cschow

I know everyone says that S03's are wider than any other brand of tires, but a friend of mine thinks they're outstanding for wet and dry traction in the summer, which is what I'm looking for. I might also add a 355mm BBK in the future, so I needed 18" wheels.

So, I recently ordered a set of 18x8 and 18x9 SSR GT3 wheels and Bridgestone Potenza S03 tires. The package is coming with 3mm spacers for all four corners. The tires are 225/40-18 in the front, which I'm assuming should fit just fine given the OE tires were also 225 width, albeit not S03's. The rear tires, however, were odered as 255/35-18's. Additionally, my car is slightly lowered (about -1.5 in F, -1.0 in R) as it sits on KW Varient 2 coilovers.

-- Anyone know whether the rears will fit without any modifications? If not, will they fit with just removing the flange in the rear wheel well, or is fender rolling required?

-- Anyone done fender rolling of the rear fenders? Can the fenders be rolled without destroying the plastic strip with the chrome accent which runs along the side of the car?

-- Am I crazy? Should I ditch the 18"-inch wheels, forget the BBK upgrade, the return to the stock 17's and just get tires in the stock size? If I return to the 17's and run 225/245 sized tires, will the S03 fit even though they are larger than other tires?

AMG FANATIC

I bought my car new with Brigdestone SO3s. Road holding in the dry and particularly in the wet is really good. Here by us a motoring magazine did a tyre test in 17" sizes, and the S03 scored the best in the wet and 2nd overall. Road noise with the S03's is also very low.

samc32

Just changed out my S03's for a set of Pilot Sport AS. I must say the S03's are pretty darn sticky, wet and dry. Utterly useless, scary in fact, in the snow or ice - Although I knew this before I bought them.

I expect you will only get about 12-15K out of the set, before replacement. Possibly less on the fronts. I only was able to get 10K on the fronts due to a small alignment problem. A buddy of mine used them on his Porsche and was only getting 10K before replacement.

So.. The bottom line based on my experience..

- They are very sticky and provide superb wet/dry traction.
- Useless in the snow. - Obviously however, since they are High-Perf summer tires
- Relatively low tread-life, although treadlife was reduced in my case because of front alignment issues. With a 240 treadware rating, dont expect 30k.

225/245 combo fits perfectly. I am sure the 235/255 combo will work as well. The 255 will fit the 8.5 rim, according to TireRack. Ask your shop or call TireRack before you size up from 225.245

I would buy them again, but not without a set of winter wheels.

Bux

what placed 1st overall?

Harris

Wow, there are so many questions that you're asking......

When people are saying S-03 are wider than other tires, there are referring to the corner of the sidewall. S-03s are more "squared" while some tires such as T1-S are more "rounded". Your 18" 225/255 combo sounds perfect, but it really depends on what are the offsets on your rears. I dont think there will be any rubbing issue though. All AMG cars have the fenders pre-rolled at the AMG factory, well, there is room to roll more if you want to, but dont think its necessary.

I dont know the offsets of the SSR GT3. IMO, adding spacers is never a good thing, especially if you're going to get Brembos, you might need to get a set of more thicker spacers (the Brembos calipers are bigger than the AMGs).

Dont know what magazine you're referring to, but the most recent consumer report on tires have S-03 is 4th or 5th place. First is Goodyear F1, second is T1-S...cant remember the rest. Pilot Sport is 7th. S-03 is a great choice, many people like them, the only setback is the treadwear, yeah, 8K-10K life expectancy could be hurtful!

99bmw740il

Im running 275/40/19 s03 pp on my bimmer- BEST TIRE EVER! Awesome grip wet or dry, no road noise. They are senstive to cold ground and will ride kinda lumpy until warmed up, my rears have lasted 6000 miles and will need to be changed in another 2k @ $315 a piece but none the less they will be the only tire i put on my car. I want a 295/35 anyone know how much a custom set would be

btw- ssr gt3's are way way pimp but kinda heavy

smgC32

cschow, can you tell us more about your KW V2's? How much difference do you feel in the range of rebound adjustment and where do you prefer to set them for normal city driving vs aggresive cornering?

What is the thickness of the KW strut tube? Have you taken this into consideration when ordering the wheels? The stock strut tube is 55mm thick with an indent at tire bead level opposite the sway bar mounting tab that reduces to 50mm for additional wheel/tire clearance. You may need a thicker spacer with the KW, where a 3mm one would work with the stock strut.

