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FTL Performance 9522 NE 139th Street Kirkland, WA 98034 |
FTL Performance |
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Car/Track Gallery:
What's the best tire? That's one of the questions we hear most often. There are many great tires, but none that do everything really well (dry, wet, icy roads). If you're like us and want the best tire for a specific task, you can either have extra sets of wheels with winter tires (and track tires) mounted or swap appropriate tires onto a single set of wheels each season. Our preferred formula: 3 sets of wheels, each with a different type of tire: Ultra Performance Summer tires, Winter tires and Track tires. The winter and track wheels don't need to be anything special, though it'd be nice if the track wheels were light weight (under 20lbs or better yet, under 15).
For the Pacific Northwest (and other areas which see a handful of snowy/icy days each winter), a good option is to use a good summer tire for dry (and wet, if applicable) conditions and, when encountering snow or ice, throw chains on if your car allows. Many auto parts stores offer returns at full price for chains not used during a winter. Just buy a set sized for your tires and throw them in the trunk for the winter. For more snowbound areas, dedicated snow tires are a better option.
So, what to get if you're going with summer, ultra performance tires. Around here, Bridgestone S-03's are quite popular and we use them as well: on a Miata and an STi. The STi OEM 070 is also a great summer tire.
However... we're now considering trying some new options. A recent issue of Car and Driver compared 11 high performance summer tires for primarily dry as well as for wet traction. The results were surprising. The Goodyear F1 GS-D3 topped the list. Some tires placed higher than expected based on larger differences in wet traction than for dry traction. So a tire with great wet traction might look better than a tire with poor wet traction but better dry traction. But if your goal is dry traction, look for a tire that scored among the best in that area.
Read the Car & Driver article on their web site. Tire Rack has posted a nice PDF of the original article if you'd like to download it in all its glory: Car & Driver Article as PDF.
Shown below are the various charts not found in the online article. Use these to choose the tire that best fits your own criteria.
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