F / R different tire makes?
 

SO i went cheap with my 1st set of track tires... I bought some Sumitomo HTR III in stock sizes.

Realizing these will never live up to my expectations... i'm going to upgrade to Michelin PSS next.

Question: Can i replace JUST the rears with PSS until the fronts wear out?

Or is that wacky for handling?

Discuss.

I highly recommend all 4 tires are the same brand ESPECIALLY if you are going to the track.

yup me too. Go 4 corners with PSS

Yes, the handling characteristics will be VERY unpredictable and IMO unsafe.

Never mix. Replace them all.

Guess i'll have some fronts for sale huh.

FAIR ENOUGH. I'm not a big fan of the Sumitomo anyway.

:tup:

p.s. How much Michelin PSS can i fit on the Base wheels anyway?

Currently I have:
- F: 245/45/18
- R: 275/40/18

Thinking of going to:
- F: 245/40/18
- R: 285/35/18

Why Michelin PSS?

There are better tires for cheaper than those. Hankooks, BFGs, Bridgestones...

Hankook RS3s in 275/35/18 are $245 on TireRack, just get 4 of those.

For DD two diff types of tires that are close in tread and rating is OK-so so, not a great idea, but I have done it with no problems for two years now.

For track, you definitely don't want to do that.

Is there something against the Michelin PSS??

I thought they were the sh*t for traction.

Have there been better track results with a different tire?

"Good" tires available in my ideal sizes are...

• Hankook Ventus R-S3 (Version 2)
• Michelin Pilot Super Sport
• Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Spec

On a road course, I can respect wanting the same compound front and rear since you will see greater variances in temperature, and you want the F/R bias to be consistent. For the street, there is nothing unsafe or unpredictable about mixing. I never have the same tires or even remotely the same compound front and rear for the street and the car is extremely predictable, consistent, and confident.

The UTQG rating of a tire will generally tell you what class of performance a tire is in. PSS are 300-which is nothing special, it's a high performance street tire. It's over priced for what it is in addition. My personal impression of it is that it's atire primarily aimed at douche bag Bimmer owners that want to hard park at their office buildings. It's really not a track tire.

As phunk said, there is nothing inherently wrong with different tires front and rear. With the PSS only in the rear you'll just be inducing understeer.

For street tires on the base 18s I think 255/275 is ideal.

Yes there is. Super soft sidewall. My buddy in Evo school absolutely rolled pss. We chalked his tire for fun and we were pretty much shocked to see the tire was rolled like no other. Instructor was like"great driving today. But you gotta get yourself some decent tires".

Yes. pss is absolutely f'ing amazing in rain. Perfect for daily driving. Almost will give you twice as much mileage as other high perf tires. And it'll also be disappointing at the track and autox venue.

Better tire: Rs3 v2, RE-11 (super stiff sidewall), RE-71R, Direzza Zll (not as popular in Z racing crowd though), etc

Reading into prices for your suggestions:

• Rs3 v2 - $880
• RE-11 - $1,000
• RE-71R - $1,000
• Direzza Zll - $1,000

I guess that answers that question. :yum: