There are some good recommendations here, but also some lousy ones, for tires that are either crappy (lousy performance compared with others the same price) or overpriced (much higher price than others with similar performance). You can do SO much better for your money than some of the tires mentioned above.

Regarding tire size, you can use either 195/55-15 (stock size) or 205/50-15 on your stock 15" wheels.

1. If you care only about traction on dry pavement, and you don't care how long the tires will last, and you don't plan to use these tires very often in rain, then get the Falken Azenis RT-615 in 205/50-15 ($73). Outstanding dry traction, so-so in rain, and don't last long at all (10-12K miles is typical). Much better in every way than the similar, but more expensive, BFG g-Force KD ($136). And a particularly good choice if you sometimes take your car to the track, autocross, or dragstrip.

2. If you care about dry traction, but you also care about wet traction and/or value (how long your tires last and/or how much you pay for them), then get the Kumho Ecsta SPT in either 195/55-15 ($63) or 205/50-15 ($65). Very good dry traction, excellent wet traction, and last pretty long (25-45K miles). Other decent tires in this category (not as good as the SPT, but similar, not that much worse) and available in both sizes include the Yokohama ES100 ($63/$71) and Dunlop Direzza DZ101 ($53.50/$44.50, both prices after rebate), all three of which are MUCH better than the crappy BFG g-Force Sport ($72/$78) or the even crappier Falken Ziex ZE-512 ($63/$49), and much less expensive than the similar-performing BFG g-Force KDW2 (NA/$99) and Toyo T1-R ($79/$85).

3. One other choice is the Bridgestone Potenza RE010 in 195/55-15, the OEM tire for the Integra Type R, which is still available on closeout at the Tire Rack for $78. Excellent dry traction (better than the previous group), pretty good wet traction, great handling "feel", and should last 15-25K miles.

All of the above are summer tires and should not be used in snow or frigid cold. I recommend using a separate set of winter or all-season tires (or a separate vehicle) in winter. If you must use the same tires in winter as the rest of the year, then you should get all-season tires, which will be okay in winter but won't perform as well as summer tires the rest of the year; in that case, get the Kumho ASX in 195/55-15 ($64) or 205/50-15 ($59).

 

I think my BFG G-force sports are about the same in traction as the old Yoko Es 100s i had and far better than the Kumho Ecsta 712s

 

Well, I'm sure we can all agree that the Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 was a crappy tire. Which is why Kumho replaced it with the SPT.

Still, I don't think the g-Force Sport is all that great. I just don't. I've driven on dry pavement and in the rain with those, and the SPT, and the ES100. And the BFG is a poor third on both dry pavement (where the other two are pretty darn close) and in rain (where the ES100 is very good, and the SPT is even better).

 

I was looking at the nitto neo gens at discount tire but they were out of stock so the rep called me up and recommended the g force sports to me so they're on their way. Hopefully I like them because of the mixed reviews on them but more positive than negative.

 

That's kind of goofy, just because the NeoGen is an all-season tire and the g-Force Sport is a summer tire. I would think that any decent tire rep would recommend only all-seasons to people who need to use the same tires on snow as in moderate to warm temperatures, and only summer tires to people who never need to use the tires in snow. They're not good substitutes for each other.

 

The BFG G-force sport is an all-season tire. That is the main reason I purchased them.

I am originally from California and when I moved to Colorado with 40% tread on my piece of shit Nitto NT450's, I slid into a parked car after hitting a huge patch of ice. I switched to the BFG's and they are phenomenally better in wet and snow than any summer tire I had previously used.

 

Then you were misinformed. The BFG g-Force Sport is a summer tire, not an all-season tire. Feel free to verify on the BFG website and the Tire Rack website.

The Nitto NT450, OTOH, is an all-season tire. Not a great one, but it's an all-season tire.

I would not expect any summer tire, including the g-Force Sport, to do well in snow. That's just not what they're designed for. Rain is a different story, as summer tires usually perform much better than all-seasons in rain (unless it's freezing rain), with the exception of certain specialty tires (e.g. Falken Azenis, BFG KD) designed only for dry traction and nothing else.

 

The g-Force sports actually do pretty well in snow. Better than the NT450's for sure.

I am not going to argue semantics but the NT450's may be classified as all season, but they don't handle for shit on anything besides completely dry pavement. Check out the rain channels on the g-Force sports. They are 100 times more all season than those piles of shit NT450's will ever be.

I know you know your shit about tires, so I am not going to argue. I am just throwing in my $.02 about which would be a better tire. I have no experiences with other tires, so I can't really say anything else.

 

All season has NOTHING to do with rain performance. Most summer tires are designed to do well in the rain, usually better than all-seasons.

All-season designs are concerned with two things: First and foremost, they have compounds with flexibility for a wider range of ambient operating temperatures. Summer tires tend to get hard when the temperatures drop below freezing, and don't grip the road very well as a result. Second, they have tread patterns designed to grip better on snow than summer tires. That's why summer tires often have tread patterns emphasizing longitudinal and diagonal tread grooves which channel water from the center of the tread to the edges in rain, out away from the tire to reduce hydroplaning. Summer tires usually have larger tread blocks, which helps traction on dry pavement. OTOH, all-season tires typically have primarily lateral tread grooves across the width of the tread, including smaller tread blocks with a lot more lateral features to them, which helps traction in snow; the tread pattern of all-seasons usually looks a lot more like that of winter tires. (Winter tires are designed with less temperature flexibility than all-seasons, because they are not designed to handle well in warmer temperatures, only to maximize grip on snow/ice and extreme cold.)

Look at the size of the tread blocks and the directions of the tread grooves in the tread patterns for these tires and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Goodyear F1 GS-D3 summer tire:


BFG g-Force Sport summer tire:


BFG g-Force T/A KDWS all-season tire:


Bridgestone Blizzak REVO 1 winter tire:


If you like the g-Force Sport in snow, fine. I've never used them in snow, and I would never use a summer tire in snow. That's what winter tires and all-season tires are designed for. Just like I would never use winter tires or all-season tires on a racetrack. Different tires, designed for different purposes.

 

traction T/As are very good in snow. I've had them for 2 winters and been very happy with it as an all around tire. Being all seasons you have to carefull because if you get them hot on a hot day they will get shredded. The wet traction is exceptional though, I would say on a typical road I lose less then 10% of the traction when it is wet.