I know this question has been asked over a dozen times, I have sat here read through the threads and am in all honesty still as confused as when I started.
I have an 06 MCS built after May 06. My run flats have seen their last few miles, and its time to replace them. I have searched the net, this forum, but still have little or no idea as to what tire to go with. I would like to get away from the run flats.. 195/55/16 is the size on the current tires.
I have no idea what I am looking for. Wet traction is a must for me. We live in SC, and plan on being here for another 2 years.
Can someone please.. break it down for me in plain english as to really what brand tire I need.. I am looking for, traction first.. comfort.. and quiet.. I know that I should already know this, but thats what is great about NAM.. there are many out here who know.. I am not one of them.. please help!

 

You have to decide whether you want ultimate street traction or greater tread life. Do you live in an area that has snow or cold(below 35F temps in the winter)? If you choose durability then you need to find the highest tread wear number. Currently I am running some BF Goodrich Traction T/As in 205/50-16. They fit great, look great, and drive great. Good wet and dry traction, good ratings from Tire Rack. So far I am pretty happy with these. I'll let you know in 30,000 miles what my final decision is. Still trying to figure out what the correct tire pressure should be for even tread wear.

If you decide to go for ultimate traction then you need to look for lower tread wear numbers. The highest traction is available in "summer only" tires. Which means if you get below 35F or have snow that you will need to have seperate winter tires as the summer tire lose traction in cold temperatures and are dangerous to drive. Some of the highest traction tires sacrifice wet traction for dry grip so read the reviews on tire rack, these can be filtered by car brand, so read the ones from MINIs or other small FWD cars.

If this is not a daily driver then you could get away without winter tires in SC if you can choose the days you drive. If it is a daily driver and you do not want to buy winter tires then your only choice would be high performance "all saeson" tires which maintain good cold weather traction. Nokian make some of the best high performance all seasons tires. See here; http://nokiantires.com/en/tire_wr.aspx?season=summer

If you look at these test( http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=100 ) results you can see that some tires develop more dry traction and drop off significanly when wet. As a daily driver I would be looking for something like the Dunlop Direzza that does well in both conditions. I have had excellant results with Dunlop tires in terms of traction, treadwear, road noise, etc. The Direzza is a new tire without many reviews. But it looks pretty good.

With a tread wear rating of only 200 I think real world tread life will be about 10,000 - 20,000 smiles if you rotate every 3,000 to 5,000 miles and maintain the air pressures. This tire will grip like you can not believe. It is really a DOT approved race tire. Even reasonably priced @ $103 each.

Buying tires can be a difficult problem. So many choices, so many different things to consider. Not something you want to leave to the last minute. I think I started looking six months before I "needed" new tires.

Good luck. Hope this was a little help.

 

Thank you very much... i have heard kumo.. toyo.. and I have time left to get the tires, but I think it's time to do this.. sometime this week. It is a daily driver.. and once I get the feeling a tire is going to fail.. then I get very squeamish. Our club is very active, so it is constantly drive drive drive.. between work and fun.. I sometimes wonder why I even have a house.. I live in the car I appreciate your answer and will post what I ended up with!