Zestino tires - 215/40/17

[TyphoonFiST]

Bringing this back form the LONG dead due to my woes in finding any reasonably priced (like less than the ridiculous $250.00+ each most are going for nowadays! ), very grippy street tires in this 215/40-17 size.

Please do not mention the Yok Fleva V701, or the Kumho PS31 as they are both well below the performance level I am seeking.
The Falken RT615+ is being discontinued soon, and besides it has one of THE absolute narrowest of tread widths in this size, period!

Has anyone else on here tried this very tire out (now 200 tread wear rated, BTW) lately??
How is the on highway noise/'singing', and just how horrid are they in heavy rain/standing water on the roads?

I am less concerned about their wear since they will mostly likely age out long before I wear them out, given that this setup will only be on the car for a max of 5 months a year.
(Yet another reason for not going with the $1100.00/set options out there! )

Thanks in advance.

Where did you read this information? I can't find anything even on Falkiens own website.

 

[Philippe]

Bringing this back form the LONG dead due to my woes in finding any reasonably priced (like less than the ridiculous $250.00+ each most are going for nowadays! ), very grippy street tires in this 215/40-17 size.

Please do not mention the Yok Fleva V701, or the Kumho PS31 as they are both well below the performance level I am seeking.
The Falken RT615+ is being discontinued soon, and besides it has one of THE absolute narrowest of tread widths in this size, period!

Has anyone else on here tried this very tire out (now 200 tread wear rated, BTW) lately??
How is the on highway noise/'singing', and just how horrid are they in heavy rain/standing water on the roads?

I am less concerned about their wear since they will mostly likely age out long before I wear them out, given that this setup will only be on the car for a max of 5 months a year.
(Yet another reason for not going with the $1100.00/set options out there! )

Thanks in advance.

I had the chance to find a set of near-new Yokohama AD09 in 215/40R17 last week. I wanted to buy this tire anyway, but there was some delay at retailers for new tire of this model....

I used them on the street only so far, but they have a very good grip.

I come from 15in Yokos AD08R and if they are near as good in the rain, it will be a perfect high performance tire for me!

 

[M-Sport fan]

Tire Rack has them listed as 7.2" wide in tread width (IF that's what you were asking about ), and they supposedly measure that dimension themselves.

As far as the about to be discontinued thing, I believe one of their (Tire Rack's) reps told me that, so yeah, grain of salt time.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I had the chance to find a set of near-new Yokohama AD09 in 215/40R17 last week. I wanted to buy this tire anyway, but there was some delay at retailers for new tire of this model....

I used them on the street only so far, but they have a very good grip.

I come from 15in Yokos AD08R and if they are near as good in the rain, it will be a perfect high performance tire for me!

Yeah, if I cannot find a decent, cheaper option, those are becoming my go to tire for now, but I will wait for any rebates/discounts/whatever from Yok before pulling the trigger on them for almost $1100.00/set from Tire Rack!! (But somewhat less from Simple Tire, albeit still big $$$$ )

Are they totally unbearable as far as noise/singing at speed, on the highway, or not too bad??

 

[Philippe]

There is some noise on the highway, but my car is not a daily so I can live with that no issue. No singing but they are still new.

There are not a lot of options in that size and performance segment... These are great quality tires.

 

[M-Sport fan]

There is some noise on the highway, but my car is not a daily so I can live with that no issue. No singing but they are still new.

There are not a lot of options in that size and performance segment... These are great quality tires.

Yes, and I even like their aesthetics with that square shoulder/not much lost width between the side wall and tread look.

Tire rack has them listed as a 7.8" wide tread width, but Yok's site has them at a full 8.0", both on a 7.5" wide wheel.
On my 8" KE Motorsports Pro T12 Gen 2s they might even be a hair wider yet.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

My 615k+ are nearing their end after 20k of hard driving. i might look into these as they are $125 a tire. Good thread call back!

 

[Fusion Works]

Why does the name sound like a some frozen pizza bites from the grocery store?

 

[alex7]

I couldn't even find these tires in 2021 when they finally needed replacement. I ended up having to replace with a set of RS-PRO 215/40/17. From what I remember the RS-PRO were about half the noise of a R888 on the street, and these Zestino's were less than the RS-PRO. I only got caught in the rain once in the Zestinos and from what I recall they held just fine (no rain in Socal like the last 2 years at the time) I noted that you dont really care about longevity, but they did not last 12K miles, but I also did not rotate more than maybe once lol

 

[M-Sport fan]

I couldn't even find these tires in 2021 when they finally needed replacement. I ended up having to replace with a set of RS-PRO 215/40/17. From what I remember the RS-PRO were about half the noise of a R888 on the street, and these Zestino's were less than the RS-PRO. I only got caught in the rain once in the Zestinos and from what I recall they held just fine (no rain in Socal like the last 2 years at the time) I noted that you dont really care about longevity, but they did not last 12K miles, but I also did not rotate more than maybe once lol

THANKS for that review/update!

