Well, My 2001 just rolled over 12,000 miles and is in desperate need of some new rubber. I'm in college and now using this beauty as my daily driver after selling my 3000gt vr-4. I really cant afford to put new tires on this car every 10k. Can anyone give me some ideas of some alternative tires and sizes that might get a little better treadware without totally butchering the performance. I'd like to stick with Bridgestone, Michelin, or Toyo tires. But any help would be greatly appreciated.

Christian

 

Welcome to the forum. You should stay with S02's if you are only replacing the rears, but many people break this rule. I would go with Fuzion Zri if you must have one of those brands since they are made by Bridgestone, fairly cheap, and 'ultra-high' performance. Buy anywhere but Jim from Tirerack is a helpful sponsor of this forum.

Don't forget to go with 245/45 for the rears, if you did not know that already.

I just noticed 'Sooner' in your name. Congrats on the win this weekend if you are indeed a Sooner. If you live in OK and need some snow traction, you might want to try the Dunlop 5000's, only all-season I know of for stock wheels.

 

I've talked to some other friends that have had some good success with the Bridgestone RE750's as a good compromise for a little better treadware. Anyone tried these? And iI have heard of people running 225/50's on the front and 245/45's on the rears. I know I need the 245/45 for the rears but would the 225/50 work on the front?

 

Just my $.02, but no tire will wear significantly better than S02's. I am on my 4th set of tires in 38000 miles. I have had the OEM s02, toyo t1-s, Bridgestone re-750 and now yoko es-100. All of the rears lasted about 10000 miles except the es-100's...they are worn out at 8000. I changed the fronts to keep like tires front-back, by the way.

It is my theory that given a fairly aggressive driving style less sticky tires wear just as fast or faster because they can't handle the stress the S2000 puts on them. For example, the es-100's spin instead if chirp on a hard upshift to 2nd...sometimes third.

Anyway, I am switching to S03's because I want better wet traction for the life of the tire. If you don't have the cash to spend on S02 or S03, try Kumho MX. Quite a few poeple have had good luck with them.

Enjoy the ride.

 

They will work but if your going to run bigger front you need to do so with a bigger front sway bar. It's been proven quite a few times that with wider fronts the car can be quite a handful (read oversteer) when pushed or on the track.

Karim

 

I didn't realize S02's could be had in 245/45's, I thought 225's were the widest you can get on 16" wheels. TireRack shows the s03's in 245, but not the S02's. Please let me know if you know where to get 'em!

 

OEM S02's are very wide for their size...more like a 245. So, when using a tire other than stock it is recommended to use 205/55 in front and 245/45 in the rear to maintain the stagger.