Tire question

[David Edgley]

Looking for tires for my 2004 WRX and am considering Toyo Proxes 4. They
seem to be a fairly new tire. Does anyone have experiences to share?

David

 

[Nevertime]

Looking for tires for my 2004 WRX and am considering Toyo Proxes 4. They
seem to be a fairly new tire. Does anyone have experiences to share?

Had these, they perform OK in dry and wet. I now have Goodyear Eagle F1
GSD3 (or something like that) and find these to be equally as good (but a
fraction cheaper for me), and longer lasting (20k miles from the current
set, and I reckon they've got another couple of thousand left in them).
However the new Toyo T1-R is meant to last longer than the previous T1-S, so
maybe they will go for as long ?

The Eagles and the Toyo's seem to be the two most used after market tyres
for Impreza's. If you're feeling flush though you could always go for
Pirelli P Zero's which apparently (although I've never tried them) offer
superior dry grip than either of the others but not quite as good in the
wet, so it depends what you're after really.

Hope this helps

 

[JP]

Hi, dont know those tires but will comment on some very important issues
regarding Subaru tires. Those basic Potenza 03 tires (at least in EU) that
they supply as first tires are full of shit. In Finland at least they have
changed them to new Potenza model, but however as we speak, there are
several new WRX owners looking for new summer tires in coming spring.
Subarus front axle demands really the right ET and althought tires in
general doenst have a lot to do with axle width, Potenza has since long been
THE tires NOT TO choose for your Subaru.

Pirelli Zero xxx = excellent grip, but will wear out quickly (poor sidegrip
when water)
Continental ContiSportContact + new 2 = nice tyre with good grip and last
long
Goodyear F1 = good grip, noisy

 

[Philip Procter]

SUbaru uses Bridgestone RE070's on the STi, any reason you don't go to
those? Supposedly, they were designed specifically for the STI, which
should make them nearly ideal for the WRX, too.

Philip

 

[JP]

Today they do use that model but before that RE03 that were totally
unsuitable for this car. However, the RE70 arent ideal for STI, neither WRX.
A friend changed his and I will certainly change mine next spring. Falken is
my pick.

 

[Rat]

Today they do use that model but before that RE03 that were totally
unsuitable for this car. However, the RE70 arent ideal for STI, neither WRX.
A friend changed his and I will certainly change mine next spring. Falken is
my pick.

I'm on my second set of falken azenis on the svx and I love them.
Extremely good grip on dry pavement. They wear pretty well for a sticky
tire also. Best bang for the buck out there in high performance tires.

 

[Nevertime]

SUbaru uses Bridgestone RE070's on the STi, any reason you don't go to

those? Supposedly, they were designed specifically for the STI, which
should make them nearly ideal for the WRX, too.

I think the RE070 is a "road legal semi slick". i.e. a track orientated
tyre.

Note sure how good bad or otherwise they perform though, but I'd have though
as this type of track tyre they are probably real good in the dry, terrible
in the wet and wear at a phenominally quick rate.

 

[Nevertime]

Goodyear F1 = good grip, noisy

I have not found them to be noisy.

In fact I would say that they are quiter that the (worn) Toyo's were that
were on my Impreza when I bought it, and much less noisier than the Avon
ZZR1's that were also on the car. Avon's were terrible, lots of squeal in
the dry (and not much grip) and no grip at all in the wet.

 

[JP]

I have not found them to be noisy.

In fact I would say that they are quiter that the (worn) Toyo's were that
were on my Impreza when I bought it, and much less noisier than the Avon
ZZR1's that were also on the car. Avon's were terrible, lots of squeal in
the dry (and not much grip) and no grip at all in the wet.

I think the opposite. Ive had several F1`s as they come first tires in many
sportier cars here, and I was quite surprised that they are really noisy.
Dont have a lot experience in many others than Pirelli, Yokohama,
ContiSport, Michelin. My next tires will be Falken FK-451 225/40/18" but
before any experience, dont say nothing yet.

