jerryxu

I've not seen much feedback on this board about the above tires.
Tirerack.com has good reviews and surveyed #1 among all maxi. performance tires. I am wondering if anybody have tried them on their slk32 or c32, and what do you think? Any inputs are welcome.

Glasgow Gold

Hope someone chimes in for you but, just FYI, if you don't get any responses it may be because folks on this forum are pretty loyal to Michelin PS2 & Goodyear F1-GS-D3.

My rubber's wearing out and I'll likely follow the advice of many others here and go with the Goodyears shortly.

Fifth Ring

I trust the tirerack tests but NOT the surveys. People have very different preferences, and a great handling tire will get marked down because it is noisy or doesn't last very long.

You need to rank your needs. Ride quality, longevity, noise and handling, and then see how each tire matches that need.

spr

I just got the NEW Pirelli P Zero's and love them and they're rated higher than any of the aforementioned tires-

MRAMG1

I have them and yes Tirerack was the main reason for using them. I was/am a loyal GS-D3 user, however I would have to give a slight nod to the Bridestones. They might not be as good in the rain as the Goodyears, but on dry road they are EXTREMELY sticky. Only have about 1000 miles on them, so I can't say about their longevity. But their fun factor is GREAT


See yeah

FrankW

the RE050A is a very good dry tire. they won't last you very long tho. my personal preference is to look for performance/tire life/price in order.

jerryxu

The pole position is different design from the regular RE050A. The wear factor is more favorable than the PS2 if we believe the tirerack survey. BTW, the regular RE050A is also listed, but not as highly rated as others.
Jerry

AWDman

i had s03s on my 3000 gt vr4 and LOVED them. stiff side wall- way more stiff than PS2. this translated to more precise - more immediate responnse to steering input. PS2 has more grip than S03 tho.

i've had S02s on my honda S2000. my ferrari has the OEM S01 expedias. all great tires.

i'm not advocating you do this but i'm trying sport cups in front -will borrow a friends set. i'm looking for sharper steering. may run cups in front and ps2 rear.

i just bubbled a front ps2 the tire is 75% tread compared to rear 25%.

jerryxu

Save $100 on these tires if you're a member of Mercedes Benz Club of America. Offer ends early July. Too bad I am not a MBCA member yet.

dorikin_86

I used these on my s2000 on various tracks and was pretty impressed by the level of grip they had. You will not be disappointed with the dry/wet grip =)

I still prefer having my nitto invos though....90% of the RE050 performance for much less money =)

jerryxu

I decided to pull the trigger.
This month Bridge has a $100 gift card rebate with purchase of 4 tires.
Many of the sizes are also on special pricing at Tirerack.
4 Corners only end up costing me $480 after rebate. Let's hope these are as good as I hoped. Will report after I have them installed.

Tectite.Metal

Let us know your initial reviews of the Tire. I also saw the discount and thinking of getting them.. But I swear they had new technology for the tread to last just as long as the Goodyear..hummmm

FrankW

guess you bought the 17".

just notice you said they'll last comparable to the PS2 in earlier posts. I'll have to say I disagree. There is a reason the treadwear is only rated at 140.

MRAMG1

I won't argue that 140 treadwear is not encouraging, and was a little disapointed when I bought them for my C32 by this number. But there is an old saying, speed is only a question of money, how fast do you want to go?

I only drive my C32 on nice days, or at the track. As such, treadwear really doesn't mean a whole heck of alot to me. I can say these tires GRIP, PERIOD!

If my C was a daily comuter, I might look for a higher treadwear, such as GS-D3, or even Yok's or Kumo's. But if fun is tour game, GET THE BRIDGESTONES!!!

On a side note, I REALLY HATE the PS2's, OVER priced, UNDER grip, and wear FAST, not my idea of an expensive tire, FYI

See yeah

jerryxu

I got the wear factor from the tirerack customer survey--that the pole position is similar to PS2, and much better than PS1, if the customer reviews can be trusted. I was questioning that too since the PP is rated 140 only. Somewhere I read that the 140 rating is not accurate and cannot be used to compare, confused.
MRAMG1, How many miles have you put on these and how they look now?
Anyway, my PS1 lasted me 16000 miles. If these are better than the PS1, I will look

jerryxu

[QUOTE=FrankW;2257824]guess you bought the 17". [QUOTE=FrankW;2257824]

OK, I forgot to mention the size, I ordered:
225/45/17 for the front and
235/45/17 for the back.

I know I know the back should be 245/40/17. But after driving the car for 16000 miles, I feel the back dosen't want to turn to follow the front when I make a sharp turn. I don't know if this is called understeering or what. But the back has more grip on our cars than the front. Having the 235 vs. 245 I hope to correct this a bit. That the front and the back can drift at the same time.

