What are the best 15" road Tyres??

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Boyracer
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What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby Boyracer » Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:19 am

I'm putting 15s on my SE road car and need some good Tyres, must be good in the wet, what does everyone recomend?

It won't be doing any track work.
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby zero00 » Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:34 pm

Regardless of whether you track the car, I find the Kumho KU36 excellent

Rated 5/5 in the dry and 4.5/5 in the wet

I have them on both an NA and an NB, tyre wear considering the NB has now done maybe 250-300 track laps plus around 9,000km on the road, the wear rate is excellent!!

As for grip, to me 10/10 and not that expensive for 205-50-15 - I think if you are in Sydney then Tempe Tyres could be the go :wink:
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby project.r.racing » Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:20 pm

Kumho KU31 - Better wearing and better wet tyre than the KU36. But everything said above the KU36 is true.

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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby NMX516 » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:08 pm

Michelin PS3's.

Better in the wet than KU36's, just as good if not better in the dry for street driving. Also longer life from the Michelin's, and the Michelin's are also quieter.
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby MrRevhead » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:34 pm

Lou, Taleb Tyres in Arncliffe sell 195-50-15 Kumho KU31's for $80ea fitted and balanced :beer:
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby Mr nanotech » Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:23 pm

zero00 wrote:Regardless of whether you track the car, I find the Kumho KU36 excellent

Rated 5/5 in the dry and 4.5/5 in the wet

I have them on both an NA and an NB, tyre wear considering the NB has now done maybe 250-300 track laps plus around 9,000km on the road, the wear rate is excellent!!

As for grip, to me 10/10 and not that expensive for 205-50-15 - I think if you are in Sydney then Tempe Tyres could be the go :wink:


I second this. They have phenomenal grip in the dry and can hold their own fairly well in the dry. I have found they are very progressive and give you a decent amount to warning before they let go too. The only issue I have had is tyre wear. As they heat up very quickly, they can wear down pretty fast with a lot of aggressive drives. This may be a deal breaker for a lot of the daily commuters. The only other negative is the price but it is possible to get them cheap if you hunt around.
The prices can fluxuate quite a lot and its not uncommon to see them listed below $180 to as high as over $250 per corner!

It depends what kind of application you want though. I found that Yokohama C-Drive and S-Drive provide great amount of grip and are were very good in the wet too. They are a lot cheaper than the ku36 and are probably quite similar to the Kuhmo k731 or Bridgstone Adrenaline re001 in performance. Prices I have seen were around $110-130 per corner but that was quite some time ago.

I hope this has helped
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby Black_Penguin » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:27 pm

My car had Toyo Proxies 4 fitted when I first got it. Good dry grip but found them a bit lacking in the wet.
They were replaced by a set of Kumho KU31's. Good dry and wet weather grip, could not fault them as a everyday tyre. My set lasted for over 30,000km including a handful of track days.
Now have a set of KU36's. Excellent dry grip but wet grip in standing water is lacking. I also find them very noisy especially at freeway speeds on hot mix.
For my money I would go with the KU31's, the 36's are a good street/track tyre but are to compromised for daily only use.
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby 16bit » Sun Mar 03, 2013 8:59 pm

i personally like the toyo r1r which was my last tyre.

i currently have bridgestone re002 and they are also very good.

from what i read ku31 and 36 are great, just depends on budget and priorities.
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby kazman » Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:12 pm

I second RE002's, I'm running them in 195/50 15 at the moment and am blown away by the wet grip (night and day difference with the RE001's - scary in the wet). Dry grip is also very good, and they are quite cheap - I got them for $116 each at Jax Liverpool. I can't comment on the wear life yet as I've only had them for 2000km's, but I got 40000km's out of my RE001's with predominantly highway driving, and spirited driving most weekends. I would definitely recommend them
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby yoda7356 » Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:45 am

I too am running Bridgestone RE 002 and am very impressed with them.
I have only done about 6,000 kms but they seem to be wearing very well.
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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby BadBong » Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:17 am

RE002 is better than KU31 in every way (dry and wet grip, noise and about the same in terms of wear).

However, they are about $20 more a corner.

KU36 has a much stiffer sidewall in my experience... it's like pumping my RE002s to 40psi. It's also alot noisier and wears out faster. I wouldn't recommend them if you are not doing the occasional track day.

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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby 93_Clubman » Mon Mar 04, 2013 10:09 am

Another vote for Michelin PS3s.

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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby Mr Morlock » Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:12 pm

You will get a lot of opinions but in the end you have to weigh up how you drive, how many KMs you do, and the budget.There is probably no best tyre but a number of good tyres. The tyre dealers actually know tyres very well and so canvass a few of them and make a choice.

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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby mazmad » Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:21 pm

So including my two cents that's 4 votes for re002s? :D

A bit more expensive though not as much as Yokosuka but worth it for good all rounder.

Also recommend Taleb in Tempe.

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Re: What are the best 15" road Tyres??

Postby Blesif » Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:26 pm

I'm very happy with my RE002s. Great grip wet or dry, forgiving, take punishment, quiet and wearing well. They also have a neat ridge that protects your rims from gutter rash incidents. Surprisingly effective.


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