Autoxers actually like the 245/45R17
Do we? Last year the top dogs all ran star specs in the 235/40R17 Star Specs. That's also what I ran and thought very highly of the tire. The gearing advantage vs the width were better for most drivers and it proved to be the faster tire size.
Anyway with that said you've got a bunch of tiers of tires here that have been mentioned...so let's sum it up.
A+ Grip levels, some tradeoffs in streetability, but your nuts right?
* Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec
* Bridgestone RE-01R or RE-11 (new version of the 01R)
* Yokohama Advan Neova
* Toyo 1R1
* Kumho Ecsta XS
B+ Grip levels, old top dogs.
* Falken Azenis RT-615
C+ These are more normal, still great grip levels, but usually more liveable too.
*Kumho MX
*Bridgestone RE070
*Hankook Ventus RS2 or RS3 (although these are closer to a C rather than a C+)
These are the grippiest summer tires out there. Anything else mentioned in this thread has less static grip than anything I've put up above. There's also another category of tires though, that i've had good experiances with. And feel are good values too, but they're not nearly at the level of the tires above. Those are:
*Kumho Ecsta SPT
*Fuzion ZRi
*Avon M500
The above post is made on experiances i've had at auto-x events combined with the results of others. In many instances the tires have all been capable of winning an street tire class at a national level competition which proves they are head and shoulders above the rest. Basically decide how crazy you want to be and go for it!