I put some RE050A Pole Position's on my car and they're much better than the stock tires. They have much better grip, plus excellent grip on wet roads, and the best thing is that they are much quieter than the stock tires.

 

Sorry guys, I "thought" I knew WTF I was talking about. Hell, I own the tires.

 

Hmm. It appears that Tire Rack answered this question recently on another forum. See the post from GaryfromTireRack
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=255451

Sorry for the confusion. Looking at the tread blocks I assumed they were directional as well as assymetric. Guess that's what happens when you make assumptions. Sorry.

 

Oops, got the rotating thing backwards sorry. Getting confused cuz I have RE050s on the front and RE050As on the rear

 

That's what I thought too. we all make mistakes.

 

I just took possession of a 2002 S2K with 11k miles on the original S02s. While I plan to drive mostly in dry weather, I need occasional wet performance. I plan to keep the stock AP1 wheels and will buy in stock size. Should I keep the S02s (still plenty of tread but are a terror to drive in the rain!) or go for the RE050A PPs?

How is the handling different on an AP1 vs, the S02s?

Thanks.

 

I find that the RE050A PPs drive like S02's in the dry and S03's in the wet. Plus, they cost less and should last longer. You will like them.

On an AP1, you might want to add a little more negative camber in the rear to compensate for the fact that the 225 RE050A PP is going to be less wide than the 225 S02 (which is more like 240 or so).

EDIT: I forgot to mention: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

Thanks for the reply and the congratulations. LOVE the S2K, don't know why I didn't discover it sooner.

I forgot that the S02s were especially sized just for the S2K. Further, the RE050A PPs don't come any wider in the 16" size. Will make a decision soon.... and how much negative camber to add? I'm searching for that answer on the boards already....

Edit....found my answer on the camber. So that's what eats up those rear S02s so fast. I'd be afraid to change to the UK settings as that would just wear out the tires faster. Maybe I should go for the Falken ZE-912s instead....but I'd lose handling capability. Agh, the decisions!!!

 

Toe wears tires more than camber.
I ran max camber (-1.5 front, -2.3 rear) on the street all last year, and haven't seen particularly bad inside wear.

Why on earth would you consider the Falken ZE912? That's a totally different performance category, "performance" (i.e. pretty low-performance) all-season.

If you need all-season capability, there are FAR better tires available!
If you don't need all-seasons, you don't want all-seasons.

BTW, there's no need to worry about the RE050A PP's not coming in wider sizes. 205/55-16 F, 225/50-16 R is okee-fine.

 

Thanks for your answer, ZDan. I was just speaking tongue-in-cheek about the 912s. My car is meant to be a fair-weather (e.g. little-to-no rain) car, and I have an RL with SH-AWD and UHPAS rubber to drive in inclement weather. All-seasons are therefore out of the picture for my S2K.

So you don't think I need to adjust camber for the slightly narrower tire if I move from S02s to the 050A PPs? Just the toe? Or anything at all? If I actually make the switch, I'd like to adjust the suspension appropriately (or, if not necessary, not at all.) for max rear tire wear. Before you reply to that, I do undertand that pretty much any summer tire I choose will wear out on the rear in 15k miles or less, and I'm ready for that.

Thank you! Still learning about this little guy.