I just put some KDW new tread pattern on the wife's 04. I put 225's on the front and 255's the rear she autocrossed it and seemed fine as far as balance.

 

Anybody ran RA-1's?

If you take a look at the tire width, diameter, and revs per mile on the OEM RE050 the closest size RA-1's are 235/40ZR17 (rear) and 205/50R17 (front)

RA-1 spec sheet:
http://www.toyo.com/tires/tire_specsheet.cfm?id=1

Let me know if anyone has ran this size...if not bigger.

 

Their "OEM wheels" are reconditioned items . . . hmmmmm

 

Summary since new:
Total mi - brand of tire: miles on tire

00k mi - Bridgestone RE050 (OEM): 17k mi
17k mi - Kumho Ecsta MX (discontinued): 10k mi
27k mi - Bridgestone RE050A Pole Positions: 15k mi
42k mi - Sumitomo HRT ZIII: 12k mi
54k mi - Sumitomo HRT ZIII: 12k mi (so far) (New suspension)
65k mi - (rear only) Sumitomo HRT ZIII: 13k mi
74k mi - (front only) Sumitomo HRT ZIII: 24k mi
80k mi - (rear only) Sumitomo HRT ZIII: 15k mi
84k mi - Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 on all corners, replaced with new suspension and alignment.


84k mi - Changed up the tires, trying the Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 2 (summer) all around. Also back on stock springs and stock alignment so we will see how these do with less aggressive camber and toe. These are OEM for Caymans and Boxsters these days and the P guys like them well enough...

94k mi update - the tires are still going strong and have been great in the wet and dry. I like the tires - rather than have a stiffer sidewall that can flex or roll mid-corner, these tires just flex initially and then are constant through corners, which is a good feeling. The other side of this is that they always look slightly under-inflated to me because the shoulder flexes normally.

At the limit, the tires don't communicate too loudly but they do feel planted until they start to break away, and they don't get too greasy when hot - only down side is that they don't communicate audibly when cornering and you're never really sure just how much you're scrubbing unless you can really feel it through the car.

Suspension-wise, going back to stock and narrower tires really livened the car up - it turns in and rotates faster than it did before, and reminded me why I fell in love with the S in the first place.




101k mi - I'm finally hitting the wear bars on the insides of the tires, so it's time to look for a replacement. I'd buy these summer tires again but for some reason Goodyear stopped making them in the stock 215 size, so unless I wanted to go up to 225, I'm out of luck. Shame because it is a great tire and it performed and lasted well.

My next tire will probably be the Continental ExtremeContact Sport - another new tire that looks promising.

 

Anyone used bridgestone potenza re750's? And what else would you guys reccomend as being best bang for the buck in grip/treadlife? Im kinda on a tight budget after just having to replace my clutch.

 

does anyone kno the contact patch measurement for:

225/45/17 RE-01R

 

thread width is 8.3" per tirerack. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?mak...tirePageLocQty=

205/50/17 should be closest to stock thread width.

 

I have the the Yokohama Advan Neova's in 225/255 and they talk alot more than the stock tires. Where the stock tires would just slide on you the Advan's talk but still grip somewhat. Overall, if I had to do it again, I would just get the stock tires again. I am not happy with the Yokohama's.

 

If its stock wheels you are using I would just stick to the stock tires. Unless its a money issue.

 

I'm looking at Yokohama A048s in 225/45/17 and 255/40/17. The contact patch is 8.8" for the fronts and 10.0" for the backs. Is that too far off from the stock ratio that it will severely mess my balance up? I'm expecting the oversteer to be a bit more pronounced. If I switch to 215s up front is 8.3", which is a little better but still more up front than stock.

I do also understand that it will throw my speedo off a bit if I mess with the tire sizes, no need to lecture me on this.

Edit: After a little more math, it looks like 255s on back and 215s on front is the closest to the stock ratio I can get with these tires. The 225s up front changes the ratio to .88, instead of .83. I guess I'll just have to drive them and see what happens.