I Bought an '00 S2000 from my friend last year. It came with some fairly new Pirelli tires along with the original rims (I don't know what the offsets are or where it's marked). A couple days ago while in the mountains and 250 mi. away from home, I notice my right rear tire had no tread. Being that I did not want to drive home on it, I found a local tire shop. The tires I was running on were not in stock. The shop only had a pair for the rear that said would be fine with the existing front Pirelli P 205/55 ZR 16 91W M&S. The new replacement tires in the rear were Sunny 215/55 ZR 16 97 WXL. WELL, that's when the fun stopped. What I'd been used to was a car that felt like it was on rails in the turns. My trip down the mountain was a much different ride. I'm not familar with handling terminology, but the rear tires felt like riding on inner tubes. At higher speeds the sway in the turns was dangerous. This is obviously a poor match for the Perellis in the front.

Please enlighten me on why the car is handling so poorly. Any advise on rear replacement tires would be appreciated.

 

You got stooged. They fitted no-name POS tires on your car, while you probably have reputable stuff on the front. Go to a new tire shop, and get the pirellis matched in a 225 or 235 section at the rear, or get new tires at all four corners.

In terms of performance tires for this car:
Dunlop Z1 Starspec
Bridgestone Potenza RE002
Hankook Ventus RS3
Toyo Proxes
Bridgestone RE-11
Kumho KU36
Advan AD08 NEOVA
Michelin Pilot Super Sports

These are all great tires.

In the mean time, don't expect your car to perform in the turns like it used to. Having a much grippier front than the rear is a recipe for oversteer!

Best of luck.

 

so the problem is the quality of the tire and not the size?

 

The size probably has something to do with it as well, although "Sunny" tire's are POS tires. You're driving on pretty skinny tires with 215's in the rear....

 

I'd say it's a combo of both. As Nofear said, you've got a sticky front tire with a not so sticky and undersized rear tire. I bet your car is a handful currently. I tried to find the actual size of the tire, but all I came up with is a tread rating of 280.

 

Right. The car itself is pretty sensitive to tire type, air pressure, sidewall stiffness, etc. The "inner tube" feeling is probably from a flimsier sidewall on the low quality rear tires, while the front's sidewalls are stiffer. It is possible to get away with mismatched brand tires front-back (though not ideal) but the tires need to be very close in specifications and you never want stickier tires on the front than the rear.

nofearofdanger's advice is right on.

Good luck!

 

Tires will be "fine" as the tire shop states. But this means normal driving at the speed limit, as if you were in a minivan. And they will be "fine" in the sense that they will get you home without a blowout like your other tires.

But they are the wrong choice for any type of agressive driving at all, and are downright dangerous in handling, turns AND high speed stabilty. Size, type, and brand mismatch are all at fault.

You can mismatch brands front and rear but the tire composition and application must be close. You are way way off.

I have run S02 in the rear, and Fuzion ZRI in the front. Compound was equal, so handling was just as balanced as all brands equal.

 

Thanks for the help.
I'm going to play it safe and match the Pirelli tires on the front. I had 225 50 16s previously on the back. Can I improve on that with a different spec.?

 

You could go up to a 235 in the rear for a slightly larger width tire without any issues.

 

My Kumho ASX's felt like this for the first few days. What I felt that I learned is that the wobbly feeling of your handling should go away as the tires wear in to more of a cone shape to compensate for the stock camber in the rear.