Best High Performance tires?

Question

Need some input. For a MKIV Supra.... tire sizes 275/35/18 and 235/40/18.
Right now I'm on Falken's and would like to know what are some other GREAT tires out there.... I'm leaning towards the BFGoodrich g-Force™ T/A® KDW

Answer 1

For many years, the BFG TA KD was the benchmark for street tires. The KDW was the wet weather version of the KD, and it was nowhere near as grippy. And the KD, while still a solid performer, is clearly showing it's age as newer compounds come out all the time.

So the question becomes how much performance do you want? And under what conditions? Something along the lines of the Kuhmo V710 or Hoosier R6 will clearly offer the highest levels of grip, but are close to unusable under most street driving conditions (even though they are street legal). If driven under those conditions though, they would have very short lifes, be quite noisy, and offer no grip if the weather became damper than a heavy fog.

For a mostly dry street tire, the Bridgestone RE01R is excellent - offering great grip (especially good turn in for a street tire). It's also quieter than the older KD. I've used this as a wet tire on some track days myself, and they work in the wet, though I found them very twitchy and nearly as hard to drive as the Hoosiers (but quicker than the Hoosiers). Overall, I wouldn't recommend these if you are in an environment where heavy rain is an issue... otherwise though, a great street tire.

The Bridgestone RE050A Pole Position doesn't offer the grip of the RE01R, but does offer more wet weather predictability, and has dry performance on par with the older S03 (seems to be longer wearing though).

The Toyo Proxes RA1 is a consideration for street use too.. Even though this is an R-Compound, it is long wearing, generally good at not heat cycling out, and offers great performance in the wet (as well as the dry... wet performance will drop off significantly though once you are down to about 70% tread).

Pilot Sports, Goodyear F1, or any of the top notch tires will be good... some will be better suited for some cars than others (and the Supra is a heavy car that will probably be hard on tires).

There are worse choices than the KDW, but this is not really a performance tire (especailly not when compared with other tires on offer).

Answer 2

You never defined what your use for high performance tires is/means.

High speed = Z rated tires

Best bet is to go to http://www.tirerack.com

This site will give you ratings on various performance tires including traction, wet and dry ratings, speed ratings, wear etc and give you an idea of a good price. There are a few tire stores in my area that will give you the Tire Rack price which is generally a good deal.

Answer 3

ck out tire rack for reviews