I have heard both good and bad things about both.

I heard the Riken tires hook up really good in strait line stuff, but are unpredictable when pushed hard in the corners (suddenly break loose in RWD cars). They are soft and wear fast and after about 10-15k loose their grip. They are "W" speed rated and do not perform as good in the wet as the Altimax tires. The reviews on these in my application seem to be a mixed bag of a love or hate thing. LS1 tech had a thread on them about people running good 60 foot times with them.

The Altimax tires I heard are a good all around tire. They have good dry and wet traction, last a long time, but do not hook up as well as the Riken tires. I heard they are more predictable at the limit as well. They are "H" speed rated so I dont know if that affects their performanceor just the speed at which they are safe to be taken. The tire rack has them rated very high compared to the other low price tires.

Does anyone have any experience with these? I am not interested in other tires as I have done my shopping and both of these fall in my price range of cheap and seem to perform well. I can get the Rikens about $50 cheaper.

 

Raptors are summer, Altimax are all season. You're on a tight budget, so that rules out a second set of tires for winter. So that rules out the Raptors. Simple logic.