Gundar_RENAMED

I actually love the standard 17" wheels on the car, especially the silver car - it's a nice match. But as my friend noted when we looked at the car, despite the 235/45 tires, they still look narrow, especially from the rear.

My inclination would be to keep the 17" wheels, but swap the 235/45s for 245/45s. That would give the car a more aggressive footprint from the front and rear Ð more in keeping with the rest of the design Ð and improve corning response even further.

Any thoughts...?

Gundar

acura_driver

How about 255/40-17? It will be interesting to see what will fit the stock rims, and clear the body and suspension.

-r

Gundar_RENAMED

Hmmm...I think that might be too much. My friend has a 2001 BMW 740i with the sport package - he's got 235/40s on 18 wheels up front, and 255/40s on 18" wheels at the back. The back tires look pretty massive, even on that car.

I think 245/45s would look aggressive, without looking overdone.

Gundar

need4spd

Gundar, I was thinking the same thing, I have the ssm version.

But, before you go jumping too fast to upsize, realize this, the 245/45-17's are slightly larger in diameter than the 235's which will effect slightly your acceleration to the slow side.

The Brigestone Turenza EL42's have a tread contact patch of 7.3" where the Potenza S-03's have close to 8.4" of contact patch and the Yokohama AVS ES-100's have almost 9.1" of contact patch (by far from the stats on tire rack, the ES-100's have the largest contact patch of any other of the tires).

Now, no flaming for inaccuracy in the numbers, I am doing this from memory (I was comparing this weekend), but the relative differences are there.

You may just consider the ES-100's (summer tire) to get your look.

The EL-42's are soo skinny because they are all season, and to get better snow bite, you want a smaller contact patch to increase your pounds per square inch to dig down to the pavement.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know this, but I too am considering the 245's or the 255's if they fit. Not sure though, as I might go to 18" in the spring/summer/fall, and the biggest size is the 245 that will have a similar diameter.

By the way, Tire Rack in Indiana is looking for someone with a new TL to stop by so they can make it famous (take a photo of it) and measure the offset and brake clearances, they will give it a free wash and wax and who knows what else? I called them about this, but could not take them up on the offer as I live in NY

acura_driver

need4spd, thanks for the info. I'd been wondering about that.

I'm not sure I'd get Yoko AVS ES-100's again. I put them on my CL-S. They have great traction and work well, but seem a bit noisier, harsher, and wander a bit more than they need to. Prior to the ES-100's I had Pirelli P7000's, which were great overall. (They don't make them any more.)

The tires I'll look at are:

Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position
Michelin Pilot Sport
Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico
Yokohama AVS Sport

Anyone have comments on those choices?

-r

EDIT: Looking at the Tire Rack ratings and comments, I'll probably go with the S-03's. I had S-02's on a previous car, and they were very good.

r10apple

Bridgestone's out of the options you listed...

My car definitely handled better by upgrading to 224/40/18's on 18x7.5's and that was before messing with the suspension. If I did not lower it, I would have gone to 235/40/18's which would have been perfect. The car is simply too large for the smaller width wheels/tires...

lakeman

The two tires that I plan to look at next are the Potenza RE 750 ($147) and the Pirelli P Zero Nero M&S ($129). I am particularly concerned about noise, and these two look really good in the surveys.. The Pirelli is a M&S, but from the Tirerack reviews seems to handle very well.

FirstAcura

If noise is an issue as it is for me as well as traction on wet roads; we get sudden floods here in south Florida, I am planning on buying the Yokohama AVS dB S2. I am going to get 245/40-18 for the factory 18s. Here is the tire rack report:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....odel=AVS+dB+S2

acura_driver

Yes, that one looks interesting.

-r

need4spd

Thanks for the comments on the ES-100's, I did read that in the tire rack consumer reviews, however, I am never really sure how to judge those.

On my last car, for 3 seasons I would run the Yoko AVS Sports (4 seasons on them about 17k miles), they were on a 96 Max SE MT in 235/45-17 (a plus 2 fitment over the much needed improvement 15" 215/60's which I ran snows on).

