Hi. My tires are very worn and need replacing. I'm already ordering a set of winter tires from tirerack for my 14" winter rims at a great price but unfortunately, even if you order a second set from TR, they still slap on an extra 120$ shipping to Canada. So the price of summer tires end up being about the same as buying locally. Also, in Canada, we don't qualify for any of the mail in rebates! Bummer.

I'm quite a tire noob and don't know what to choose. On tirerack they have Fuzion Touring, Sumitomo and Dunlop direzzas. Anything more xpensive and its not worth it, I might as well buy locally. Locally, I have found Yokohama s drives at a decent price, but I've heard they're noisy and GD is already somewhat of a noisy car. If not I've also found Falken Ziex and Khumo ecsta LX or SPT all at about 100$ a tire.

I like to do some spirited driving and I want something that performs ok on wet pavement. I don't race or go to the track. Any advice on where to start?

 

Anybody??????

 

Most performance tires will be loud. Most quieter touring tires will not handle as well (as they're more geared towards comfort). Finding that balance specific to your needs can be an expensive experiment.

For me, if I'm looking strictly for best mileage, comfort and quiet, I get Michelins, despite the price. They last a long time. For what you're looking at, I've had great results from Yoko S Drives. They were on my old GSR, which is actually less insulated than the Fit, but they were fine. They got a bit louder as they wore, but very tolerable and definitely better than Kumho Ecsta's I had previously. I've heard Falken Ziex weren't that great, either, in the sound compartment.

I'm personally going to go with S Drives once these Sumimoto's wear out (which I do not recommend). S Drives performed very well in the dry and was good in the rain as well (I was driving through ~2" of standing water for 2 miles with no issues (around 40-50MPH) But this was when the tires were fairly new). They have worked well for me in the past, so I'm going with them again.

 

You are going to get all kinds of recommendations. It is the "what I bought has to be the best syndrome".

Yokohama Avid Ascend (US manufactured) from Tire Rack work great for me.

If you have a rebate coming, you can use my address and I'll simply re-post (forward) the letter to your Canadian address. I do that occasionally with parts and ebay items for a few Canadian friends.

 

Wow! Very generous offer! Thanks! I think you have me convinced, I'm gonna go with the yokohamas. They're about 100$ a tire with free shipping for me so it would be the same price as entry level sumitomos from tirerack.

Thank you so much for your advice!