hi guys. My tires are still new, since my car is less than a week old.. but I have this burning question. After the stock bridgestones wear out, would it be a disgrace to the S2000 to mount nondirectionial touring tires?
I like touring tires because they are: cheaper, quieter, has WAY BETTER wet performance, lasts a lot longer and you can rotate them side to side. I just read in a thread that the inner edge wears faster than the outer one on our cars. With nondirectional tires, you can swap the left and right, and the tires will give you much longer service. I dont see myself doing auto crossing anytime soon, and I do enjoy the handling and performance of S2000, but I'm not a brash teenager and the way I drive my s2000, any descent touring tires should be able to handle it.. (i.e. continental contitourings)

any thoughts on this? Lack of experience is not what motivates me to post this thread. As some of you know, I went through a set of summer tires EVERY YEAR with my NOS'ed maxima and I hate how the wet traction becomes worse exponentially with any wear on most summer tires.

what are your thoughts?

 

With tires that wear more on one edge than the other, swapping them from side to side will not change anything. They will still wear on the same edge. You still need to unmount the tire and flip them over on the same wheel to even out the wear. Doing this with the stock tires will gain you some extra mileage, perhaps about 1/3 more if done at the correct time.
I suppose not everyone who buys this car drives it to anywhere near its full potential. Some people may in fact, have purchased the car just because it looks the way they want their car to look and that's OK by me. Having said that and you don't plan to drive the car near its limits, you should consider "dialing" out the tire eating suspension settings to gain you more even and extended wear on the stock tires. However, if you do this, NEVER forget what you have done and think you can go into driving scenarios believing that the car's limits are the same. Furthermore, if you sell the car to someone else with the "new" settings, you have a responsibility to warn that person.

 

OHHHHHHHH you're right. swapping side to side won't prevent one edge from wearing faster. what was I smoking..

then how bout some goodyear aquatreads ?? the way I'm planning to drive in the rain, I could prolly get by with bald-as-slick tires too, but as mentioned in other thread, my "habit" might kick in and put me in trouble. who knows..

 

I've always had a curiosity about Aquatreads. I think they would make for a good long life mutipurpose tire BUT you may not find them in the size our car takes.
Also, when the time comes, if you want to maintain the same tread width (contact patch) and the proper tire stagger, you MUST get rear tires that are 245/45/16. The stock OEM SO2's are labelled 225/50/16 but are in fact specially made for this car and are closer to 245. The fronts are pretty much what they say they are. Don't make the mistake of getting the same size in the rears or you will further compromise the stagger.

 

wow! thanks Xviper! I am so glad I had read your post! I would have made the mistake of getting the same rear size !!

thanks!


Actually what is the purpose of not labeling the tire in the actual size it is, but rather stamp on such a misleading size???

 

The two best things I've done to improve the everyday enjoyment of my S is replacing the S-02's with Yokahama AVS db's and doing a four wheel alignment. Unless you're going to slalom or race, the S-02's are overkill for the street. They're harsh, noisy, no good in the wet, and wear rapidly. The AVS improve ride harshness, are much quieter, and will get you through the rain and snow. They last twice as long as the 02's. As to alignment, dial out some of the negative camber up front an set the rear toe at .05. This will increase rear tire wear about 40-50% and change understeer to oversteer. Maybe not a good idea if you haven't had track or early 911 experience. Just don"t hit the brakes if you go into a corner too fast. You must remember to enter corners slower, but you'll be able to come out much faster. For liability reasons, Honda had to spec settings resulting in a fair amount of understeer. And yes, touring tires will give you a more compliant ride that is quieter and tire wear should double. You'll still be able to out handle all but the most expensive sports cars.

 

thanks for the important heads up viper and oldchap!!

what if what you want is EVEN TIRE wear on both the front pair and the rear pair? No edge wearing faster than the other. I think I could compromise some performance for the sake of tire longetivity. To some guys, handling is super important, and to others, streetable low end grunt is very important, and to some guys like me, top end highway passing power is what makes the car most enjoyable. I can compromise some handling performance. No matter what settings you dial the suspension at, the car feels rock solid anyways. what are the specs to achieve even tire wear on the fronts and on the back? what kind of numbers do I need to tell the alignment shop? I'm taking my car to jim coleman honda and i'm sure the mechanics there know wha to do. but just in case, what are the exact specs?

I wont be getting the new alignment done anytime soon. And its ok if the rear tires have unever wear. I'll just wear the stock bridgestones out and worry about this stuff when its time for new tires. actually, since this is my 2nd car, I could care less about the negative camber and the adverse tire wear and etc, since it lasts more than 10k miles anyways. But I AM GOING TO put touring tires on when the bridgestones wear out, and I want the new tires to wear very evenly for traction reasons.

 

It's only a "bit" misleading in the sense that the OEM tire is indeed a 225. This measurement is taken from side wall to side wall. What the actually contact patch is, depends upon the manufacturer. In our case, Honda asked Bridgestone to make a "special" tire for the S2000. They wanted a 225 tire BUT with extra rubber on the road. Therefore, if you are going with aftermarket tires (even non-OEM SO2's), you must go with a 245 (or even a 255 in some cases) just to get close to the same contact patch as OEM. However, since the OEM tire is indeed a 225 (in sidewall), to go to a 245 to get the same rubber on the road width, you need to go to a "45" aspect ratio so you don't alter the over wheel/tire diameter (speedo error).


[QUOTE]Originally posted by hokiemax
[B]what kind of numbers do I need to tell the alignment shop?

 

bottom line is that it is your car, and you are entitled to do whatever you want to it. if some of the "benefits" of touring tires are more important to you than having an all out performance tire, then by all means, go for it. there's no such thing as a "disgrace" as long as you're happy with your choices. i mean, there's quite a percentage of s2000 owners who have never driven their car hard, and although to me, that's a shame and a disgrace, but to those owners, they're perfectly content with it...