Well it's time for some new summer tires for my MS3. About four years ago Tom found me an incredible deal on Bridgestone RE-01R's and they were hands down the best tires I've ever had. They served me well, four track days and I would guess 15,000 road miles. They lasted far longer than I ever thought they would.

I would love to replace them with RE-11's, the replacement for the RE-01R's. But they are a bit pricy still, even on sale. So I did about a minute of Tire Rack looking and narrowed my decision down to four. What are your thoughts? Anyone know anything beyond the descriptions for these? Good or bad, lets hear it. I didn't look at Falken or Hankook yet, so if you know of any that are worth a look let me know.

225/45R18

Bridgestone RE-11: $804
Kumho Ecsta XS: $736
Yokohama S.drive: $656
Bridgestone RE760 Sport: $608

Thanks!

Im running Nitto NT-05's and couldnt be happier. i went from burning almost into 3rd gear on a set of kumho's to hooking in first. same size.

i think i paid like 150/tire for 235/40/17's on Discount direct.

S.drives are quite good, and not absolute crap in snow (you can actually limp home, unlike RS3s). I haven't had any experiences with the other ones you listed.

Colombia28 wrote: I didn't look at Falken or Hankook yet, so if you know of any that are worth a look let me know.

225/45R18

Bridgestone RE-11: $804
Kumho Ecsta XS: $736
Yokohama S.drive: $656
Bridgestone RE760 Sport: $608

Thanks!

I ran on Hankook Ventus evo V12 205/50R17 tires on my mazda3 s sport. They were very grippy tires in the dry, ran quiet, and pretty decent in the occasional summer downpour as well. Well matched to the foothill twisties. I bought a full set, twice.

Am considering 225/40R18's of these for my mazdaspeed3 whenever the OEM tires are done. They are relatively soft, I wouldn't expect more than about 8-12K in aggressive mountain driving, though they might last considerably longer in flatlands driving. They're about $670 bare tires, shipped, from tires-easy.com. Hankook also might have an $80 or $100 cash card rebate.

These tires are from different categories. I'm assuming you want the same performance category tire that the RE01Rs were in (Extreme Performance Summer which are 140-200 treadwear tires).

If you're looking to do trackdays and be on the quickest street tire you can afford then the Yoko S. Drive and RE760s are should be omitted from this list.

The tires you should be looking at that are on par with the RE-11 are:

RE-11A (A newer compound to the RE-11 but same tread pattern)
Kumho XS
BFG Rival
Yoko Advan AD08
Falken Azenis 615K
Dunlop Direzza DII
Toyo Proxes R1R
Hankook RS3
Federal 595 RSR
Nitto NT05

Of what is listed above the BFG Rival is the new king and provides the most dry grip of the group w/the RS3 as a super close 2nd.

http://www.tiretab.com is a great resource for finding the best price on those tires. It searches all the sites and shows the price for the chosen among several vendors.

Hope that helps.

Colombia28 wrote:Well it's time for some new summer tires for my MS3. About four years ago Tom found me an incredible deal on Bridgestone RE-01R's and they were hands down the best tires I've ever had. They served me well, four track days and I would guess 15,000 road miles. They lasted far longer than I ever thought they would.

I would love to replace them with RE-11's, the replacement for the RE-01R's. But they are a bit pricy still, even on sale. So I did about a minute of Tire Rack looking and narrowed my decision down to four. What are your thoughts? Anyone know anything beyond the descriptions for these? Good or bad, lets hear it. I didn't look at Falken or Hankook yet, so if you know of any that are worth a look let me know.

225/45R18

Bridgestone RE-11: $804
Kumho Ecsta XS: $736
Yokohama S.drive: $656
Bridgestone RE760 Sport: $608

Thanks!

I appreciate the feedback guys!

Red, I'll take a look at those Nittos. Thanks!

Brigdh, thanks for the info on the S.drives! I have a set of W.drives for my winters and have been very happy with them, so it's good to hear the S.drives are also good.

Chromal, Thanks for the heads up on the Hankooks!

Saul, I don't plan on tracking this new set, which is why the tires I listed go from Extreme to more or less road only. I plan on picking up a set of 17" wheels to get some good track rubber. The prices are so much better when talking about 17's. This set will be for my OEM 18" road only. That said, I still would love to get something on par with the RE-01Rs I had. Those tires spoiled me with how good they were. Thanks for the list, I'll check them all out.

Id suggest the 615k or 595RSR. Both are affordable and offer the same if not better performance (grip) than the RE01R and have respectable wear if all you want to do is DD them.

Hope that helps.

Thoughts on the bfg kdw? I think that is going to be my next set of tires.

Shadowden wrote:Thoughts on the bfg kdw? I think that is going to be my next set of tires.

I had them on my SRT-4 (factory tire). They gripped well but they wore quickly. And I think they're kind of on the expensive side aren't they?

Not really terribly expensive. Around 200.00/tire for the 255s I need. I'm looking at other tires now though. I would like a good wear on these as they are my summe commuting tires and I will be putting about 4k miles on them on my trip in July.

Anyone have any first hand experience with Sumitomo? Don't really hear about them and they have some tires with apparently good specs for very little $150 from tire rack fro 255/35/18. The are the HTR ZIII.

Also checking out the Bridgestone Pole Position S-04, Goodyear Eagle F-1 Asymmetric. Just looking at tires in the <220.00 price range for the rears. Fronts would be 225/40/18

Car is currently on Pirelli P Zero Nero all seasons. I have never really had the car do anything unpredictable, but it feels kind of dead/provide much feedback. I'm sort of wondering if they are a tire that will give no response until it is too late to know I pushed too far, so I don't really push them.

As a reminder, I'm looking for tires for an S2000, probably a little different than the OP, so sorry about that.

Thanks for the Tire tab link !!!!

I ended up going with the RE-11's. Discount Tire was running a $100 off any four tires and they gave me a good deal right off the bat. They wanted way less per tire than Tire Rack so I couldn't resist.

Thanks for all your input!

Almost always Discount Tire is cheaper for buying just tires, at least in my experience. Only time I usually go with Tire Rack instead is if I'm buying some steelies or cheap winter wheels too, in which case Tire Rack is sometimes cheaper.

Colombia28 wrote:I ended up going with the RE-11's. Discount Tire was running a $100 off any four tires and they gave me a good deal right off the bat. They wanted way less per tire than Tire Rack so I couldn't resist.

Thanks for all your input!

Was it the RE-11 or RE-11A?