How do oem tires compare to star specs in 205/55/16 and 225/50/16?

There aren't many 245/45/16s.

 

Star Specs are a much better tire and those are the sizes you want them in for the 16s.

 

Will they be narrower than oem tires?

 

From what I hear, I would think the Star Specs are a better tire. A few more years of R&D does wonders for compounds and tread design.

 

Width is not the most critical factor in tire grip, far from it.

You're going to be better off on StarSpecs than on the OEM S02's, particularly in the wet.

You can compare tire dimensions at www.tirerack.com. However, they only show section width figures for the star specs, and not tread width. Star Spec 225/50-16 tires are .1" narrower than OEM. Tread width difference is probably greater, maybe 0.3", as the OEM S-02's have a particularly wide tread width.

But IMO, the hand-wringing over "tread width" specs for AP1 rear tires is much ado about very very little.

 

The Star Specs all the way. I'm rolling around on the AP1 wheels with 205/50-16 and 225/50-16 Star Specs. Even though the stock front tire size is 205/55 you get much better stability out of the tire of you drop down to 205/50. And it's not something that will augment the fit of the tire onto the wheel. Just do it.

I've gone through a plethora of top end street tires and have found that these Star Specs are the stickiest longest lasting street tires for the price.

 

I'm running these on the 17 inch AP2 wheels and there is no comparison to the OEM tires. Superior in every way.

Swiftoy

 

I was able to test start specs in both AP1 and AP2 stock sizes and found that the wider sized are vastly better for a couple reasons, so if you can jump up a rim size it will be a much bigger improvement.

In an AP2 chassis, with a stock suspension and basically the UK alignment, I found the Ap1 rim/tire size followed ruts much more, had significant oversteer at street speeds! and was simply not up to the chassis. With the identical tire in Ap2 widths the car was transformed.

While I think the so2 and even the 050 are excellent tires, the start specs are better in everything.