Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Man
There is a very strong point of view on this car that putting on overly sticky/big tires takes a lot of the fun in street driving that all the reviewers rave about. The classic Jeremy Clarkson "drifting while reading a book at 30mph". While having the car planted 100% grip all the time, super speed, race car, is fun on the track, it makes it so you never get close to the edge of grip on the street unless you start doing overly silly thing. reaching the limit of traction easily is part of what makes the car such a fun DD.
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What G-Man said...
Seriously, stock 215/45-17 tires in a Extreme performance compound tire make the threshold of the car so high you can't really break the tail loose driving properly...car is super stable yet turns directions IMMEDIATELY at the same time (which is also probably a factor of the +36mm offset wheels.) While that is fun to me, it means the limits are REALLY high compared to stock... like pushing 80-90mph in curvy onramp/offramp corners high. Stock the car has pretty good limits as is. The stock Michelin Primacy HP's give the FRS a roadholding grip level of ~ .96G... For daily driving I think the FRS would be best served with stockish tread width size in a 215/45-17 Max performance summer tire for 2 reasons:
1 - weight will be close to the stock tires, so basically all the weight saved from a lighter wheel stays saved. The lighter you can get the unsprung weight the smoother the chassis rides and the more you can dance in sync with the car.
2 - stickier compound on a similar tread width will give you more grip and better handling, especially in the wet. Also, a 215/45-17 tire put on a 17x8 wheel really maximizes tire responsiveness at the same time...especially since most performance tires in 215/45-17 size have about an 8" tread width.
I'm more interested in the proper amount of grip with the chassis having extreme preciseness and agility rather than an excessive amount of grip for the G's which introduces more impreciseness into the chassis and upsets it more due to heavier unsprung weight.
And with that said I've pretty much decided to go with 205/45-17 Max performance tires to upgrade the handling...