I had to replace the rear tires due to a sidewall puncture, and since the OEM Bridgestones were unavailable, went with Yokohama AVS Sports (245/45WR16). Have tracked the car now at Texas World Speedway, and driven them on the road in dry and very wet conditions. Impressions; maybe 85% of the grip of the OEM SO-2s on the track, more loose in the rear, but still a fast and capable tire. No noticable extra noise on the highway in the dry, and appears to be better in the wet. Has a much more agressive tread pattern for moving water out of the way. The spec's of several tires are shown below:

Tire Sect. Tread Overall Revolutions
width width diameter per/mile

Bridgestone SO2 9.2" 8.5" 24.8" 840
225/50 WR16 OEM

Bridgestone PP 9" 6.5" 24.9" 837
225/50 ZR16

Bridgestone PP 9.4" 6.7" 24.6" 847
245/45 ZR16

Yokohama 9.1" 7.9" 24.8" 836
225/50 WR16

Yokohama 9.7" 8.7" 24.6" 843
245/45 WR16

Bottom line, nothing will give you the ultimate grip of the OEM Bridgestones. The Yoko's may be a better tire for those who have wetter conditions but still want an agressive tire for the dry (need more wet weather info to determine). The Bridgestone Pole Positions have significantly less tread width, and may perform in the wet, but don't look like they could compare in the dry (haven't driven, just data review). Sorry this post is so long, but I know how often tires come up as an issue and wanted to share my thoughts and the stats on the tires.

 

Looks like my table did not format correctly. The numbers after the tire are: section width, tread width, overall diameter, and revs/mile. Sorry.

 

Tex_S2K,

Thanks for the post...

Yep...I have also concluded that the stock S02's are the best dry weather street tire.

 

Thanks for the post. I'll be covering the Michelin Pilot Sports next week when I have them installed tomorrow. The S02 Pole Positions didn't even last 6k miles. I'm below the wear-bars now!

I need new tires before the S2kDays drive.

 

WOW, less than 6k miles? And I thought I had it bad at 9600 miles. I'm getting new rubber tomorrow just in time for Asheville and the Gap. Got Dunlop SP8000's. I, too will post a review.

 

My stock S02's were close to the wear bar @ 4,400 miles.

 

The tread width on the Pole Positions is 2" smaller than the SO-2 OEM's. I can see how they would wear quickly. Let us know about the Michelins.

 

I replaced my stock S-02 at around 4000 miles with the S-02 Pole Position. Don't like them. Already worn out at 6000 miles. Going back with the stock S-02, unless my 19s (wheels)come in tomorrow or Wednesday. Going with the AVS Sport 235-35-19. (Just for looks, and they look awsome.) I'll have more time to research 19 inch tires after Asheville.

 

If anybody gets a chance to do similar tests with Yokohama AVS Intermediates, I think it would be of great value to this board.

From my seat-of-the-pants experience with these tires on my Integra GSR, they are awesome dry weather tires and mediocre wet weather tires.

Also my seat-of-the-pants impression of the AVS Sports on my roommate's Audi S4 leaves me relatively unimpressed with them. I suppose they might be nice wet weather tires, but their dry performance was merely OK (granted that's a pretty heavy car by our standards).

Anyway, if anybody has the chance for an objective comparison of the AVS Intermediates like Tex has done, it would be great. As cheap as they are, I wouldn't mind only getting 6K out of them. It would be a really fun 6000 miles.

Clark