Mostly Touring (Looking Ahead)

Daishi

I have there960as pole position you will sacrifice handling and steering response over the stock advans.. the 960as tires are a soft tire. they grip well but handling isnt as good as the stockers.. I would just use them as a winter tire to be honest.

vpn2001

I'm running these on OEM 18" for the winter:

245/45R18 w/ Continental ExtremeContact DWS
275/40R18 w/ Continental ExtremeContact DWS

They are plus sizes. You sacrifice dry weather handling. But, you gain wet & snow handling + tread life + comfort + price. I really like them.

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jginnane

You went 20mm wider front, 30 in the back, and reduced the ratio to get them to roughly the same revs per mile.

I really like that cross-hatched tread pattern for snow -- and in Philly, you get a bit more than I do, 75 miles east This is a very viable choice, the #1 ranked UHPAS from tirerack.com. Treadwear 540-A-A, and price very good.

Hmm ... this has to go to the top of my short list, even though Contis weren't being considered before (for lack of a "dealer store"). If nothing else, I'd use this exact tire as a bludgeon to get price-matched other tires from an AD.

But if I did exactly what you did, all my work's already been done for me. Excellent!

jginnane

On the coast, there's a lot more water. That's an issue, enough of one to be maybe a 5% factor in choosing treads. If the locale was north of NYC, the climate again changes enough (snow-wise) I'd want a more aggressive all-season tread than RE960AS. Colts Neck is only 10-15 miles away, but you really do get different weather a lot of the time.

How the tire feels is important, after deciding on the broad parameters of tread design and summer-vs-AS type. The lighter weight of the Z compared to the car we had 960s on before (Acura) is offset by the wider/lower + staggered profile. The Bridgestone dealer would of course like to sell RE050 summer treads ... but I don't think they're necessary for the way I drive.

Softness, OTOH, is important. To me that comes down to straight tracking, lateral grip, and cabin noise. Some tires, like OEMs used on the Honda Element, Goodyear Wrangler HPs, have no built-in shoulder, and you're riding on a set of round tubes. The RE960AS has a good squared-off shoulder design -- but again, I'd have to see how it works on the Z.

(Incidentally, I sold the tires on that Element immediately after the first rainstorm. Wound up with GY "Fortera Triple Treds", a light truck design. Much better in the wet and snow, but we've since heard too many negatives about the overall GY product line ... and don't like the way they operate their local tire store businesses. When we choose & buy tires, we like to know the names of the guys running the Hunter balance. The 3-4 places nearest us selling Goodyears aren't in the same league as the competition.)