Time for new tires on the Celica, suggestions?

[sentra_dude]

I've been quite busy and I haven't gotten around to changing the worn tires on my Celica, and I paid for it with a rather nasty flat. So now that I am forced to get new tires I plan to replace all of them. The tire size currently fitted is 205/55R15, Fulda Carat Extremo. They were fairly sporty summer tires that lasted about 25,000 miles (40,000km). I don't have much experience with tires (these are the only ones I've bought so far), so do you guys have any suggestions?

I'm looking for fairly cheap (not more than $125/tire), reasonably long lasting (20-25,000 miles), reasonably quiet at freeway speeds, and finally sporty.

Thanks in advance for suggestions.


Oh yeah, and in case you guys don't believe I really got a flat, here's a pic:

[sameerrao]

BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 - $107
Fuzion ZRi - $67
Bridgestone Potenza RE750 - $94

Prices from tirerack.com for 205/55/15 tires.

i would go with the Gforce tires. I had the Fuzion tires on my 348 for a few months - they gripped quite well and were reasonably quiet.

[sentra_dude]

Thanks for the suggestions, I went ahead and ordered some BFGoodrich g-Force Sports from Tire Rack (basically the model below the T/A KDW 2s). I shall post pics when they have been fitted.

[RC45]

Wow - I would have expected you guys to be all over Michelin or Pirelli ?

[sentra_dude]

The new tires are fitted and I've done a few days and ~120 miles of driving on them. First impressions are that they are much quieter than the last tires I had, the ride is just about the same if not a slightly better, and the handling seems to be a bit less crisp, especially on turn-in (although I haven't messed with tire pressures yet so that may be part of it). I now know just how loud the previous tires were...it never really occurred to me that almost ALL of the road noise was from tires. I figured it was a balanced mixture of wind/tire/engine noise, but now it could be considered almost 'quiet' in my car at 75mph, instead of what I estimate was 80-85dB before. The other interesting change is the steering is a good deal lighter now, which I do not like. I always wondered why the steering was rather heavy, which seemed very uncharacteristic of a Toyota, but this explains it some. Its still not as bad as more modern Toyotas, which I think have disgustingly over-boosted steering.

Anyways, I still haven't had a chance to really test out the handling, but the trade-off in reduced noise is worth a small reduction in ultimate handling (which sounds like heresy I know ). After all this is a daily driver and not a sports-car to begin with...