Randy

I feel that you'd be loosing performace in lateral corenring grip.

The fuction of a longer lasting tire, is rubber that conforms less to the surface of the road. Compaired to the J spec S02 that comply very well to the road's surface.

As a benchmark,I think 25% loss in cornering grip. However is should be evaluated on a specific tire basis.

I feel that turn is is correlated to sidewall ridgidity, not a function of rubber's durometer (or softness). If your allseason tires were also W speed rated your turn in respoince should be nearly equal.

Now once your turned in, you'll feel the diffrence, around the skidpad for example.

Alex

 

I'd be willing to bet the Bridgestone RE-01 would offer similar if not better performance than the stock S02. Of course, they are only available in Japan.

 

Here are a few other options that were not mentioned by anyone else, these are all available in the 225/50/16, along with 245/45/16.

Hankook Ventus K102
Continental SportContact
Dunlop Sport 5000
Falken GR Beta FK-451
Yokohama AVS ES100

Check out Tires.com for prices

 

Help, please!

My '01 s2k has 8500 miles on her and her OEM S 02 tires. I guess I'm lucky, as they are only starting to show wear, not worn out. But, time is here to start thinking about replacements. I have literally 1000 questions, which I will not ask all at once. But here's a few. Why do we need to go to a larger rear tire when changing brands? Could we go to a V or Z rated tire and do any better with treadwear and not loose traction? (Note, I had some Michelin V's on my old tricked Eagle Talon turbo with sidewalls so stiff they were literally "run flat" and got 40,000 miles!). Finally, I frankly found the OEMs to be a bit noisy. What would be quieter?

Thanks,
Richard