[Wario]

Confession - I know basically nothing about the current state of the tire world. I feel like the only performance tires I ever hear about are Cup 2s - are they the best? And are they the best in any application, or would they be all wrong on a fwd car like the Integra?

More tire questions I'd love to hear opinions on:

What's a good everyday performance tire?
What's the best value if you're looking for something good enough?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rainbrounicorn]

I was wondering the same thing and Googled it, and found this article from Motor Biscuit. I haven’t confirmed by looking at CR ratings yet, but it seems a good place to start!

 

[Wario]

I was wondering the same thing and Googled it, and found this article from Motor Biscuit. I haven’t confirmed by looking at CR ratings yet, but it seems a good place to start!

Nice, thanks!

 

[chotaku]

Depends on what you intend to do with the car. And I don't think any tire would be wrong or bad for a front wheel drive car like the Integra. That all depends on driver preference, suspension setup, and wheel/tire size setup.

I believe the stock all-season tires are mid 300 or 400 thread-wear, so if you want something a bit grippier than that, then anything 300 thread-wear or below will be good.

Since you mentioned the Cup 2 tires, those are 180tw. So maybe you're fine with a 200tw tire?
If you plan on tracking and dailying the vehicle, then any of the 200tw tires will do well.
But expect like 10-20k miles MAX depending on brand, alignment specs, how often you rotate tires, and how aggressive you drive. And obviously if you are frequently tracking/autocrossing, that number is more like a third or half of that. For reference in my S2000, I tracked on a set of Bridgestone RE-71R for 4 events going to and from the track (round trip: ~300miles), Total: ~1200 miles. The tires are shot and have no more cornering grip on track. I can continue to drive them on the street for a few hundred miles more if I wanted to since theyre not corded or anything, but no more track days on that set, and they're pretty much heat cycled out.

If you're curious on 200tw Asian brands, you got the cheaper Taiwanese offerings (Federal and Nankang), the good value Korean brands (Hankook, Nexen, and Kumho), and the high quality Japanese brands (Bridgestone, Dunlop, Falken, Toyo/Nitto, and Yokohama).
There are other brands too with the 200tw category, like BF Goodrich, Goodyear, Pirelli, and Continental tires, but I would say they're not as popular as the Asian market tires for its price/performance ratio. They are still a viable option if curious.

If you're on a budget and don't care about longevity or NVH, then the Taiwanese brands are for you.
If not, then the Korean and Japanese brands are it.
Korean brands leaning more towards longevity over performance, and the Japanese brands leaning more towards performance.

Popular Taiwanese 200tw tires:
Federal RS-RR (very bad tire noise, so unless if you have a loud exhuast, expect to hear a 'whirring' noise on the hwy)
Federal RS-PRO
Nankang NS-2R
Nankang CR-S (supposedly copying the Advan A052)

Popular Korean 200tw tires:
Nexen N'fera Sport R
Hankook RS-4
Kumho Ecsta V720

Popular Japanese 200tw tires:
Bridgestone RE-71RS (new tire just came out and replaced the old discontinued RE-71R)
Dunlop Direzza ZIII
Falken Azenis RT-660 (similar performance to old RE-71R, but sizing is larger than stated, so a 255 is realistically a 265)
Toyo Proxes R1R
Nitto NT05 (I see more Nitto's on a primarily street driven car)
Advan AD08R
Advan AD09 (new tire just came out, not sure if its 200tw or not)
Advan A052 (even though its 200tw, its realistically a racing compound tire with grooves, and they wear super quick)

 

[Rainbrounicorn]

Depends on what you intend to do with the car. And I don't think any tire would be wrong or bad for a front wheel drive car like the Integra. That all depends on driver preference, suspension setup, and wheel/tire size setup.

I believe the stock all-season tires are mid 300 or 400 thread-wear, so if you want something a bit grippier than that, then anything 300 thread-wear or below will be good.

Since you mentioned the Cup 2 tires, those are 180tw. So maybe you're fine with a 200tw tire?
If you plan on tracking and dailying the vehicle, then any of the 200tw tires will do well.
But expect like 10-20k miles MAX depending on brand, alignment specs, how often you rotate tires, and how aggressive you drive. And obviously if you are frequently tracking/autocrossing, that number is more like a third or half of that. For reference in my S2000, I tracked on a set of Bridgestone RE-71R for 4 events going to and from the track (round trip: ~300miles), Total: ~1200 miles. The tires are shot and have no more cornering grip on track. I can continue to drive them on the street for a few hundred miles more if I wanted to since theyre not corded or anything, but no more track days on that set, and they're pretty much heat cycled out.

If you're curious on 200tw Asian brands, you got the cheaper Taiwanese offerings (Federal and Nankang), the good value Korean brands (Hankook, Nexen, and Kumho), and the high quality Japanese brands (Bridgestone, Dunlop, Falken, Toyo/Nitto, and Yokohama).
There are other brands too with the 200tw category, like BF Goodrich, Goodyear, Pirelli, and Continental tires, but I would say they're not as popular as the Asian market tires for its price/performance ratio. They are still a viable option if curious.

If you're on a budget and don't care about longevity or NVH, then the Taiwanese brands are for you.
If not, then the Korean and Japanese brands are it.
Korean brands leaning more towards longevity over performance, and the Japanese brands leaning more towards performance.

