Matty Mooling

i've heard it works and in fact i have some brand new 205/55/16 Toyo Proxes 4 sitting on my balcony. Shoot me an offer if your interested.

Phantom Cruiser

I think mine are 205/50/16s...

dudeondacouch

the stock dunlops were definitely terrible in water, but i agree that they were very easy drive at the limit on. My AVS ES-100s do not give any notice at all when they are about to break loose.

spotthedogg

why would anyone go to a 55 series, too tall, and handle worse???? 205/45/16 or 205/50/16 is what you want.

Phantom Cruiser

I take that back...they are definitely 205/45/16.

turbodcee

I just went through the same decision. I had 44k on my stock dunlops and always hated the way they loose traction in the rain. I just bought All Season Kumho ACX (195-50-16) from Tire rack http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....tnum=95WR6EASX

I too felt that it was more important to get a good well rounded tire than just go all out performance and sacrifice wet traction. I guess I am getting old. Besides, this car is a daily driver. If I want a thrill I will take my 85 Turbo RX-7 for a blast down the 1/4 mile on a sunny day.

A couple weeks ago my decision was reinforced...
I was cruising along in the left lane of the highway doing 65 when I hit a patch of slushy snow. The hydroplaning pulled me off the road and onto a snow covered grass median. Luckily the median was wide enough and I somewhat maintained control of the car and coasted to a slow enough speed (about 5 mph) where I could keep my momentum (so I wouldnt get stuck in the 4 inches of snow) but gain control (to merge back on the highway). It was very scary and I only realized this after it happened. My engine bay, rims and undercarriage were packed full of snow and luckily I didnt hit another car or a tree or even a mile marker post! Maybe it could have been avoided by going slower; maybe my worn tires were a factor (6/32" remaining) ; maybe the Dunlop's lack of wet traction was a factor... I dont know. But the point is that if a good set of 'all season' tires could prevent an 'accident' like this, I think it is worth it. Because I may not be that lucky next time.

Ok, enough preaching .. .
Anway, so far I like the way the new tires are performing. My opinion is that they are slightly quieter and handle better in the rain. The dry handling may not be as responsive as the stock tires. It feels as if the sidewalls are not as stiff. I actually like it better because I get a softer ride but yet the car still handles like a champ . (it softens up the Goldline lowering springs ).

thats my long 2-cents. Good luck with your search. I vote for the Kumho ACX's!

TeamPlayers

^^ good revovery....with that said you could always put some good meats on your stock tires and then pick up some bullet hole rims from a junk yard and put some winter tires on them.

Da P-Funk!

Check my sig. The new tires were Night and Day improvement over the stock dunlops.

Oh so much better wet and significanlty better dry (a little wider).

You will need to lower to make it look 'right' again - but you will benefit from that mod too.

tonkabui

aint that the truth! (about the yokos)

DaleK

As I have said elsewhere, the Nokian WR is a great all round tire (especially if you need good winter traction). I am very pleased with the ones I have. They are 205/50/16. This is about 1/4" diameter larger than the stock 195/50/16, rides and looks better as the tire fills the wheel well a little more. I have no regrets. From what I gather, the WRs are probably on par for handling with any high performance all season (like the Dunlops or Kumho ASX or Proxes FZ4), but kick a$$ in the snow and wet.

Dale.

mitchman

Here's some popular tires in the autocross community. These are all max performance street tires (not race tires):

Falken Azenis Sport (VERY sticky)
Fuzion ZRi (VERY sticky)
BFG G-Force TA KD (VERY sticky or go with the KDW for more wet traction)
Bridgestone SO3's
Bridgestone RE-950 (good comprimise)
Kumho Escta MX (VERY sticky)

guy66

I have the Fuzion ZRi's in a 205/45/16 and they are great in both wet and dry. They are a little noisier than the useless stock tires. More on the plus side for them is they are reasonably priced at Firestone dealers and if they install them you get free rotations!

AlexB2

Hmmm...not quite on par, I found. I have them on my wife's 99 Corolla. These are definitely skewed towards winter, which is just fine on Ontario ( October to April anyone? ). They squirm if you corner hard, plus they are slightly noisy. Let me put it this way: if you use the car as an appliance, they are fine. If you DRIVE the car, they won't cut it. I would still stick with a good all season performance tire, like a Toyo proxes 4, or similar, and get a set of winter tires.

More on that, my wife managed to take the Corolla off-roading in the snow field and hit a curb on a separate occasion with these tires, whereas I understeered only when I WANTED to.

Just my 2 cents....

DaleK

I don't find too much of a trade off in the 195/50/16 size in an H rated tire. You lose some dry weather traction over the Dunlops, but not much. They aren't any noisier to my ear than the Dunlops either. And my car is definitely not used as an appliance I did find them squirmy at first; adding some extra psi helped that out quite a bit.

Let's put it this way - based on my experience so far, if you actually drive your car in real winter and can't afford/don't want 2 sets of tires, then I consider the WR to be a non compromise.

The off ramp I take on my way to work is a longer cloverleaf with a straight part. With the Dunlops I could comfortably push to 75kph on the curves in it, with the Nokians I start to get antsy around 70kph. My cabrio has 195/50/15 Kumho 712s on it, and I can get to about 75kph on the same ramp before I have to back off as well.

I can't speak for your experience though, only mine, and that's what I have found. I do suspect that the speed rated low profile tire handles a bit nicer.

If I didn't have to contend with real winter, I might have considered something else too.

Dale.

AlexB2

>> Let's put it this way - based on my experience so far, if you actually drive your car in real winter and can't afford/don't want 2 sets of tires, then I consider the WR to be a non compromise.

Totally agree....

Is it not true that your winters are colder but with less snow than those we have?