Quote:
Originally Posted by lcrain
So it has come time to replace the OE PS2s. I am almost at 17k miles and they are essentially useless at this point. I have read really great things about the not so new anymore PSS and they sound like a no brainer.
Here is my dilemma. I am sure I am not alone. I hit the track fairly regularly, and have a set of RS3s on apex wheels for DE/auto-x use. I would run these all the time, but the winter weather we have experienced in DFW has me convinced that running an extreme summer tire year round is not the best idea. Most of my driving on the stock wheels is around town or roadtrips. Ideally, the tires I use on the stock wheels would be somewhat comfortable, last longer than the PS2s, while complementing the 1Ms performance characteristics. The PSS check the boxes for performance and life, but are they worth the price delta?
Looking on tirerack, there is one option in OE sizing that is significantly less in the Bridgestone S-04 Pole Position at $770 for a set (vs. 1098 for the PSS). This represents over $300 in savings, which is nothing to scoff at.
What tires (and sizing) are people going to other than the PSS? Ultimately I do not mind shelling out the extra dough to put the "right" tires on the car, but that $300 could go to other uses if the cheaper tires would serve my needs adequately.
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While I didnt purchase my tires... I basically did the same and went cheapo on the street tires.... likely giving up some street performance in the meantime.. I track the car enough and daily drive it so little, that honestly... I'm not looking for world class performance from my street tires.. I need them to look good for a Cars and Coffee show and shine (should I actually care to get up to attend one) and be able to get the car around if it rains or if had to use it in a pinch in the snow if my daily SUV was unavailable.
I picked up a set of second hand Advan neovas from a friend who hated the road noise from them. They are now on my stock wheels.
Indeed... the 'winter' here is just unpredicatable enough so that if you need to use your sports car daily.. or even occasionally.... that you could end up really caught out if it snows or ices just an inch. With virtually no plows and for some reason no salt trucks either.. a car on summer tires and even 1" of hard packed snow will have ZERO grip. I found this out in Indiana in my E30 M3 with a set of Dunlop SP8000 tires.
I run my RS-3s most of the time and put the stockers on when i won't be at the track for weeks and for the " winter " months. If I had not run into the deal on the used Neovas ($400 - score!) I would have gone with the S0-4 or perhaps the Continental DW. I would definitely look for something in the High performance All Season or Max performance All Season category.
While the PSS is definitely the default option as a replacement tire.. the simple fact that my OEM wheel/tire combo will be sitting in the back of my garage for the better part of half the year makes spending the extra $300 or so for PSS really rather silly. they will just get old and hard over time and they won't even get anywhere near even 10-12K of use before they are tossed.