Toddimus

How true! I peeked and was rather surprised at the inside of the rears. They are even scary on wet roads. I'm ready to try some Sumitomos. The pros seem to clearly outweigh any cons.

Manny Alban

I've got 10K on my Sumi III's and thoroughly enjoy them. Doubt they'll ever see the track since I've got a dedicated 964 race car, but I did autocross it a couple of weeks ago and did pretty good in my class. I had anticipated alot of understeer since the car is stock, but the tires were very responsive and decent grip for tires that cost less than $400 for a set!

ljugete

Having them put on as we speak! WOW what a price!

Amfab

OK I got em on yesterday and I like the IIIs better than the IIs although they seem very similar. Slightly heavy feel but not bad at all, and as I said I kinda like the stability. My tire guy said that most of the noise I was experiencing with the HTRIIs was from a little bit of tread scalloping on the fronts rather than the directional pattern... what being out of alignment causes this? or is it an inflation issue?

Black993

Just an update.

I got caught in a very heavy bit of rain today on I-4 here in Florida. The car performed perfectly as if there was no water on the road. Very impressed with wet traction for normal driving on these tires. I fully expected to feel the need to pull over considering the amount of water that was building on the road surface but never did the car step out of line.

bart1

I had a track day on mine a few weeks ago. It rained pretty good at the track that day, which I was pretty nervous about, but they performed fantastically for my level of driving. Also, my instructor (very accomplished driver) took my car for several laps and he was having brake heat issues before the tires complained - and I have a less than perfect alignment right now.

mongrelcat

Any more long-term updates on these?

I'm happy with mine, wear at 6k miles is negligible. Wet weather traction seems good though I honestly have little in the way of comparison.

Paging Stealth and TimMoffatt;; I've only driven on this set a few times below 40* so far with no issues, but I'm wondering if I should mount up some All-Season or Winter-specific rubber on my Cup-IIs to get through the next few months comfortably.

Comments from those using these year-round in sub-40*'s would be very much appreciated.

Stealth 993

I used them in the snow storm last year. Really didn't have any issues. It was rain, snow, sleet, & ice. Did I get great grip?, no, but they worked fine.

However, I would not go out to the mountain passes with them. Or take them to the slopes. Around town you are fine.

mongrelcat

Thanks Stealth. Are you still running them? Year round?

Anyone else have any input re: cooler climates?

95cab

I'm not convinced yet on the colder/wetter street performance. Both should be expected to be somewhat diminished, so claims that they perform "perfectly as if there was no water on the road" are a little bit tough for me to understand, but then again, I wasn't there. My experience has been that they lose grip in the rain, as expected, lose grip in the cold, as expected, and in cold rain, well...that much worse. Note, however that I drive winding, narrow, low visibility, shoulderless roads, so with absolutely zero margin for error (as in trees and boulders are in the right-of-way on these roads) I'm particularly attuned to my traction. I should post some pics of these roads for those who don't encounter this stuff twice a day with lawn crews, utility trucks and other assorted vehicles coming at you...

Now we're talking cold as in ~40F, since Seattle might not be that cold that often (don't know, only been there a couple times) it might not be such an issue.

All that having been said, I am very pleased with the tire overall and don't push it hard in adverse conditions.

David993S

I've got a little over 5k miles on my Sumi's (car now put away for winter) and while I have'nt and wouldn't be driving the 993 it in snowy conditions, the dry and wet weather performance has been excellent, and at least as good if not better than my previous Bridgestones. I did have an issue with balancing a right front, but it turned out to be the technician not the tire. I continue to be very pleased with them.

Stealth 993

No, they wore out & were replaced with PS2's.

Quick edit. The PS2's are hands down a better tire. But they are a little over 2X the cost.

BillJ

I am on my second set of III's and still like them for the street. Switched to PS Cups for the track and will never ever use anything else again, but the III's will continue to be my dry and wet daily tires for the forseeable future.

rw229

So for those of you who have a good amount of track time on these, what's your opinion? I'm currently running BS RE050A PP's. I'm happy with them as a street tire and they seem to be adequate for my skill level on the track. Per the Tire Rack reviews, the Sumi ZIII tested slightly better and the price is very attractive, but what's your experience with them as a track tire? (I don't think I want to move up to dedicated track tires just yet)

flatsixforme

I have burned through a whole set with 95% AX/track miles. They were a perfect fit for me as they lasted me almost a full season and were very affordable. They allowed me to do all the track driving I wanted without stressing about my tire budget. Did I have the fastest tire out there, nope, did they perform well enough for me to continue to learn the car and have fun, absolutely! I would have gone for another set but decided to try the new Hankook Ventus V12's for this next track season...they were slightly more expensive and I hope will have a bit more performance. My only negative observation with the Sumi's compared to other tires I've run is that once they got overheated after an overaggressive AX lap they were very greasy for the rest of the laps in that session. I think the more expensive tires might be better at coping with the tendancy to overheat but that's just a guess.

Bottom line, if their price allows you to justify getting out on a track more don't worry about them not holding up because they will be just fine as a begginner/inermediate driving tire IMHO.