Tachus

Can we use Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position Tires 050 on rear wheels only, given that they are not yet available in the size for the front wheels of an AP2?
I note in the Tire Rack On Line Performance source that these Pole Position tires are ranked as Number 1. I also note that they are fifty dollars cheaper per tire than the standard 050 whilst offering longer tread wear. I was going to re-equip my AP2 with pole position tires until I found that they have not yet been released for the front wheels.
The question is, "Will I get superior performance from these higher rated tires if I use them only on the rear?"

Kyras

I highly recommend that you do not mix tires on your S2000. I had to once, when the idiots put three new tires on my '01, because they didn't have four. I drove my first S2000 meet with two new rears and old fronts, of different brands and the car was positively scary. What a way to experience my first S2000 meet.

I realize this isn't the same as what you are thinking of doing, but still I will never, ever mix tires again.

parkerdt

Shoot Jim at Tire Rack a PM about this - he''ll give you the straight skinny.

Personally, I'd be scared to mix.

Dave

Kyras

Hey, Dave,

Cool avatar!

parkerdt

Hey Patty,

Thanks!

ralper

Catherine,

I don't think mixing the tires is recommended, but I'm not sure why. If you have to mix, mix only front to back, not on the same axel.

As far as any advantage, I'd think that you'd give up any advantage of having superior tires on the rear because of the tires on the front.

As Dave suggested, you should pm Tire Rack, and you should also post this same question in the Tire and Wheel forum and Under The Hood. I'm sure the wizards over there can give you some very good advice.

Yflyer

In general, this is really sound advice. Even changing sets on an axle can upset the handling and wet and dry traction balance. On a car like the S that is not exaclty forgiving, why take the chance?

All that said, based ont the prformance estimates posted by Tire Rack, putting a set of the RE050 Pole Position tires on the rear axle would probably work OK. If anything you would notice more understeer, and at the limit of wet or dry traction, the fronts would probably give-up first. A key point is that BS uses a very high silica content tread mix on the Pole Position. These rubber mixes generally have better wet and dry traction than coventional carbon-black mixes. All this tends to improve stability, but may not give a well-balanced, fun to drive setup.

BTW, this sounds silly, but if you look at the measurements for the Pole Position in 205/50 R 17, the section width, tread width, and revs/mile are not a bad match to the OEM 215/45 R 17 RE050. Sometimes the stated size has nothing to do with the true size. See what Tire Rack says.

And whether you mix or not, always remember to approach the car's limits carefully until you really know how it will behave with the new tires. Go slow to go fast, and never cross the double-yellow.

xviper

As Ralper has already mentioned, you "could" mix tires from front to back, but NOT from side to side. Nevertheless, it's always better to keep to the same tires on all 4 corners as this is the way the suspension was designed to give a particular type of handling dynamics. Having different tires on the back compared to the front will alter the "understeer" or "oversteer" characteristics of the car. This, in itself, is not generally fatal as long as you don't approach the limits of the car too abruptly and at a time when you don't quite understand how those limits have changed. Very few of us will ever approach those limits in most of the driving we do, so having different tires on the car won't be a life or death situation. Having different tires on the left side as compared to the right side of the car is totally different. This should NEVER be done. Front/rear changes in handling can be dealt with far more easily than left/right changes in handling.
We're talking about differences in rolling resistance, handling in wet and dry, cornering, braking, acceleration. A "left/right" differential can affect those characteristics in a dramatic and unpredictable manner.

kgf3076

I don't think so. The front and rear tires are different sizes (on AP2, I have no clue for AP1). The profiles are different (215/45 vs 245/40) the width is different (87 vs 91). Not a good idea. Better to suck it up and buy 4 than to find yourself on the wrong side of an accident.


S2000 Tire sizes (Front/Rear) Front: P215/45 R17 87W Rear: P245/40 R17 91W (Source: Honda Motors of America)

matrix

Catherine - don't mix the tires! As everyone has stated, running different tire types could really impact the handling characteristics of the car.

If you're looking for alternative tires, consider the following:

Toyo TR1
Yokohama ES100 (currently on my street rims)
Kumho Escta 712 (had these on my street rims and I would say they gave about 80% of the performance of the OEM tires at about 50% the cost.)
I have also heard good things about a few other tires but I cannot recall them. PM Triple-H for you as he was looking at an alternative set himself....