EugeneChoe

ok im thinking between the yoko avs sports or kumho supras. well i dont know to much about tires so tell me what tires last a decent while and have great grip. i want these as daily driving tires and good all around racing tires (drag and road race). i know i cant get get everthing but i want the best thats somewhere in between. thanks yalls. peace

eugene

Jordan

I say if money is one of the factors, then go with kumhos

SleepR1

Ultimate grip and long lasting wear are mutually exclusive goals in a tire. It's always been the "holy grail" for tire makers.

I've had experience with several street tires all in 225/50-16. They were used as daily driver, (including regular spirited runs through the Hoosier National Forest), road racing, autocrossing, and drag racing.

Bridgestone RE71 ($85 each). Best bang for the buck ever. Too bad they aren't available any more! 140 treadwear, I got 10,000 miles out of the set.

Bridgestone Expedia S-07 ($209 each). These are the tires my R1 came with. Great compromise between track and street performance. YMMV, but I got 10,000 miles out of each set, 140 treadwear. These are no longer available.

Kumho Ecsta 711 ($65 each). The absolute worst tires I've had on the car (but I got what I paid for) . Treadwear was 260. I wore them out after 8000 miles. Grip was sh*t. On the track they felt like hard compound all-season tires. At least I learned car control with them. They make great drifting tires, if you're into that kind of "show-off" driving

Current tires are Pirelli P-Zero Asimmetrics ($144 each). These are similar to the Expedia S-07s, except the Pirellis lean more toward performance. The Pirelli's sidewalls are much stiffer than Bridestone's, thus the ride quality is a bit harsher with the Pirellis. It's all good on the track though. The P-Zeros easily matched my best laptimes on Yokohama A032R and Kumho Victoracer V700s. Wear mileage has been good for a 140 UTQG tire. I have 10,000 miles on them now, and I think I can still get through the winter with them (6/32nds total tread depth left).

Track tires I've had experiene with:

225/50-16 on 8 x 16 stock wheels, Yokohama A032R ($144 each). Low mileage high performance tire. Not competitive on track or autocross (read slowest R compound tire). Very noisy on the street. I won't buy them again.

225/50-16 on 8 x 16 stock wheels, Kumho V700 ($135 each). Faster than A032R, but not the fastest R compound tire I've had. Good wearing R-compound track tire though. I'd buy them if on a budget.

245/45-16 on 8.5 x 16 Kosei K1 racing wheels, BFG R1A ($115 each). Fast track tire (faster than either of the above). Excellent feel. Fast wearing track tire, but what grip! No longer available.

245/45-16 on 8.5 x 16 Kosei k1 racing wheels, Hoosier R3S03 scrubs ($50 each Appalachian Race Tire). Fastest track tire (fastest of the group), and I buy these used! Excellent feel. Decent wear (3-4 events before they become trash).

Haven't tried the Toyo Proxes RA-1s yet. I'd bet they would be on par with Kumho V700, though.

Getting back to your question. IMHO, I'd give the Bridgestone S-02 Pole Positions a try. These will be my next set of tires. The S-02 in 225/50-16 size is pretty narrow (as 225/50-16s go), so I'd go with the 245/45-16 on the 8 x 16 wheel. Tire Rack is blowing the PPs out because of the S-03 intro. Great opportunity for us tire enthusiasts to sample the PPs at mere mortal prices!

Let us know which tire you pick!

Foz'sRX-7

I replaced Dunlop 8000's with Falkien Ziex's for my stock rims....they have a rain groove (when we get rain....we get rain!) which was important for daily driving and they have an aggressive tread pattern that increases grip for handling & cornering. I got them for about $90/tire last year...I think they are now about $125/tire unless you find a sale.

ZoomZoom

iTrader: (2)

I just bought a set of S-02's 225/50/16 W speed rating. I am putting them on today when I get my wheels back from the Powder Coater. Pics will be available later. I work at a Tire place so I got the tires for about 150 each.

