Thoughts on Tires

[Calum]

Hey guys,

I'm finally looking into getting new tires, I've read some reviews online and have settled on Pilot Super Sports. I'm just looking to see if anyone can offer a compelling reason to go with something else?

Before the questions roll in I'll cover anything that might be relevant. It's an FRS with RCE springs on stock dampers. I have front control arm bushings, though I'm still waiting on the com-c top hats and will have camber adjustment front and rear. The car is tuned and I have a drop in filter, but otherwise the engine is stock. I also have subframe and diff mount bushings, but I doubt those would make any difference. I'm sticking with the stock rims until I see a compelling reason to upgrade, they look fine to me. And was planing on going with the stock tire size. (Should I go with a wider size on the stock rims?) My intention with these tires is a high performance street tire. I'm not looking for a track tire.

Thanks

Oh, and do we have any tire vendors on the board?

[Racecomp Engineering]

There are grippier tires out there, but we really liked the PSS as a summer street tire. They last a long time, they give good grip in dry and wet conditions, and they're predictable.

As for size, it doesn't hurt to go to a 225 on the stock wheels, but that's up to you!

- Andy

[MightyMeeple]

Interesting idea...I've been looking to upgrade wheels to save some weight and get to a wider tire. I was planning to get 17x8inch wheels and run 225 tire (most likely PSS).

But I honestly never thought about just slapping 225s on the stock wheels. Anyone else doing this? Any issues with clearance? How wide is too wide for the stock wheels?

Also, @DarrenDriven may want to move this thread over to the Tires/Wheels section.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

There are grippier tires out there, but we really liked the PSS as a summer street tire. They last a long time, they give good grip in dry and wet conditions, and they're predictable.

As for size, it doesn't hurt to go to a 225 on the stock wheels, but that's up to you!

- Andy

Is there any down side to the wider size on the stick rim, Andy? I'd imagine they'd roll over a little more removing some of the feed back. But moving from stock tires I probably wouldn't notice.


Edit: I just looked at the specs and the 225 45 17 has a higher speed rating. They might even feel better.


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[Burrcold]

PSS are generally a little wider anyway, so I would just stick with the stock size. I did, and they are phenomenal tires. I'm sure there are better dedicated tires for auto-x, etc. but these offer such a good balance of quality, stickiness, and wear rating that they can't be beat for daily driving duties.

[Dezoris]

I ran 225 RS3 on stock wheels, stock suspension, made a large difference in stability consider it if you are even going to dump the money.

Pilot SS are not the stickiest of tires, they are certainly good in wet but dry, I would consider the new Dunlop StarSpec Z2. RS3 are better but they just get so loud after 3000 miles.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by Calum

Is there any down side to the wider size on the stick rim, Andy? I'd imagine they'd roll over a little more removing some of the feed back. But moving from stock tires I probably wouldn't notice.


Edit: I just looked at the specs and the 225 45 17 has a higher speed rating. They might even feel better.


Sent from my GT-S7560M using Tapatalk

Yeah just a little more rollover but not a huge difference. It'll feel worlds better than stock.

PSS aren't very loud which is another plus.

- Andy

[Calum]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

Yeah just a little more rollover but not a huge difference. It'll feel worlds better than stock.

PSS aren't very loud which is another plus.

- Andy

Quite, long lasting (relatively), predictable, and good wet and dry performance. I'm sold. Thanks a ton.

[feldy]

Are you still waiting on the properly fixed c-Coms? I gave up and have a set of Hvt camber plates coming. Also I ran two sets of 225 tires on the stock wheels no issues.

[Ganthrithor]

I've driven PSSs on our 135 and our 911 and they seem like really good all-around warm-weather tyres. They wear slowly, ride pretty nicely, grip quite well and feel pretty progressive to me. I haven't spent much time actually sliding those cars around since they're both street cars and both make a ton of grip for normal road speeds, but I do have a friend who said he had them on his S5 and that he thought they felt very progressive until you got a significant slip angle going and that then they became somewhat wild. I don't really know if that's the case, but they definitely have good feel for normal street driving (basically up to small slip angles). They're also surprisingly good in the wet-- they feel at least as good in the rain as the old Z1 Star Specs I had on my GTI did.

Hope this helps. Do post your impressions if/when you get the PSSs! I'm thinking of getting a set soon as well... still trying to decide between 215s and 225s on my 17x7.5s.

[SubieNate]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

I do have a friend who said he had them on his S5 and that he thought they felt very progressive until you got a significant slip angle going and that then they became somewhat wild. I don't really know if that's the case, but they definitely have good feel for normal street driving (basically up to small slip angles).

I'm curious if this has anything to do with platform. A buddy of mine has them on his STi swapped 2.5RS and he much prefers the breakaway characteristics of the RE11s, but he's only driven the RE11s on his Miata. Could be that there's some difference in breakaway characteristics under power vs under lateral g loading or a combo of the two, or, it could be that something in the suspension setup difference between the two cars leads them into being less progressive.

Nathan

[Calum]

Originally Posted by feldy

Are you still waiting on the properly fixed c-Coms? I gave up and have a set of Hvt camber plates coming. Also I ran two sets of 225 tires on the stock wheels no issues.

Yeah, I am. I really like the idea of the product. This is the very last chance but my car is in storage so it doesn't really matter right now.

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

I've driven PSSs on our 135 and our 911 and they seem like really good all-around warm-weather tyres. They wear slowly, ride pretty nicely, grip quite well and feel pretty progressive to me. I haven't spent much time actually sliding those cars around since they're both street cars and both make a ton of grip for normal road speeds, but I do have a friend who said he had them on his S5 and that he thought they felt very progressive until you got a significant slip angle going and that then they became somewhat wild. I don't really know if that's the case, but they definitely have good feel for normal street driving (basically up to small slip angles). They're also surprisingly good in the wet-- they feel at least as good in the rain as the old Z1 Star Specs I had on my GTI did.

Hope this helps. Do post your impressions if/when you get the PSSs! I'm thinking of getting a set soon as well... still trying to decide between 215s and 225s on my 17x7.5s.

I will post my impressions, but it'll be at least March before I see my car.

Originally Posted by SubieNate

I'm curious if this has anything to do with platform. A buddy of mine has them on his STi swapped 2.5RS and he much prefers the breakaway characteristics of the RE11s, but he's only driven the RE11s on his Miata. Could be that there's some difference in breakaway characteristics under power vs under lateral g loading or a combo of the two, or, it could be that something in the suspension setup difference between the two cars leads them into being less progressive.

Nathan

That was my thought to, different platforms will respond differently. I know my old 2.5i on RE11's was great until a point, then all hell broke loose.

[CSG David]

Originally Posted by Calum

That was my thought to, different platforms will respond differently. I know my old 2.5i on RE11's was great until a point, then all hell broke loose.

Can't handle the big H4?

The PSS is in the same category as Hankook V12 Evo and Conti DW. If you're looking for better grip characteristics for DD, RE11A is probably one of the best DD EHP tires around. Get RS3 for dry pavement performance.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by CSG David

Can't handle the big H4?

The PSS is in the same category as Hankook V12 Evo and Conti DW. If you're looking for better grip characteristics for DD, RE11A is probably one of the best DD EHP tires around. Get RS3 for dry pavement performance.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into them!