After dumping a shit-load of cash on these things, I wanna make sure they last as long as possible. What are the ideal front/rear tire pressures for normal street driving? 235/45/17's.

 

Call the tire dealer (or Tirerack). And then call Bridgestone and talk to an engineer or two. Tell them what type of driving your are doing to be doing.

If you a wild spread of answers (from some of the S-03 owners here), start with 35PSI, and watch the tread wear.

I run my 235/45-17 Toyos at 39 front and 38 rear and the wear is perfect and the other folks running this pressure are doing great. The low pressure on these showed signs of under inflation when set below 36-psi. (The Toyos are 50-PSI max tires, so, for the $$$ you spent, please double or triple check and do the pressure setting with the car dead cold in the AM...)

You will find some other folks around here running them, so take that as a baseline and run the pressure up and down a little to see what feels good for you. (Check the wear with time…)

 

Thanks for the info...

 

My installer said : 32 psi all around. Rotate EVERY 3000 miles if you want to get 25,000 plus miles ! I have them and I keep them at 32 psi and I drive NORMAL.............well every now and then I have some fun, but for the most part, it's all for the drool...........:P :P :P :P

P.S. S03's RULE !

 

Word. That's what pressure I'm running.
Be sure to check psi when your tires are COLD.

 

W O R D 32 psi COLD !!!

 

Yup-- If they are not cold the reading will be higher psi

 

Do these babies go front to back or front corner to opposite back corner when rotating? I think the answer to my question is obvious given the tread direction...but enlighten me anyway.

 

Whoh!!! They're unidirectional...only front to back. And I run 35 psi all around on mine

 

Hey Fabvsix...

I noticed in your sig it says "225/45/17ZR Bridgestone Pole Position S-03"s on OEM rims"

Is that just a typo?

On tire rack it says they are YR rated. I did a search for just z rated and they didn't have them. Is there any difference? What is better? I know I don't need a tire that goes up to 186mph so if the z rated are cheaper I would rather get those.

Anyone else know?

Thanks.

 

I would think YR rated would be less $

 

I would think so too but they are rated for higher MPH so I'm kinda lost

Oh well, I ordered them anyways

Should be here friday.

 

It's a long lawyer paranoia explanation.....TireFuck wouldn't sell me these tires, ONCE I meantioned I had a lovely CLS, because of the "Load Lawyer Rating"........get it ? So I called my 30 year old Local tire shop, no problem, bought them and love them. NOW, do I put 3, 500 lbs women in my CLS and go 125 mph across the desert heat for a couple of miles ????????????? HARDLY and have NO plans either ! FUCK Tirerack OK..............

Sig is 100 % accurate !

S03's R U L E !

 

As a rule, a Y is better with a speed rating of 186 MPH+.

IF you look at my sig,, my tires are 235/45ZR17-97W* rated tires.

The ZR means 149+ MPH and the W means 168 MPH+ and the Y means 186+ MPH.

If there is only a ZR, you can call the manufacturer and ask about the max speed.

Some tires will say ZR and are "special" and can run at over 200mph...

(So, the answer really is, “It depends.”)

If you aren't planning on going over 149 (speed limiter), you can use "VR" rated tires.

It's the load rating at high temps and speed with heavy loads that can get "iffy".

IMO, 91 is the minimum and 88 is getting a bit low.

 

YOU'RE OK with a max speed of 186+ MPH

 

I bought my 235/45/17's at TireRack. I even told the guy I had a CL-S w/ stock wheels when he called the next day to verify my order. No probs...guess it depends who ya get on the other end... BTW, $153 each at TireRack.com.

 

Yes, it depends on the salesperson you talk to and when you talked to them.

And, when the car came out the Acura Care people said that the tires had to be XL rated and Tire Rack even had a “side note” about XL rating when the "choose tires by Car" option was chosen.

IMO, I think Acura got so tired of answering XL and load questions -- from angry customers who couldn't find many 93-XL tires out there -- that Acura relaxed a bit and just realized that if someone is driving at 149 MPH in the desert, with four sumos and its 130-degrees out, they got it coming if they picked some 91-load/SL rated tires.

There was also the "who" was saying what. When I started my initial inquiries, I had some people say, "Well, we will sell you the Michelin Pilots, 'cause they’re Michelins. (91 load rating ). Then I would ask about another tire with the same size, speed, and load rating and they would “recant”. I’d then call again, and be told they'd ship whatever I wanted. (This was also right after the Firestone debacle, so "times" change and not everyone tells the same story)...

