Tires Kumho or SUMITOMO

Try the Kumho ASX. They were quieter than any other tire I've tried. Much more so than the awful Goodyear RS-As.

I run the sumitomo 215/50s but I got a 185/60 for a spre so it fits under the rear mat.

the summitomo HTR-200 are a relatively decent tire. They are super cheap and come in several sizes that would work for you.

I just got 4 Sumitomo HTR Z III's and they were super cheap, 300 treadwear rating, pretty sweet tread pattern, and reinforced sidewall, all for $107 a piece from TireRack, pretty reasonable. There's almost no road noise and they grip pretty well, I just hope they last!

I ran the Kumho XS (250/50 15 on a 2006 Mazda 2) last summer and found them to be fairly comparable to the superceded Bridgestone RE01R, albeit much cheaper. I did 4-5 autocross sessions on them on top of 'spirited' drives in the local mountains every weekend. My fronts lasted just under 3000 miles to slick and the rears around double that, but I do have a fairly aggressive alignment.

My experience is that they balance just fine but yes, they do have a thin (2 ply nylon?) sidewall, which is why I inflate them to 51 PSI as per manufacturer's spec and they do great! This is a diesel Jetta so the fastest I've driven them at a constant speed was about 80mph from central Connecticut to midcoast Maine. I also drove the Jetta from Maine to Seattle 2 summers ago with over a thousand pounds of "stuff" in and on the car. They behaved just fine and did excellent in the horrible rainstorms I encountered in Illinois.

We have a set of Kuhmo XS's and Koni Yellows on the way - Santa was good to us!

Had them on the Jetta for 2 years now. Great summer tire for general use. Don't expect it to handle sporty or go anywhere in the snow. But they do have a very low rolling resistance and will reward you with better mileage.

To me 36 psi seems too low. The tires just sit too low. I run 40psi all around on my KUMHO ECSTA 711's.

no way man i had the khumo 712 xtas and they SUCKED!! they didnt get traction at all, they just wheel hopped everytime off the rip. then i get new wheels and tires, with Nitto's on them... and i havent had any wheel hop. they get great traction, instead of hop i now get the little squall.. but the car is moving not sittin still beatin the crap out of my car.