jcb928

It looks like Bridgestone is no longer making tires in the 245/45R16 size?

Tire Rack has the Potenza RE750 listed but the Bridgestone website says,

"We're sorry, we don't currently produce a tire that matches your vehicle's original equipment tire size, load range and speed rating combination. Optional sizes may be available for your vehicle.

Please consult your owner's manual and check with your retailer to verify all tire recommendations before purchasing your tire(s)."

No more SO2 or SO3's

H2

I don't blame them. My SO3s are so loud they drown out my radio AND my RMB. And they're practically new. May they rest in peace.

Harvey

jcb928

Really? I have SO3's on my S4 and love them.

SeanR

From the talks we had today at our local gathering, the 16 inchers are harder to come by. A few manufacturers are cutting them from production.

joejoe

I had a tough time finding a set of matching tires 245/45/16 rear and 225/50/16 front. I went with the avon brand (from tirerack) and love them so far.

fabric

I'll 2nd the Avons. I'm planning them putting on my other car when they are needed.

Rob Edwards

+1 on the Avons. Price is right, too.

low miler

I have a set of Bridgestone Potenza's that's been on hold for me at Tire Rack for about 4 weeks now while my '89 GT is getting all it's mechanical work done.

Did I get the last set available? They're the same size you speak of.

chaadster

I don't know if they're still available, but in spring '05 I bought a matched set of Falken GR Beta FK451s in 225/50 and 245/45 16"s. I thought they were a pretty nice set of tires for the car, grippy, good in the wet, and cool looking (I know...!). I only got about 7k miles of pretty heavy footed driving (with ) before I hit the wear bars. Had I been sensible, I'm sure I could have doubled that mileage, but alas...

alex70

I personally did not have good results from the falken 451, I was concerned about sidewall stiffness and wet traction but recently purchased Fuzion ZRi's made by Bridgestone and so far so good. For the 245/45/16, Z rated, 320 AA, and only about $79 each at tirerack.com.

I do kinda miss the old Dunlap SP8000 that I used to burn up in 8K. We'll see how long these last.

rich

chaadster

Alex70, what do you OC guys know about "wet traction"!!! Does it ever rain there?!

I hear your concern regard sidewall stiffness, particularly in the front, but I must admit that the tires outstuck my bravado in the turns, so they weren't all that bad for my driving style. Having since moved into 17s and a front profile of 45, I feel the turn-in is crisper than the 50 series 16s, but that's to be expected.

Funny thing is, the Dunlap SP8000s seem slippery to me! I've not had them on my car, but my father-in-law had 'em on his '91 928, and it seemed that everytime I drove the thing, I was able to break the tires loose pretty easily somewhere: take-offs, especially. (Uh, Bigmac, you're not reading this, right? I'm only sh*t-talking; I wasn't driving your car like a crazy man, I swear!!)

Anyway, I'm sure operating temps play an important role in tire performance, and I'm sure our average MI ambient temp is quite a bit lower than OC, CA, so that probably explains most of the differences right there.

alex70

chaad - word is out that you abused, I mean used bigmac's car. I do agree that the op temps will play a difference in traction

I had a nice run from the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena to OC this morning, OT, but would have been nice to run across some of the local 928ers in the area for a cup of joe.

Oh and yea, funny stat for rainfall in '05
Mount Wilson No 2 5709'
(WLS) Precip
Average 1.09
Meas 9.47
% of average 869%

alex70

chaad - word is out that you abused, I mean used bigmac's car. I do agree that the op temps will play a difference in traction

I had a nice run from the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena to OC this morning, OT, but would have been nice to run across some of the local 928ers in the area for a cup of joe.

Oh and yea, funny stat for rainfall in '05 one months worth of rain
Mount Wilson No 2 5709'
(WLS) Precip
Average 1.09
Meas 9.47
% of average 869%

danglerb

In Socal we don't get much rain, but that makes it worse when it does rain since there is an oil layer the first light rain seems to bring to the surface. It rained the morning of my PPI and it was pointless until almost noon when it dried out to test drive the car.

I can hardly believe how cheap tires have become, my first set of 225/16 cost about $200/tire. Fortunately the Kumho's on my car seem fine, but I was reading last night that regardless of the wear marker tires should be replaced within 6 years of the manufacturing date on them.

jon928se

Rumour has it Conti's in that size have been on back order for about the last 6 months.