Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[SAMM3Y]

Advan apex v601 do a 255/35/19 285/30/19

[Vuu]

Running 275/295 PS4S here with my 625 kit.

If you're laying down the power, traction will be an issue regardless.

But with over 10k miles on my tires alone, I can tell you that I have never not felt confident in the rain. Best all around grip and versatile tire choice for me.

[Davisca455]

The PO of my car (G-Power SK2) had a pretty unique, "out of the box" solution to the same problem, so doubtful this is going to be useful info, but just in case...

He had the rear 220s widened (toward the inside) so that they'd accept 305/30/19s.
I later added 5mm spacers because there was slight rubbing at full suspension droop though.

The 305s really do help with acceleration in the first 3 gears but it's not a cure all, you still can't just blindly nail the throttle.
Even rolling the throttle on too hard in 2nd will cause wheel spin at 45mph, so an upshift to 3rd before it gets too out of shape (65mph) is the strategy.

[astris]

Originally Posted by drwankel

OP, I'm in the exact same boat as you. I'm in the seattle area, rolling on ZCP wheels, recently supercharged, and now 1st and 2nd are useless.

I'm currently running stock size PS4S tires, again on ZCP wheels. I thought about moving to a 255/275 setup, but I didnt think going one size up was going to magically give me the traction I desired. I considered going to a 255/35 and 285/30 setup as these are the GTS sizes, but PS4S tires dont come in a 285/30r19. I then thought about going to a 275/30 295/30 setup. I had major concerns here because this is on the absolute limit of what you can fit on a 9" and 10" wheel, and even though it fits, there will be terrible sidewall support, and its going to look rather odd. I would expect this to make the tires feel rubber bandy and hurt turn in crispness.

What I ended up doing in the end was participating in a group buy for Avante Guard to make a custom run of wide ZCP wheels. They are flow formed, and as such they are supposed to be lighter and stronger than the pressure cast stock wheels. I'll be running 10" +25 in the front, and 11" +25 in the rear. The advantage here, is this will properly support a 275/295 setup without compromise, and without rubbing.

While this group buy is closed, I think they are going to open this wheel option to the general public in the next few months. They just started manufacturing the run of these wheels, so I should have them in a couple months or so. I'll let you know how things go.

I'll still be using PS4S tires, because while they are great in the dry- they are excellent in the wet. As you know, it rains most of the time here, so this needs to be accounted for. I run them year round, and just park the car for a couple weeks during the winter when we get our annual cold snap.

You're running Harrop, right? So you've got more torque down low than me. For me, 1st is useless, but if tires are warm and outside temps are warm, 2nd seems to (mostly) hookup. In lower outside temps 2nd spins above 4500rpm. I'm definitely done spending money on this car, so new wheels aren't an option.

Right now I'm on the fence between a 255/275 setup with A052 or PS4. I was also debating AD08 R, but Tire Rack has them lacking in "cooler" temps (in the 50's, and Seattle is in the 50's or less probably like 8 months of the year).

[DRLane]

255/275 PS4 gets my vote. I wouldn't go with A052 or AD08R for daily in Seattle given rain and consistently lower temps. You'll likely have worse traction 90% of the year.

Going to 295 in the rear definitely helps, but SC S65 is a touchy beast and not a great launch car. It's less of a tire issue and more throttle modulation.

My SC e92 doesn't get much street love anymore. So street tires are generally irrelevant for me.

[astris]

Originally Posted by DRLane

255/275 PS4 gets my vote. I wouldn't go with A052 or AD08R for daily in Seattle given rain and consistently lower temps. You'll likely have worse traction 90% of the year.

Going to 295 in the rear definitely helps, but SC S65 is a touchy beast and not a great launch car. It's less of a tire issue and more throttle modulation.

My SC e92 doesn't get much street love anymore. So street tires are generally irrelevant for me.

Thanks for the input. I keep going back and forth between the two. It's not my daily and I maybe drive it ~3k miles a year (used to drive maybe 1500k a year pre SC), but it's 100% street driven. It's only in the rain by accident, which being in Seattle, is fairly common. That said, if it's raining, I'm just cruising slowly so I don't care about performance, just care that I don't feel like I'm going to die.

Tire Rack has the A052 as a top performer in wet conditions, albeit on the track, not real world. What I couldn't find is how they do in cool to cold conditions. If they are bad in cooler conditions like the AD80R, or at least worse than than PS4 in cooler conditions, I'll cross them off the list and just go with PS4.

