So ive been looking for tires for my boss since the stockers don't have much life left on them. ive been looking for the tire with ultimate grip, i know we have all talked tires before but i ran across some that i haven't seen mentioned here. They apparently came out in march and are in boss stock sizes. they are bridgestone potenza s-04 pole position tires and they come in 285/35-19 and 255/40-19 sizes. they have a higher treadwear, but that doesn't really indicate grip from what i understand. i was wondering if any of you have ever used that tire specifically on the track.

ive run a few google searches and come up with no first hand accounts of the tires on a car. the only downside is that arent cheap at about 1350 for a set. still im willing to pay to get better grip. im not going to change wheels and tires for the track, and ive been reading up and apparent some of the newer summer extreme performance tires are darn near as good as r-comps on the track, at least that is what some of the bmw threads ive found for track reviews are claiming.

on a side note i had the burned out factory pads replace with hp plus hawk pads and the difference in stopping power was noticeable as soon as they were bedded in. i thought i was in bad shape before they were bedded though, the car wouldn't stop for crap. after following the bedding procedure though i nearly gave myself whiplash. ive totally got to relearn how hard to push the pedal now and i can tell the braking points on the track will be different. i just hope they don't wear out too fast, they are expensive to replace every few months.

i worried when i ordered them that they would squeal too bad and drive me crazy, they hardly squeal at all on the street i highly recommend the upgrade to those of you tracking the car. i cant wait until next weekend at the track to see if i can drop my times with the new stopping power.

 

I've never used the S04s but if you're looking for maximum grip and willing to compromise on front size (255/35 or 265/35), the RE11 would be a much better tire.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=Potenza+RE-11

 

I'm familiar with the tire in a much lower hp vehicle, the MINI Cooper S. They are one of the better ultra high performance tires available for the MINI. But comparing a 200 hp vehicle to a 444 hp vehicle on tire grip and wear, well, I just don't think we're comparing apples.

 

Tire Rack has a good test of the S-O4 against the Continental, PZero, and Michilin PSS. RE11 is a good tire but heavy cars tend to overheat and get greasy quick. Probably the best street tire is the Hankook RS3 followed by the Yomohama AD08.

Peter

 

those don't come in boss 302 sizes though.

 

True but if you want the best then new rims and bigger rubber are in my future 295/30 19 and 265/35 19 or 295/30 19 square. IMHO of course

ps: go read the Tire Rack S-O4 reviews and make your decisions if you want OEM sizes.

Peter

 

The AD08's have excellent reviews but are an 1" lower in height. The Toyo Proxes 1 are available in the stock size and seem to be at least on par with the stock Pirelli's for less money.

http://www.tiresdirect.net/TOYO_Prox..._P5963C943.cfm

 

Here a link to the car & driver summer tire shoot out http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...mparison-tests When i had to replace the tires on my BBP GT i when with Hankook ventus V12 Evo .They place No.2 in the test and there one of the best price tires out on the market today . The tire racks reviews give the tire a 8.3 for the money i think it be every hard to find a better tire that fits the Boss rims.

 

yeah ive read that. i also talked to the tire rack person who had mentioned that they were soft in their testing and their opinon was that the evo's were likely not as good as the stock pirelli's i have. Granted they are sales people. the recommended either those s-o4 pp tires as first choice or the continental extreme contact dw. the person i spoke with was miles, he said:


i have found possibly another option. i know where i can get a good deal on a right and left pirelli corsa tire. i also know where i can get a pzero asimmetrico fronts. the catch is that while the rears are new, the fronts are both used. one of the fronts has 9/32 left on trad and the other says 8/30 left. they are cheap at about half the cost of the s-04 tires. im not sure about going that route though, the car is a DD and those corsa's aren't good in the rain.

 

Don't forget the Michelin PS2's that come in stock sizes. They are supposed to be better than the Pirelli's but more expensive. The TA cars were running the Michelin's when I was there.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

 

I made the mistake of only replacing the rears with the Hankooks. The softer sidewall is definitely noticable, especially at higher speeds. When turning the Pirellis on the front will bite just a bit sooner than the rears making it feel like the back end is going to break loose for a split second. And now the rear tracks the angle of the road more than the front. It's just a bit disconcerting to have the rear feel a little loose. I guess I'm going to have to replace the fronts soon or go back to the Pirellis on the rear.

 

where in texas are you?

 

I went through two sets of the conti's extreme contacts dw's on my BMW 135i which was putting down a little over 350hp to the wheels and these were excellent tires. Cornering stability wasn't quite as sharp as the pirellis but the grip is excellent and wet traction was pretty awesome as well, best thing about them was the price though, will definitely be replacing the stock pirellis with these when the time comes.

 

Shane, I'm in Plano.

 

cool, im in Tyler. ill be heading to ECR Saturday for their annual toy run charity track event, you should come out.

 

I would love to go and end my track virginity but Saturday's not going to work for me. It will be the one year anniversary of my wife passing away and I have plans already to avoid having a day long pity party. Thanks for the invite though.

 

sorry dude, maybe you can come out next time

 

I think I will will be going with the Potenza's. I priced them from my tire dealer... $1405 which is mounted, balanced and all the taxes. Not too bad.

 

Keep us posted if you get them, Ill be looking for new rubber once the springs time hits.

 

i have dug everywhere looking fro some track reviews of that tire, i cant find any. it should be good, i priced a set out at 1414 today. if anyone finds a track review please post it up. tire rack only has like 3 reviews of that tire and none are on track.