If they are quieter than the RS-PROs than that is fully acceptable, as far as highway noise goes.

Full depth, standing water/rain performance certainly looks like it would be better than the 'barely cut slick' tread pattern of the current 200 tread wear gumball leaders (most of which do not even have the large, deep center grooves of the Zestino) for less than half the co$t.

The other option I am looking at (the Yok AD09s) would most likely not make it to 5K miles, let alone 12K on the street, exclusively, and the Gredges are $100.00 PER CORNER less than the best prices I have been able to find on those Yoks.

The tread width, guaranteed 'fresh' build dates due to it being a new model tire, and an XL rating for the side wall strength are the only things the AD09 has going in it's favor.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Why does the name sound like a some frozen pizza bites from the grocery store?

Over in England/Europe the open trackers/HPDE enthusiasts use, or at least consider the use of, some really questionable (no-)name brands from Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, etc. that we here in the states totally scoff at, and instantly dismiss/write off.

This tire is actually gaining a lot of respect from those open trackers, to the point that they are considering it an only slightly reduced performance alternative to the big name brand, 'go-to' gumball 100/200 tread wear options.

Some of them actually place it on par with the very slick tread pattern, Nankang AR-1s.

As a side note, they get (besides the various Avon track tires) the Yok A050 there, which they consider 'king' (maybe even more than the A052) due to it's sustained grip, which does not go away, and get 'greasy', as fast as most of the others.
WHY Yok decided to not allow U.S. here to have it, I have no clue.

 

[Fusion Works]

Hard to argue with the Maxxis VR1 for price and performance from a known brand.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Hard to argue with the Maxxis VR1 for price and performance from a known brand.

I was told by Maxxis Headquarters that the Victra VR1 was being totally discontinued in this particular size, so only stock on hand is available at this point.

(Summit Racing was selling them for $200.00/tire in this size, so not much less than the AD09s anyway.)

 

[Fusion Works]

When was this. i bought the 215/40-17 twice last summer. I think they were 90$ ea when bought on sale this past summer.
https://shop.maxxis.com/products/victra-vr-1?variant=40411341455495

 

[TyphoonFiST]

When was this. i bought the 215/40-17 twice last summer. I think they were 90$ ea when bought on sale this past summer.
https://shop.maxxis.com/products/victra-vr-1?variant=40411341455495

I found them on Another tire site or $124* They are the 07rs though still a 140aa tire with good reviews.

https://www.prioritytire.com/by-bra...8&tread_code=179492&oe_marking_vehicle=179484

 

[M-Sport fan]

When was this. i bought the 215/40-17 twice last summer. I think they were 90$ ea when bought on sale this past summer.
https://shop.maxxis.com/products/victra-vr-1?variant=40411341455495

It was a few days ago.

If you go to their site now, on a refreshed page, and try their drop down for the VR-1s, it now does NOT show a 215/40-17 anymore, so maybe their rep was telling me the truth??

Just out of curiosity (since we cannot get them anymore), but how were these in hard rain/standing water at full tread depth?

They look to be about the best out of all of the 200 tread wear offerings going by their tread pattern, with the exception of maybe the old, dated (but still sworn by for some open trackers as an affordable rain tire, vs. the insanely priced Hoosier DOT WETS) full tread depth Toyo RA-1s.

 

[Fusion Works]

So that basically leaves us the RT660 and A058 plus a lot of no name stuff.
For me that is the most frustrating thing with these cars is the lack of tire choices. I don’t want to go back to a 15 but that may be the answer

 

[M-Sport fan]

So that basically leaves us the RT660 and A058 plus a lot of no name stuff.
For me that is the most frustrating thing with these cars is the lack of tire choices. I don’t want to go back to a 15 but that may be the answer

The prices and availability of 17" wheels and tires is getting ridiculous already, and the major distributors/retailers (as well as Yok and Falken themselves) never include the 200 tread wears in their rebates/discounts/promotions to help ease the pain of >$1K sets of tires.

If KE Motorsports offered their light/strong/good looking Pro T12 Gen 2 wheels in an ET42, 16x8, I would just get those, put a 215/45-16 200 tread wear sticky on them, and be all done for summer use, and then sell everything else I currently have for this car.