panda25

hello, i am a new owner of an '01 and couldn't be more thrilled, but these need new rubber like yesterday.
i was going to get bfgoodrich g-force comp-2 a/s in oem sizes, but the rear size wasnt available anywhere locally so i had second thoughts..

and a question dawned on me: why are the front and rear tires different sizes? i see many people on here are running larger tires. what are the pro/cons to this?
i'm not a track guy, this is my daily driver and don't need ultra performance(dont want to have to get new tires every 2 years either), but wet road safety is of high priority.
so firestone firehawk indy 500 is on my radar thanks to a thread on this forum. there is a firestone store near my place so i would imagine they would have them in stock and this appeals to me because i want tires changed immediately.

but what sizes should i get? i would prefer to have same tires all around. what do you guys recommend?

darcyw

the staggered tire fitment of ALL s2000's is to reduce oversteer/increase understeer. the 205 thinner tire width encourages the front to lose grip easier. The opposite would happen if you put thin REAR tires on- the rear would lose grip easier- wider tires generally means more grip at that end.
now stay with me here.

if you INCREASE the FRONT tire width to 225 (this is a SQUARE tire set up), then the car will have more front end grip/less equivalent rear grip and will tend to OVERsteer more easily and you crash rear end into a tree and die…UNLESS you balance the change with
A. thicker front roll bar (to increase understeer/reduce that oversteer) to counteract the newly added oversteer with those square tires (225 F, 225 R)...OR
B. you could add stiffer front springs (think CR) OR...
C. go with a thinner or no rear antiroll bar.

think of this another way- if you put a tire 1 inch wide on the front, ti will have like no grip and the front end will push and understeer and you crash off the road going head first and die.

makes sense, no?

So, that being said, buy a set of dunlop Z2 in stock AP1 size and call it a day. You'll be replacing them about every 2 -3 years. don't try to be a smarty pants- do NOT go with a square set up, unless you put on a monster stiff front bar to balance the car. and if you decide to go square, get a 2nd set of rear AP1 rims, bore out the centre to match the front hub.

darcy

panda25

thanks, i'll stick with oem sizes like i originally intended, lol.

Chuck S

Stick with the OEM staggered setup.

I had the Dunlap Z2 "star spec" (or similar) on my 2006 car(17" wheels). Great handling but the road noise and expansion joint slap was very annoying. I put Bridgestone RE-11A tires on the car and loved them. The 11A are no longer available but the RE-11 tires are available in 16" sizes and should be very similar. I'm running Bridgestone S-O4 tires at present. The Firehawk Indy 500 is a re-labeled Bridgestone RE003 tire that is very popular in places like Australia. Note that "Ultra" high performance is the third tier below Extreme and Max performance tires. My extreme performance RE-11A tires lasted well over 10,000 miles (maybe closer to 15,000) which was fine for a summer car.

I'll be surprised if any dealer has the Firehawk 500 tires in stock but the distributor probably will be able to get them in a few days. Tire Rack wants $340 for a set of 4 to fit your car. Plus shipping. Plus a local place to put them on. Compare to what local dealer wants. I'm in Ohio so get nearly next-day delivery from Tire Rack.

-- Chuck

panda25

went with the firehawk 500. had to get the rear tires delivered from another store 100 miles away ($65 fee) installed with lifetime alignment warranty for $650 thanks to a $100 discount (on purchase of $500) so basically got the warranty for free. gonna pick it up later and go for a cruise, weather is beautiful today down here in southern florida.

if this wasn't a daily driver (i want at least 20k treadlife out of these) i would have gone with michelin pilot ss.
while i was at firestone, i was eyeing a set of bridgestone re-71r, i really liked the looks of it. any thoughts on those? they look like treadlife is very short and probably sucks in the rain also but man they look badass. i read on a bmw forum these are an update to the re-11?

the stock wheels have a lot of scuff marks on them, thinking of doing plastidip on it in a dark grey (car is black exterior with all badges removed except for the rear H logo)

rpg51

Darcy - does it wreak havoc with the oversteer/understeer balance if you run ap2 wheels and the stock ap2 size tires on on 02 ap1?

zenairdave

​​​​​​​no, just put them on. They work fine. I prefer the CR suspension on the AP1 for aggressive driving, but stock is good too.

Chuck S

With the OEM tire sizes the diameters of the 16" wheels and tires is the same as the 17" wheels and tires as the 17" have a lower profile which means the sidewalls are stiffer and provide tighter handling. Fitting OEM 17" wheels and tires is common here. Tires are staggered as explained earlier to curb what was a surprising amount of oversteer in the cars the first couple of years. Honda tweaked the suspension, tires, and wheels every two years during the production life of the car with each revision providing more predictable street handling. It's harder to accidentally kick the rear end out on the late cars than the early cars. Your '01 is "early" so be aware of this.

Firehawk Indy 500 are $335 ($410 with shipping to me) for a set of 4 from Tire Rack. Plus mounting and balancing which runs about $100 here so you came pretty close in price locally and with a single source.

The Firehawks are tread rated at 340AA so they should last longer than my RE-11A tires (17" wheels) that got well over 10,000 miles, maybe closer to 13,000 before I replaced them. Keep an eye on tread pattern wear as alignment affects this.

-- Chuck

rpg51

My only small worry about using ap2 wheels and tires is that the tread width is wider by quite a bit on the ap2 tires and the sidewalls are stiffer. I love the way the car handles with ap2 wheels and tires but frankly I am not driving near the limit so I have no personal experience with the impact the ap2 wheels and tires have on oversteer/understeer. Logically it would seem that the wider tread on ap2 tires would result in better grip in corners and since the stagger is still present hopefully they do not increase over-steer when compared to ap1 tires.

I'm going to stick with ap2 wheels and tires on my 02 ap1.

Thanks for the input.