very rare occasions that I do go.
After a long time of debating with my brother, utilizing the SEARCH and FAQ buttons, as well as enduring the blow-torch of various members (Yo! Props to Nick and Jerry!) I have decided to slap on some 18" tires on my TT. Mid April, my car will be in the body shop getting the Wings West front fascia and Stillen Type III side skirts (with door fillers) installed as well as "touching up" the paint all over the car. At this time, I would like to put on some 18" tires and wheels, (but the wheels are another post in another day.)
My brother will be able to utilize his Nissan dealer discount to get me a wholesale price on tires and wheels from [ www.tirerack.com. ] I have essentially narrowed my tire choices from other people's personal experiences down to these tires: Sumitomo HTR Z II's, Pirelli PZero..'s, Bridgestone Potenza RE730's, and the verniable Yokohama AVS Sport's. They can be broken down into three categories:
1.) The ultra cheap Sumitomo's
2.) The middle of the road PZero's and Potenza's and
3.) The expensive AVS Sport's.
The AVS Sport's are probably out unless the consensus opinion is that they are VASTLY better than the other choices. Seeing as how that probably won't happen, I am left with three tires.
The Sumitomo's have a very good rating of customer satisfication on [ www.tirerack.com. ] One customer even went as far to say that they were almost exactly the same as his Pontenza S-03's that were on his other car (a Porsche 911 Turbo.) High praise indeed, but I am still put off by the cheap price. It seems like something has to give.
The sizes for the Sumitomo's are very strange for the 18" tires. They are as follows:
225/40WR18
235/40WR18
245/40WR18
255/45WR18
285/35ZR18
There are not very many choices at all. However I would be inclined to go with the 245/40WR18 and the 285/35ZR18's. Agree?
The Potenza RE730's and PZero's are both about the same in pricing and rating. Many more people have RE730's than PZero's, but I have determined the performance for both is about the same.
If I went with the Sumitomo's, I would be able to afford better wheels... i.e. SSR's instead of Moda's or AT Italia's. However as many of you know, looks mean nothing. I don't want to be in my car sliding around and killing myself in the process.. but hey I have (or rather had) cool wheels. So for that thought, I lean towards the PZero's or Potenza RE730's.
At this point, the Sumitomo's look better and better, but keep in mind there is a good chance I will upgrade my car internally to about stage III or so... this summer after my body work is paid off. Will the Sumitomo's potentially be able to handle high speeds and the associated tread wear as well as the PZero's or Potenza RE730's?
Thanks for reading this post. Any insight is appreciated.
Thanks. Wags. -Can't wait for April 1st- |
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15:23:27 03/05/02
