Tires Hankook or BRIDGESTONE

Something I can personally recommend is the Hankook Ventus v12 Evo2. Great tire and around the same price as the firehawks. Going to perform a little better than the firehawk but not supposed to last as long. TireRack has the Hankooks listed as a "Max" summer tire with a life at ~20k miles(Firehawks tire life supposed to be around 30k). I've put just under 15k miles on them with 2 auto cross days and wouldn't be surprised if they lasted longer than 20k. Got them for $460 mounted and balanced, out the door.

Ventus V12 EVO2 is the sleeper tire in this category. A few buddies run them, they are a lot like the PSS, in that they are a summer performance tire with consideration to tire life. But at an even lower cost.

I have RS3's on my S2000 and have for a while now. Fantastic dry grip when they're warmed up but then wet grip is abysmal...I actively avoid driving that car in the rain partially because of that.

I use Blizzak DMV2 (suv version of the WS80) on my Santa Fe. Unstoppable in deep snow, but that has mattered maybe twice so far this winter. On ice they have been better than my all seasons, but they have not been incredible.

I found the Bridgestone tire to be alittle more forgiving and last longer. The grip on these tires are both amazing and hard to tell them apart on snow and ice.

In addition to Star Specs, Hankook RS3s are a good and cheap track tire. They withstand heat well.

After taking the WS80's out in some snow and firm hardpack, I am very impressed.

I do like the PSS much more than my old Bridgestones. They are so much quieter. I'm sure I'll very much enjoy the next 10-12K miles I get out of them.

I have taken 3 tires to track events on my R: Dunlop ZII Star Specs, Bridgestone RE71R and Michelin PSS. I also ran version 1 Hankook RS3 tires on my BMW for both HPDE and autocross events. ZII Star Specs: excellent tread life (9-10 HPDE days @ ~2 hours track time/day), very good dry traction, good wet traction, wide temperature range RE71R: fair tread life (5 HPDE days), excellent dry traction, good wet traction, wide temperature range PSS: I used these for one event as a rain tire as my expectation is that they will not tolerate the sustained heat that a dry session will produce. Good dry traction, excellent wet traction, limited temperature range RS3: very good dry traction, unknown wet traction, limited temperature range; i.e.: they need lots of heat before they get sticky (craptastic for autoX) If I had to pick one tire for HPDE events, it would be the ZII's and that is what is currently on my car. Tires cost money and I value tread life over outright performance and the wear characteristics make the Dunlops about half the cost of the Bridgestones. If someone else is buying my tires, then I'll go with the RE71R's. For autocross use only in a street tire class, then the RE71R's, no question. i have not tried the BFG Rival or Rival S, but based on friends experiences I would expect them to be somewhat similar to the ZII and RE71R, respectively.

Don't worry, the 3.6L driver will end up in the ditch because his hankook tires exploded.