My car has incredible handling, but that comes at a cost. Part of that grip comes from stiff, well-tuned suspension, but one of the biggest factors that contribute to a car's handling are its tires; they are your entire interface with the road. The Evo comes with very soft tires; the treadwear rating is 160. A numerically lower treadwear rating equates to a softer and usually grippier tire — race slicks have ratings of 60-80. Compare that to the tires on your Camry; they're probably rated 400 or more.

The downside of that, of course, is that stock Evo tires only last around 10,000 miles. Roughly three months ago I started noticing a marked decrease in my tires' grippiness, and realized with sadness that it would soon be time to replace them. However, cheap bastard that I am, I figured I could probably stretch them a little longer if I just drove carefully. They've lasted me this long; I just hit 12k miles last week.

There's another issue though. I've had a slow leak in my front drivers' side tire for at least six months now. At first it was barely noticeable — every two to three weeks I'd have to fill it up. Of course, it was a pain having to stop by a gas station to fill up your tires, so many times I'd let it get pretty low, trying to stretch it until I next had to stop to get gas anyway. As a result, that tire has worn pretty unevenly — the sides are nearly down to the belts while the middle still looks almost new.

The leak has worsened significantly too, and last week I realized I was having to fill it up every three days or so. I could go get it patched, of course, but by now the sides of the tire are worn enough that I don't think they'd be willing to repair it.

I decided it was finally time to order new tires. At first I planned to only buy two (you're not supposed to replace just one), but when I went out to look at my rear tires, it turns out they're all past the wear bars that indicate that it's time to change them. Bah, four it is. However, when I looked on TireRack I found that the stock tires, Yokohama Advan A046, cost $236 each. Ouch.

From what I read online, they're worth it — they're essentially a step below race tires — but I'm not really ready to spend $1000 on tires right now, so I started researching other options. I spent all of last weekend reading reviews, articles, discussions on Evolution messageboards, etc.

I have the advantage of not having to deal with snow, so I can get dedicated summer tires. There's 10 or 15 different options in the high end tire market, with many different variables (some tires have softer sidewalls which make them less responsive but a smoother ride over rough roads, for example). I was finding it difficult to decide which tires were best suited to my specific situation (no snow, lots of rain, bad roads). Many different tires seemed like they'd be possible options, each having their pros and cons.

Finally I realized that, as oblivious as I tend to be, it was very probable that I wouldn't be able to tell any difference between any of these tires. Armed with that conviction, I narrowed it down to two different options: Kumho Ecsta MX at $136 and Yokohama AVS Sport at $152.

I called around, but not many shops in PR carry either of those tires. I found the Kumhos at two shops but they cost about $60 more than TireRack's price; if you factored in shipping costs, the price was almost exactly the same. I ended up deciding that the AVS Sports were the ones I wanted, though, so the point was moot. I placed my order from TireRack on Monday.

Meanwhile, my leak has gotten even worse; now I have to fill up my tire every morning before work (I've long since picked up a small lighter-socket-powered air compressor). Also, it rained today, and I found the car hydroplaning at the slightest hint of standing water if I was going over 45mph. I'm anxious to get these new tires mounted as soon as possible. After months of driving increasingly timidly, it will feel so nice to go back to not having to worry about whether my car is about to suddenly shoot off at an angle into the wall.