-end of story-

 

I just lowered the pressure on all four tires to 35 psi. Two of them were at 43 and the other two at 40 psi. The front two tires now look like they're flat. Is that how they're supposed to look? I understand that the contact patch is increased and they DO give me the feeling of more control...but I can't help but feel they're too low.

 

43 PSI

No, they are low profile, and naturally there is a lot of weight up front so they look really low. A neighbor was trippin' on mine the other day noticing that there is about an inch separating the concrete from a $700 wheel... I told him I got over it

 

1. Ouch, who set those tires pressures and have you changed your gauge lately (I had an old "slide type gauge" that was dead on for 8+ years, until it just started reading off [I knew that it was taking too long to fill the tires from the air pump]. It then just stopped working. IMO, those LCD gauges at Radio Shack, etc are accurate and cheap! (Both of ours rear with 1/2 lb of each other)

(repeated comment)
Make sure your pressure gauge is calibrated and that the pressure is done when cold. That 43 (possibly front seems a tad high) and the 40 is a "possible", but I'm don't know for sure...

2. If the 35 is giving you better stick around corners, that is a good sign. When I drop my Toyos to 35PSI, they don't wear or handle that great at that pressure and they just start looking a tiny bit flat (nothing like the OEMs at 32PSI).

Suggestions:

1. If you have a "favorite" stretch of safe and twisty road, you could try increasing the pressure by 1- to 2-lbs in the front. If you get better handling without too much loss in comfort, you should be ok (more pressure in front generally == less understeer). I looked on TireRack's site, and if S-03 tires will take a max pressure of 51 PSI (hopefully, they didn't mess-up the tables). Being SL load rated tires, the max load is not at 35-PSI (like the stock tires) but is higher (probably 51).. You would need to check the sidewall of the tire to be sure (sometimes the tables are incorrect. Toyo’s tables are still off. They show a max pressure at 44, but the pressure on the tires is higher 50/51).

2. As with most things, there is not one best pressure for everyone -- it depends on your needs: load, weight, speed, etc. By moving the tire pressure up and down in a systematic way (check pressures when cold, move 'em up or down a bit. You could even check the cold pressure again [just once, as a sanity check) (Check it out and see what you think – you will know you aren’t guessing.)

3. The Toyos have a reinforced casing, so that may have something to do with them not looking like "flatsos" I don't know, perhaps an extra few comments from anyone running higher might be interesting. (even a check on another forum with a FWD [Maxima forum]/[BMW forum] to see what they run would be "instructive" (dunno, just a though).

So, go by the amount of lateral grip and keep an eye on the wear (look at the "scrubbing" on the tire from side-to-side as another clue...)

If others are happily running 32 on their S-03s, you would think that you’re OK!

 

Boy, that sounds awfully flat, but you look to be running on 18" or 19" rims (from your pictures)...

 

Damn, caught by a sniper... you're good!
They are 2 inches rim to ground @ 32.5 PSI--Cold

 

32.5

 

Notice how low these 225/40/18 Bridgestone’s look next to OEM Caddy DTS 225/60/16 -- Nearly the same circumference around only the tires on the right have more rubber than wheel (if only I could convince pops to get 20's on that... ).

 

Holy Crap, look at that Caddy sidewall I've experimented all over on my 225-40-18s, and i'm at 37 psi now and it feels good. I may go down to 36 for a bit and see how that feels.

 

I did have mine at 35 for a long while, but was told this may wear them out sooner... oh well, I am looking for the best replacement tires already

 

Nate what brand are you on ? In Sac Town we're almost exclusively on Toyos

 

Bridgestone Potenza

 

We'll get you on board

 

So, when is the next meet?

BTW: I am still working on tint and drove out to Auburn Blvd to see Michael Irwin of "Window Tinting Specialties," Is this the guy who did your windows? I couldn't find "Eclipse" anywhere out there...

 

The next meet will be on July 13th, some of the Bay Area guys will be coming up also. I haven't tinted yet, any minute now, i hope before the 13th. Hammerman had his done at Eclipse, maybe he'll see this or you could PM him. See ya at the meet hopefully.

 

Thanks again, hope to see you there too