I moved the stock wheels and primacys to my WRX - on that car they feel great! Nice quiet ride. Car feels light on its feet. I don't ever lose traction or squeal the tires.

On the BRZ they squealed around every turn and had no grip. PSS solved that problem. :)

I was shocked how different the Primacys behaved on the WRX. 500lbs heavier and awd really tames them.

I would buy the stock tires over and over again!
 

Not a lot ppl uses Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Positions but I heard they are good & with more emphasis on comfort/noise lv when u go through like bridge gap on the road and etc. obviously not as good at performance compare to like PSS but I think they are really good for daily.

You probably just drive slower in the WRX. Really. The Primacy tires have high limits, but the twins give crazy confidence so you drive faster.

The stock tires are a lot of fun; they're predictable, relatively quiet (compared to my RS3 race set) comfortable and seem to last a long time. I'd buy them if they weren't so damn expensive. Cost alone is the reason I will go with something else when it's time to replace the tires on my stock wheels.

damn. someone buy my 4k used primacies from my 2015. Got it in Oct. Have 3 left, because one ran over a nail. Seattle! ;)

I don't find the limits all that high on the Primacy's - but you're right, I do corner slower in the WRX (wagon) bc it can't take a turn like the Twins. The WRX will understeer at first, and then turn in and be neutral. The Twins you can gas it mid corner and bring the back around. Doing so in the Primacys will make them squeal (even at 20mph, say at a u-turn at an intersection). You try that with AWD and you'll just push outwards. So yeah, I drive differently, but not "slower" per se. (The WRX may see 80mph on an on-ramp with ease, while the BRZ doesn't build speed as fast.)

New tire choices
 

I'll be finding a stickier set of tires when I wear these OEM Prius tires out. They're nice and greasy when it's wet and that's fun, but when your charging a corner on your commute and it's wet, these tires definitely don't do you any favors, the traction control does.

The only realy problem is the price of these tires. I like the mild grip setup of the car but the tires are more expensive than all the extreme sport summer tires out there. I'm starting to look around at different brands for a similar tire but much lower price. Found some Pirellis and Falkens that are summer eco styled. They seem to be the only ones who make these. I'm just trying to find price and availability now. Going back to school after finding a full time job so I'm gonna have to save.

I live in Miami, and with the amount of rain we get I want a tire that doesn't feel tentative in the wet. I will change over to MPSS as soon as I can.

I personally think some of you guys are giving stock tires to much credit...Put them on a car with economy tuned suspension. Our stock suspension plays a huge role, any cheap non grippy skinny tires can probably provide the same "fun" factor

the only thing is Primacy HP's aren't cheap.

Personal opinions are nice and all, but physics and chemical compounds are more important to discern the performance of a part.. in this case, a tire.

they're specifically designed for fuel economy and dry grip. They're actually quite amazing dry compared to everything up to PSS-caliber compounds (< opinion ;) ).

In the wet, they tail off FAST due to little surface area to work with. Coefficient of friction works hard against these buggers

I went for winters at the start of Feb. Trouble is it warmed up and these particular tyres just don't like warm, damp, salty roads much. If the weather gets worse, they grip like glue, but when it's "Mild" they are unpredictable, they can go from glue to soapy in 100 yards and back again. Makes my mornings interesting, but some of those days I just wish I had my Michelins back on.

Ya, my winters just plan suck when over 5 degrees or so. Mind you they firm up beyond being great at minus 25 so I guess their best range is pretty limited. In that mid point they rock for grip though.

I would buy the stock tires over and over again!
 

I just checked my back tires and they look like slicks. Oops

Time to get some new ones soon

Not terribly impressed with the stock tires. More than once on the track, I'd have my instructor tell me that I should be able to push harder, and I'd say, "no, this really is the limit". This would later be verified by the instructor.

They're expensive to replace, and they wore out quite a bit last summer too.

I already sold what was left of them in order to force myself to buy new ones.

