17" FD Tire selection suggestions
 

Been wanting to replace the old tires now that the car is running again. Did some searching and narrowed it down to a few different tires. My current tire is 10+ year old Bridgestone potenza S-03 pole positions which are rock hard...
Front: 235/45/17 on 17x9 unknown offset & toe, -1.5 camber, Ground to fender lip: L 25" R 25.5"(suspect tweaked swaybar mounts or bad shock eye bushing).
Rear: 265/40/17 on 17x10.5 unknown offset and toe -1.5 camber, Ground to fender lip 26.75" L&R.
Suspension wise the car has tokico illuminas with unknown springs(car leans forward), st front swaybar(replaced the broken RB swaybar), and a rb rear swaybar.
I have a bunch of parts yet to be installed: super now swaybar brackets(use with RB brace), J auto front swaybar end links, eibach springs, poly shock eye bushings to freshen up the worn out front bushings.
With all that being said my goal is to have decent performance on the track while the majority of driving will be on the street. The car is somewhere around 300hp.

Ok, if looking to keep the same tire sizes listed above, there's the Bridgestone potenza RE760 sport(rears on backorder). The problem i'm running into is that with a 40 profile in the rear there's no other option for a 265. My main question is how much will i suffer by switching to a 255 in the back? I'd like to try continental extremecontact dw's but i'd have to step down to a 255 in the rear. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a6500f348f.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f53264899d.jpg

If those are standard fitment Fikses (which they sure seem to be) then you're running a 17x8.5 plus 38 front and 17x10 plus 43 rear.

Back when I ran those size wheels years ago I chose 245/40 front and 275/40 rear--- not saying I recommend this, just that's what I did as a young guy :rofl:

You can move to a 255/40 in the rear, what are your power levels and usage for the car?

If you don't mind a stretch, you can choose 225/45 front and 255/40 rear--- opens up tons of options for you, including the RE-71R an insanely good street tire.

If you need more tread life you have other options.

Talk to me :)

I'm not a young guy in this game, but I still like optimizing my tire sizes.
I have similar size Fikses (thanks GoodfellaFD3S!) - or, likely exactly as listed above!
The big tires are hard to find, but Toyo has them.

I'm running Toyo R1R's, 245/45 in the front, 275/40 in the rear. Nice fit with my lowered car. These are comfortable on the road, and perform well for track days (HPDE) too.

I see tire rack showing a new Falken in 275/40 as well, nice to have options!

I run the Bridgestone 760's on my daily driver 350z. Very surprised at the grip they offer with over 300 tread wear. Would buy again.

The car will be used for mostly street driving with a few track days a year. I purchased the car after it sat for 11+years with blown coolant seals from overheating. Output is somewhere near 300hp. Suspension/tire wise i'd like to keep it close to the original set up. This is my first FD and i'm blown away by how this car handles even with old ass tires lol.
When it comes to the profile difference between F&R, what's the advantage of running a 45 profile in the front and a 40 in the rear? i think running a 225/45 front will alleviate the fender lip rubbing but will i even notice if i step down in width? The re71's look amazing but i am concerned about treadlife. I'm leaning towards the s-04's(225/45 & 255/40) or re760's(can run the original 235/45 & 265/40). Thanks for the responses!

The main reason I see to mix profiles it to keep tire diameters the same front and rear when running a staggered setup. How much you "see" in performance in stepping down in width may be minimal, depending on how competitive your driving conditions are. Also, matching tires and rim width has an impact on performance, pretty subtle within one or two sizes though.

I think the bridgestone re-71R would be an excellent choice.

I would choose a 245-40-17 on your 9" wide wheel and a 255/40/17 on the rear.

these are going to perform amazingly.

I'm running those RE760, 245/40 17x9 front and 265/40 17x10 rear. I like them, they are great for street use.

The 255 RE-71Rs are on seemingly-perpetual back order, so I went with 245s all around on mine.

They perform very well, but they're also pretty loud.

--Ian

^I guess loud is relative :rofl:

what exhaust setup do you have?

Stock except for a Racing Beat muffler.

The RE-71Rs make an unusual noise -- it's a lot higher pitched than your usual tire noise, and it's almost a scraping sound. At first I thought it was might be rubbing somewhere, but no, it's just tire noise. It also only makes it on certain road surfaces.

It's quite a bit more noticeable than any other tire I've used, including Azenis, Rivals, or various R comps.

--Ian

Difference in L&R fender heights at the front with no difference at the rear means there is some twist in the fixed sprung structure of the car, it's not in the suspension. Mine has this too... IF you had adjustable coilovers you could average it out by adjusting corners so that the RF is only .25" higher than LF, with RR .25" lower than LR.

I wouldn't run a 255 on a 10.5" wheel. I'd go 275/40-17 in back.
Up front I'd go 245/40-17. Maybe 255/40-17, but taller and wider and more likely to have clearance/rubbing issues. 235/40-17 is another option there.

For cheap, Sumitomo HTR Z III

At the more track-oriented end of the spectrum, Nitto NT01. I streeted on these a couple of summers ago, IMO they make reasonable street tires. Slow down for standing water, though...

A few other options out there for 275/40-17 rears for your usage, unfortunately selection is limited for 17" tires wider than 255, though...

^As mentioned before, after seeing the picture and knowing Fikse pretty well, I'm pretty confident those are 8.5 and 10. For over a decade that was their standard FD fitment, if those are 10.5s they were very special order.

Thanks for all the great input. Just a fyi for everyone i ended up going with the RE71R's in 245/40/17 and 255/40/17 Haven't really done any hard driving because it's been so wet and cold out here.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c9f59330bc.jpg

Sorry the wheels are being slowly polished..

Tire fitment looks great! The rears don't look stretched at all, which kinda surprised me.
I loved my RE71Rs for the ~1000 miles and one track day I got out of them, I roasted the rears at Li'l Talledega...

These tires aren't great in the wet. But I did get a feel for what they're like on some small patches of dry road and I'm impressed. I hate Washington.

Let us know how they go on the track. :) I just got a set of the Advan A050M in 255/40R17 mounted on 17x9+45 wheels front and back. They are quite loud. Considerably more grip than the Kumho KU36 they replaced even from dead cold.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...1b122830b1.jpg