Buying a budget tire, anyone tried these? (I picked/purchased already, thanks guys)

[Figit090]

-----EDIT #2------
I have decided on and purchased a set of Kumho Ecsta ASX tires from Tire Rack. Thanks everyone for all your input it helped so much! (I had almost no idea what I was doing...now I kinda do!)

-----/EDIT, begin original post-------

Yeah I don't have much of a budget here but I've been running one set of these tires for a while and they're fine...so I dont feel the need for a higher level tire.
I just thought I'd see if anyone who views this in the next few hours has actually tried either or both sets. I'm most definitely going to pick them up in few hours before the store closes so I know i wont get a TON of feedback, if any...but we'll see.

I will be getting stock size; 225/50/R16

Federal ss535's (what I have now) for $454.17 mounted at Les Schwab.
Mine seem to grip just fine but I dont have anything to really compare them with...

[thumb]http://www.federaltire.com/tc/images/product/060117181715_051229033137_535.jpg[/thumb]

or

Firestone Firehawk GT (BL)'s mounted for $433.72 at Expert Tire
These looked pretty nice in the store. havent seen NEW federals up close though.

[thumb]http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/firestone/fs_firehawk_gt_1000.jpg[/thumb]


I'm leaning towards the federals because Les Schwab is closer if i get a nail in my tire or need a rotation... I was just curious if anyone has experiance with either of these two models. I'm most likely getting the Federals

Hankook K106's were an option i omitted due to the 486 dollar price tag.

 

[Rennat]

do you guys have an american tire down there?

check out tires.com and look at the pricing of the stuff...

and FWIW... i loved my kumoh asx's....

 

[Poodles]

The Federals have a DISMAL wear rating meaning you'll have to replace them more often (more expensive in the long run). The firehawks have a much better wear rating.

They're both V rates (not horribly bad), and looking around you can get both of them for damn cheap and have them mounted somewhere for cheap...

 

[pbasil1]

My Falken FK-452 i use on my car are great, good wet traction, pretty quiet, and have a decent sidewall. And they were only $115 a peice for a 265-35-17....


I got them from Vulcantire.com and they arrived in about 4 days.

 

[3zblur]

try some falken zeix. i just got mine for my acura for little under 450 plus alignment. tires grip a hellova lot better then the stupid low frictions that were on there before. putting these tires to the test in a few weeks after SILV at an autox.

 

[Figit090]

do you guys have an american tire down there?

check out tires.com and look at the pricing of the stuff...

and FWIW... i loved my kumoh asx's....

I'll check that out thanks. I dont think we have american tire...

The Federals have a DISMAL wear rating meaning you'll have to replace them more often (more expensive in the long run). The firehawks have a much better wear rating.

They're both V rates (not horribly bad), and looking around you can get both of them for damn cheap and have them mounted somewhere for cheap...

Thanks Poodles! That's really interesting May I ask where you're getting your info? are you a tire salesman or did you find a site? I haven't really found much on federal's tires. I'm new to buying tires so bear with me :biglaugh:

I'm going to call another tire shop that I didn't know about right now for some more prices.

My Falken FK-452 i use on my car are great, good wet traction, pretty quiet, and have a decent sidewall. And they were only $115 a peice for a 265-35-17....

I'll see if I can get a price on those but i think I'm going to stick with a local shop so I can easily get road hazard and rotation coverage for a decent price.

I got them from Vulcantire.com and they arrived in about 4 days.

I'll check that site out thanks, I'm not familliar with how a website does road hazard though and I'm afraid tire rotation, hazard, and mounting might knock off any benefits of buying online but we'll see i guess

try some falken zeix. i just got mine for my acura for little under 450 plus alignment. tires grip a hellova lot better then the stupid low frictions that were on there before. putting these tires to the test in a few weeks after SILV at an autox.

I'll see how much 225's cost. thanks!

thanks for the replies so far everyone.

 

[Rennat]

where is Humboldt County???

google says way north Ca... but where are you?

 

[Figit090]

'way north Ca' why? google is right. up by Eureka.

This is TRUE norcal it bugs me when people say S.F. is norcal. hahah....

 

[Rennat]

it doesnt literally say that, just from the map your 'way north ca'... but i would just call each store and see what kind of deal you can get.

i think there are more than those two tires you could choose though...

 

[Clip]

My Falken FK-452 i use on my car are great, good wet traction, pretty quiet, and have a decent sidewall. And they were only $115 a peice for a 265-35-17....


I got them from Vulcantire.com and they arrived in about 4 days.

thats pretty f'ing expensive compared to my kumho ecsta spt's ($57 apiece at tirerack.com). looks like they're wearing alright so far.

