Hey guys, I'm getting new tires and I might be getting Riken Raptors considering that I can get all 4 for $300. I was just wondering if anyone else runs them. I'm looking for a good summer tire with decent wet traction. Any reviews would be great, thanks!

 

One of the best tires out right now are the nitto nt05's. For the amount of performance you get with that tire compared to others the price is not bad at all. Saw a write up recently in Chevy high performance I believe. Had me sold on these tires. They look amazing as well very aggressive and performance oriented. Classified as a street tire and not a competition tire as well.

Other great choices are firehawk wide ovals?
nitto 555
fuzion zri
gsd3 goodyear

 

I also was considering the Riken Raptors. However, I need to know how they are before I buy them.

 

They're great tires IMO. I've had them on my car for about 2 years. Good traction in heavy rain on the rutted two lane farm to market roads where I live. I'm also fairly impressed with the way they handle. My car is my "toy" and I play with it when I drive it so there is plenty of "spirited" driving around curves.

 

I'm glad to know they have decent wet traction since that's what I'm looking for, especially with a posi in the back. I swear I think I'm gonna develop an ulcer if I take another right-on-red in the rain with the crap tires I have now. My car is my toy as well and I do love hitting the winding roads, and I'm thinking of auto-crossing occasionally too.

 

I baby my T/A, but I have Riken Raptor 245/50/16s on my rear end and I've had no problems with them, and they're VERY reasonably priced. About 80 bucks each on TireRack.

 

Nice... I actually bought them almost 2 weeks ago and I do really like them. I haven't had much of a chance to test them on wet roads yet (hasn't rained much here lately) but they handle and grip nicely thus far.

 

Are they considered summer tires or all seasons tires? Glad you really like them. Sounds like pretty good reviews on them. Have you had a chance to try them out in the rain yet?

 

They are summer tires (don't even think cold weather). I have them in 245/45/17 and they are ok for the money. They are not the best or are they the worst tires I have used since my car was new.

 

Actually it's been pouring all day yesterday and part of today so I finally got a chance. And yes they're actually pretty good in wet conditions. The car still felt pretty planted under normal driving despite the lb9's low end torque and posi rear end in my car. They're actually a blast to drift/power slide in the rain... very controllable! But *ahem* don't try this at home kids.

But I'll be honest, I didn't drive the car for a ton in the rain (not at highway speeds yet) mainly because it was raining VERY hard so I just took my other car. However as I said, they still felt solid around town.


That's good to know... fortunately I only drive my Trans Am spring-fall.