Looking for a tire recommendation for my OEM size wheels / tires on my AP2.

I drive 99% aggressive street, and I’m looking for something a bit more playful and lively than my current PS4S.

Considering:
- firehawk indy500s
- conti ECS02
- conti DWS06+ (A/S)
- michelin PS4 all seasons

I do absolutely love the sidewall stiffness on the ps4s, the steering wheel has literally 0 on center deadness and it’s fantastic. But I just want a tiny bit less grip


EDIT: seems like all seasons on this car aren’t worth it. will just feel mushy. So now I’m mainly just considering between Indy500s and ECS02!

 

Playful, like the rear end sliding out? Your notes from last Fall indicate you're looking for a "tail happy" car. Both the Indy500s and ECS02s are "max performance summer tires" or third tier so they're on the lower end of summer tire traction. A S2000 drift car seems counterproductive but a supercharger might so it.

-- Chuck

 

Yep just a bit tail happy! Definitely not trying to make a drift car, but the car loves to rotate and I’d like to play with that a bit more.

However the car isn’t torquey enough to power oversteer, at least not on PS4S, so the only time the rear breaks loose is through momentum on higher speed turns, or u turns.

Want a bit of playfulness at lower speeds too is all.

Supercharger would be sick, but I live in Cali so Smog is a concern + don’t want to pay to supercharge an ‘04.

 

Permanent tail happy setup may not be real effective since the car was designed to NOT be tail happy. Grippy front tires and slippery rears will work but not ideal all the time and I doubt I'd want to keep swapping wheels. Back in the dark ages we used "fly off" hand brakes to grab the rear wheels and start some rotation. Seemed to take 3 hands and feet. "Fly off" brake handle doesn't latch until the button is deliberately pressed and held down, there's no ratchet unless the button is held down; it becomes a set rather than release mechanism. Pull back to release -- fly off.

Do a forum or Google internet search. Not seen a flyoff handbrake mentioned here unless it was in the context of old Brit sports cars where they were common if not standard. They probably became illegal in many places. The link thinks so.

-- Chuck

 

I don't think he wants a tail happy car,e brake turns, etc. He just wants it to feel fast, without going fast. To move around a bit. Not just at the rear, but all around. Though at the rear is still important, its just not the only thing.

I totally get it. Its the opposite of what most want, which is more video game, I turn, I go. Magic. Not just on rails, but almost an artificial unlimited...I don't even wanna call it traction, bc its something else. Call it, will. Car goes where I will it to.

What you want is stiff sidewalls, but not as much traction. The Firestones are probably closest you're gonna get to that.

 

Just rechecked and the Indy500 is an Ultra performance summer tire or third tier compared to the Max or second tier performance ECS02. The boundaries of these categories are fairly vague but I''d expect the Indy500s to not handle quite as well with slower lap times which seems to be what you want to introduce some slippery feeling. Both are competent tires. Both these tires have fairly long tread life so any decision will be yours for a couple of years so maybe a different sway bar or retrofitting something like the 2000-2001 suspension will help. These were common Ebay parts once-upon-a-time

-- Chuck

 

Thanks y’all, this basically is exactly what I’m looking for. I’m planning on doing Ohlins soon as well, so I think my ordering might be:
- Install ohlins and turn up the rear dampers
- Install RSB if it’s not enough
- then choose the tire, likely firestone

 

The firestone is a sticky tire, more sticky than the PS4's he's currently running. I'd probably suggest the PS4 all season if you want less sticky. ECS isn't a bad less sticky tire, but the turn in response from the ECS is nowhere near as good as the Indys or the PS4's.

 

Get a square wheel and tire setup. It will fix everything that you've asked for in multiple different threads in different sub-forums for a more playful car with better turn-in.

You'll also get the added benefit of being able to rotate tires F/R for even wear and being able to replace a set of tires at the same time.

 

aren’t the indy500s higher tw and lower overall grip rating than ps4s?