Hello all,
I'd like some advice on tires. I would really like to get the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. I've read that the OEM front tires were narrow for their size, and so some recommend 215 front and 255 rear if purchasing different tires to maintain tire stagger. In fact, this is what the previous owner of my S did. They are Kumho Ecsta 215 front, 255 rear. I really enjoyed them, and feel like the oversteer/understeer is good. Or, said another way, I've been able to manage it reasonably well when hitting a curve with power on or power off. I haven't swapped ends yet, thank goodness. Unfortunately, the PS 4S isn't available in 255. I'd have to get 215 front and 245 rear. This means the stagger is less than OEM making the front stickier and more prone to oversteer. My question to you is, will this be significant or is it small? Will it be fairly easy to get used to and control? I realize this is very dependent on driver ability. I don't have much experience driving a car like the S. I've put about 10k miles on the car in the last 2 years, my first performance car since I owned an '88 MR2 30 years ago. I have taken my S right to the point of breaking away and haven't panicked and have been able to control it a few times through turns. Also, don't know if its relevant, but I'm pretty good sliding around in the snow (not with my S!) Appreciate the feedback and thank you.

 

I saw here that @rush2redline quoted @s2000Junky as "recommended 245 Fronts and 255 Rears for ultimate grip" for racing. So, is the 215/245 combination simply not a problem? Perhaps Honda was afraid that most people buying an S wouldn't know how to deal with a car that has less than severe understeer.

 

Use the sizing (215 / 245 / 255) as your guide but ensure you check the tread width of those tires before you purchase them. You can find that information on websites like Tirerack and others. That gives you a better impression as to whether the sizing is even close to accurate. As you mentioned, some of the OEM tire sizing was way out of whack and not even close to accurate.

 

So how bout quit tryin! Drive smooove, drive smart, and don't get ON the gas until you can see your path all the way through to corner exit and know you won't have to get OFF the gas again.

The effect of 245 vs. 255 rear tires is going to be *very* small relative to driving technique. Take it easy on the street, start doing track events or autoX. You'll learn a LOT about car control and develop muscle memory which could come in handy... Fun "performance" driving on the street shouldn't be anywhere near the car's and your limits. Too many unknowns...

 

@victoryimminent , yes, it was seeing that the treadwidth of the OEM (Bridgestones?) were significantly narrower than the Michelins is what prompted the question. I even thought about dropping down a size on the fronts to get closer to the original stagger, but the Michelins aren't available in that size either. Then I recalled seeing opinions offered that a) the VTEC comes on (off?) at too high RPM so that during a test drive it "feels" powerful, but this is not the way to tune the car for performance, and then b) that people tended to crash AP1s due to oversteer so Honda reduced the oversteer, or maybe increased understeer, to compensate for low skilled drivers. So I got to thinking maybe 215 x 245 with less stagger than OEM would be OK.

@ZDan "Fun "performance" driving on the street shouldn't be anywhere near the car's and your limits" is (now) obvious and just what I needed to here. I had planned to try autocrossing last spring and then Covid hit.

Thanks to both of you.

 

A 245/255 stagger is a nice upgrade for a relatively stock ap2 chassis because of the high tendency to push into the turn. The factory dialed out a lot of the oversteer on these models. On an Ap1, especially the earlier 00-01 your going to be oversteering way more then you are used to with that stagger and in my experience is not the most favorable. So keep that in mind depending what year S you have. Just want to make sure what ever I said to someone on some other thread is in proper context if I'm going to be quoted. Obviously if your not running a stock suspension S anymore then you can more or less throw this out the window. You should build the suspension around the tire width and compound you plan to run, in general.

 

Thanks, @s2000Junky, It's a stock '08. I'll go with the 215/245 stagger despite the wider front tires (compared to original equip.)
And save my aggression for autoX!
Thanks all!

 

 

'08 stock suspension is second only to CR in understeer, compared to all other years.

Such a subtle difference in width is not going to make car more prone to oversteer. Plus your version is going to understeer stock to begin with.

PS - the rep for ap1 oversteer is due to several factors. People used to fwd terminal understeer, dynamic rear toe change designed into ap1 geometry (that was removed in ap2), and people lifting abruptly mid corner when pushing the limits.

 

buy the RE71R or other 200 UTQG tires. that's where the grip and subsequent confidence is. I go with OEM tire size for normal street driving and have a square set for autocross ('06 with karcepts F bar).
darcy