I have been very happy with the stock tires on my car. I think I can still get the S-02s from Tire Rack.. Is there any reason to try a new more modern tire? One of the local tire stores was trying to sell me on the S-04 tires. Comments? I have stock rims and just put Koni Shocks on the car. Thanks!

 

Tire technology has moved on since 2002. The S-02 tires will set you back over $800 by the time they're on the car and are rated as Max performance (2d tier) these days, Abysmal tread wear rating as well. The S-04 tires are also Max tires as are several others. Very happy with them on my '06 but they're 17" not 16" wheels.

Continental Extreme Contact Sport (Max) and Bridgestone S007A (Extreme) tires have good comments here too.

Road noise is important to me and the reason I do not have Bridgestone RE-91R tires on the car,

-- Chuck

 

If you're looking for a ton of grip and want to save money, I just put these on my AP1 wheels:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...0&autoModClar=


Insanely cheap and the grip is unreal. They're a little louder on the highway, but because the car is so loud anyways you probably won't notice (I have a tanabe touring, hfc, and FIPK). Actual width is about 213mm front and 233mm rear.

 

The SUR4G is very good grip wise, but it doesn't last and it is loud as the tread wears. Good as a cheap track tire, but not for a street-only car.

 

The S-02 would be a big waste of money for an inferior tire that is also probably old and been sitting on a shelf for years...

 

Yes, time to move on to a more modern tire. For your 02 with 16" wheels, assuming you are driving on the street, the best options in my book are the Continental Extreme Contact Sport and the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500. The Bridgestone S-04 is also a good tire, but its not available in 16".

The S-02 tires are fine tires but they are bad in the wet and they are very expensive.

I would avoid "extreme performance" tires unless you are driving on the track a lot. They are completely unnecessary on the street and they beat up your car. See this video for more:

 

I had a set of new S-02's on my S2000, they were the original specs not the Porsche spec that is still floating around. One thing I always feared was getting stuck in rain, as they has a bad reputation for wet traction. Oddly enough I drove my S2000 down south through a torrential downpour for several hours at highway speeds and I didn't have any issues.

I also liked the Firestone Indy tires and I was happy with them. I liked the asymmetric tire tread that allows you to rotate them side to side, which helps on the S2000 rears.

 

I have the Bridgestone RE003 (Indy 500 by another name) and for "enthusiastic street driving" they've been great. I've only driven on them in the dry though so no guarantees for wet driving.

 

Everone, Thanks for all of your inputs. I bought the Conti Extremes, cause that seemed to suit how I use the car. Thanks for your help!

Emil