Sumitomo Tires

[79-TA]

Whatever you buy, give the guys at Driverzinc a call to see what prices they offer.

[ModedCB2]

in my experience the HTR2's on a moderate powered car of moderate overall vehicle weight are tough to beat for a street tire. No they will not excel in the slalom course or auto-X, they aren't meant to. I can totally see a drop of 10+ mph, the tire is not priced or intended for that use.

I have HTR2's on the King Cobra right now, it weighs about 3,120 with me in it. the 306 I have under the hood makes about 400 rwhp. The HTR2's are 17" 245/40 front & 265/40 rear (I think) & they handle great, especially in wet. They hold the power to the pavement admirably. I still have leaf-springs out back with South Side Machine traction-bars & the HTR2's don't just spin constantly, unless its REALLY cold.

I've had Falken's, Sumi's, Nitto's, BFG's & others over the years on all the Mustang 2's, all moderate to fully built V-8's and aggressively driven. Sumi is the only brand I have been a multiple repeat buyer of. Heck at one point I had Sumi's on all (4) Mustang II's, the wife's Sable, & the wife's '89 Mustang Coupe.

On the cars that see track use, then there are dedicated Drag radials, handling, or whatever purpose built tire.

Hard to beat for the $$ & durability.

I was NOT impressed with the Wear of the 1 set of HTR3's I had. Returned them to Tire Rack and they found me a set of the HTR2's.

Rob

[wmhjr]

Wow. That's amazing to hear such a different experience. I was also talking about street tires - not for the track. BTW, I couldn't have cared less about them spinning off the line. They were the pure definition of "suck" in any type of bend. You could feel the sidewall flexing and the entire rear end just wallowing around like crazy. No threshhold braking, nor any diving into an apex. I'm talking about just highway on-ramps and exits. Not Autox. I'm wondering if maybe you have a car where the suspension just isn't that tight, the car isn't sensitive enough to allow you to really feel the changes in tires. It's interesting to hear different opinions of the same tire.

[ModedCB2]

wmh... welll yeah there is a pretty significant difference between any E36-up, heck even E30-up M3 and a "lowly" Pinto based Mustang II. no matter how much technology I have thrown & fabricated into my cars. My King Cobra still wears Leaf springs, so, there ya go.

But, having said that. My wife's Mountaineer SUV came on BFG Long Trail tires & I could feel the squirm in them to the point it made me car-sick driving it. I had new Kumho Excsta's on it in under 15K... only because Sumi didn't make an SUV/Sport truck tire at the time.

I've done my fair share of SCCA, auto-x, & recently time attack as a sit-in driver. I know exactly what you are saying & I agree. The sidewall could use some "at the limit" shoring up. I found, running the 40-series tire, was as close to rubber-band I had ever run and they were comfortable, but nimble. The '89 Mustang Coupe I built for my wife had 45-series on it and it was stable. Maybe I am just a lil more forgiving on the street. Also, both cars showed significant improvements with the + 2 sizing on the '89 & +4 sizing on the King Cobra.

I think, overall its about balancing what the buyer expects vs. how much they are willing to part with, given the available brands in the size. I need 335/40/17 for one of my other projects... I am VERY limited on options there... all checking in at $250+ per tire.

Like you, I enjoy hearing all experiences and use them to gauge my own future purchases.

Rob