[kevin @ eas]

Originally Posted by astris

Thanks for the input. I keep going back and forth between the two. It's not my daily and I maybe drive it ~3k miles a year (used to drive maybe 1500k a year pre SC), but it's 100% street driven. It's only in the rain by accident, which being in Seattle, is fairly common. That said, if it's raining, I'm just cruising slowly so I don't care about performance, just care that I don't feel like I'm going to die.

Tire Rack has the A052 as a top performer in wet conditions, albeit on the track, not real world. What I couldn't find is how they do in cool to cold conditions. If they are bad in cooler conditions like the AD80R, or at least worse than than PS4 in cooler conditions, I'll cross them off the list and just go with PS4.

PS4 I would say is your best choice. We have done a 275/30/19 and a 295/30/19 on the comp wheels and it worked. Tire is a little big for the wheel width but still works. A052's I think would be pretty sketchy in the rain with their shallow tread depth.

[drwankel]

Originally Posted by astris

You're running Harrop, right? So you've got more torque down low than me. For me, 1st is useless, but if tires are warm and outside temps are warm, 2nd seems to (mostly) hookup. In lower outside temps 2nd spins above 4500rpm. I'm definitely done spending money on this car, so new wheels aren't an option.

Right now I'm on the fence between a 255/275 setup with A052 or PS4. I was also debating AD08 R, but Tire Rack has them lacking in "cooler" temps (in the 50's, and Seattle is in the 50's or less probably like 8 months of the year).

Correct, running a harrop. For me, its if I floor it above 3500RPM, which is when the bypass fully closes on the harrop. I just want to be able to bury the throttle in second again.

As mentioned PS4S is great in the rain. Best performance tire to run in the Seattle area IMHO. I often ran them at near freezing temps, and while you certainly cant lay any power down, it is workable to put around in.

[astris]

Originally Posted by kevin @ eas

PS4 I would say is your best choice. We have done a 275/30/19 and a 295/30/19 on the comp wheels and it worked. Tire is a little big for the wheel width but still works. A052's I think would be pretty sketchy in the rain with their shallow tread depth.

Interesting. I'm assuming no spacers? Lowered? My car is quite low on KW HAS.

Oh, and I keep forgetting, tramlining is a huge issue here, so I'm hesitant about going wide in the front. The freeways are so grooved in all lanes, they will basically steer the car for you. Exiting those grooves at speed can be super sketchy and it seems like wide front would make that a bigger issue.

[drwankel]

Originally Posted by astris

Interesting. I'm assuming no spacers? Lowered? My car is quite low on KW HAS.

Oh, and I keep forgetting, tramlining is a huge issue here, so I'm hesitant about going wide in the front. The freeways are so grooved in all lanes, they will basically steer the car for you. Exiting those grooves at speed can be super sketchy and it seems like wide front would make that a bigger issue.

It really depends here. My previous car was a Mazda RX-8, which is a 225 setup squared. I moved to a 245 setup squared, and definitely noticed more tramlining.

However, the m3 stock uses a 245 front, and it tramlined less than the rx-8 did. So yes, it probably will make it tramline worse, but I dont know how much worse. it depends on the car.

Also regarding running 295s in the back. I think this is a case, of you technically can, but should you? You'll find people that swear that 295 is too wide for a 10" wheel, and most manufacturers say a 295 is the absolute max on a 10" wheel. The fact of the matter is you are going to have reduced sidewall support vs a 265, no matter which way you look at it.

There are legit reasons why I pursued wider wheels. I was considering 275/295 on the stock zcps, but ultimately knew it would be a flawed setup.

If michelin would just make the ps4s in a 285/30/r19 setup this would be a non issue, because then we could just run the GTS tire sizes and be done with it.

[astris]

Ended up going the safe route with a 255/275 PS4 setup. Got a deal that I couldn't pass up. $1168 including tax (10.1% here in Seattle), shipping, and 3 year road hazard protection.

Does well in wet, more sidewall should add a little extra comfort, and at the least they should have a bit more grip than my current setup.

[tbuck]

Originally Posted by astris

Ended up going the safe route with a 255/275 PS4 setup. Got a deal that I couldn't pass up. $1168 including tax (10.1% here in Seattle), shipping, and 3 year road hazard protection.

Does well in wet, more sidewall should add a little extra comfort, and at the least they should have a bit more grip than my current setup.

This is the exact setup on my car as done by the PO. He explained his reasons for that and all of it has been covered in this post. This is the best all around tire and this is the best all around size combo. I am running 12/15mm spacers as well and it is very flush but I do get a tiny bit of rub at full lock in the front and full compression in the rear. I am going to be receiving a Harrop SC next month (hopefully) and have been anticipating the same problem you are seeing. Short of wider wheels not sure there is a better option for a street-only car.

