Sounds like auto-x is only about 10% of what you are doing, so I don't think I would suggest a max high perf. summer tire - waste of money in my opinion.

I was using the Yokohama AVS ES-100's and they were great initially, and then when they started to wear and it started to rain - all grip broke loose. Not a tire I would recommend. Besides, I only got about 8,000 miles out of them in less than 2 years. True, I am hard on street tires, so I might need a bit of a firmer compound.

I am going back to the Bridgestone RE 750's ( I had two sets of the RE730's and loved those as an all around great tire, and then they stopped making them).

Anyone familiar with the Avon Tech M500's? They look like a good tire and seem to be rated highly not only by the testers at Tire Rack, but also the people buying them.

My experience with the Yoko ES-100s sounds similar to EC's above. They're okay, but not the ultra/max performance that TireRack seems to suggest. I think I got about 14k miles on my set (most of that freeway) and they got really loud in the last 50% with grip falling off substantially during that last half as well.

T.

I don't now if this helps or not...
I got new tires in Jan. I went for the S03. But only because I have or had the disposable income. I spent the better part of a month looking at tires on tirerack. the RE750 would have worked just fine for me and the Yokos evs-100 looked good too.
Overall I have no regrets. Autocrossing is hard on tires and if you plan on doing many the so3 wear as fast as others. So if you only have one set of wheels I'd go Re750 or alike. Haven't talked to anyone running the Avon tech though.

Just put a set of Goodyear Eagle F-1 GS-D3 tires (225/45-17)
on my son's '00 Beetle (modded) and boy are they sticky! Although pricey at $165. each.

I just put a set of Dunlop Sport SP-8000 on my 911 and wish I went for the Eagles. They are better all around in comparisons especially wet and are much quieter.

Just my .02¢

I have a second set of wheels, 16" x 7" cookie-cutters (I think that is the size, not positive on the width). I mean to put snow tires on them, but the ski season came and went without me getting around to it. So they could be used for AX wheels, but they are equal widths all around so not ideal.

My usage is mostly for DE (and to & from DE). I've had ES100s, Kumho MX, and I just bought Goodyear F1 GS-D3's. The ES100's provided the least amount of grip at the track, and they got seriously noisy very quickly -- the outside tread blocks are small, so they feathered quickly. The MX's provided some serious grip when warm -- probably similar to that of the S03's from what I've read. They're noisy when new, but even when they became seriously feathered the noise hardly increased (due to the massive tread blocks). I have yet to drive on the Goodyears, but I expect them to be better than the Kumhos (which I thought were pretty darn good). The F1's are highly rated for rain/wet, and that was my deciding factor in trying them. And they're quite a bit cheaper than the S03's.

Just to clarify -- you couldn't pay me to use the ES100's again, especially considering what else is out there. I forgot to mention that they also have significant tread squirm under high speed cornering.