Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 Tires

[shaeet]

Bought some Scion tC rims a couple months back and they still had the factory tires on them with barely any tread left. After almost wrecking my car on more than one occasion due to no grip I decided "gee maybe i should get new tires before i kill myself durrpaderp"So on went the research!!! I used to use the Falken ZEIX-512 and more recently had some 912's installed on my WRX wheels but honestly, they are loud and wear way too fast for my tastes. Excellent wet and dry traction though.So I found out about these Sumitomo HTR A/S P01's which are a tread pattern knockoff of the Michelin Pilot A/S, but for less than half the price. Got in on the NTB/Merchant's Tire Sale that went on this weekend, buy 2 get 2 free. They sold the tires for $130 each and required you to get a 1yr alignment (which i direly needed anyways b/c i never did it since i lowered my car) and premium mounting/balancing, so I ended up spending about 110 mounted per side w/tax and all, not bad at all! I haven't put enough miles on them to really review them for sure, but I just looked up my old Consumer Reports issues and saw the November 2010 issue to have tire reports in it and lo-an-behold, these Sumi's are tied for #1 next to some Pirelli's. The consumer reports ratings were:Not sure why these were ranked #2 when they have the same 82/100 score, but IMO they should be tied and/or #1 due to their substantially lower price.Anywhoo, so far my car rides WAY nicer and it is definitely quieter when cruising. The old tires were the scion size 214/45 and the ones I got were the OEM 17" Vibe GT size 215/50 so the bigger sidewalls i'm sure helped with the ride as well, but DAMN my car rode like crap before getting these tires, they helped a ton. I haven't been able to spin the wheels either but I haven't been driving like an a55 either. I won't know how the wet or snow traction is til later this week, hopefully they will handle what this winter throws at the DC area.Just thought I'd share in case someone else is looking for some performance all-seasons for cheap. These tires sell for 94$ a peice on tirerack btw in the 17" size. Not sure what the 16's sell for, probably similar price.