50tooslow

Well I just bought 2 SO-3's. They are awsome. I only bought 2 because thats all I could afford at the time. They list at 280 a piece for stock rims and I got them for $489 mounted and balanced. But they are awsome. I don't want to spin them much because they don't last long, but one night I was messing around at a stop light. I was setting there and noticed I was in a puddle of water. So I though ( hum, water box) I started spinning the tires a little on takeoff and punched it when I was on the dry road. The damn thing launched like I had slicks. As soon as I punched it they spun for a split second an hooked raising the front of the car up further than I had ever fel before. Well never-the-less they hook great. EXPENSIVE and DO NOT LAST LONG.

BrianK

keep a couple things in mind - higher speed rating means stiffer sidewall which will, in turn, give you more precise steering because of less sidewall flex. This also translates into a more harsh ride. Higher weight rating will have similar effect (stiffer sidewall).

I've had Nitto's, Khumos, and BFG Comp T/A's on my MR2... the Nittos and Khumos were absolutelty horrible. The Comp T/A's were great. I just purchased a set of P-Zero's for the 7, but only have 2 of them on so far - I'm quite pleased with the two of them.

SleepR1: Thanks for your comments in the wheel/tire forum about differnt sized tires on front/back. I wrote a very lengthy response, but it somehow never made it up. The jist of it was that my P-Zeros seem to be on the narrow side as far as 225's go (quite a bit more narrow than the Goodyear GS-D's that were on the car when I purchased it). I took your advice, however, and planned on changing my order at the tirerack so that I'd have the same size on all four corners, but the day I planned on doing that, the 2 245's showed up.

I'll put them on the rears and check the fit, if they appear to work out ok, I may have 2 225's (P-Zero's) with only a couple hundred miles on them for sale so I can get 245's on all four sides... or the other way around, I guess we'll see. My car is in the shop for the next couple weeks, so the tires sit on my floor until then.

Brad

I'm running Dunlop SP8000's. They were on the car when I bought it...brand new. I've drivin about 3k pretty hard miles and they hold up great. They grip pretty damn well and feel really solid in the rain.

SleepR1

You'll love the Pirellis, especially out on the road racing circuit! The 245s will give a slightly larger footprint, but they might feet a bit "squishy" with regard to handling because 8-inch wide rims (IMHO) is a bit narrow for that size...let us know what your experience is!

SleepR1

I just checked the Tire Rack website. The 225/50-WR16 S-03 is $162 each. The 245/45-YR16 S-03 is $188 each. I think you might have paid too much?

The uniform tire quality grading (UTQG) for the S-03 is 220. The original S-02 had a UTQG of 140. The S-02 Pole Position has a UTQG of 180. The current S-03 actually has a higher wear rating, so I presume they'll last a few thousand miles longer, all else being equal? I pay attention to UTQGs because my local autocross SCCA region provides a 2-second street tire handicap for tires with UTQGs of 180 or greater!

I think I'll forego the S-02 PPs, and try the S-03 PPs on the next go round for street tires. The Tire Rack's website, lists the S-03 as a "Max Performance" and best selling tire for our FD Rx7s...

G 's 3rd gen

What's the best dael on the SO2's right now? 245 45 16..Anybody resaerch?

SleepR1

Go to www.tirerack.com You'll find the 245/45ZR16 S-02 Pole Position on special for $151 each. That's right $604 for a full set.

Different tires differ in width, and I've seen 225/50-16s measure as wide as some 245/45-16s. I looked at the specs for the S-02 Pole Position in 245/45-16. It is narrow as 245/45-16s go. Most 245/45-16s measure 9.7 inches wide when mounted on 8-inch wide rims. The S-02 Pole Positions measure 9.4 inches wide, mounted on 8-inch wide rims. My original Bridgestone Expedia S-07s and OER RE71s measured 9.5 inches wide in 225/50ZR16 when mounted on my stock 8 x 16 wheels. BFG Comp T/As also tend to be rather wide as 225/50ZR16s.

