16" tire recommendations?

[Petunia777]

Great info, Robert Joe. Thank you! I'll check with John.

On another note, interesting regarding OCR possibly moving up to Anaheim. Hmmm.... The recent comment about what we'll do when we no longer have use of The Q was the first time I've heard anyone mention this. I've been contemplating that concern for months and wondering if it's been on other AXers' minds.

Perhaps the OCR can hold their future AXes at the new Chargers' stadium up there.

[Robert Joe]

Hi all,

Been reading this thread with much interest because I'm in urgent need of replacing the tires on my Cayman, and I'm pretty novice at this stuff. Apparently they don't make the Bridgestone R11 in my sizes (235/35 R19 and 275/35 R19), but they do make the RE71R in my tire sizes. Unfortunately, there's no consumer survey available on these tires and no treadwear report. I would not be changing my tires for AXing. I'd be driving on them full-time. Just wondering if these are a poor choice if I leave those tires on full-time plus AXing monthly. I only put 5K-6K miles on my Cayman per year.

Sara, since you are just starting out you do not need the sticky RE-71R. When I say they are 1 second faster on a 60 second course, you only get that 1 second if you are already driving at the limit. If you can drive like you see in my video link above then you would benefit from the RE-71R. If not then get something more durable and your AX times will be the same. Spend the money saved on more seat time which is how you will get faster.

Are you sure your size for the rear is 275/35? I entered your model car at tirerack.com and it says 235/19 front, 265/35 rear. Of those I would go for the RE-11. That is the one of the best of last years crop of AX tires. As for noise level, I have no idea. Hassan Zaidi has a set so he can tell you about noise. Maybe he is wanting to sell his since he switched to NT01 - that does not mean the RE-11 is bad, he is one of the fastest drivers and needed the NT01 grip levels to get back into top ten.

[Petunia777]

If not then get something more durable and your AX times will be the same. Are you sure your size for the rear is 275/35?

Haha! Yeah, that's my problem. Don't want my times to be the same. But I guess I now understand your point that spending more $$ on better AX tires is not the best investment at this stage with my novice driving skills.

My rear tires are definitely 275, and I know the previous owner put after-market rims on. I guess I should try to look around more instead of being dead set on the RE71Rs. I'm really not at all happy with my current Hankook Ventus V12 EVOs, but perhaps that's because I've gotten down to the cording on the inner portion of the tread on at least one of them and didn't realize it until a week ago. The outer portion looks okay. A month or so ago, when Lori Chesley got behind the wheel of my Cayman, she even commented on how it seemed to skid excessively and wondered why.

[Robert Joe]

Sara, how wide are the rims 19x how many inches wide?

[Petunia777]

Front is 235/35 and back is 275/35.

[Robert Joe]

Front is 235/35 and back is 275/35.

That's tire size. Rim size is different.
Wheel/Rim Size = Size of your feet.
Tire Size = Size of your shoes.

You want the tire to fit the rim. If you go to tirerack.com and look at the SPECS column for a tire you will see RIM WIDTH RANGE and TREAD WIDTH. In general, you want the TREAD WIDTH to fit within the RIM WIDTH RANGE. That means you are not necessarily stuck with just 275/35 in the rear.

Obviously 275/35 is fitting since that is what you are running. In that case, the Hankook RS3v2 has your sizes. They were the best of last years AX tires and will last much longer than the RE-71R.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... rsion+2%29

Before you decide, lets' hear from the Cayman or Boxster drivers the size you need - 265/35 or 275/35 in the rear. 275/35 is 0.4 inches taller which means your rear end is going to be higher. That will make the car oversteer more. I don't drive a Cayman or Boxster so I cannot tell you if you are better with the 265/35 or 275/35.

[ttweed]

When I ran my Cayman S, I used 255/35-18 front and 275/35-18 rear Dunlop Direzza ZII on 8" and 10" x 18" Kinesis rims. Stock size was 235/35-19 and 265/35-19 on 8" & 9.5" x 19" rims.

I'm selling that set of AX wheels in the SDR classifieds if you want to consider going to a separate set for autox, Sara.

TT

[Petunia777]

Thanks Tom, but I'll pass on the separate AX set. As Robert pointed out, my AX driving skills aren't yet to the level that I will reap much benefit from using costly AX tires. Good luck selling them though.

I realized after posting that the rim width is different than the width of the tire. I'm not sure how to find out what the rim width is. How/where would I find that out?

Thanks so much!!

[Robert Joe]

I realized after posting that the rim width is different than the width of the tire. I'm not sure how to find out what the rim width is. How/where would I find that out?

Ask the person you purchased the car from if he knows the Rim Width.

It should be imprinted on the back of the wheel. Crawl under with a flash light and look at the back of the wheel or take the wheel off the car. But DON”T jack it up and crawl under – dangerous.

Take it to Discount Tire and ask them to look for you. But don’t buy the tires from them yet. The cheapest way to get tires is know what you want, print out the tirerack.com prices and take it to them to price match.

[Petunia777]

That's great advice, Robert! I WILL take it to Discount Tires and ask them if they would check for me. I have a friend that works at the one on Coast Highway in O'side. I'm sure they'll want to sell me tires, but I will have to put them off to go search on Tire Rack for what would work other than the size tires that are currently on my car. It appears that there are only 2 options on Tire Rack as it stands, that meet my requirements. Both are Bridgestone. Not on the site right now, so can't remember exactly which two they are, but they would run a little less than the RE71s, but not a lot. If I can find out my rim size, then I will know if I can put different, more cost effective tires on my car.

Great advice too on printing out Tire Rack's price and then peddling it to Discount or another tire merchant! Saves on the shipping fees. You're just a wealth of information!

Thank you! Now, what is the meaning of life?

[Petunia777]

BTW, Terry Barnum, ahhh... it seems I've hijacked your thread. I apologize. I'm hoping you were more or less finished with it. If you'd like I can take my tire conversation elsewhere. Please don't h8.

[Petunia777]

Sara, how wide are the rims 19x how many inches wide?

Robert, I took my car to Discount Tire today to get the rim width. They are 19x8.5 front and 19x10.5 rear.

[Petunia777]

So okay, I just found the tires I want on Tire Rack's website; called Discount Tire, who will match Tire Rack's price, and ordered them for installation. I've ordered the Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position. Out the door they will be under $1K ($920), which is what I was hoping for. They are max performance rather than ultra high performance, but the specs sound good for my needs. Had I gone with the Bridgestone RE71s, they would have been well over $1K, so I'm happy!

Thank you again, Robert and everyone, for your input!

[Brian Robinson]

Looking for recommendations for 16" tires for mainly street use.
Rim sizes: Front 9Jx16 H2 ET (15mm offset), Rear: 10Jx16 H2 ET (23mm offset)
Turbo body style
Present tires
Front: 225/50R-16 92V Falken ZIEX ZE-512
Rear: 255/50ZR-16 99W XL Falken ZIEX ZE-512

[kleggo]

Front is 235/35 and back is 275/35.

That's tire size. Rim size is different.
Wheel/Rim Size = Size of your feet.
Tire Size = Size of your shoes.

.

LOL