Well based on the reviews of people on this board and the fact that my pilot sports a/s are wearing i'm gonna order new tires. I'll go with dedicated winter/summer setup because traction has become an issue that an all season performance tire can no longer manage.

I've decided to go with a Silver SSR 17x8 rims with 235/45 17 inch Yokohoma ES100 wheels.


Yokos seems to be an excellent tire based on the evaluations I've recieved so far and the SSRs speak for themselves. I'm going to order via tirerack.com and have them mount and balance them. Installation will take place at AH motor in Horsham PA ( www.ahmotor.com) . They've recieved great reviews and from my phone conversation them seem pretty cool so i'll report back and let everyone know how it went. I'm having the tires shipped to my house so i can take measurements for weight etc., I'll post pics and information when i get everything.

Pic of the tires



Pic of my car photochoped with SSR Comp Rims from Lou's Silver 6MT.

 

congrats...best of luck with em!!!

 

BTW Zap, if u notice the tires look grey'ish or look like they have a powder on em like below, they still have the mold-release on it...u gotta get the shiet off before putting any tire treatment on

 

finally got those rims. took long enough.

 

lol yea.... i wasn't sure what to do at first and then had a hard time figuring out what rims and tires etc., Pilot Sports A/S have been on for about 25k miles now and so i think i can get another winter out of them but not if i drive them for another 6 months.

I'm excited because I really think the combination of rims/tires is going to make a difference in the acceleration of the car. The pilot sport a/s seem to be heavy and not provide the grip for the FWD + POWER combo.

Scoot,
what did you use to clean it? I'm going Z the fawk outta the rims before they get mounted so i can keep them looking nice and to repel as much brake dust as possible.

 

I always thought the rack had high prices for rims??... Zap, looking for peace of mind or did you shop around for prices?

Smitty

 

Smitty,
I believe TireRack is the sole distributor of SSR rims in the US. Unless you know of somebody who can get it done cheaper? TireRack seems like a nice solution as they'll send the rims/wheels mounted and balanced and I don't have to worry about it.

 

The Michelin is suposed to be a 400 wear rating. They should last a good 40K miles, you only got 25K?

 

Zap, if you're having them shipped to your house, why don't you just jack up the car and put them on yourself?

Should take you less than and hour and you could save a couple bucks.

If you don't have a torque wrench and a floor jack, they're good investments

 

i went to my detailer and used a regular ol degreaser, a bristled brush, and a lot of elbow grease...did each tire twice rinsing off each time (don't worry, the rims will b just fine from runoff), and they looked hella better...



here u can see a lil the contrast between where i scrubbed, and where i stopped on the tread...


after 1st tire treatment...


another thing too...if AHMotor doesn't take off the mold release from the tread, don't panic...it'll take some time to get all the mold release out of the treads...the surface of the tire will wear off rapidly, however whatever's inside the tread will stick around for a while...as the tires heat up, the mold release will slowly ooze out of the treads...wet tires from rain won't really cut through the mold release, hence the degreaser...it'll prolly take a couple hundred miles to get it totally out of the treads, unless u degrease the whole tire

when i left the place from getting my Pirelli's mounted, i fishtailed like a pro going into a turn a lil too fast racing a bimmer (Lou was right behind me watching), so this is testament enough NOT to b too hard on the tires and expect them to perform right out of the shop...in fact, i've had my tires roughly 1,500 miles...i'm going to autox for the first time with 'em at the end of this month b/c i wanted to error on the side of caution

 

I like those rims!!!

 

Welp, the tires aren't shot. However, I didn't take care of them as i shoud've in terms of proper breakin and rotation. expensive mistake, i know. I'll still be able to use them for another 10-12k and so I can get one more winter out of them i won't need to make an a/s tire purchase until the following winter. See what i'm getting at?


You can believe me that the yokohamas will get the proper car and rotation every 3k.

 

Yea agreed but I don't have any of the aforementioned tools just yet. I'm planning on getting them all so i can do rotations on my own but it's only $20 to have them installed and i've been meaningn to go check this place out, www.ahmotor.com , as it's close to my house and they specialize in Acura/Honda accessories etc., It might be anice alternative to PAA on those occasions when I can't make the 1.5hr drive up to North NJ.

 

Zapata my wheels are for sale why are you gonna buy new ????

 

u so totally did not just say that!!!

check the clock...that's approximately 6 months with these rims...sounds about right versus the GT1's

 

yep but I have a screen now and I want the Alpine Navi bad.....$1500 cheapest I've seen and don't want to dip into my own account...so I decided to sell the wheels.

 

Lou,
I thought about it and with a purchase this expensive if the rims were to break etc., I'd like to have the piece of mind knowing i could have tirerack address whatever issues i might face. I have nuthin but love for ya but I know you know what i'm talkin about. I know we talked about it in the past so my most humble apologies, i owe you a beverage of your choice.