Popular Taiwanese 200tw tires:
Federal RS-RR (very bad tire noise, so unless if you have a loud exhuast, expect to hear a 'whirring' noise on the hwy)
Federal RS-PRO
Nankang NS-2R
Nankang CR-S (supposedly copying the Advan A052)

Popular Korean 200tw tires:
Nexen N'fera Sport R
Hankook RS-4
Kumho Ecsta V720

Popular Japanese 200tw tires:
Bridgestone RE-71RS (new tire just came out and replaced the old discontinued RE-71R)
Dunlop Direzza ZIII
Falken Azenis RT-660 (similar performance to old RE-71R, but sizing is larger than stated, so a 255 is realistically a 265)
Toyo Proxes R1R
Nitto NT05 (I see more Nitto's on a primarily street driven car)
Advan AD08R
Advan AD09 (new tire just came out, not sure if its 200tw or not)
Advan A052 (even though its 200tw, its realistically a racing compound tire with grooves, and they wear super quick)

Wow, thanks for all this info!

 

[Ghs737]

You should also consider that tires in the 200tw category sold by Tire Rack have the following warning.

Note: Tires exposed to temperatures of 20 degrees F (-7 degrees C) or lower must be permitted to gradually return to temperatures of at least 40 degrees F (5 degrees C) for at least 24 hours before they are flexed in any manner, such as by adjusting inflation pressures, mounting them on wheels, or using them to support, roll or drive a vehicle.

Flexing of the specialized rubber compounds used in Extreme Performance Summer tires during cold-weather use can result in irreversible compound cracking. While compound cracking is not a warrantable condition because it occurs as the result of improper use or storage, tires exhibiting compound cracking must be replaced.

in general - tires in this category must be stored inside during the winter if you live in a place with a cold winter climate. Tires in the 340tw category do not carry this warning.

 

[chotaku]

You should also consider that tires in the 200tw category sold by Tire Rack have the following warning.

Note: Tires exposed to temperatures of 20 degrees F (-7 degrees C) or lower must be permitted to gradually return to temperatures of at least 40 degrees F (5 degrees C) for at least 24 hours before they are flexed in any manner, such as by adjusting inflation pressures, mounting them on wheels, or using them to support, roll or drive a vehicle.

Flexing of the specialized rubber compounds used in Extreme Performance Summer tires during cold-weather use can result in irreversible compound cracking. While compound cracking is not a warrantable condition because it occurs as the result of improper use or storage, tires exhibiting compound cracking must be replaced.

in general - tires in this category must be stored inside during the winter if you live in a place with a cold winter climate. Tires in the 340tw category do not carry this warning.

Yup. Agreed. Just be wary of your environment and what tire you need and can use on a day-to-day basis during each season.

I'm from Southern California, so we don't really have any 'seasons'. Maybe like a total of 30 rainy days per year at most, and the coldest mornings in my area only reached mid 30F at night. So most of us can just get by with a 200tw tire on the daily.

 

[houndrunner]

This is all super informative stuff, thank you @chotaku. For me personally, I was looking at the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires -- looks like those have a 300 treadwear rating, but they generally get high marks and were praised for being a serious tire offered on the Elantra N; I've seen them fairly routinely on higher-performance cars that are daily-driven, so that might do the trick. For me personally, I'm looking at the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701s -- good performance but considerably less expensive than the Michelins.

The temperature stuff is interesting (thanks @Ghs737), and not something I had considered. I live in New England, so I figured I'd be getting a dedicated set of winter tires, and then hopefully move to a performance summer tire once the all-seasons were done, but I'll keep in mind storage suggestions if keeping them in an unheated garage is going to be an issue.

 

[Xhilr8n!]

When I saw how unlikely it is that I see a new car available to buy this year, I put some Falken Azenis, tw 200 On the Gen 9 Si. Fun tires for our mountainous backroads. Plan to leave them on through Winter as we have other vehicles for sloppy and frozen weather.

 

[Slowcarfast]

Tirerack.com is a good resource for comparison tests and user reviews.

The Michelin Pilot 4S comes up a lot in this category as one of the best overall, and quieter.
If it’s like the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ which I had on my Volvo, they were quieter and felt lighter (more sensitive to inputs) than the BFGoodrich G-Force Comp A/S. Both good tires in the ultra high performance all season category, by the way.
Another summer tire I like is the Falken Azenis RT-615k. I had these on my Miata for autoX. Very sticky; you could hear and feel it pick up pebbles. It’s the only “extreme performance” summer tire I’ve owned so maybe that’s typical of this category. They didn’t seem too noisy, but wind noise in a convertible drowns out road noise. I didn’t think they would be great in rain based on the tread design and ratings, and I never pushed it hard enough in the wet to find out, but in the dry they were fantastic.

 

[JimmyM01]

@Wario do you have a budget in mind? I think that will help with recommending tire options.

 

[VTEC Goes Bwaah]

Confession - I know basically nothing about the current state of the tire world. I feel like the only performance tires I ever hear about are Cup 2s - are they the best? And are they the best in any application, or would they be all wrong on a fwd car like the Integra?

More tire questions I'd love to hear opinions on:

What's a good everyday performance tire?
What's the best value if you're looking for something good enough?

Thanks in advance!
View attachment 1493

If you don't mind spending the money the best ones you can get are either the Pilot Spot 4S or Pilot Sport 4 all season if you want something a bit more year round.