Hey everybody, I just got a set of R84 X-Lites and they need new rubber. For those of youwho have this wheel or something similar, what's the best bang for my buck when it comes for tires? All input is appreciated

 

Avon tech 550 AS, great tread life and handling.

 

What's your criteria? All season? Summer only? Quiet and long lasting? Who cares about road noise, I want grip? Rain? Cold? Snow? etc.

 

I just put a set of Kuhmo ecsta ast's on my MCS. Nice tires so far.

 

Summer performance, good handling, reasonable noise, good in rain and dry

 

I've recently been looking for replacement tires as well, and from what I've read, the following are pretty much what I'll be going for: BFG KDW/2

 

This thread and
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=104289

both moved to Tires wheels and brakes forum due to question about tires.

BF Goodrich KDW2 are good for handling but not as comfortable or long lasting. The tread pattern is unusual and aggressive.

So, Summer tire (never in snow), good handling wet or dry, reasonable noise- an comfort for daily driving.

What about budget?

Do you want them long lasting or not? Summer tires are about 220-300 treadwear.

Longer treadwear is going to come from Ultra High Performance All Season tires not UHP Summer tires. You give up some handling for longer treadlife and more comfort.

 

Do NOT waste your $$$ on the Dunlop Direzza DZ101's
I bought a set shortly before the Dragon, put around 4,000 miles on them (Planned to rotate @ 5k miles) and the fronts have worn all the way into the wear bars already My wife actually drives 85% of the time so I know it's not wear due to "Spirited" driving

 

Check your alignment. Unless your 15% of the 4,000 miles were done on the dragon at "speed".

 

I have had good luck with Yokohama tires. I had AVS ES100s on my Z3 roadster and the old MINI Cooper. For the new MCS, I am looking at Yokohama Advan Neova A048s. They come standard on the Lotus Elise, so you know they are sticky. Tires are a huge tradeoff, cost, wear, handling, road noise, summer vs. winter, etc. Do you have two sets of wheels? What's the average winter temperature where you live? If you only have one set of wheels, and the temps drop to 10 - 15 degrees in mid-winter, you pretty much have to go with all-season tires, as the summer versions are only good down to about 40 degrees.

 

Well, only about 1% was at the Dragon and that was when the tires were new

Alignment DOES need to be done, however I don't think it's the main contributing factor as the tread wear is fairly even across the tire with ever so slightly more on the inside

 

Well, here's a quick comparison of my Dunlops after 4000 miles
Any guess which ones were up front?

 

WOW. That sure doesn't look like it is alignment. That Dragon must be extreme. Wish I could go there!!

 

The Dragon is pretty extreme. My front insides wore smooth that weekend.

 

Your Dunlops look worn but only from direct use.

To wear out tires you have to run them and the rate of wear will have to do with how they are used and what surface they are being used on, weather, etc.

If you drive the dragon like you are at a high performance driving event then for every one mile you are going you wear up to 10 miles worth of tread. (up to 100 miles wear and tear on your car).

So how many miles did you clock in at the Dragon? If 100 miles then 1,000 miles of tread or more. Hard accelerations and braking and fast turning usually are the hardest on tread.

Tire inflation looks OK. How many in the car during that time?

Your rear tires look like my 4 year old tires after 20,000 miles.
I suppose that when the tire is newest the rubber is soft so hard driving will wear them out quickly. My older tires are hardened now and don't provide the same level of grip as before so they don't wear as quickly.

Your solution is to change to another tire or just replace the front pair albeit after less than 5000 miles because the front are worn down to the replacement bars.

 

We did, at most, 6 trips on the Dragon and since it was my first trip, I'd say that I barely crossed into the "Spirited" category of DragonSlayer
Oh yeah, and it was just the Frau and I. The tires where pretty new at the time, easily less than 750 miles by the time we hit Fontana. Thing is, I checked them when we got home (would've been ~1000 miles) and they looked fine

I'm now trying to decide whether or not I can run the worn tires in the rear for a while and then replace all 4, or just replace 2 now

Thx