2007 GTI Tires

[The Critic]

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

 

[HTSS_TR]

I know some Honda S2000 owners who track their cars like HTR ZIII very much, but they said the rear doesn't lasted more than 10-12k miles.

For Southern Californian aggressive drivers, HTR ZIII is a good choice for performance and price.

 

[saaber1]

I have the same size Nexen n7000 on my 08 GTI. These are z rated. I drive it hard and at 14k there are no signs of wear. Ride, quietness, and cornering stability are all much better than the stock dunlop sport a/t that came with the car. They cost me $88/tire.

I had Nexen N3000 on my boxster s and those were great too. I got more than double the mileage people were getting from Michelin PS2 on that car. Nexens give comparable performance to PS2 for less than 1/2 the price.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Surprisingly, he is quite satisfied with the performance of the OE ContiSportContact 2 tires.

Surprisingly? IMO, they are pretty good tires. Had them on my A4, although they weren't OE - not sure if there's a difference.

For the price, HTR Z III is hard to beat. And if he hates it... well, in 10k miles he'll be done with them anyway. Might also consider Kumho Ecsta MX which is just a little bit more.

 

[Canawler]

I'm running the Sumi. HTR ZIIIs on my SRT4 and I'm very happy with them. Even taking their excellent value out of the equation, they're just plain good tires.
I got my set from Tire Rack (a good experience, but that's for another thread) in March '08 and have around 12K on them so far with very little tread wear. Admittedly, there were a lot of fairly easy miles as the car mainly gets driven back and forth to work by my wife and it has two longish (2000 round trip) trips that were mostly highway, but I do like to have fun with the car when I drive it.

I've been rotating every 5K miles and no weird treadwear yet. I think I will definitely be getting my money's worth as far as tread life.
Plus they handle great as the Tire Rack test shows. My size (225/45/17) is an XL load rating so that might make the sidewall a bit stiffer and improve handling but they are also the best riding performance tire I have ever tried and the quietest.

Bottom line: Althought the mileage is still a bit low to really judge them, at this point, I would definitely buy them again.

 

[Audi Junkie]

They are popular on AudiWorl...err, QuattroWorld.

 

[rshunter]

I know a number of Mk V GTI owners who are running the Sumitomo HTR ZIII. All give them a big

. Tell your friend to go for it.

 

[Jim 5]

He should look at General Exclaim UHP's. I'm in my second summer on these and am pretty impressed. Low wear, decent grip. The only gripe is that the sidewalls are a little softer than typical UHP tires.

The price can't be beat.