Hi guys,

My front stock 050 is wearing out faster than my rear (inner side of the tire is almost gone.) So it's time for me to get a set of new front tires. But.....I have some questions... hope you guys can help me out.

1) I want to try the 01R but TR only have 225 not 215, will this work? By the way, I'm running on stock 05 rims.
2) I'm running on stock 050 in the rear also, will this mix and match cause any problem?
3) My stock 050 last for more than 25K miles, should I expect the 01R have the same mileage, since both tires have the same treadwear rating?

Thx for all the help!

 

I have never heard of any S2K owner wearing out front tires before rears. You may want to have your alignment checked. I would not run new (stickier) and wider front tires with worn out rears- it's a recipe for oversteer IMO.
These are allegedly quite a bit stickier than the RE050's so even though the treadwear rating is the same I doubt the RE01R's will last as long. (I generally get about 8-9K out of rear RE050A PP's)
So more power to you, I'd replace all 4, either a 225/255 RE050A PP or the RE01R 225/245 combo. Can't go wrong either way.
Cheers,
Mike

 

what would be the handling charteristics of the car with the 225/245 setup... wouldnt it be better to keep it stageer and to have 225/255? Just curious on opions there?

 

I would not recommend mixing these tires. The RE01R is a much better dry handling tire. It is very close to an R compound tire for the street. It would be an excellent tire but I would do all four. If not I would match what you have now and then the next time you need tires go for all four.
If I can help let me know.

 

Thanks guys, I think I will buy a set of OEM 050 back to the front. However, can I get 225 instead of 215 in the front?

 

It is generally recommended to go with a 255 Rear in combination with a 225 Front, something you may not know is that the OEM RE050's have a very narrow (6.7") contact patch for a 215 series tire (almost like a 205).
I also think the OEM RE050's start to lose significant grip at about the 1/2 wear point (5mm or so of tread depth remaining). Which would mean some significantly grippier tires in the front than the rear for you to get used to.
This oversteer issue does not seem to be as much a factor with the 225/245 RE01R's because they are just much stickier with much higher limits all around.

In summary, you are probably OK to go with a 225 F if you are planning to go to a 255 R upon replacement, just be very aware of the potential for oversteer with newer and wider front tires.

I personally am running the RE050A Pole Positions in the 225/255 combo and I really like the handling, As I said before though, I have yet to see 10K out of rear tires on this car, so just shooting in the dark, I'd say you probably aren't often driving the car anywhere close to the limits of either tire combination mentioned above if you are getting over 25K miles out of the OEM tires.

Cheers,
Mike

 

Yeh Mike, the S2K is my weekend car, I drove it a lot when I first bought it and I didn't really push it hard at all. I remember I only did burnout once...lol anyway, the rear still have at least 5K miles left, so I guess if you don't push the car hard, those OEM 050 can last you a long time. As for the front, if it's not because inner tread, I still have at least 10k miles left. But 25K for stock HP tires, I have no complain.

 

so are you saying that the REo1R setup with 225/245 setup will cause more oversteer then the oem tires?... or will it cause more understeer...? how will the car respond with that setup?

 

I have not driven the RE01R setup in 225/245, but the treadwidths are 8.3" and 9.0"- giving 0.7" in of stagger. Compared to the OEM RE050's 215/245 with 6.7" and 9.0" of treadwidth-giving a whopping 2.3" of stagger F/R.

If they had a narrower front or wider rear available in the RE01R's I would think about running them instead. Hopefully they will expand the product line.

The RE050A Pole Position I'm currently running in a 225/255 (8.5"/9.5") does not oversteer on me, I think it feels quite neutural. Many people are running 225-255 cobmos with no problems. I have run 225/245 combos in other brand tires, with as little as 0.5" of stagger without incident on my AP2, though doing so on an AP1 is not advisable IMO. (spin city!)

I personally think the AP2's understeer a bit with stock 2.3" stagger, at least it seems so for me at autocross and track given my driving style, (Your actual milage may vary )

To sum up, I wouldn't worry about running the RE01R's in the available sizes (225/245) if you are running them (or ANY tire) near the absolute limits on the street you are a fool and are going to have an accident, period. I have heard good things about them and will probably run them as my next set, depending on prices (I got the RE050A PP's dirt cheap from tire rack) I certainly wouldn't expect them to last as long as the OEM's given their grip levels. The fact that their treadwear ratings are both 140 is absolutely meaningless IMO. My advice to anyone getting new tires is break them in carefully and learn their limits somewhere safe before pushing them.

Cheers,
Mike

 

Just an FYI - I just checked 1010tires, RE-01R in 215/45/17 is available in Canada recently.