As for enjoying their low limits: nah. I'd rather have high limits.

I have a second set of almost unused Primacys for when my first set goes. They are stupid expensive to buy new and I can think of several tire models I'd buy new before these ones for the money.

The pros of using the Primacys I can think of are good fuel economy, quiet in a straight line, decent wear life for a summer compound, well matched for playful but not extreme spirited driving.

Cons, not the best rain performer, not the absolute best or highest grip limit.

If I ever decide to switch to extreme performance tires, no doubt the replacement life will be far shorter. Not sure I want that unless I start doing track days and have them mounted on spare rims. Then, I see a lot of high end track tires get heated up and end up with grazing. A friend who has some track time tells me it wears off with daily driving afterward. So, in Canada we basically have to drop about $1k for a set of PSS that probably wont last too long. Wouldn't care if I didn't have 2 cars on the go.

The stock tires were fun but sometimes I want grip. Taking a local SoCal canyon road one day (on the stockers) I came up behind a Boxter. We were having a little fun, enjoying the beautiful summer weather and I was playing a little chase. Were weren't racing just driving "spiritedly". It was fun when getting the back end loose but when you want that little extra grip so you can get back on the throttle exiting the corner a little earlier it wasn't there and they were not confidence inspiring at all.

Once I finally bought some new wheels I went to 18s and put on some Federal SS595 in 235/40/18 (purely due to price at the time of purchasing the wheels). The tires have a nice aggressive tread pattern that I liked and on the street they actually gripped awesome. However that is where the good stopped! The response, ride quality, and noise were abysmal! You turned the wheel and the tires had to play catch up. Any little bump in the road and the tires said "The bump wasn't that big but I wanted to make sure you knew it was there!". Took them for one track day and once they heated up, they were pushed and didn't even know what the word traction meant. They followed every groove in the freeway and the noise made me feel like I was on 35" super swampers! Even though I got 20k out of them they were cupped on all four and coming to a stop the car would bounce.

Just replaced them yesterday with 245/40/18 Continental Extreme Contact DW's and so far night and day difference! Ride quality is amazing, they grip very well for being a 340 TW but they are a AAA rating. My only complaint is that they are a little round on the sidewall. Even though they are only supposed to be approx. 1/5 of an inch taller than the Federals they replaced they look much taller to me on the car. At this point that is a small price to pay for in my eyes much better all around performance. Still have yet to really put them through their paces though. Since it has been raining.

Damn Southern California weather ;) Sorry all of my eastern friends!

On a side note, my stock Primacys had quite a bit of life left in them so I sold them to my buddy when he needed some tires for his 2006 Civic Si so he could put it back to stock. He put them on and immediately called me after he left the tire shop and told me he was coming by my house and I had to drive it. Got in and headed down the street. He told me to just gas it in 1st. Mind you at this point the only thing he had on the car still was his intake, headers, motor mounts and a light weight flywheel. I gas it from about 3500 and the tires immediately break loose and cannot find traction. I shift into second, get back on it and again the tires spin effortlessly. I thought it was really funny. Made his car seemed like it had a ton of power.

Since i have an auto, and cannot really hoon the car, I prefer to have fun with grip, andI have easily found the limit of the stock tires under braking and cornering, and the limit is not high at all......

I would buy the stock tires over and over again!
 

Attachment 104204

2 years and 20,000 miles on these.

At least the front tires look great!

I had 1 year and 20k miles on mine before I switched wheels/tires, and mine look like they still have 20k of life left in them. What did you do to those?

That is not all the tires fault.

Looks like premature wear due to a ton of slippage on icy roads.

I get about 10k miles out of tires. You are all whiners.

If I did that I would be spending $1-2K a year on tires for one car.. Its already hard enough keeping tires on three cars! :bonk:

I've been debating whether I should try grippier tires once my stockers die. I really enjoy how quiet they are on the highway, great mpg, great for hooning at low speed, long treadlife, and are a huge step up from my Blizzacks in terms of steering response. The times when I wish I had more grip are pretty rare, but they do happen. If the Primacy's were cheaper, I'd buy another set in a heartbeat.

