I'm cooling on the S-04s. I am running them now. Need to try something different. If you have the time to wait for the sale, the Firestones can be quite cheap. I'm in no rush. Got some miles left on the S-04s. Won't need new tires until next season.

 

With so many tires within $10 of each other it's hard to make a creditable choice. (Is that the word I want?) I'm rather enamored with the S-04 tires and find they perform just as well as the former RE-11A tires in my admittedly casual street and back road driving. No lap times to compare and I get the same "Slow down!" speed sensor alert (from my wife) regardless of the tires. S-04s were available in "CR" spec size which I experimented with and will continue with these sizes -- they look great from the rear is nothing else. Only thing that kept me from the RE71R tires last time was their well documented loud tread noise. I need to measure thread depth but suspect, like you, I won't need new tires until next season. Now if I could just pick up a set of AP2V2 wheels for some jewelry on the car.

-- Chuck

 

Thanks for the update as I'm considering the Firehawk500 next.

However, I've not found the RE71R to be loud - mine are autocrossed and nearly finished and on the street, not bothersome. I'd recommend trying them out.
darcy

 

For what it's worth, my Indy 500s with 13,000 miles on them (stock setup). Aggressive street driving only. I'll get these again.

 

Were you pleased with the ride and performance? Tendency to tramline? I am leaning strongly in this direction too.

 

What sort of alignment are you spec'd out at?
darcy

 

rpg51: It's only driven on the street, redline from practically every stop. With that in mind, yes I'm happy (mostly because I was expecting them to need to be replaced by now). Tramline I notice mostly on the interstate, and it's bothersome but nothing I can't handle. As these are the first set of tires I put on this car I don't have anything else to benchmark it against.

darcyw: it's a stock setup. I thought I had the alignment specs still but can only find the receipt, not the actually specs.

 

Ive been running these tires for the past year in a non stag 255 fashion and have been extremely impressed with them. The S typically wears 200TW tires but thought id try these out now that Ive gotten another set of wheels strictly for autox and hpde. The sidewalls are definitely much more compliant than any of the 200TW tires ive been on (3 sets of 71R's, 2 sets of Z2*, 1 set of RE11A) and they dont tend to throw rocks up into the fenders when crusiing around town. Road noise is leaps and bounds better than any of the above mentioned tires (not that it mattered much to me anyways) and the grip is actually pretty decent and more than enough for street and canyon driving.

They are audible and will tend to howl once pushed beyond their limit but they are easy to read as they approach their limits. Tram lining? No worse than any of the above tires mentioned and never bugged me much, it comes with the territory. The only con I can think about is the font of the Firestone brand on the sidewall lol. Its a cheap, quiet set of tires with good grip and the best looking tread pattern in its category, hard to beat that.

 

If weather holds up, I should be able to report back after some good hills & twisties this weekend (heading to southern Ohio). By the time I reach that area I should have 300-400 miles on them so they should be in top shape.

Stay tuned.....

 

Turns out I have to get a set of tires earlier than I expected. So, I am going to order a set of these. I am using S2k spec CE28 17" wheels. I think they are just a touch wider than oem wheels. Is there a consensus that 225 and 255 is the way to go for spirited twisty back road driving which is pretty much all I do?