If you've got 225/50-16s on all four corners (I believe this is correct),
AND the NEW tires you got replaced a pair of 205/55-16's that WERE on the rear tires,
AND now your rear 225/50's visibly bulge out more on the rear rims than your front 225/50's bulge out on the front wheels,

It sounds to me like you've got the front and rear wheels swapped, in which case you MUST swap them back!

Center hole size is 64mm on the rear wheels and 70mm on the fronts if I'm not mistaken. For sure the bore size is smaller for the rears, which prevents them from being (properly) mountable at the front of the car!

At the very least, remove your front wheels and check to see if the center bore size is compatible with the pilot on the hub.

 

okay, so let me update evveryone.....the front tires as of now are bridgestone potenza re750s and teh size is 225/50/r16 ....the back tires are bfgoodrich traction t/a and they are also 225/50/r16/.....it appears as if the rear tires bulge out more than the front tires so im assuming its switched...im about to go take some pictures and post them

 

*UPDATE* - so i jacked the car up and pulled of the front wheel...sure enough...on the inside it was written 16x7.5 ...i was livid at this point...put the spare on lowered it and jacked up the back and switched them out...did the same thing to the otherside...so NOW..i have the 16x7.5s on the rear and 16x6.5s on the front.....rear tires are now Potenza RE750s 225/50/R16 and the front tires are B.F. Goodrich Traction T/A V Rated 225/50/R16.....i then drove the S on the interstate and immediately noticed that the vibration i felt when the car was going faster than 70mph is completely gone...the car drives sooo much smoother now. HOWEVER...i feel the front is planted a lot firmer than the rear, i tried taking some hard corners and i can definitely feel the back end loosen up a bit....so im considering these options:

1. Go back to Sears Auto where i got my tires and tell them i have the wrong tires for my car and see if they will take them back? i doubt they will do this.

2. Go to a tire place and have them remove the front tires which are new and switch the tires alone to the back. that way id be running the BFG in the rear and the potenza in the front.....or maybe i should just replace the fronts with 205s.

what do yall think i should do?

 

damn, that would be a lot simpler wouldnt it? any recommendations on good 245s with decent wet traction for the rear? and is 225 on the front okay to run considering its only 6.5" wide?

 

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have them move the tires to the rear and buy some 205s for the front. That way you have matching tire types.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?ma...raction+T%2FA+V

Maybe Sears will swap the tires front to back no charge since they didn't notice that the wheels were installed wrong (although it really is your responsibility to notice things like that).

I would have said just get 245s for the rear, but they don't make 245s in the type of tire you bought.

225s are $116 each on tirerack. 205/55s are only $97 each.

 

You don't need 245's! Ignore the stickie!

What you have now, low-performance 225/50-16 BFG TractionT/A's in front and higher-performance 225/50-16 Bridgestone RE750's in back, you have the grippier tires in back, which is better/safer.

Don't swap the BFG's to the back! That will make the car more oversteery.

Best case would be to get the tire place to order you some front tires that actually match the rears for performance, and get them in the right size: 205/55-16. The tires that best match the RE750's would be Bridgestone RE760's (which replaced the RE750's).

 

I deleted my first response (which you're obviously responding to) because I looked on tirerack.com and they don't make a 245 in the same brand you purchased for the (now) fronts.

I wish you had posted here before just purchasing tires from your Sears store. It lead to compound badness.

Not only did you have a very unsafe condition with the wheels swapped, now you have the wrong size on the front and there isn't a larger rear width in the model of tire you chose.

s2ki.com is a great site because there are lots of veterans to help you out. It's worth more than $20 in averted snafus. That's why I pay membership and support the site.

 

[QUOTE=ZDan,Apr 12 2009, 06:44 PM] Best case would be to get the tire place to order you some front tires that actually match the rears for performance, and get them in the right size:

 

first of all...geez thanks for all the help guys...i feel like yall have saved my car from an accident and potentially saved my life...and to CKit, no there is not a lot of tread on the RE750 at all...maybe thats why i still feel the rear loosening up on me during hard cornering...damn i really do wish i would have posted here before i went sears...i have no idea what to do right now...i wanna follow ZDans advice, but i doubt sears would let me return the tires for 205s..if they do then hell yea, but i highly doubt they would..im in quite a predicament...damn

 

GAACK! We should pick one thread and stick with it!

If the rears are about done, and if you can't get the tire place to replace the BFG's with RE760's, your best bet might be to do what CKit suggested and move the new BFG Traction T/A's to the rear wheels and get another new pair of BFG Traction T/A's in 205/55-16 for the fronts.

But be aware that the Traction T/A's are pretty low performance tires. But honestly, you should be fine on them. They're low performance but they're also quite forgiving (like I said previously, I tracked a set at Lime Rock on my old S14).

The oversteer tendency you feel with the car (back end feeling "loose"), at least part of that is just the way the car is. Not too many modern cars are as oversteery as the S2000. 2000-2003 S2000 in particular. 2000-2001 even more in particular!

You have to drive this car with gentle, smooth inputs at the throttle (on and off throttle) and at the wheel. Abrupt inputs can send you tail-first off the road. So drive carefully!