bri822

I apprecaite anyone's advice on this subject.

My rear tires got worn out quite a few thousand miles back. The guy at the tire shop suggested Michelin PS2s to replace the back tires. They got great ratings on tirerack and were cheaper at Discount tires than the OEM RE-050's.

Well, I am preparing for a track day, and it looks like my front tires are nearly down to the replacement marker. The back tires still look like they have half their tread left.

I checked Michelin's website to see if they made a 215/45/17, but they don't. Since I am running the 245/40/17 in the back, I was not sure if I should go with the Michelin 225/45/17s . After checking the specs, the Bridgestone's front/back ration was .74 and if I went with the 225's from Michelin up front, it would change the ration to .90. I figured that might give me a lot more oversteer than I would want.

When I replaced both front and back tires, I was going to look into trying the RT-615s. One other option I thought about was to get the 225/45/17's in the RT-615's and wait til my rear tires to go out and then replace the rears with RT-615 255/40/17s. I figured if I was going to mismatch tires (which I know is a bad practice), I might as well try to mismatch with the tires I would try to switch to when I replace the backs again.

Unfortunately, I spent 500+ when replacing the rear tires, so the wife is not going to be happy if I have to replace the back and the front tires. Does anyone have any suggestions other than replacing all 4 tires and throwing away ~$300 worth of good tires?

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

CaptainMike

If you like the PS2's you could certainly run 225/45 in the fronts. It will change your stagger, but unless you think your car is oversteering as it is now I don't think it'll be a problem, just be aware of the handling characteristics. Then again I think the stock suspension understeers with the OE tires.
Personally I wouldn't run different models of tire F/R. Sounds like you'd then be stuck with having to buy PS2's for the rear again before you could swap all 4 without 'wasting' tires.

You got robbed on those rears BTW, Tire Rack was just running a special on RE050A Pole Positions $350 or so for a pair of rears. Which are better tires than the PS2's or the Falken 615's IMO.

Hope that helps,
Mike

Jim@tirerack

I also would not recommend to mix the tires especially if you are going to track the car. You need the front and rear to match with the same level of handling.