#Firstworldproblems

Primacy are cheap. Just buy takeoffs from forum members.

I drive on chip seal mostly. That stuff tears apart tires. It also grips like mad, wet or dry.

primacy's are not cheap.

Not new - the point is finding gently used. It seems if you live in or near any major metropolitan area you can find low mile Primacies for well under a hundred bucks per tire.

But, you can also find other tires for less used too.

I had a lot of fun on the stock tires, anyone who says "the limit is too low" "they dont have any grip" etc etc just doesnt get it. You can't say a car is underpowered when the tires break loose shifting into 3rd. Slow car fast > fast car slow.

I replaced the stock tires with a set of potenza re760, they are affordable, decent wear, and only a little more grip then stock. For me it was the perfect replacement.

I was just about to ask, what tires would people suggest as a next step from the OEM ones?

I would like a bit better overall grip, with out loosing the character of the car. I guess I'm asking if the OEM tires are a 2 out of 10 on the 'grip-o-meter' what tire(s) would fall in the 5 out of 10 category??

I went with 245 michelin PSS on some wider wheels. Of course, it has changed the character of the car. I haven't been able to kick on the traction control since I got them, during street driving.

BUT, I enjoy the car in a whole new way now. Now it's a go kart and I can take every type of turn far, far faster and more assuredly. I am definitely not drifting around right handers going 20 mph though.

Pilot Super Sports get tons of love especially from Porsche guys as they're rather durable for the grip they offer. However they may clock into the 7/10 or 8/10 on your scale if the grippiest street tires are 10/10 (Bridgestone RE11, Dunlop Direzza ZII, Yokohama AD08, BFGoodrich Rivals, Toyo Proxes). And in OEM size they're about $135/ea shipped to your preferred location from TireRack.

There's tons of options in the 'summer tire' category, I'd shop through TireRack and do tons of googling, you'll see back to back reviews of the same tire on the same car with one guy saying "They're great! I topped the timesheets all weekend and they lasted 6 weekends!" and another saying "Useless, less grip than XXX, and garbage after two days!".

Have a buddy that loved Sumitomo's on his WRX, really affordable in OEM size around $80/ea. on a Toyobaru, Continental and Kumho I think are also competitive, read read read.

OH god that would be new tires 4 times a year for me!

Like @strat61caster said, check TireRack.com.

I've had 225/45 RE-11A's and PSS's on stock wheels. The PSS's come closer to your requirements and are far better in the wet than the RE-11A's. Also, being lighter, they accelerate a little better than the Bridgestones. The RE-11A's do everything else better if you're looking for a no compromise tire.

The big negative that both fall off drastically below 50°F.

Another consideration is that the Michelin's are incredibly loud on almost anything but a racetrack but have a 30K mile treadwear warranty, unusual for a Maximum performance tire. The Bridgestones and all the other Extreme performance tires have no mileage warranty.

If I lived there and wanted a year-round performance tire, I'd pass on both of those and keep looking.

Ideally, you could run the 225/45 RE-11A's on stock wheels for three seasons and then switch to narrower, dedicated snows on steelies (see @Tcoat) for Winter.

Yes, my son?

Oh sorry! Wrong number.

Michelin Super Sport 225/45R17 will change your life and save you money

Quick question, what's the best psi on the stock wheel? Inside the car said 35?

depends on your area, temp, altitude, type of driving, type of weather conditions, and color of your car. I keep mine at 42psi, and have gotten pretty even tire wear. It is a little harsher, but better mpg on the hwy. I believe you get better grip in low traction conditions(rain/dirt) with lower pressure.

i want a quieter tire.
I want a stickier tire.
I want the same MPGs.
Cost and Durability are no issue.

Are PSS this tire?

We can't always get what we want.