Sumitomo tires, any opinions?

You might also look a Kumho. A former Dunlop test driver in town now works for Kumho and had very favorable things to say about the Kumho tires (and not just because he works for them now). I have a set on the 308 and have been well pleased with them. I always try to do business locally, but in the case of the Kumho's tirerack had them at half the price I could buy them for locally. When they arrived, I had them mounted at a store that sells Dunlop and Michelins. Two separate employees there told me 'those are good tires', comments made without my having asked. I thought it especially interesting since they don't sell Kumho and had no vested interest in making me feel good about my purchase.

--Woody

 

Not many manufactures make performance tires in 14 inch any more. I have Yokahama's they seem to do pretty well for my use. You can still get original 205/70VR14 MICHELIN XWX but sorta pricey at about $500 a tire, I think they are Coker remakes.

 

Michelin has a vintage tire division which makes them: http://www.michelin-passion.com/passion/front/templates/affich.jsp?codeRubrique=41&lang=EN

 

...Sumitomo's on my car, fitted to 7.5x14 Campy wheels.

They are very predictable in corners and do not have a lot of road noise on the highway.

I am happy with them.

 

Thanks for the clearing that up, Coker is the US distributor according to the web, not the maker. I still can't afford them.

 

Khumo and Sumi's are excellent tires, used them on my Uracco, 308, 911's, hell i have 17 inch Sumis on my 1970 Camaro !

There is no where to go anywhere near these ancient cars "top speed" on public roads, least where i live, so these tires are new, safe, round, and hold air. i also dont track my cars, so the cost and street performance is perfect. no clue why none of the American manufacturers thought of this, and made a good tire . i have personally put full sets of tires on all 5 of my cars in the last year or so, and have bought Sumi or Khumo, with the exception of my truck. I would have like to have bought American, but there all no American "good tires" in these sizes and prices.
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I have two months and 500 miles on my Sumitomo 205/70-14's on my 308 GTBi. Nice and quiete, very smooth and corner much better than the 15 year old Michelin TRX tires before them.

I'm happy with them.

 

...tire rating you can.

If you can get a "Z" rated tire, do so. Or a "V" over an "H";

the conventional thought is that a higher rater tire will perform better at all speeds than the comparable lower rated tire, even if you never reach the highest speed rating it can handle.

 

I have Kumho's on my 308QV and had them on mhy 348SS as well. Very pleased with them...

 

IMHO: I got those to drive on and a set of TOYO race tires for the track. The Sumitomo 205-70 hr14 are really not bad. After they get scrubbed in which takes a few hundred miles, the grip is quite reasonable. The steering response is seems less quick than the XWX's, but for ~50 - 75 bucks IIRC, again, they're really not bad.

I miss the 225-60/14 A-008RS Yok's.

 

It is getting tough to find 14s I have 2 cars with them. And I could only find about 4 manufactures that made 205/14s. So now do we have to buy 16's just to get good rubber on the road or go down in performance in order to prolong the inevitable, M/S tires on a Ferrari???

 

If you are not a purist then the Sumitomo is an inexpensive good option that is too cheap to ignore. The speed ratings are a little academic as modern tire construction is far ahead of that 30 years ago and so is the relative performance of a 308 (a car that most hatchbacks can dust). You will be fine with the Sumitomos and will have some extra cash left over.

As for the purists the Michelin XWX is the ONLY solution and new ones actually handle very well. They get a bad rap because most people judge their 20 year old tires compared to a new non XWX. Handling is also increased as your wallet is a lot ligher At $500 a tire they are staggeringly expensive but the only choice if you want the tires to be correct.

Lastly, on the subject of XWX's, there is a lot of confusion here as to their origin so let me set the record straight. Michelin manufactures this tire under EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT to Coker tire. Coker owns the rights to the tooling having purchased it from Michelin. Anywhere in the world you buy an XWX, Coker has their hand in the pie as you CANNOT buy directly from Michelin.

 

What he said. I had Sumitomos on my Audi TT for the year or so before I returned that car on lease. They were fairly priced, rode quietly and performed fine in our moderate San Diego weather. I would buy them again for a normal, use-it-up daily driver.

But if you're talking about a near-vintage Ferrari I would pony up for the Michelins. That was the tire specified for the car when it was designed -- i.e., the technology of the tire and the specifications of the suspension probably match. And, from the purist perspective, I've always thought it looked odd to have a tire mounted on a 308 that didn't exist during the 308 era.