FrankW

are you on stock suspension?

a better way to correct the problem is actually running 17x8.5 all around with the 245's if you like to keep the 17" setup. it will dial down the understeer a lot. With this much power you'll find it very hard to put it down on the 235.

oh yeah, for treadwear...on my original PilotSport that came with the car's 17" they lasted me 22k miles. I ran them down to pretty much bald. I think the PilotSport was rated at 220. On the Yokohama ES100 I ran it for about 24k miles and the ratings were 280. On the GS-D3 I ran it for about 22k miles as well and I probably could've put another 2k miles on it, but there was a bubble on one of the front and one sidewall of the rear was bald due to rubbing issue. I replaced all four instead. The GS-D3 is also rated at 280. I've had the ContiSport Contact on my previous car (328Ci) and those went for 16k miles and were already in pretty bad shape.

from my experience I've never ran a tire that lasted longer than the treadwear suggested.

MRAMG1

Hey there:

First thing first, two different manufactures tires, both being rated at say 200, will not last identical. That is to say one will wear out faster than the other. Probably the worst offender I have seen is BFGoodrich. They NEVER have lasted for me according to their treadwear rating. That being said, tire wear is MOSTLY a factor of how you drive. YES a treadwear of 220, vs 140 will last longer on the interstate. But if you road race the 220, and drive it like you stole it, this may not hold true.

I only have about 1100 miles on my Brigdstone PP's and I love them. I had one track day, just a few laps at Beaverun, and they were tremendous for GRIP. They still look brand new.

Again, as I said in my other posts, tire selection is all about driving style. If you want GRIP, and corning I would HIGHLY recomend the Pole Positions.

If you are a daily driver, and don't play alot, go with Yoks, or Kumo's to save some money.

Pick your style of driving, and yes boys and girls be honest, and then pick your tires. Not everyone goes to the track, so you REALLY don't need a sticky tire to drive to work

Hope this helped

See yeah at the track

FrankW

100% agreed

jerryxu

I am actually buying these tires for comfort...am I bad? I sorted the survey by comfort level and the PP comes to top. Of course, I am not saying the wet grip and handling are not important.
When you look at the PS1's on my car after 16000, the front is down to the wear mark but the back still has good amount of meat. Is this the same situation for you guys? Or I guess my driving style doesn't burn or spin the back enough. So I got the 235 for the back hope that it will give me more wear in the back.
Now if I change to 245 all around, will it affect the agility of the car (with bigger tires in front)? As for the amount of power 235mm can handle, I think it is like 3/8" narrower than a 245mm--don't know if that is much. The grip has something to do with which tire in use. For example, my PS1 is so bad in the rain, no matter what size I use, I have no confidence to accelerate fast--I hate it. The bonus of that is I don't drive the car when its wet. So now it still looks in a GREAT shape. Hope the PP grips better in the wet.

MRAMG1

Hey Jeryx:

If you are serious about rain, BUY the GS-D3 over the PP's. I have had both, and the PP's are Better on dry, but the GS-D3 are BETTER in the rain. I have never bought a tire for rian use, but if you are serious about this point, the Goodyear is only SLIGHTLY less grippier, is that a word, than the PP's on dry, but IS Definitly better in the rain. FYI.

I only drive/race in the dry

The PP's still work in the rain, I have been caught already, but the Goodyears are HANDS DOWN the best RAIN tire I have had.

Man, these posts can get tough

See yeah

FrankW

going with the 245 front (basically you buy another two rear rims) you are increasing the grip of the front which will reduce a lot of the understeer characteristic of the car. It does make the steering response a little slower when you are going with wider front tho.

if you are in a rainny region I would go with the GS-D3 or PS2, but it's summer right now, so you go nothing to worry about. i hope...lol

gkstar

I have seen a few complaints about PP becoming noisy as they wear out. Is that true?

No such complaints about GS-D3 it seems.

AWDman

[QUOTE=jerryxu;2258869][QUOTE=FrankW;2257824]guess you bought the 17". what i would have done was 235/45-17 and 255/40-17 and the H&R rear sway bar. the bar removes quite a bit of understeer. i would not go more narrow in back than stock- laying the power down is prob already why make it worse.

my car rides on renntech springs, H & R rear bar and PS2s in 235/35-19 and 265/30-19. the balance is great, and, you don't have to be pushing it to feel the improvement in handling attributable to the rear sways.

jerryxu

For the Pole position tire--Interestingly, the 235/45/17 and the 245/40/17 have the same tread width of 8.7".

This means the 245 is fatter, but not the part that touches the ground. So I didn't think the power to the ground of the 235 is going to be worse than the 245. For the record, goodyear's tread width on the 245 are almost 1" narrower in comparision to PP--less than 8"!!!

For the same size tire, it is best, I understand and you may correct me, to have the max tread width, for the most contact with the road. The PP's are way wider in this regard. I got the spec from both the tirerack and bridgestone websites.

The numbers are hard for me to believe.
Any opinions from you will be appreciated.