I am a new to this forum and their has a been a lot of great information. I purchased a 1990 C2 on 9/03 and recently needed tires. Do any of you have any suggestions on tire brands, can I got wider??? It is not a track car, it is barely a sunday driver. The car has 46,000 miles on it. I currently have ContiSportContacts, front 205/50/17, rear 255/40/17.

Any help would be appreciated.

Nate

 

Hi Nate,

Welcome!!!

I run my C4 on Bridgestone SO4s. Great tires, but I have not tried others so no benchmark.

If you have not already bought the "Bible", Adrian Streathers 964 book has a section on tires and rims. I strongly recommend you buy it.

Take care,

 

I have Bridgestone Potenza SO3's and they stick like glue on my C4. Had Dunlops Sports before and they were good but I like the Bridgestone better performance wise. I dont believe these wear very well though. Also depends on climate, as I am in sunny So Cal. Would not advise wider for street use/compatibility with stock setup. My .02 cents! Many other listers are probably more qualified

 

I have Bridgestone Potenza RE950's on my 964. They are about the same price as SO3's, but have a slighter harder compound for longer wear. Personally I wouldn't go with Kumho's or Sumitomo's. My car came with Komho Ecasta's, KH-something, and had a blow out on the way home from picking up the 964. They are hard to find in a pinch locally, I could find them and ended up driving 50 or so miles on my spare into Joplin, MO and found a Firestone Dealer that had the size tire I needed for the Rear. I just bought four so the tires were the same on all four corners. I had Sumtiomo HTRZ-II's on my 944S2 and didn't really care for the ride/handling.

Tire Rack has good prices, but you need to figure in Mounting & Balancing at a local Tire Rack Partner. If you check the Sunday paper there are all sorts of 25% off sets of four, etc. Then you have the tires and the "comfort" of knowing that you can go into any Firestone (in my case) Dealer and get a new tire under the Extended Warranty if you need one. I've all ready used it once when I picked up a screw right where the sidewall curves into the tread. They didn't feel safe repairing the tire and just gave me a new one for $32. I don't remember where that number came from, but in return I got a $150 tire w/mounting and balancing.

 

nlimjoco, I have the same tires on my car. It is recommended that you have both front & rears the same make and model (in case you didn't know). I replaced my rears in the spring. Seems they last 9-12,000 miles.... Happy tire hunting and good luck with the car!

 

running mich pilot sports on my 90 c2. stock 16 inch wheels. First set of new tires ont he car, so I can't compare for you. I can say they are incredibly safe, even in the rain. You get warning before they fully let go, contrary to the set it had on it when I got it. Probably not as performance oriented as s02's (the treadwear is better), but I like them quite a bit.

 

What's wrong with the ContiSports?

 

I've just fitted my third set of Continental Sports Contact 2 N2s on the rear of my car. I get circa 12k miles out of the rears and 24k miles out of the fronts. I think they are a good balance between wear, price and handling. I do a high milage but little on the track.

As the man said, you must have the same make tyres front and rear or the handling will go to pot. I believe you can fit 225 45% tyres on the front with 3-5mm spacers but I've not tried it.

Regards
Kismet

 

I installed a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 DS-G3's on my 91' C2 last summer and they are simply the best tires I've every driven on. Their wet and dry road grip is remarkable. I have 255's rear and 225's front on 17 inch wheels and the car can now reach performance levels I previously thought impossible. Have a look at the reviews on these tires. It's hard to find anything negative about them.

LINK

 

Does Costco carry any of the brands/sizes that are mentioned? I am very impressed with their road hazard insurance and lifetime rotation program. They also inflate with nitrogen, which is neat stuff for maintaining proper pressure. I have used them for my everyday cars.

 

Thanks for all the info, I really appreciate it.

 

Yes they do and I'm heading out the door in 5 minutes to order 2 new SO-3's. Costco's prices are about $10USD more than tirerack but there is no charge for shipping or mounting & balancing so you save few dollars.
The rears I'm replacing have somewhere around 15k miles on them. For the next tire change I'm switching back to Michelin Pilots they are just as grippy and last longer (and cost about the same).

 

Also Costco might not mount and balance your tires if it came with 16" rims according to their book and you have 17" or 18" rims on your car.

 

Indy,
Any tire listed online at Costco can be ordered/fulfilled at your local warehouse.

I'm curious what people pay around the country for tire mounting and balancing? Around here its about $20/each for mounting on a machine that doesn't touch the rim and for balancing on a Hunter machine. On top of that it would be $26 for shipping two 17" 255/40s. How far do they bend you over to ship tires to Hawaii?

 

Amen to Sydney B's comments on the Goodyear F1 DS-G3s! I've had them on my 91 C2 for about 2 years and love em as summer tires. In the winter, in snow they have no blocking and are equivilent to racing slicks. Previously had Bridgestone OS2's which were very noisy and hard as rocks in the cold.