UHP tires for summer

[cosmicspd3]

I am looking at consumer reports and here is the break down for ultra performance.
score out of 100, to get a better review you'll need to look at the CR.
1. *Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 - 85
2. *Pirelli P-Zero - 84
3. BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW2 - 78
4. *Bridgestone Potenza RE 050 A Pole Position - 77
5. *Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 - 76
6. *Continental ContiSportContact 3 - 76
7. Dunlop SP Sport Maxx - 76
8. *Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 - 73

* = CR recommended

Best bang for the buck are the KDW2's and the PE2's. The PE2's had the best tread life. I think I'll be getting those specially since they are $173 a piece at tirerack. Tread pattern is similar to the #1 and stock. My friend has the kdw2's on his SC cobalt and says they handle very well in wet/dry conditions, the side wall wasnt as stiff compared to his stock pzeros but on the road tour (twisty high speed driving) says they handled very well. So yeah... kdw2 or pe2's for me

Anyone try any of those?

That was a copy paste from another thread I posted in, but I'm pretty set on the KDW2's.....Oh yeah Ill be switching to 225/40-18 tire

[LASERBLUE135]

I know you said you are a racer, but for most people it would probly be better to get a "ultra high performance" all season tire. I run Kumho's and they are $96 per tire compaired to $176 for your "bargain" tire. And if you look at the performance ratings, they are very compairable.

edit: and speaking of racing, the Kumho's worked out very well for me during my track day at BIR. Go with all-season's and save $400.

[dmention7]

I'd disagree. The all-season designation means that the tire design is a compromise between summer weather traction and snow/ice traction. Granted it tends to be heavily weighted towards summer performance, but the compromise is there.

Though, I would agree that if price is an issue, you would often be better off with a higher-end ultra-high performance all-season than a lower-end summer tire.

[LASERBLUE135]

I'd disagree. The all-season designation means that the tire design is a compromise between summer weather traction and snow/ice traction. Granted it tends to be heavily weighted towards summer performance, but the compromise is there.

Though, I would agree that if price is an issue, you would often be better off with a higher-end ultra-high performance all-season than a lower-end summer tire.

Check out the data on tire-rack. All tests were done with the exact same car, very similar performance for all-season vs summer tires. They do 4 tests: The all-season tires did exactly the same on the cornering g's, slalom, and lap time tests, braking was slightly better with the summer tires. So basically they are the same. If you didn't know what you had you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, so unless you are racing it won't matter.

[cosmicspd3]

I will not consider a "all season" tire. I have winter tires and summer tires. I also will not purchase kumho's. I see no reason behind giving up performance of a summer tire when I have winter tires and I dont want to go "cheap". I saw some reviews on TR, but I'm not to sure I trust some of those reviews from users. CR has never let me down on ANY purchase, tires or otherwise. The top 4 tires in CR's list are in the top UHP on TR anyway. Considering the KDW2's are one of the top ranked even on TR but the only complaint was "noise" and I've ridden in a couple cars with them and didnt notice anything I think I'll be getting those. I'd like to get one of the top two but they are $230-260 while the kdw2 is 168. So x4 it saves me almost 200 for a tire thats just about the same performance. I guess I posted this to see if anyone has used those tires listed and just show what CR found. I did find the Continental ContiSportContact 3's to be fairly reasonable as Max performance summer tires... at $170 each. But they dont have as stiff of a sidewall either.
Conti 3's
http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/conti/co_contisportcontact3_ci1_l.jpg

KDW2's
http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/bfg/bfg_gforceta_kdw2_ci1_l.jpg

So what about which one of those two? They rate about the same on TR kind of...

[Big Nate]

No shit these tires are the stickiest tires I have ever run hands down. Plus they wear well.

Yokohama Parada Spec-2 (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=Parada+Spec-2&partnum=24WR8PARADAS2)

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I would be concerned with the Continentals hydroplaning due to the lack of a channel to the outside. The KDW2's are noisy, but if that isn't an issue they are very good.

[cosmicspd3]

Those yoko's had some goofy reviews about how they werent that good in wet and kind of slid at high speed cornering but would grip good when the tread life was almost done...huh they are cheap though $135 a tire.... Ill skip those though as high speed cornering and wet are important to me.

James - Yeah I saw that too, they some how got good ratings on wet tests. must be those cuts in the strips :/ Im most likely getting the KDW2's now. Their tread life is longer than pretty much anyone in that list..

