Im in the market for new tires for my OEM 16" and was wondering does anybody has any special recommendation for me. I am not interested in the brand or the name. Even though it does sound nice i would rather have a tire that i can trust. Personally im looking for all season tires because you never know when its' going to rain or be dry in New Orleans. Also if you can a good place to order them too haha.

Might be a dumb topic but a Tire is not just a tire. If you been through a lot of different brand there is a thing called a better a tire. So Im hoping to get a lil feed back from the GOOD and the BAD. Im trying to skip the trail and error process.

THank you for your time and COME AGAIN!

P.S. My car came with Futura tires in the front and I think they suck when making sharp turns. Probably take them off if those damn things didnt have so much tread of them. My rear came with Kuhmo Estca and those didnt last too long. Some tires are just not made for S2000 driving. =

 

[QUOTE=cheerio,May 21 2008, 04:47 PM]Im in the market for new tires for my OEM 16" and was wondering does anybody has any special recommendation for me.

 

I'm going to try to list every tire I've ever tried, but forgive me if I leave one out:

-Stock: S02's - Great dry performance... not so great on wet roads.
-Dunlop something-or-others: It was a good all season tire for every day driving, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything more.
-Yokohama - If you want to burn through a tire really quick, go with these.. can't remember which ones, but it was a very high performance tire
-Fulda Quantum Elite - only used these because I couldn't afford anything else... crappp tires
-Goodyear Eagle f1 - only had them for about a month before I sold my other S.. I didn't really get a chance to test them out properly, but others seem to like them.
-Fuzion ZRi - Came with my new S... didn't like them very much... very poor dry performance. I was always sliding around on 90 degree turns even when the road was dry


My FAVORITE tire has got the be the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position (summer tire) These things performed amazingly on my recent trip to the Dragon, and I think Mike from Mississippi (Tof) will tell you the same. They even held up great one morning after it rained on the dragon. They only got loose on me one time, but it was because I force induced oversteer to save my ass... and the ass end of my car.

I know you mentioned that you want an all season tire, but this summer tire offers outstanding wet performance, and almost matches the dry performance of the S02's. Plus the tread wear is MUCH better and they are considerably cheaper.

If you really want to talk tires, you need to get in touch with Benson (BKY)... he is fan of Kuhmo and General tires, but I couldn't tell you why. I do know that they are much cheaper than any Bridgestone, Goodyear, or similar tire you will find. That said, I'll stick with the company with the reputation: Bridgestone has a customer for life (ME!).


P.S... I also discovered today that the pole positions are great snake killing tires... I swerved near a ditch to hit a water moccasin. Don't tell PETA.

 

i'll vouch for the falkens, especially the 452(?) (im sure thats the numerical moniker). i loved the bridgestone potenza re050a that came with the car but you will burn thru them rather quickly (if u drive your corners hard like me). some ricer-drifters mentioned federals, and i will piss on generals all day... maybe i bought the wrong kinds but the generals i bought for my initial tire change were total POS's...

initially i wanted the potenza s02s as they came stock on AP1s but due to a certain price range i was willing to shell out for new tires... the falken 452s were a perfect choice dry or wet

 

the s02's were great, but they wore out very quickly, as much as the great michelin pilot sports <-- loved them. the kuhmo 712's were ok on the 16" stockers, and they lasted a very long time, but rough ride though. ever since i had my rims, i've been stuck with my nitto 555's, which have been very good to me so far.

 

kuhmo 712s (or the current upgrade) are among the best bang for buck for all weather street driving. You will be dissapointed for performance and autoX, but they squeal before letting go (nice safety margin)

Best all around performance tire Hankook Advans (I think). These were very popular for the autoXs for a while. Near R compound performance, even in the wet. not bad price (better than s02s) decent life. difficult to find now.

 

I LOVED my S02's. Only bitch I really had with them was that once they got low driving in the rain was a hazard (I hydroplaned..BAD) and they don't provide the best autoX feedback. They have a very specific breaking point and don't give you much feedback as to where that point is...

 

Francis,

Are you taking every corner at a drift with full on tire smoking? I don't know anyone (including myself) who has been able to burn through RE050A's "rather quickly". Are you sure it wasn't just because the car was new and you were pretending to be the next Michael Schumacher? haha

...............

But seriously, the RE050A's have a great treadwear rating. I take corners very hard, and I have the UK spec alignment which is VERY HARSH on inner tire wear. Plus I did a day at Red Bluff AND a weekend at the Dragon on these tires, not to mention the 1200 interstate miles I drove getting to and from the dragon. There is still a considerable amount of meat on them too... but I will be replacing them soon due to some unidentifiable metal object in the rear drivers side tire... my car is like a damn "road hazard" magnet, but I never buy the damn "road hazard insurance" which covers all that crap.

If you do go with the falkens, watch which ones you get... one (or more) of them has an EXTREMELY soft compound. It is so soft that once they are heated up to operating temp you can actually rub your finger on the the fender liner and pick up tons of rubber dust. I would imagine that they don't last very long.

Speed Racer (Francis) just had new car fever.... and it's even worse with the S2000. It's SOOOO hard to stay out of VTEC that first month!

 

When I bought my car it came with the Fuzions Bleh! Though they did last a LOOOONG time.

After that I stuck with the S-02s. Great on track days and autocrosses
I think I'll be trying out the Kumhos next. Only cause Benson tells me too

Seriously ask Benson. He's the official tire whore

 

That's 2 votes for asking Benson!

....But if he tries to tell you that some R-compounds are the way to go, just ignore him because the Autox-ing has gone to his head.