Anybody use Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s?

"Ilike_cougars" (rohitvenkat01)
06/01/2016 at 12:17 • Filed to: None

Im thinking about getting this as my tire for this summer, I will be putting it on my Mini for daily commuting and the occasional track day, and best of all the cost at the moment also seems really very reasonable on tirerack. Any body on Oppo use this tire?

DISCUSSION (9)

Textured Soy Protein > Ilike_cougars
06/01/2016 at 12:23

I thought about these but for some reason Tire Rack lists them as “ultra high performance” and not “max performance,” not really sure why as they look plenty more aggressive than most other “ultra high performance” tires.

I have Kumho PS91s which are another affordable, supposedly-good tire, about to go on my car this week, and can report back once I get them scrubbed in. Initial comparisons with Pilot Super Sports have been favorable. I don’t have much personal experience with the PSS but I generally have a good feel for tires so I’ll let you know.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Ilike_cougars
06/01/2016 at 12:42

I don’t know how these compare to the Firehawk Wide Ovals which are also supposedly a performance tire per the way they sell them, but if they do be ready for disappointment. That was the worst tire I’ve ever put on a car and twice the price of crappy no-seasons that have always felt better. No grip in any direction and worse in the rain. When I first pulles out of the shop, I thought the tires were flat because of how bad it felt and the way my wheels started just skiidding when trying to pull out into traffic at a normal speed. In a Mazda3. 2.0.

Jayhawk Jake > Textured Soy Protein
06/01/2016 at 12:45

I have PS91s on my car now. They’re OK. I’ll be curious to compare to proper 200 tw tires eventually. They’re definitely better than whatever tire was on the car to begin with, but I haven’t been blown away like I was with the Hankook RS3's I had on my Sonic.

Ilike_cougars > Textured Soy Protein
06/01/2016 at 12:53

Sounds good let me know.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Ilike_cougars
06/01/2016 at 13:20

While I don’t know about that new tire, I do run it’s predecessor (wide oval indy 500) on my corvette year round in southern NM. Overall, I’m satisfied with the tire for a relatively hard summer performance tire. When you factor in that they are a low-dollar summer performance tire, I’m a happy camper. Grip is good enough, they are nice a predictable at and past the limit of adhesion, okay in the rain, and they are holding up better than I expected after 10K. On 20-30 degree mornings, they are as slippery as one would would expect for a summer tire, and they do take a mile or so on the highway for the flat spot to workout from sitting overnight during the winter, but these are expected attributes of any summer tire run in cold weather. Should they expand the sizes offered on the new indy 500's to include sizes that work on vette, I would likely pick up a set of these as my “who cares at this price” driving to work tires.

Shift24 > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
06/01/2016 at 13:33

I think these are different/redesigned. I have had firehawks indy wide ovals on my 4th gen Camaro and I won’t be considering Firestone for a long time. Totally agree on pretty much everything, absolutely garbage in any type wet condition.

Arrivederci > Ilike_cougars
06/01/2016 at 13:39

I thought about these as well for the same purpose, but don’t they have something like a 320 treadwear rating? That usually means they aren’t going to be sticky at all.

Textured Soy Protein > Jayhawk Jake
06/01/2016 at 13:46

I had Hankook RS2s on my Miata way back when. I really liked their grip but didn’t want something that bumpy or loud on my 335xi.

On my old Mazdaspeed 6 I had Sumitomo HTR Z III and then Continental DW. I liked the grip and turn-in response of the Sumitomo but they were a bit bumpy and noisy (not like the RS2 though) and had a hard time staying round so I got a lot of use out of the lifetime balancing deal at Discount Tire. The Continental was much more comfy and quiet but the turn-in was mushy and they’d go a bit greasy just from fun back road sessions.

My hope with the PS91 was to combine the good attributes of each of those other tires, without the downsides. I’m putting them on my car tomorrow night so I’ll see soon enough.

mcarp22 > Ilike_cougars
06/26/2016 at 23:04

FYI - These are Potenza RE003s in other markets.