I have this setup, i think, currently on my summer wheels on my 03 MCS. I say I think because I am away from home this week and going from memory. I do remember that my tires were undersized slightly from the guy I bought the wheels from.

Anyway, I went to get some BFG KDW-2's only to find out the tire has been discontinued in this size. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good performance tire in this size or should I move up to the standard size tire on these 15's?

Road noise is a big concern for me as I live in WA. Anyone who has been out here knows concern roads and studded tires make for a noise mix on our highways. Any imput is apprciated.

Thanks!

 

205/55/15 will fill out your wheel well better. Check out S drive

There is alot to look into in 205/50/15 - if you prefer to keep the shorter gear ratio. The top 3 hits on that like are the high performance ticket!

Re-11 by Bridgestone
Ventus R-S2 by Hankook
Ecsta XS by Kumho

Alex

 

Thanks alex!

 

I had the KDW-2's and they were really loud. I had read the reviews and thought it wouldn't bother me, but it was noticeable.

They also didn't last as long as I would have liked. I only used them in summer (I put Blizzaks on in winter) and I barely got 2 summers (6 months) out of the fronts.

 

y'might consider the Dunlop Direzza Z1 in a 195/55-15 also

aside from being one of the top three performance tires, i've found them quiet and well mannered on the street too

great stick, and decent wear considering - i've 15k and 10 events on mine and they are nowhere near the wear bars as yet

btw they pulled more than 1g on a wet skidpad on my car (an STX chassis)

 

no disrespect Alex, but it looks like Tirerack does not distribute for Toyo or Dunlop - is that so?

 

Tirerack sells Dunlops

Direzza Z1 Star Spec is a good tire but
195/55-15 is very small on tire diameter at 23.5".

It could work if you have a lowered MINI but with stock suspension the wheel gap would be large.

In 205/55-15 Ultra High Perf Summer tires
Yokohama S.Drive $89 300 treadwear
General Exclaim UHP $69 380 treadwear

Or in Ultra High Perf All Season tires (same size)
Continental ContiExtremeContact $94 400 treadwear
Kumho Ecsta ASX $67 420 treadwear

205/50-15 will fit but wheel gap will be large unless you have lowered suspension. Speedometer and odometer will be off a little.

 

Yeah, I had been running 50s. Unfortunately none of the local places carried the Yokos or had any Bridgestone's that were performance related. I ended up with some Toyos that are much better than the Kumhos that were on there and the runflats what were on my winter rims. The road noise is very manageable on Washington roads. Thanks!