AMGrider

yup i have 245/35 R19 on the front and 285/25 R19 on the rear~~!!!
they are the best!!

steve s

i can attest they are wider... even the s-02 are not this wide... same sizes...the s-02 didn't rub while the s-03 rubbed...

cschow

I got my C32 in December and almost immediately put on snow tires. About one month later, the KWs were installed. Since I won't be going to the track for about another week and the car is currently on snow tires, I haven't bothered adjusting the KWs yet. I just told the shop that installed them (which does a lot of BMW work and little MB work) to set the suspension so it feels somewhere between a BMW 330i and M3.

With the KWs set up by the shop, compared to the stock suspension, the C32 rolls much less when cornering and dives much less when braking. Ride comfort is pretty good, except on extremely heavily pot holed roads -- unfortnately I pass through 1-2 blocks of that each way on my daily commute.

I'm not sure about the dimension of the KW V2.

smgC32

cschow, what are the ride heights you are set at now front and rear? (fender lip to center of hub).

Is the ride harsher? Smoother? besides the better handling and less body roll?

A significant drop in front ride height helps out tremendously in reducing the front end dive on heavy braking. My ride height is now set at 13.0" and dive is almost eliminated.

cschow

I installed my new wheels/tires today and they seem to fit. I just drove 50 miles on them with my four AMG wheels and snow tires as cargo and I didn't hear any rubbing while driving pretty gently.

Tomorrow I'll do a careful inspection of the tires to make sure there aren't any unusual marks on the tires, but I'm prretty confident at this point that everything should turn out well.

I'm pretty happy with the way the SSR GT3 wheels look as well. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow.

smgC32

I am glad they fit without rubbing. GT3's are very nice looking on the W203 sedans, and less expensive than the HRE 547's.

I believe that the spacer on this wheel is used in order to clear the stock AMG caliper due to the mounting surface to backside of spoke dimension. I am curious as to how the wheel "fits" inside the wheel well. When you stick a straight edge (broom handle) against the tire's rim protector does the top of the straight edge hit the fender first or the tire? How far inset is the tire's rim protector from the outside fender lip? An 8.5" rim sits right at the fender's edge and fills it out perfectly, but S03 cause some problems here. Most 19" (which are 8.5" in front) GT3's require the rolling of the front fender lip as well to accomodate the wheel/tire combination. I personally think that 8's and 9's are the proper fitment with the W203 and 225/255's are the safer choice, with the 235/255 or 265's as optional depending on individual body fitment tolerances. The S03's 225mm size is equivalant to some 235mm's.

Vomit

How do these tires compare to the Toyos re: weight?

cschow

As previously promised, here are some pictures:

Vomit

Hey cschow: I like those wheels. I've resigned myself to 18 inchers, but want something that will accomodate Brembos, if I chose to go that route in the future. Do you know if the GT3s will work with Brembos? Anyways, your car looks SWEEEET!

cschow

Hi there Vomit!

Depending on whether I have any braking issues at Summit Point this weekend, I might also be in the market for a BBK, although my choice would be learning towards Stoptech instead of Brembo.

One thing about the SSR GT3's is that they *barely* clear the C32 stock calipers in the front wheels. My shop thinks, and apparently Stoptech confirms, that the calipers of their BBK would NOT clear the GT3 spokes unless the wheel is mounted with a larger spacer (remember that TireRack sent me 3mm spacers all around for mounting the GT3's).

I seem to recall that the C32 calipers are made by Brembo, so the Bremo calipers in their BBK *may* clear the spokes using a 3mm spacer.

The C32 rotors are 345mm rotors. You can see in the picture of the front wheel that there is now plenty of space for a larger rotor, so I think the only issue would be checking whether the calipers will clear the spokes, or alternatively, how much larger of a spacer is required to make the caliper clear the spoke.

c32-driver

Nice setup!

AMG FANATIC

ROOZY, I LOOKED EVERYWHERE, BUT CANT FIND THAT MAGAZINE. IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY I THINK IT WAS A CONTINENTAL, BUT I DONT KNOW WHICH ONE.

Vomit

Is it true that the aftermarket brake setups will reduce your weight by about 8 lbs/wheel?