A friend of mine has a 2007 GTI with 20,000 miles on it.
The GTI's tire size is 225/40-18. The OE tires were the Continental ContiSportContact 2 summer tires. He lives in Southern California so there's no need for an all-season tire.
The two front tires wore out at the 10,000 mile mark, so he had the dealer replace the two front tires with the same tire for about $500. Now, with 20,000 miles on the car, both the front and rear tires are at the wear bars.
He wants a tire with good performance due to his aggressive driving style. Surprisingly, he is quite satisfied with the performance of the OE ContiSportContact 2 tires. His driving style causes him to chew through tires very quickly, so he would rather not spend too much (i.e. $1k) on tires. I don't think he's interested in changing his driving style either.
From what I've read online, the Sumitomo HTR ZIII offers about 80% of the performance of the Michelin Pilot Sport 2 (PS2) at half the price. In their latest Max Performance Summer tire comparison, TireRack ranked the HTR ZIII #1. Edmunds has a set on their long-term 2002 BMW M3 and has posted on their blog that they are very satisfied with the performance of these tires.
At $490 shipped for a set of four, the Sumitomo HTR ZIII appear to be a steal, at least on paper. As a comparison, a set of ContiSportContact 2 would cost $854 and the Michelin PS2 would cost a staggering $981.
Given the circumstances, what do my BITOG friends suggest? What other tires should my buddy be looking at? Do the HTR ZIIIs sound like a good choice?
Thanks!
References:
Tire Rack:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=93
Edmunds Blog:
http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/02/2002-bmw-m3-new-tire-review.html
The GTI's tire size is 225/40-18. The OE tires were the Continental ContiSportContact 2 summer tires. He lives in Southern California so there's no need for an all-season tire.
The two front tires wore out at the 10,000 mile mark, so he had the dealer replace the two front tires with the same tire for about $500. Now, with 20,000 miles on the car, both the front and rear tires are at the wear bars.
He wants a tire with good performance due to his aggressive driving style. Surprisingly, he is quite satisfied with the performance of the OE ContiSportContact 2 tires. His driving style causes him to chew through tires very quickly, so he would rather not spend too much (i.e. $1k) on tires. I don't think he's interested in changing his driving style either.
From what I've read online, the Sumitomo HTR ZIII offers about 80% of the performance of the Michelin Pilot Sport 2 (PS2) at half the price. In their latest Max Performance Summer tire comparison, TireRack ranked the HTR ZIII #1. Edmunds has a set on their long-term 2002 BMW M3 and has posted on their blog that they are very satisfied with the performance of these tires.
At $490 shipped for a set of four, the Sumitomo HTR ZIII appear to be a steal, at least on paper. As a comparison, a set of ContiSportContact 2 would cost $854 and the Michelin PS2 would cost a staggering $981.
Given the circumstances, what do my BITOG friends suggest? What other tires should my buddy be looking at? Do the HTR ZIIIs sound like a good choice?
Thanks!
References:
Tire Rack:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=93
Edmunds Blog:
http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/02/2002-bmw-m3-new-tire-review.html