[Scott Collins]

Hey all,

I have two Bridgestone Potenza SO-3 front tires with plenty of life. The rears were toast.

Question: should I get two new SO-3's or get something else (better) for the rears while I wear out the fronts?

-or-

should I just bag the Bridgestones altogether and go new all around? Looks like new SO-3's will be $179.99 each.

Thanks for the input.

-Scott

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[flash]

go all new - the S0-3s are old anyway, and likely near their end (6 years) - there is nothing that bridgestone makes now that would track the same, so you're really looking at new all around anyway

i'm in the same boat

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[Scott Collins]

Do you know what you are going with?

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[flash]

pretty sure it's going to be the yokohama advan AD08

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[94SilverCab]

I switched from Yokahama's to Toyo T1R's

Everyone seems to be agog over the Sumitomo's.

JMHO,

Jay

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[Anchorman]

I just had Goodyear F1 Assymetrics installed...after having been very pleased with the predecessor, the F1 GS-D3.

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[Cloud9...68]

"I just had Goodyear F1 Assymetrics installed...after having been very pleased with the predecessor, the F1 GS-D3."

I also had F1 GS D3's previously, and was generally pleased with them, but I went with Sumi's for my next set of tires primarily to save some money, figuring I'd be tearing them up at teh track anyway. The Sumi's, in my experience, are so superior to the GS-D3's that they don't even belong in the same galaxy, and for far less money. Maybe I got my hands on an exceptional set of Sumitomo's, but these things are phenomenal not just subjectively, but they shaved great gobs of time off my laps as well, plus I've never gone off the track (or even come close to losing control) since I've had them. I can't think of the last time I've purchased anything that has so vastly exceeded my expectations.

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[ds968]

Make sure you check the NOISE rating on the Advan AD08 compared to the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star...if they're anywhere close to eachother, run away and fast ! I could be wrong, but for some reason I recall opting agianst the AD08s when I was looking at them for that reason, and went with the Z1s which.. well make Hoosiers seem silent [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif[/img]

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[Anchorman]

Interesting. Have you run in rain with them - and how are they wet? The GS-D3 were, in my opinion, phenomenal in the rain. I ran them on a rainy day at Watkins Glen and after a few familiarization laps, I was approaching my dry times (which could show how lousy I really am, but that's another story).

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[Cloud9...68]

I haven't driven aggressively (read at the track) on the Sumi's in the wet, so I can't really say. I know the GS-D3's had a reputation for being outstanding in the wet, which matches with your experience. I did have an opportunity to drive the GS-D3's on the track in the wet once, and, well, I temporarily held the record for the most mud covering a car due to a rather spectacular off-track excursion, so I wonder if maybe my GS-D3's were somewhat subpar, and perhaps my Sumi's are way on the high end of the distribution.

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[Fox944]

I'm going to be getting new tires soon. Running Michelin Pilot Cup R-Compound tires now. I was running Michelin Pilot Sport tires prior to that. I think my next set will be Michelin Pilot Sport PS2.

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[ds968]

IMHO, for the street and for any condition or type of driving ( track, auto-x excluded ) , I don't think any other tire comes even close to the PS2. In my experience, you might find a tire that has a negligible advantage in one out of ten categories, and another tire with a slight advantage in another one of ten categories, but the compromises everywhere else are not worth the few dollars you might save. The PS2 compromises nothing !

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[Rudolf968]

There is just a new Pilot Sport on the market, the PS3. Michelin claims ever better performance and life-expectatians than the PS2.
This would be my choise, surtenly for the rear.

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[Cloud9...68]

Michelin Pilots (PS2, PS3, whatever) have a great reputation, and a strong following, and in Car & Driver's tire test of a few years ago, they finished among the top, but they didn't come in first (the Goodyear F1 GS-D3's took top honors, thanks to their very well-balance overall performance). I think the Michelins came in third of forth. IMHO, the big bucks Michelin charges for their tires don't seem to be worth it. Not that they're a bad tire by any stretch - far from it - by all accounts, they're outstanding. It just seems to me that there are better values out there.

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[flash]

one thing to remember is that tires change pretty dramatically year to year - you need to keep current with what is out there now, and not assume that old information compares to new information

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[Fox944]

I'm pretty loyal to Michelin. They may not have been the best last year, or 2 years ago...but they are consistantly rated among the best year after year. They produce good tires. Every vehicle i ever owned had a set of Michelins on it with few exceptions. I even had a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport tires on my Ducati (rated #1 for several years in a row as far as sport bike tires go). You know your getting a good tire when you buy one.

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[Cloud9...68]

All good points. My wife in fact is a tried-and-true member of the Michelin Fan Club - she wouldn't hear of having anything else on her cars. And you certainly can't go wrong with them - they make great tires across the whole spectrum. I just found it very interesting that for the snapshot in time of Car & Driver's test, Michelin's flagship tire was bested by several others. If budget isn't a major concern, Michelin's are a great bet, due to their aforementioned consistency. Personally, I just think it's a good idea to gather as much information as you can about what's available at the time you're ready to make a purchase, because as Flash says, what was number one when you bought your last tires may be middle-of-the-road today.

The other major factor is how you drive your car. Honestly, if I wasn't tracking my car so much during the time period when I wore out my GS-D3's and purchased my Sumi's, I probably wouldn't have noticed any difference between them. There are lots of good options out there, so in reality it's pretty hard to go wrong. I'm just thrilled I got such a great tire for such an unbeatable price.

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[pure&amp;simple]

I'm surprised that nobody ever mentions the Dunlop Direzza Star Specs... according to the Tire Rack tests, they are among the best ultra high performance street tires, are good in the rain, are dirt cheap, and last a relatively long time (for this kind of tire). I'm on my second set. Including 4-5 driver's ed events, I get about 1 year and 10000 miles out of each set. I routinely catch and pass 911s and Caymans on R-comps with these at driver's ed events. I'd like to think that's at least partially because of the driver [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] but they are good tires!

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[ds968]

I mentioned them .. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mellow.gif[/img] . In fact I even had a separate thread dedicated to them a while back, I just can't seem to find it right now. Stickiest tires I have ever driven on - like chewing gum on hot asphalt. Great price. And a nice looking thread design, IMO.
Can't think of a better tire for the track and auto-x with which you can also drive on the street...PROVIDED YOU NEVER GO BEYOND 80 MPH.. at that speed and above these tires start howling louder than anything I have ever heard on a car. Even if the stereo is at full blast, and you have an aftermarket exhaust without a resonator, driving at WOT the tire noise still dwarfs all those others..it's absolutely intolerable ! Maybe I had a bad set, but I returned them after one single trip to SoCal and back.. went back to the PS2s and : complete silence at any speed. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

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[Fox944]

I had Dunlop SP9000's when they were new on my '87 944 back in '98. Was rated as one of the best then. Obviously, this does not relate to the new Dunlops, but for what its worth...i had no complaints and was very happy with the tire then.

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