Today I had 4 OEM Bridgestone So2 tires put on. They are Z rated, not W rated. The tire store told me the two ratings are the same and are the highest speed rating. Did I get the straight poop?

The Raptor

 

You did not get OEM tires. You got S02's designed for some other car.

 

The OEM tires are easily identified as they have an 89w (front) or 92w (rear) on the sidewall of the tires.

 

I went back to the tire store and told them they put the wrong tires on my car. (I dialed up the Tirerack website and saw that they are 2 different tires.) The tire store ordered me new WR tires, which are on back order for a week. They said that the only difference is the speed rating; 168 mph for WR and 186 mph for ZR and that the ZRs would stick a little better.

Basically, I've got my choice of either tire for the rest of the week. What to do?

The Raptor

 

All tires Z and above are rated "Z" on the sidewall (i.e. 205/55 ZR). If they are W or Y rated, there will be another "load rating" (i.e. W89) on the sidewall as well. There is a very good explination of all this on the tire rack website.

Good luck.

 

The WR will stick better than the ZR. They also have different tread pattern, it's not just a compound difference. Stick with the correct stock tire.

From the Tire Rack website:
[QUOTE]Speed Rating - Miles/Hour - Kilometers/Hour - Typical Use
N=87 MPH, 140km/h, Spare Tires

 

There's more than the speed rating at play here. The s2k oem tires are designed a little differently than the standard S02 tires. Front is narrow for a 205 w/ less tred surface. Rear is wide for a 225 w/ a lot of tred surface. Do a search and you will turn up a lot of info.

 

I've read a few different threads on this, some contradictory.

Does anyone have any hard specs on the S2K OE tires? I've seen anecdotal info on sizes, and have called Honda up (obviously didn't get to the right people--they just said as long as it matches sizes in users manual, no problem), but still haven't seen any specs on the differences. Has anyone measured the tires? I plan on doing this when hooking up with the next Central FL club drive (compare OE to my current replacements).

Will Bridgestone continue making the S2K OE tires? I couldn't find any when replacing my rears, and went with Porsche OE from Tire Rack. Big mistake--handling took a definite turn for the worse. Less confidence inspiring, twitchier. Guess I'll have to wear them out early


Are there S03's available in S2K OE? Guess I may have to wait to see the 02 S2Ks to get the answer for that one.

 

Here's what I collected on the tires:

Bridgestone Potenza S-02s.

 

robj and dlq04 are correct. follow their advice. unless you know what you are doing and intentionally want to change the stock handling balance of the car.

With the OEM tires, the S2000 understeers at the limit (esp. at lower speeds < 60). If you go to "regular" S02's of the same sizes, the car will be more neutral (ie more likely to oversteer on lift throttle or even power oversteer).