Best Mid-Priced Tires

**lowslowbenz** · October 21st, 2016 05:19 PM

What's ok for size 17 rims?

265/70R17

Brand?

Preferably MT (Mud Terrain), or AT (All Terrain)

**jut703** · October 21st, 2016 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Egan101

If you're getting a set of 4, maybe your SX2 dealer will give a better discount. Nothing wrong in asking for a better deal. Hehehe

My Yokohama dealer/friend is offering me the Blu Earth Ace AE50 instead. It's a pretty new tire so not much reviews about it.

But it's certainly no sporting tire. It's essentially the replacement for the C.Drive 2, which is more comfort oriented. Better handling than most other ordinary street tires, but of course not as good as the SX2.

Basically I'm faced with the choice of just forgoing any track day records by getting a good all-around tire, or going all out with a track tire that might not even last me a year of daily driving.

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**Wh1stl3r2** · October 21st, 2016 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by lowslowbenz

What's ok for size 17 rims?

265/70R17

Brand?

Preferably MT (Mud Terrain), or AT (All Terrain)

Pirelli Scorpion ATR is my favorite all terrain tire. Quiet on the highway, grippy on and off road. Treadwear is fantastic. P rated sizes are very comfy.

BFG used to be good but I rarely see them anywhere now.

**Wh1stl3r2** · October 21st, 2016 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by jut703

My Yokohama dealer/friend is offering me the Blu Earth Ace AE50 instead. It's a pretty new tire so not much reviews about it.

But it's certainly no sporting tire. It's essentially the replacement for the C.Drive 2, which is more comfort oriented. Better handling than most other ordinary street tires, but of course not as good as the SX2.

Basically I'm faced with the choice of just forgoing any track day records by getting a good all-around tire, or going all out with a track tire that might not even last me a year of daily driving.

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How about the S.drive jut? My cousin really likes it on his Altis. I'd also look at Toyo.

**vinj** · October 21st, 2016 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by lowslowbenz

What's ok for size 17 rims?

265/70R17

Brand?

Preferably MT (Mud Terrain), or AT (All Terrain)

BF Goodrich

**jut703** · October 21st, 2016 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by Wh1stl3r2

How about the S.drive jut? My cousin really likes it on his Altis. I'd also look at Toyo.

No more S.Drive stocks anymore. So it's either the BluEarth or the Neova AD08, which are certainly out of budget (16k each).

What particular Toyo model do you recommend bro?

Other alternative street tires I've looked at:

1. Kumho Ecsta KU39 - supposedly a sport performance tire (280 tread wear); wear is like a sporty tire but grip is not necessarily better than the regular tires. Reasonably priced at 5.6k each.

2. Federal 595 Evo - generally okay feedback, but longevity is awful and doesn't seem to be higher than the SX2, so might as well go full-track tire with the SX2. 260 treadwear. Some say it's not progressive at the limit. Cheap at 4.6k each.

3. Bridgestone Potenza RE003 - great tires but waaaay too pricey at 9k each. Durability not stellar but its a worthy tradeoff for the extra grip.

4. Achilles 2233 - my existing tires. Great longevity as it lasted 40,000 km of spirited driving. 400 tread wear rating but not really better than the usual street tire with 320TW. Not so great at the track, but livable. Really cheap at 3.3k each.

The BluEarth Ace seems to be an upgrade from the 2233, but definitely not as grippy as real sport performance tires, much less the track-oriented SX2.

Subjectively, I just consider the Yokies because they're from Japan.

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**Wh1stl3r2** · October 22nd, 2016 12:03 AM

I think they were Toyo DRB's. Can't vouch for them personally, but my cousin who is suffering from withdrawal from his big bike days only uses DRB's or Yoko S.drives. Too bad S.drive is out of stock.

Potenzas are really expensive. But they do have MY02 which should be cheaper. Sidewall seems soft for a "sporty" tire.

For the Taiwanese brands I only know Nankang NS2-r, but these are semi slicks only for dry track use. My friend's sponsored drifting team uses them.

I don't blame you for considering Japanese brands bro. They make some good tires.

the Toyos should be cheaper than BS or Yoko. Dunlop I avoid like the plague, sidewalls are really soft and tread gets too many punctures.

**jut703** · October 22nd, 2016 03:10 AM

Originally Posted by Wh1stl3r2

I think they were Toyo DRB's. Can't vouch for them personally, but my cousin who is suffering from withdrawal from his big bike days only uses DRB's or Yoko S.drives. Too bad S.drive is out of stock.

Potenzas are really expensive. But they do have MY02 which should be cheaper. Sidewall seems soft for a "sporty" tire.

For the Taiwanese brands I only know Nankang NS2-r, but these are semi slicks only for dry track use. My friend's sponsored drifting team uses them.

I don't blame you for considering Japanese brands bro. They make some good tires.

the Toyos should be cheaper than BS or Yoko. Dunlop I avoid like the plague, sidewalls are really soft and tread gets too many punctures.

I just checked, di pala out of stock, Yokohama PH really doesn't offer the S.Drive in 225/40 R18. The only 18" S.Drive they have is 255/35 which is way too wide for me. Other nice tires, like the Advan V105 and Advan Fleva, don't come in 225/40R18 too.

The Toyo DRB is more or less the same level as the BluEarth Ace AE50, one tier higher than the entry level (Toyo H08 and BluEarth AE01 respectively). Nowhere near track tires, but good enough for daily use with some spirited driving.

Thanks for the tip bro, will call some shops for pricing of Toyo tires tomorrow. The problem with tire shops is that they carry different brands so you really don't know what models are available. When I call, I just tell them to give me their entire catalogue of 225/40R18 tires.

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**Wh1stl3r2** · October 22nd, 2016 01:35 PM

Your tires are big pala. I think that is already UHP territory. Yoko AE50 has good reviews in a UK site I saw. The local version might be different though. Other decently priced options could be Falken and Hankook.

Your post on your track day got me jealous. A back injury keeps me away from the fun stuff. Strictly touring tires for me now.

**jut703** · October 23rd, 2016 10:10 PM

Bummer! I checked S&R Tire Center today and turns out they don't carry low profile tires for my size. Broad selection pa naman - Toyo DRB, Yoko BluEarth, Continental ContiComfort Contact, etc. All of them were in more pedestrian sizes.

Originally Posted by Wh1stl3r2

Your tires are big pala. I think that is already UHP territory. Yoko AE50 has good reviews in a UK site I saw. The local version might be different though. Other decently priced options could be Falken and Hankook.

Your post on your track day got me jealous. A back injury keeps me away from the fun stuff. Strictly touring tires for me now.

Thanks bro, been reading about the Falken Ziex and Azenis, as well as the Hankook Ventus. Thing is, there are still a lot of variants of Ziex/Azenis/Ventus so it's quite tricky. Limited availability too as most tire shops focus on carrying budget brands.

It gets a bit confusing too as some touring tires perform better than some UHPs, then there are some Extreme performance tires that wear better than UHPs. So while these classifications are good general guidelines (Touring < UHP < Extreme < Semislick), it still helps to research about the specific tire model to be sure.

You should try joining one of the track days bro, not too intense naman. Join the time attack instead of the grid race so you can run at your own pace. The next one is in March I think.

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