Thanks for your responses....well most of them anyway. In response to the last post : no Falken does not sell a 205 70 14 in the US with an H rating....only a T rating. In response to the post before that from Longstone Tyres....really? Was that response even necessary? I don't exactly expect objectivity from a company that sells michelin XWX tires! I went with the Nankang Cx668 which as I've previously stated is the only H rated 205 70 14 sold in the USA. The car rides fine but doesn't feel nearly as crisp as it did with the Yokohama 225 60 14s....next time I'll probably go with the Goodrich Radial T/A in that size size regardless of the lower speed rating- I suspect it will have better steering feel and better turn in due to the lower aspect tire ratio- just like it did with the Yokohamas. I drive it on these "minivan" tires for a while. Mounted, new stems, and balanced they cost me $330 including tax for 4 which is less than the price of a single Michelin XWX. It's 3/4 inch taller than it was with the Yokohamas and it's still an inch lower than it would have been with Michelin XWXs- hence in my opinion the aesthetics are better, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if as a result the handling was too- for a fraction of the Michelin price. Michelin and Coker are gouging us budget Ferrari drivers- my car is not a Daytona and it will never be at Concorso Italiano and let's not kid ourselves, there are probably minivans out there that will generate as much if not more lateral G forces on similar rubber. As to the safety aspect- Nankang are sold in Germany if they were blowing out on the autobahn at sustained speeds of 130 mph I would have heard about it ( I looked). Minivan tires it is then. Yay!
Unless you are tracking, XWX is the proper way to go. Budget and Ferrari is like government and intelligence. Not two words that go together well. But I digress sir, your mentioning of using Radial TA tires threw your credibility out the window. It's bad enough the classic Trans Am guys use them for their Smokey and the Bandit cars instead of original bias ply tires, now they're good enough for a 308? The Radial TA is one of the woefullest tires out there. Soft as a marshmallow and ugly as Sandra Bernhart on a good day. I think it was Marlow who said it best, The horror, the horror.
