Should I stay with S04 Pole Position or get anything else?
 

So I got my car a few weeks back and it needs new tires (which I knew at the time of buying). Currently it has S04 Pole Positions, 245/40 and 275/35 on the stock 19" sport wheels.

I like the steering feel and grip these tires give, and I am tempted to just get another set. Should I get something else instead? I am looking for good grip and stiff sidewall (for turn in feel). Probably no or very little autocross planned, aggressive driving on the street.

Iam hesitant to for for Michelin PSS because the sidewalls are kinda soft.

What about Bridgestone RE11 or RE11A? How do they compare with the S04, do they wear out a lot faster (being in a more performance oriented category)?

Any opinions on Dunlop Direzza Z2?

Also, my current set is 245/40 in front and 275/35 in the back. Should/can I go any wider on the stock wheels without spacers?

if you're not going to track or autocross i wouldnt go with the re11, yes its a great tire but just going to wear out faster and cost more. i run the continental DW on mine, 265/305 and love them, i do autocross but use different tires. but i am confident if i ever had to use them that they would hold up. i would go a little bigger, maybe 255/265 and 285/295 rear, just my opinion. I have ran a 285 on the stock ray up front and loved it. if i didnt have aftermarket wheels i'd run 285/35 and 305/35 on stock wheels

S04s are good value for a daily vehicle. I would also go with a wider set up like cjwsrt6 mentioned.

Should I stay with S04 Pole Position or get anything else?
 

What would be the sidewall size on those, 255-40 in front and 285-35 in rear?

How much turn in sharpness will I be giving up going wider in front?


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285 35 19 rear. or 295 35 19... front i dont want to comment on sidewall height, i run 265/35 or 285/35...
not to sound like an *** but as for the sharpness you would not be able to tell the difference in my opinion . even with wide 285 I cant tell loosing any sharpness, can tell there is more grip and less under steer for sure.. when in doubt go wider if itll fit

You have no problem fitting 265 in front? Any rubbing? Did you have to get spacers

What's the widest you can go in front without rubbing? Sorry kinda new to the Z, coming from BMWs I love these sizes :)


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ive seen 295/30/19 hoosiers on a stock wheel, ive ran 285/35 myself up front. 265/35 would fit no problem with no rubbing
just run a 265/35 and 305/35 and call it a day

Thanks, I've decided to keep it 245 & 275 after all, and stay with the S04 Pole Positions.

Kenchan says the Pole Positions run a little small, I am most likely going to get S-04's this month and I plan to run 285's all around.

Problem is I am a little anal about matching the sidewall height on the ratio. 245/40 and 275/35 are almost same sidewall height.

I could do 255/35 and 295/30 they're really close but I'm wondering if the extra width is going to make a difference. I like the steering feel and grip just perfect right now, not sure if I will regret changing it :). I don't mind if tramlining increases but I would be bummed if steering feel got affected.

Wait, did you say 285's all round - square setup? Aren't the wheels in front and rear different size, how well does this car adapt itself to a square setup? Once again sorry if these are noob questions, not familiar enough with the car yet.

For the current wheels you're running thats perfectly fine tire sizes.

Could you run a way bigger tire? Sure but at what price slightly less nimble and heavier tire?

I think your fine with the current setup if it's not going to be pushed to the edge of it life. :driving:

And if you do the S04's should hold their own for the money.

Geat a pair of rear Sport 19x10 +30 offset & put on the front/you will then be able to run the square set-up & rotate tires if you wish....
Fronts will come out way more flush & you may want to add a rear spacer to flush the rear's.
Got a friend on the Forum doing it.
running the same tires you already have are a good buy & good tire.
The Michelin PSS tires (in the same size) would reduce the weight of each tire by 4 pounds,,,giving you more acceleration (less rotating mass)
Multiple variations out there; pick what you like!

Should I stay with S04 Pole Position or get anything else?
 

Doesn't sound like the square setup is what I'm looking for right now.

I'm now debating if keeping 245/40 and 275/35 versus going slightly wider to 255/35 and 295/30 will make any tangible difference. Looks like s04 is available in both of those sets of sizes.

I don't imagine I will have to do any other work on the car if I decide to go to 255 and 295, not even alignment. Any thoughts on that? I'm not too concerned about the perhaps 2mph extra speed reported.


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How much more noisy is the RE11 vs the S04, any idea?

There are at least 2 threads that discuss tire selection in this section. Check out the stickies and use the links from there. You could always search..........use the google machine or the forum search feature. You are welcome.

It depends on what you want...

RE11's are pretty hardcore just for daily driving. If you like to drive "spiritedly" and want great performance on warm dry days and you're willing to compromise some performance in the rain (especially cold rain) they are a great choice.

The S-04's are also good tires and they are cheap, especially considering the performance level. If you don't need the most traction possible in the dry, they're a great choice. They're more of an "all around good" tire than something like the RE11. They will do better in heavy rain and slightly colder temps.

Both tires (like any Bridgestones I've tried) will have good turn-in feel due to the stiff sidewall.

