GSi

The fronts have a 'normal' tread pattern on them. If you compare the S2k S02s and any other S02s you'll see that on the S2k versions the fronts are almost identical (apart from the sidewalls).

lower

this is exactly the case. the 225 corresponds to the tread width in mm. the rears on the s2000 s02's have very narrow rain channels which means there is more rubber in contact with the road. for the equivilent contact area from a generic tyre, you need to go up to a 245 width tyre. the fronts are more standard in the size of the rain channels so other 205 size tyres can be used as replacements.

Ruckus

I'm running 225's on the rear (non S02's), This are on my stock wheels which only get used in the winter months. They seam to cope a lot better in the heavy wet, i suppose its something to do with more pressure pre square inch pushing down on the road??

ge2

Does anyone know *why* the S2000 and others have specially developed tyres?

I can sort of understand it for things like the caterham R500 and Elise because they're so light normal tyres don't get warm enough and need different compounds etc., but the S isn't that special surely?

moff

The S is pretty special from a handling point of view, but its not just 'specialist' cars that tyres are developed for. The MK2 MR2 also had special soft Yoko rubber, the M3 CSL has half slicks and I am sure that there are many more cars e.g. Porsche 968 with 'bespoke' tyres.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't really answer why - but I would imagine that its the cars handling characteristics - and the need for a ver soft compound due to all the power to the rear and no TC.

El Animali

Does anybody have a pic of 245' on the stock rims. If possible bridgestone s03's.

lower

manufacturers develop tyres to go with the particular characteristics of a car, particularly if it is a high performance car. the generic tyres on the market are exactly that, generic. they are designed to get the best possible performance from a wide range of wheels and applications. by working with a tyre manufacturer, the car companies can maximise the potential of a car by matching the tyres performance to that of the suspension. for example, with the lotus elise it would be too light to warm the tyres correctly in normal road use. however, if the car was designed to work with a particular tyre, the geometry could be set such that the tyre was always scrubbing slightly and thus generate its own heat but without overheating the tyre and causing huge wear rates. bearing in mind that the tyre is the only part of the car in contact with the road, it would not make sense to spend millions developing the suspension on a car and then send it out on random tyres.

i don't know the specific reasons that the s2000 has special rears, but i would imagine it allows honda to minimise unsprung weight by reducing wheel width (and therefore weight) without reducing tyre footprint, amongst a multitude of other benefits such tuning spring and damper rates to match that of the tyre.

ge2

Cheers for that. Was speaking to someone the other day (hello Matt if you're reading ) who was saying the NSX is setup to scrub it's tyres. All starting to make sense now.