[Picklz]

I had KDW2's on my GTO and liked them. They were a little noisier than some, but nothing that bothered me. I looked at getting them this time around for the speed, but they are substantially more than what I had the last two summers (Nitto NeoGen's) and also more than the Nitto NT555's I was looking at so I'm not sure.

If you're going to be competing in timed events then spend every dime you can and get the best tire possible, otherwise I'm not sure going to the extreme is worth the money.

[cosmicspd3]

Only a handful of timed ones, Id prolly do more road tours than timed events.... Did you look at getting the 225/40 for the ms3?

[Big Nate]

Those yoko's had some goofy reviews about how they werent that good in wet and kind of slid at high speed cornering but would grip good when the tread life was almost done...huh they are cheap though $135 a tire.... Ill skip those though as high speed cornering and wet are important to me.

James - Yeah I saw that too, they some how got good ratings on wet tests. must be those cuts in the strips :/ Im most likely getting the KDW2's now. Their tread life is longer than pretty much anyone in that list..

If wet is impotent to you then you should not be looking at ultra high performance summer only tires. LOL

Plus those tires made it through a winter for me.

[dmention7]

I dinno Nate. The Eagle F1 GS-D3 summer tires that came on my car when I bought it were better in the rain than any all-season I've ever used.

[Picklz]

I had 225/40/18's on my MS3 for the last two summers and I'll be running 235's or 245's this spring. Some UHP summer's have alright wet traction, but as a general rule they sacrifice some wet traction for better dry grip.

I don't really think the classification's are always accurate (UHP Summer only, All season, etc) My last tires were High performance all season's, they were okay in the rain, but there's no way I would have run them in the winter. And as was already pointed out, there's All Seasons that corner and grip as well as UHP's so, you're best bet is find the tire that has the characteristics you want (wet/dry traction, treadwear, noise, grip (look at skidpad's of different tires on the same car) regardless of what category it's in

[dmention7]

Maybe I've just only run cheap all-seasons before... heh

[Picklz]

If wet is impotent to you then you should not be looking at ultra high performance summer only tires. LOL

Plus those tires made it through a winter for me.

Interesting typo you made there Nate, rofl.

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Parnell, from what I have seen the wet tests are only on wet surfaces, not in a heavy rainfall where the need to channel water out of the tread is greater. My hydroplaning concerns are more in heavy rain.

[cosmicspd3]

Well I thought the stock tires did well in rain. I do lots of hwy driving and when going 80-90mph in pouring rain on 35, I felt safe. Hmm ill prolly go kdw2's just because a lot of ppl I know have them and like them.

[cosmicspd3]

If wet is impotent to you then you should not be looking at ultra high performance summer only tires. LOL

Plus those tires made it through a winter for me.

Well like I said the stock tires for me did fine in wet. Why cant a racing tire do good also in wet? Im not asking for track awesome in wet but making sure I dont hydroplane.

[cosmicspd3]

My rubbers showed up in a pack of 4....

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/9599/titres.jpg

[mazdamn02]

I look forward to hearing how you like them...

[cosmicspd3]

yes the side wall is noticeably shorter and there are some MASSIVE pot holes up here. So 1. pot holes and 2. the look if it will make more wheel gap :(.

Otherwise I had been talking to kyle from TR and we well he calculated that I should run 36psi to have the stock load of the original. So its all a go I just need to call Archer Racing tomorrow to have them install em! im excited! Its suppose to rain sunday and well...these tires are bald so rain = sliding.

[cosmicspd3]

Here are pics of this whole process... yes my rims are dirty, so is my car...but only on the outside, the inside is very naice. The car gets used like it should :)

My car loaded with 4 wheels (tires/rims) and 4 new tires at work waiting for the appointment :)
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/7546/trunkkdw23.jpg
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/4955/trunkkdw22.jpg
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9615/trunkkdw21.jpg

Picked up the wheels today! I'll have to "break" them in to see if there speed rating is right ;)

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/2946/kdwgarage5.jpg
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/5995/kdwgarage4.jpg
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/6706/kdwgarage2.jpg
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8343/kdwgarage3.jpg

[Coldspeed]

Now that you've had them for a while, what do you think of the UHP's?

[cosmicspd3]

I had them 2 week and then my car was totaled and they took the tires :(

They were not as stiff on the sidewall as the stock ones, but they gripped WAY better. They handled rain insanely well but had a tiny bit more road noise. Over all I would buy them again.