I came close to putting the Toyos on my '03 when it had 500 miles on it. I wanted a softer ride, better wear, and improved handling in the wet. It turns out that selling four almost-new S02's on this forum was an exercise in frustration. Everyone wanted the rear tires only and nobody wanted to pay shippping anywhere. It was just easier and cheaper to keep the original tires on the car until they wear out.

I now have 2000 miles on the car and, judging by appearance, will nearly wear out the fronts by the time the rears are getting down there.

Since this thread is about stock rims, I would be interested in trying out a set of Proxes for an hour or two. If I were in the tire business in S. California and trying to sell these, I think I would mount a set of demonstrator Toyos on some scratched-up stock rims and let S2000 owners come in on appointment to give 'em a try.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sousleau
[B]Put a set of Yoko's on the rears when the OEM tires went. They were good, but they do not make that model anymore. They lasted just over 10,000, had a bit of road noise, but were pretty sticky. The price of $60 per tire made it worth it.

 

No one mentioned the Dunlop SP Sport 5000's http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...romCompare1=yes Looks like good tread life to me. That's all I'm really worried about concidering I don't drive my car like I stole it.
What's the scoop on these from anyone that has experiance with them?

 

Rob,

I have Dunlop SP Sport 5000s on my daily driver (a v6 manual MX6) and have been very pleased with them.

I have had:
1 set: Bridgestone potenza RE71s (great dry grip, horrible wet)
3 sets: Michelin XGT V4s (good all weather tires, decent performance)
& on on the second set of the Dunlops

I realize a comparison between an MX6 and an S2000 is flawed, but the Dunlops are my favorites of the above for year-round use on my MX6.

Mark

 

That's probably what I'm getting next. $115 each for the rears with 340 A A tread rating can be all that bad. Good grip and wear that will last at least 30K miles.

 

I'm using Kumho 712's at the moment because they were available (my Yokohama's were not) and I use my car as a daily driver and wanted to get something with a longer wearing tread life. IMHO, the OEM S02's are the best but I would be replacing them twice a year and I'm not going to do that.

The Kumho's are not bad. I can't tell about the tread wear, yet, since they were just installed a couple of weeks ago. I can say that I was more than able to keep up with everyone on our spirited group drive a couple of weekends ago. I can't imagine driving any harder on the street than we were and they worked very well, indeed. I also do not have any worries in the rain.

 

Stick with SO2s. If your going for tires that will last go with the Yokohamas.

 

There are NO Yokohama's available at this point in time for the rear. If you can wait until July sometime, no problem.

 

I'm currently running Falken Azenis - wet weather (i.e. treaded) racing rubber - on both street and track. Like the S02s they get "hard" pretty early in their life and grip drops away dramatically (but still a hell of a lot better than any competitive tyre when new).

Unlike the S02s which were very progressive in letting go at the limit the Falkens will jump out a foot or so at the rear at which point you know it is time to back off. As you can tell, I prefer the S02s and will be putting on a new set in the very near future - the Azenis have traveled around 6,000 miles and are definitely end of life.

 

I have Dunlop SP5000s on my S2000 as my winter tires. They do pretty well for a M+S tire condsidering a high performance all-season tire by its very nature is going to make some compromises. It's not going to have the grip of a true high performance tire (S-02, S-03) or the snow handling capability of a dedicated winter tire. If I lived farther north where I saw a lot of snow and used the S2000 as a daily driver I would get dedicated winter tires. Alternatively, if I lived somewhere where it never snowed I would probably stick with something like S-03s.

I have had the SP5000's on for about 7000 miles. During that time I've driven through a couple 3-6 in. dustings of snow; participated in the 'Wake the Dragon' S2000 event; and driven through several torrential downpours during just the last week. I have been pleased with the tires. They are much better than OEM in sub 40 temperatures; OK in light snow; and have decent dry grip. They do not have anywhere near the dry grip of S-02s, so the first time the let go it might surprise you. I know it did me.

I will pull these off in the next few weeks when my new wheels come in and my S-02s go on for the summer. At that time I'll measure the tread depth and try to get an idea of how long the tires will last for me. There is also another thread talking about the SP5000s here.