sweet928

Thanks guys. Seems split evenly with a lean to the Michelins. I have them on my DD and agree they are good tires - just on the high side of pricey in these sizes. As I won't drive in snow or rain and only put on 2-3k miles per year. Does that change the responses in anyway?

928 at last

Had a set of the 452s on mine, loved them. Only caveat is they made it about 15,000 miles. Depends how you drive too.....SITM finished mine off last year
And, if nothing else they're cost-effective.

dr bob

Have the PS-2's and like everything except the cost. Quiet through their whole installed life, grippy, last a while with my casual driving habits. Although there are folks who talk about ~~5k life, which would make them >3x the cost-per-mile that I figure. My local Costco gets them for me in a few day, and the installed/balanced/road hazard warranty price is very comparable to what Tire Rack costs are with all that stuff included. I budget ~$1k for the set all in, 255/17 and 225/17 sizes R/F.

Bill Ball

The Dunlops get high marks from friends who know tires, and they are a bargain relative to the PS2s.

Pcplod

I am giving my nod to the Conti's too. I have them on my shark with about 1K miles on and they are fantastic (much better ride and a lot quieter than the Dunlop's that they replaced!) Consumer Reports did an article on high performance tires a few months ago, and I seem to remember that they liked the Conti's too.

I like the Conti's so much for the price that I will probably put them on my other vehicles when the time comes. If you are not going to drive in anything but nice weather get the Conti DW instead of the DWS...I have the DWS because I will drive my baby if it is cold as long as there is nothing slippery on the ground, so I needed something that wasn't a summer only tire.

Just my rambling $0.02 on the subject.

hacker-pschorr

Offset doesn't determine tire size, what are the width's? You can roughly measure this with the wheels on the car.

If those are 9" or wider in the rear you can go with a 275 which greatly increases your tire choices.

sweet928

Resurrecting my old thread -- as I put off the tire purchase as long as I could. I just measured the wheels on the car as best I could and seems I've got @11 inches wide on the rear wheels.

My current front tires are 245/40/17 and the rears are 265/40/17. I'm running Kumho Ecsta Supra's and been quite happy with them but looks like they are NLA in this size set up.

Seems if I went 255 in the rear -- I have much more choices and as you said, same goes for 275. I'm fairly close to the fender on the rears so not sure what my options are. (I always forget what the first # is for. I believe it's width and the 2nd # is side wall height, right?)

Car is only driven in dry conditions for pleasure use only.

WyattsRide

First # is width of tire in mm.

Second # is the side wall height percentage of the width in mm.

Third # is rim diameter in inches.

245/40/17

245 mm
40 = 40% of 245 or 98 mm
17 inches

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Jadz928

How close is close? Pinky, middle finger, pic?

So you're rear wheel width is 11", right? Not tire width....
265's wouldn't fit on an 11" rim, so I'm guessing you have 10" rim width.
So yea, 265 or 275's should work great! 275's is alot of meat for an OB, and if you like how your car feels now (and how/when it breaks out, etc.), look for 265's.

Also, once you pick out a tire you like, make sure to review it's tire diameter spec. You want to be around 25 - 25.4", esp. for the rear.
You don't want too tall of a tire, because that affects acceleration (and your odometer).

Like these Dunlops, 265/40/17 are 25.4 dia., right on the money for the rears.

And these Dunlops, 235/45/17 are 25.4" dia., right on the money for the fronts.

Good luck!

Bill Ball

I put on a set of the Dunlop Direzza Star Specs a few months ago. WOW!! Only judging from dry performance, but these things sure stick in the twisties.

One issue - Tirerack seems to have an exclusive on them. My local America's Tire had to order them from Tirerack after checking with their Dunlop rep.

sweet928

I'll check tomorrow and upload a picture but from memory I have about a thumb between tire and panel. I converted my tire size to inches based on another post above and seems I can't have more than 10 inch wide wheels in the rear. I was measuring with a ruler though the wheel on an angle and seemed like 11 inches but that's clearly impossible.

Thanks for your help. Can you clarify what you meant about the 275's vs 265's? I'm happy with the current 265's but looks I can save a few hundred bucks if I go 275 in the rears. Is that too wide? I like being able to break 'em loose with my LSD -- so I'm guessing it would do that less with 275's? Wouldn't I want to keep my 245's up front? Why go to 235 from current 245's?

Thanks!
David

sweet928

Are they appropriate for street use? Thought they were more of a race tire. Those come in my current sizes.

Jadz928

I didn't see a Dunlop Dizz. in 245.

245's seems like alot of tire for the front on an OB. Similar to how I feel about the rear 275's.
I'm one of those people who believe one can "over-tire" a car, and extend the limits of the vehicle... out of the fun zone.

My stockish S4 has 235 fronts, and 265 rears.

Bill Ball

They are not a race tire. They seem like a fine street tire to me, at least for temperate climates (no freezing weather). I know others who run them and are very happy with them.

macfly4

check out the sumitomo htr z tires