Have you got any experience in "real" winter tires with studs? Here in
Finland the most common are Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2 or now the quite new 4.
Also Viking is very common. Winter tires without studs are Nokian or
Michelin MaxiIce (today X-ice I believe). Maxi was ok with lamels but after
20 tkm they simply worn out and become useless, in 4 wheel drive especially.

 

[Philip Procter]

Can't say how the RE070 compare to other HP tires, but I can tell you
that they seem great in the wet. It's pouring out today, hydroplane
weather. The cornering grip seems endless.

They're stiff as a board, however. I live on a dirt road and I am on a
first name basis with every pebble!

I'm nervous as hell about the wear, at US$180 each my joy could get
expensive, quick!

Anybody had an STi that switched from the RE070's?

Philip

 

[BlueSTi]

Can't say how the RE070 compare to other HP tires, but I can tell you
that they seem great in the wet. It's pouring out today, hydroplane
weather. The cornering grip seems endless.

They're stiff as a board, however. I live on a dirt road and I am on a
first name basis with every pebble!

I'm nervous as hell about the wear, at US$180 each my joy could get
expensive, quick!

Anybody had an STi that switched from the RE070's?

Philip

Yep, I changed out the RE070's to an all season tire. The stock
tires might be great on a track but they are horrible in the snow.
Subaru even states that they are "summer" tires in the owners manual.
The RE070's cause a huge amount of cabin noise. I replaced them with
a set of FZ1's and the noise was cut just about in half and the ride
was improved. Since I rarely push the tires to their traction limits
in the summer, I haven't really noticed any performance change.
BlueSTi
"Scary-Fast"

 

[JP]

Yep, I changed out the RE070's to an all season tire. The stock

tires might be great on a track but they are horrible in the snow.
Subaru even states that they are "summer" tires in the owners manual.
The RE070's cause a huge amount of cabin noise. I replaced them with
a set of FZ1's and the noise was cut just about in half and the ride
was improved. Since I rarely push the tires to their traction limits
in the summer, I haven't really noticed any performance change.
BlueSTi

What do you mean by all season tire? Are you driving with "summer" tires all
year round? Even in snow? Sound very dangerous....

 

[k. ote.]

I'm nervous as hell about the wear, at US$180 each my joy could get
expensive, quick!

They're rated at 14,000K, but I think that's assuming relatively spirited
driving.

Anybody had an STi that switched from the RE070's?

Me, soon. It's coming close to getting to the point where the tires will
be useless here: they only work down to 4C. I'm going to throw some
Pirelli PZero Nero M+S on the stock rims and I'll be back here then to let
everyone know how it goes. (PZero's are top-rated, in terms of
performance, all-season tire that come in sizes to fit the stock wheels of
the STi, according to TireRack, followed closely by the Michelin Pilot
Sport A/S.)

Anyone had any experience with ASA KA3 rims? I'm thinking of buying a set
of those to put the RE070's back on come spring, I love how sparse the
spokes on those things are.

 

[FNO]

They're rated at 14,000K, but I think that's assuming relatively spirited
driving.


Me, soon. It's coming close to getting to the point where the tires will
be useless here: they only work down to 4C. I'm going to throw some
Pirelli PZero Nero M+S on the stock rims and I'll be back here then to let
everyone know how it goes. (PZero's are top-rated, in terms of
performance, all-season tire that come in sizes to fit the stock wheels of
the STi, according to TireRack, followed closely by the Michelin Pilot
Sport A/S.)

Anyone had any experience with ASA KA3 rims? I'm thinking of buying a set
of those to put the RE070's back on come spring, I love how sparse the
spokes on those things are.

I bought some relatively cheap Enkei wheels for winter rims and put Perelli
P225 on them. They were fantastic in the snow. I have around 35,000 KM on
the RE 070 and I expect to get about 10,000 more; that's about it. However,
good gripping tires wear. I found that on the highway they are not all that
bad. And, I love the very stiff sidewalls; the car is very predictable in
the turns and I really like that.