Keep in mind that with these kind of tires, on a car like the Z, tires are not that big of a deal, because if you don't like them, in 8 - 12K miles, you'll be trying something else out, anyway. :icon17:

If I were looking for a tire for a daily driven car that feels good in day-to-day use and could still dish out some performance I'd pick the S-04. If I were looking for tires for a weekend toy, I'd pick the RE11.

I DD my re-11's and its not a big deal.... Doesnt seem like a hardcore tire at all. I was actually a bit disappointed with them after all the praise they got on here. To me they ride excatly like the re050a with better handling characteristics. Thats pretty much it. They are a little quiter too. And its rain grip is pretty amazing. The only reason id chose the pole positions would be price. MPSS are a good dd tire, soft and quiet, decent handling, moderate lateral grip... Even though its a summer tire has pretty good all weather performance

I guess I didn't make it clear enough... They're "hardcore" in the sense that they sacrifice wet grip for dry grip and the treadwear is not that great, and they're expensive - not that they are uncomfortable. For a daily driver that sees 3-season temperatures and stop-and-go driving, they seem like a waste of money IMO.

The point is that the S-04's are quite a bit cheaper and other than the ultimate dry grip they'll do fine.

Yea the treadwear is terrible, i managed to get them price matched and got all 4 in the nismo wheels sizes for 884 i think a couple of months ago. I had to haggle a bit though, not something the avg comsumer does. And the Pole positions were 7xx. I heard from many track rats the poles are better then the stock re050s, and to me the re11 was an improvement over re050 but not by the praised margin given here. My next set will probably be pole positions or the new re71r mild to wild ha

I have had SO-4 tires and I currently have RE11's. The RE11's are a much better tire. No issues with South Ga. rain storms. The SO-4's would skip in a hard turn that was bumpy. Yes, skip. They would skip over the bumps and slip a bit. The RE11's do no such thing. Thread wear is still unknown at the moment. I will see how many Interstate miles I can put on them.

That's a hell of a deal. :tup:

Still undecided between the S04 and RE11. My heart wants to try the RE11 since I've never owned an extreme performance tire before and now I have the right car to experience that, but my head says keep it sane and get more tread life :). All decisions in life boil down to the tug of war between these two, don't they..

So today its been exactly one month since I got the car. I looked at the odo and I've put on exactly 620 miles this month. Its a second car (intended to be a weekend car), and I will continue to do my office commute in the other car. I guess I will end up driving the Z between 8K to 10K miles a year, so my guess reading other threads is that I can expect perhaps 10K miles on a set of RE11s (and perhaps 15 to 18K if I go S04).

So really boils down to.. do I want to have more fun and replace the tires same time next year, or stay with S04 and get two years out of them?

Those discount tire guys WILL haggle a bit!





Op give them a try, as far as turn in and response they are amazing

First as for the sidewall ratio, yeah the front tires may look a little taller with the same tires as the rear because the rims are narrower. Yeah, ideally you'd probably like the sidewalls to look the same or a little bigger in the rear but first and foremost IMO is handling.

The idea with a square setup is that you give a little grip more to the front end, it should understeer less because the fronts aren't going to be giving out that much earlier with the now equal tire sizes.

People say that the skinner front rims can handle the wider with just fine and a lot of the track and autocross guys are going this route. I have an older Z that came with a square setup and I am really used to similar tire dynamics that the square setup has.

Of course, if you plan to do some suspension mods in the near future you can dial-out a lot of the understeer that way, but tires are a cheap and straight forward route. After all, they are the only thing between the car and the road!

As for the extreme tire category and the RE-71's. I was looking at these but my car is not ready to track yet and I don't know when that will be, so I think the few hundreds of dollars and maybe double the tread life of the Pole Positions might be just fine for the time being. :)

Still undecided. Not that there's any information I am lacking at this point, sorry I don't mean to spam or troll. I have all the info - thanks to everyone - but can't decide :(

Per my calculation, s04 will cost 900 and take me 18 months (cost of $50 per month), while re11 will cost me 1100 and take me probably 11 months ($100 per month).

Can't make up my mind if the $50 extra per month will be worth the difference between the two. I'm not going to be doing any wet driving (it's a second car and I'm in drought-struck Cali) unless it rains suddenly on a sunny day but I will be driving quite a bit on bad roads.

I guess I don't really have a question at this point- just can't decide :(

$50 vs $100 per month difference is quite a lot for tires alone.

Guess I'll stick with (pun unintended) the s04 after all. I love how they grip now, they don't lack anything for my level of driving aggressiveness.


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I was in the same situation, S04 or RE11 , but ordered Nitto Invo :tup:
275/305 combo for $986.00 shipped

S-04s are great tires, especially for the money. They run a close second the PSS at about 30% (or more) cheaper.

It's easy to overthink tires. Unless you're some kind of driving expert, it's highly unlikely you'll be able to outsmart Nissan's engineers and come up with a tire setup that will perform better in "spirited" street driving, but you can certainly spend a lot of money and brain-thrashing trying to.

Thanks all. I have ordered the s04 tires.

Just got some S04s put on my G. looking forward to seeing how they compare to the stock RE050As