 

[Pernilongo]

thats pretty f'ing expensive compared to my kumho ecsta spt's ($57 apiece at tirerack.com). looks like they're wearing alright so far.

Can't compare Falken to Kumho. You don't compare Hyundai to a Toyota either, i mean they are different is alot of respects. Korea vs Japan is not a fair fight in tires as well. Falken, Toyo, and Nitto are really a world ahead of Kumho Hankook and other Korean and Chinese brands. I also have 452s and they are very good for the price, can't beat japan in quality vs price in auto world.

 

[Poodles]

Can't compare Falken to Kumho. You don't compare Hyundai to a Toyota either, i mean they are different is alot of respects. Korea vs Japan is not a fair fight in tires as well. Falken, Toyo, and Nitto are really a world ahead of Kumho Hankook and other Korean and Chinese brands. I also have 452s and they are very good for the price, can't beat japan in quality vs price in auto world.

I completely disagree. I as well as a lot of my car friends (f-bodies, vette's, ect...) run Kumho's because they are the best performance for the price.

Falken's are QUIET, not much else over Kumho besides being more expensive.

No, not a tire salesman, but all tires have wear ratings, speed ratings (this is really a HEAT rating), and other info that can be easily found. Many sites can explain it all for you...

 

[Rennat]

every set of falkens i've driven on have SUCKED. plain and simple.

had a set on my 5zigens... garbage
had a set on our old firebird... even more garbage
my dad had a set on his commuter... he was pissed.

i'll never buy falkens, we've gone with kumoh ever since and never looked back. the $ to tire value is awesome.

 

[Pernilongo]

I completely disagree. I as well as a lot of my car friends (f-bodies, vette's, ect...) run Kumho's because they are the best performance for the price.

Falken's are QUIET, not much else over Kumho besides being more expensive.

No, not a tire salesman, but all tires have wear ratings, speed ratings (this is really a HEAT rating), and other info that can be easily found. Many sites can explain it all for you...

Oh by all means it's just an opinion. I didn't compare Kumho to Falken directly so i don't know what are real world differences are. But I went through alot of opinions before i took falkens : sales people, racers, tuners and so on. Somehow everybody i talked to favored Japanese tires and wheels on Japanese cars, and 615s in particular, maybe its just a superficial believe or something. Its just RT-615 from Falken always comes up as the best for the money around here, they seem to be the first choice to a lot of people and if they are too expensive than people start looking at 452s , kumho, and other brands.

 

[Pernilongo]

every set of falkens i've driven on have SUCKED. plain and simple.

had a set on my 5zigens... garbage
had a set on our old firebird... even more garbage
my dad had a set on his commuter... he was pissed.

i'll never buy falkens, we've gone with kumoh ever since and never looked back. the $ to tire value is awesome.

Yes, i did hear people had bad experience with old falken tires some years ago. There is a big number of people that consider Falken a bad tire from that experience, from what i know its a totally different quality now.

 

[gtimportfanatic]

the setup for my rt615s from tire rack was gonna be 521 shipped.. then i gotta pay 60 to have em mounted when i get em..

 

[Figit090]

Poodles,

on the federals, what's your opinion on the life of them with their wear rating? I'm not too crazy a driver and i've had these used tires on my car for some time now. not sure if there is a harder compound down deep to allow this however...

I can't quite see myself driving the same car for over two more years so I'm not sure if the wear on the Federals would be an issue when it comes time to sell the car. If it's not i'll probably get those. I'll try to work out how many miles I'll drive in a year and see if they will be low on tread when sale time comes.

When i have time later tonight I'll read up on treadwear ratings and temperature ratings for the different compounds. thanks for your advice.

BTW I won't be buying tires today like I thought, I will probably wait until monday.

 

[suprabad]

For the money Kumho 's can't be beat. To get a better tire you would have to go top of the line Nitto or Toyo and then it's only marginally better, unless you go Nitto nt-01 R compound (which are a lot better).

As a matter of fact I prefer the Kumho's to Goodyear or BF Goodrich.

I was as surprised as anyone after coming to this realization.

 

[honestabe]

Try discounttiredirect.com They have free shipping on tires and offer good pricing. that's who I got my current set of wheels and tires from.

 

[RazoE]

I have those same Federal's up front, 225's, and some 245 Falken Ziex out rear..I used to have 245 Kuhmo Ecstas all around, but they don't really grip all that well to be honest..

I'm happy with my current combo..

Discounttiredirect has a ebay store, and I got my tires at a nice little discount...