You really have to look at the specs and take note of the measuring rim to get an idea of what the section width will be when mounted on your wheel. Remember that most 225/50-16 spec measurements come from using 7-inch wide rims as the "spec" rim width. As a general rule of thumb, you add 0.2 inches of tire section width for every half inch of extra rim width. IOW, if you see a tire spec for a 225/50-16 tire with a section width of 9.3 on 7-inch wide rims, that same tire will probably measure ~9.7 inches on 8-inch wide rims (1 inch wider than the spec rim). Of course this can't go on forever. There will be a point where you stretch the tire beyond the design limit. The general rule (at least Hoosier's general rule) is to mount rims within the tire's rim width range, -0.5 inch at the bottom end and +0.5 inches at the top end. Thus for a 225/50-16 with a rim width range of 7 to 8 inches, you can actually go from 6.5 to 8.5 inches in rim width for that 225/50-16 tire. In some cases the 225/50-16 can measure the same section width as the 245/45-16 when mounted on the same 8-inch (or 8.5 inch) wide rim!

G 's 3rd gen

Whoo!!! Thanks for all the info!! I am trying to find the best set-up for my stock roms. I do have some upgrades and am at about 290RWHP. I want to stay with stock rims though. Any suggestions on what would better handle this power?!

SleepR1

I have 269 rear-wheel-horsepower myself, and I run 225/50YR16 Pirelli P-Zero Asimmetrics on 8 x 16, 38-mm offset SSR Integral A2s as my street setup. On the street there isn't much of a problem hooking up the power, although I don't street race from a standstill much...most I do rolling start street races. I generally break the tires loose at autocrosses with this setup though...I'm known for looping the car frequently

For the high speed road racing stuff, I use 245/45ZR16 Hoosier R3S03 scrubbed DOT slicks mounted on 8.5 x 16, 37 mm offset Kosei K1 racing wheels. This combo works well, for the most part...until the rear tires start going away--then I start in with the wicked drifting...makes track driving fun (but not for my passengers). At times when I cord out the scrubs, I end up remounting my street setup for my track racing events. The Pirellis are pretty damned good for street tires, and can hang in there with A032R and Kumho V700 equipped cars. In fact many times those drivers are shocked that I'm out there running nose-to-tail with them in my street tires. As for laptimes, the Hoosiers are 3 seconds faster than the Pirelli Asimmetrics.

It really depends on what you're doing with the car. If you're just tooling around street racing Camaros and Mustangs, the 245/45-16 Potenza S-02 Pole Positions should meet your needs. If you're really good at autocrossing you might need better tires than the S-02s, but I imagine the S-02s will hold up to autocrossing. I've read from other posters on this board, that the S-02s make good road racing tires too...similar to my Pirelli P-Zero setup.

G 's 3rd gen

Thanks! SO2 it is!! 245 45 16 !!

ZoomZoom

iTrader: (2)

I just got the S-02's installed and all I can say is it a much bigger difference than what I had thought. I had some Kelly H rated tires on it from the previous owner and switched yesterday to the W rated S-02's Not only do they stick like I am on rails But they Ride alot smoother and absorb the bumps much better. You would think going from an H rated to a W speed rated tire the ride would get much harsher but its just the opposite. If you ever need a premium Street tire you gotta get the S-02. I got the original that has the real low 140 UTQG so I know they wont last but Jesus they grab! I usually get wild wheel spin in first but I have yet to turn them and its not for a lack of trying. Other than dumping the clutch from a stand still these wont spin under acceleration in first gear.

maxcooper

There are a lot of good deals for top-quality 225/50-16 right now:
PZero $139
MXX3 $156
AVS Sport $160
S-03 PP $162

And my top picks for 245/45-16:
S-02 PP $151
AVS Sport $172
S-03 PP $188

Out of all of those, I would go for the 245 S-02s at $151 each.

-Max

jasonsr1

How much does the stock wheel weigh?

G 's 3rd gen

Thans for the input Sleep!! I was wondering if ya knew a good set of drag street radials to purchase. I heard BF may rub. IHow about the Nittos? I am running stock rims...Thanks

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

I'm running Potenza so2pp's 245/45ZR16 all around, as you guys have mentioned from the tire rack for 151 each. I love them. But I'm still spinning the rat bastards through first gear...

R-magic

I Have a set of SO2, under 100 miles. 225-50-16. letting go for 400.