Anyway, the Yoko Sports were great, the first 2-3K miles they did follow groves, but after that, no problem at all, really confident, and great in the rain!!! Drove them on the track (Lime Rock Park) for 4 - 30 min sessions, no problems what so ever, more tire than the car, others were impressed, no build up of rubber either.

Only complaint was for the last 2-3k miles they started making a lot of noise (4/32's left) which I have heard from every review of a top performance tire, especially directional tires.

Would consider getting them again even though they are old technolgy now.

Also had on my wife's car the Yoko AVS db's (pre - S2 version), in a fat 255/40-18 size (nice ) not crazy about the performance out of them though the sports were 10 times better, the dB's are all season and high wear, comfy tires, and they were that, but lacked in performance. They did get noisy right away and many complained about it, yoko fixed this with the S2 version (made the sholder connected instead of blocks) of the dB's but I do not know if it works. This is not a true performance tire.

From what I have read on the Pzero Nero M/S, they are not a good snow tire, and more a three season tire, but work in limited snow. These are also designed to be more cushy, even the three season (summer) version of this tire.

I am also considering the S-03's but I have also heard not so great stories on them, plus the Tire Rack seems to bias Bridgestone, so I am not as sure about there reviews.

As for the Michelin Pilot Sport - two words - Over Priced!

for the Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico my brother in law had them on his M3, he was happy with them, but he said the hydroplained easily, and I have seen reports to that also.

I have owned Bridgestone RE71's before, and RE92's which were both ok but never my favorite. I will say that from what I have done in cornering so far (I have a favorite stretch of the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester County (from Eastchester to Valhalla) that I took them on last night for a little ride, they really surprised me, so I am not as strong to jump ship just yet, or I am thinking if this car is this good with EL-42's, what will it do with summer rubber??????

Good luck to all, as for me, I have the NY winter ahead, so I wont be changing rubber (if at all, suprisingly as that was always the plan!) untill the spring.

As you know, tire choice is a comprimise, and as far as I have seen, for a max performace tire, that usually comes at the expense of wear and noise! And do not forget to consider if you are driving in snow belt areas, even light snow/ less then 40F temps cause the tire compound to get rock hard and almost dangerous!

need4spd

I forgot you drive in socal, then you may want to consider a better tire than the dB S2, the tire has not changed since I had it last, (and did not notice much of an improvment over the stock MXV4, belive it or not. The dB S2 is an all season, then again it depends on your driving habits and needs.

PS - the AVS dB's did not look as wide as they are due to an optical illussion when they were on the car.

acura_driver

need4spd, thanks for more info!

I'm actually in the San Jose area. Summer tires work very well here since it is rare that the temps drop near freezing during winter. We do get a fair amount of rain early in the year, but rain is very rare from May through October.

Within reason I'm not concerned about tire wear since I think the increased performance and safety is worth it. I generally get about 20k miles on a set of tires.

I'm considering the S-03's since I had S-02 Pole Positions on a Mustang Cobra, and I was very impressed with the tires, both dry and wet. I'm assuming the S-03's would be even better? I have heard they might not be as forgiving at the limit.

Yeah, I'll probably pass on the db S2, since I would like a max perf summer tire.

-r

taschroth

Just ordered 18 x 8" Rims, 245/40-18 Yokohama AVS db s2. They got terrific write-ups! Tires.com was the source. Look up other threads by me for details.

FirstAcura

taschroth,

Post pics as soon as you can; those are the tires I want and I want to see how they look.

fsttyms1

my buddy has the SO3's and they are a great tire. he auto crosses with them and they handle ALOT better than the ES100's. wear alot better too. i personally like the Pilot Sports the best. ive had them before and am going back to them. awsome (cant be beat by any thing other than R compound) dry pavement traction and great wet (if going to drive in snow get the Pilot Sport A/S.