MrCanuck

9200 miles and 3 years later my rear tires are at the wear bars and need replacing. My fronts still have about 6/32" or 7/32" left - a fair bit of life left.

The last two sets of tires I've had are the Sumi HTR ZIII. For the price I think they are very good tires, but the rears sure get munched up fast. I thought it was pretty bad tread life until I did some searching here and found that 9K-14K is typical for rears regardless of the brand.

The last 2 times I've gotten new tires I replaced all 4 - because that's what you're supposed to do, right? But it seems kind of wasteful. I consistently have more than 50% left on the fronts, so why not just replace the rears? Does anyone else do this or is their truth to the myth about always replacing all 4?

If I do all 4 I may try the Potenza S04 just to see if the performance or tread life is much improved. The Michellin's seem to be the creme de la creme, but IMO that price premium is not justified when you compare test results.

goofballdeluxe

Nothing wrong with replacing just the fronts if you're keeping them all Sumis and the fronts still have plenty of tire left

nile13

1. Michelin are not cream de la anything.
2. You can put the same model Sumitomo on the rear if available, and leave teh fronts alone.
3. You will find tires much better than S-04s.
4. Michelin are not.... eh.

More seriously, without clearly describing what you use the tires for and what's important to you in a tire, you'll get random recommendations.

MrCanuck

Well, I want everything.

But seriously, best dry performance I can get so when I take an offramp I can scare the **** out of my passenger. Best wet performance I can get so that everyone in the car is safe when I'm going through the mountains in a storm. All at an unbeatable price. (Tread life is not overly important and I don't take the car to the track.)

Of course, unbeatable price and top ratings in performance don't typically go together so you make compromises.

OverBoosted28

Canada, so tire life/performance is most likely affected by the climate. You are NOT going to find a good tire, for all your needs. Get another set of rims, and have yer summer/winter shoes!!!

nile13

That;s an easy one. Hoosier A7 for shorter sessions, R7 for longer ones.

Actually... For what you've described, I would seriously look at Bridgestone RE-71R, BFG Rivals S, Hankook R-S4, Toyo R1R, Yoko AD08, Dunlop ZII StarSpec and possibly Michelin PSS as much more of a compromise. Depending on what you can get in Canada and at what price, or how close you are to US to swap tires there. Those specific models only. Not those brands in general - only those models.

MrCanuck

My 993 hibernates for the winter, so I just need some good high performance summer tires.

MrCanuck

Wow that's a long and incredibly detailed list. Thanks for that. Have you tested all of these or how was that list constructed?

David993S

I have Sumitomo's on two of my toys, and on the Porsche I have replaced just the rears in the past. Not uncommon to do two sets of rears for every set of fronts. Yes, the fronts may be getting a little old, but they're probably OK for regular summer street driving.

nile13

I have owned and run cars, both street and autocross, on 4 of these. RE-71Rs, Dunlop ZI StarSpec (replaced with Z2 now, minor improvements) are currently the tires on my cars. Toyo R1R and Michelin PSS are the previous ones. Of those, Dunlop and Toyo are/were on my 993. I have driven and autocrossed on the other ones in anything from Miatas to E46 M3. The BFG was Rival, Rival S is the newest model. Hankook was an RS-3, both V1 and V2, RS-4 is the newest iteration.

I happen to drive a lot of cars on a lot of tires as an autocross instructor for the last 12+ years. And try to pay attention as I think these are, by far, the most important parts on any car. But the list is only partially constructed from my own experiences. I think that autocross is the nearest approximation to the hard and/or emergency driving on the street. So I always look at what the fast people drive on in Street classes and try to figure if those tires are steel streetable. RE-71R is borderline, but I've put it on my NC Miata and like it a whole bunch. Wear is the biggest concern. Like you, I dive this Miata only 4K mile a year or so, thus it's not much of a concern. Thy also are as close as it gets to a cheater race tire with thread, in a good way, and are well beyond my abilities or interest in pushing them anywhere near their limits on the street.

IainM

I would just add that if you take 3 yrs to wear out a set of rears then a second set will mean your fronts will be 6 years old before needing replacement and that is an old tire to trust your car and health to
get new tires all round and know you're ok
btw I only get 5k outta my rears and that's not even a season
drive more!

Gbos1

Michelin states 10 yrs old then discard the tires. I guess this goes for most if not all tire brands.

IainM

....and you'd think Michelin would want you to buy new tires
But your car is only as good as those 4 contact patches. Seems like a false economy to me. tires and brakes are not worth cutting corners on

Churchill

But it's not cutting corners to drive on perfectly good six year old tires.

bcameron59

Do you have the Sumi's on the car right now? If so, we should talk. I have the opposite problem - fronts are toast but the rears have a lot of life. These are on 18" NB wheels, if you are also running 18's one of us could put together a full set and the other have a bit of cash for a new set. PM me if interested. I am in Calgary too, Discovery Ridge SW.

FWIW, I used to go through 2 sets of rears to one set of fronts, but since I switched from SUV stock suspension to ROW M030 I'm getting way less wear on the rear. I'd guess about 1.25:1 now vs 2:1 before.