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Hey everyone. i want the best tire for my s2k. i want them to be perfect in dry conditions . rain doesnt matter. i wont use them in track. but i want my car to handle superb in warm dry summer conditions. What do u suggest me? Thanks for the advice. ( can i also use those tires in cold and dry conditions ? ) thanks.
Yokohama AO46's are superb tires. Very costly but worth every penny in dry conditions. My fathers has them on his Lotus Elise he loves them. I also can vouch for them. They also look sick.
Other effective tires include:
Toyo RA-1
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup
Kumho Victoracer V700
These are tires that are suitable for the track, especially so when shaved, but work well at full tread depth on the street. I'm not sure about sizing, but these models give a lot of stick. They are not designed for wet street use, but you said that didn't matter.
If I remember right, the Goodyear Eagles F1 GS-D3 got the best pick because the had the best dry and wet handling compromise. The goodyears are suppose to have the best wet handling and good dry handling. I have also heard some complaints about the side walls not being super firm and making the car feel alittle sloppy. I did alot of research when I was buying tires this last time. If you do end up getting the Eagles though, they are a good solid tire that will last you a long time.
One other thing you might want to consider is tread life. If you are willing to replace tires more often, then you can get some better handling tires.
I had to replace my back tires and opted for the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's. I looked on tirerack and read alot of forums. I absolutely love them on the back end.
I have heard good things about the Falkin RT-615's. Another good comparable tire to the Eagle is Dunlop SP Sport Maxx. You can find more information on Tirerack.
The Yokohama A048 (A046 is a typo) are supposed to be good. They fall into a class of fast-wearing very high grip tires that racers call "R compound" tires. They are street legal tires designed for competition, or competition tires designed to meet the DOT minimum requirements for street use. They don't make many concessions to practicality or creature comforts in terms of noise, ride, or wear, and you really don't want to drive them in the rain, ever. They do not squeal before they lose grip, so you have to be able to feel when they are about to let go. Joshua (CoralDoc) listed the other tires in this category that you might actually drive on the street (the latest generation, you really can't).
There are a bunch of very good dry performance "normal" street tires as well, but the stock tires are pretty darned good, too. What do you want to get out of the tires? The stock tires provide crisp predictable handling, but not the absolute most raw grip. Still pretty good though. And the stock suspension is tuned to work with them and vice-versa. There is a real gotcha in upgrading tires, and that is that if you replace the stock 215/45-17 tire with another model, the tread width is going to increase by about an inch or an inch and a half. The stock rear tire on the other hand is a pretty standard width 245/40-17 tire. So if you just relpace all four tires with the same sizes in a different brand or model, you're going to shift the handling towards oversteer.
I'd recommend just running the stock tires for now -- they are 3-season high performance tires designed specifically for this car -- and get a feel for how the car handles. Then if you upgrade later (you'll probably have a choice very soon, this car reportely burns through tires quickly) you will have a baseline with which to compare, and you will know if the new tires have made an improvement.
I have Neovas on my car and they seem to be okay. I haven't really tested their limits. If you wanted to get Neovas, the correct size to get would be debatable. 205/50-17, 225/45-17, 245/4017, and 255/40-17 will all fit.
I chose 225 for the front and 255 for the rear because I knew that I was going to install an extremely stiff front swaybar for autocrossing and did not want to get too much understeer with my street tires. The 205 front / 255 rear combination is the closest to the stock ratio between front and rear tread widths. That could be the way to go if you plan to leave your suspension stock.
And that's the fastest normal street tire tested by Tire Rack. Tire Rack doesn't test the R compound tires against the max performance street tires...
S2000 tires for dry conditions
