JimboM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by The Boy Wonder

zero_to60

I too had the S03's on the back and it did make for some 'interesting handling'.......it was very biased towards oversteer....I quite liked it to be honest but each to their own of course

Bigtone

Nobody's wrong in the end and as I said, the fraught subject of tyre performance is entirely personal and subjective.
One of the collective benefits of this Board is the pooling of knowledge from personal experience. However, it is still not correct to STATE that tyres cannot be mixed, because they can, provided they are in matched pairs on the same axle and within specification.
The effects, known and perceived, are the bits that everyone can then throw into the pot to follow and we already have some good information now, such as S03 rears not working with S02 fronts.
The subject of certain car manufacturers developing products with certain tyre makers, is also very subjective. Bear in mind that OE and replacement market volumes, both perceived and hoped for, will create varying incentives to tyre makers at varying times.
Interesting and continuing subject no doubt.

Turtle

Tyres have a graph showing how much grip they give for a certain slip angle. (And pressure, temperature - loads of factors). Different tyres, different graphs. Nothing subjective about that at all.

Now, when you have dissimilar brand or model tyres from and rear, you're different graphs front and rear. That may mean when you're getting near the limits of grip at one end, that you're already over, or quite some way from the limit at the other end. Until you go over the limit, you won't know. All you can know for certain is that the tyres at both end will behave differently.

Whether to stick with the OEM S02's or not is a different question.

But mixing tyres front and rear will result in a car that will not react as evenly as a car with matched tyres. Whether this gives more tendency to understeer or oversteer depends on the changes. Whether the tyres are of the correct specification or not is not relevant.

Bigtone - I know what you mean about OE tyre volumes and costs, but no-one here is trying to make money for Bridgestone (Or Goodyear since the GSD2's are so popular. They're giving advice to help keep fellow S2000 owners out of hedges.

-Brian.

Rob M

I had SO-2 on the front and SO-3 on the back for about 9K and it did alter the handling balance, actually felt more stable initially but they were lousy when really worn.

F1-GSD-3's are now seriously worn at the back, new set ordered Saturday morning, nice spin on Saturday night

eSeM

*Ding*

So hopefully our insurance will stay at reasonable levels.

san2000

Interesting thread - I had all 4 tyres changed today, and although the rears were nearing their limit, I still had a lot left on the fronts.

So much so that Bracknell asked me if I wanted to keep them......so I have.

All the talk about mixing - are you referring to tyre type or tyre depth.

If it's the latter - perhaps I should have just changed the rears (there's an awful lot of fronts left!!)


I may have a set of front tyres to sell if anyone's interested! (PM me if you are)

Nick Graves

[QUOTE]Originally posted by zero_to60

Nick Graves

No, you were right to change all four.

The fronts polish the inner edge quickly, so you would soon be down to the harder inner compound, whilst the part worn rears would be still grippy.

I refer you to Brian's explanation of why this may be unsatisfactory.