[Redd]

Originally Posted by astris

Thanks for the input. I keep going back and forth between the two. It's not my daily and I maybe drive it ~3k miles a year (used to drive maybe 1500k a year pre SC), but it's 100% street driven. It's only in the rain by accident, which being in Seattle, is fairly common. That said, if it's raining, I'm just cruising slowly so I don't care about performance, just care that I don't feel like I'm going to die.

Tire Rack has the A052 as a top performer in wet conditions, albeit on the track, not real world. What I couldn't find is how they do in cool to cold conditions. If they are bad in cooler conditions like the AD80R, or at least worse than than PS4 in cooler conditions, I'll cross them off the list and just go with PS4.

A052 is by far the better dry tire compared to AD08R. But it also has shallower tread depth which means shorter lifespan and easier to hydroplane in standing water. The AD08R won't match the A052 in laptimes, but will last much longer for the streets. It also hydroplanes straight (when it does happen) and that helps a lot cos I live in Malaysia and it rains 364 days of the year.

I've been daily driving the Advan AD0x series for at least 12 years now (across 4 different cars) cos I wanted a tire I could daily and take to the hills/track, and have never found a better replacement in terms of overall dry grip, wet usability (won't try to kill you), heat resistance (important cos its hot here), lower tire noise (for this sort of tire), wear (usable down to 5-10% tread left with little grip drop-off), and ability to rotate left-right to even out camber wear. There are tons of tires that have better outright pace (RE71R, A052, etc), are much better in the wet (PSS, PS4S), or are cheaper (Hankooks, Federals) but none that are just good at everything like the AD08R.

[Redd]

Originally Posted by Davisca455

The PO of my car (G-Power SK2) had a pretty unique, "out of the box" solution to the same problem, so doubtful this is going to be useful info, but just in case...

He had the rear 220s widened (toward the inside) so that they'd accept 305/30/19s.
I later added 5mm spacers because there was slight rubbing at full suspension droop though.

The 305s really do help with acceleration in the first 3 gears but it's not a cure all, you still can't just blindly nail the throttle.
Even rolling the throttle on too hard in 2nd will cause wheel spin at 45mph, so an upshift to 3rd before it gets too out of shape (65mph) is the strategy.

He welded a wider extension to the wheel barrel? That is brave!

[astris]

Originally Posted by Redd

A052 is by far the better dry tire compared to AD08R. But it also has shallower tread depth which means shorter lifespan and easier to hydroplane in standing water. The AD08R won't match the A052 in laptimes, but will last much longer for the streets. It also hydroplanes straight (when it does happen) and that helps a lot cos I live in Malaysia and it rains 364 days of the year.

I've been daily driving the Advan AD0x series for at least 12 years now (across 4 different cars) cos I wanted a tire I could daily and take to the hills/track, and have never found a better replacement in terms of overall dry grip, wet usability (won't try to kill you), heat resistance (important cos its hot here), lower tire noise (for this sort of tire), wear (usable down to 5-10% tread left with little grip drop-off), and ability to rotate left-right to even out camber wear. There are tons of tires that have better outright pace (RE71R, A052, etc), are much better in the wet (PSS, PS4S), or are cheaper (Hankooks, Federals) but none that are just good at everything like the AD08R.

I briefly considered the AD08R, but read reports about how they do poorly in "cool" weather. What is classified as cool weather is what we have (or colder) around 8 months of the year.

[Davisca455]

Originally Posted by Redd

He welded a wider extension to the wheel barrel? That is brave!

To be clear, the PO didn't do it himself, he had it done by Eric Vaughn Machine.
They have been widening wheels for racers for 40+ years without a failure.
They've been on the car since 2009 (60,000 miles).
I think there is some serious tribal knowledge to make it work though, because there aren't too many other companies trying it.

[tbuck]

Originally Posted by Davisca455

To be clear, the PO didn't do it himself, he had it done by Eric Vaughn Machine.
They have been widening wheels for racers for 40+ years without a failure.
They've been on the car since 2009 (60,000 miles).
I think there is some serious tribal knowledge to make it work though, because there aren't too many other companies trying it.

That is badass! And tribal knowledge to be sure. The welds look machine made so I would guess they have precision cutting and reassembly machines to do that. Hard to imagine that this would be cheap, or at least as cheap as getting wider aftermarket wheels. But if you just had to have OEM wheels this would be an option. Wonder if they still do this....

Well, crap, just looked and they no longer do that, just narrowing...

[Davisca455]

Originally Posted by tbuck

That is badass! And tribal knowledge to be sure. The welds look machine made so I would guess they have precision cutting and reassembly machines to do that. Hard to imagine that this would be cheap, or at least as cheap as getting wider aftermarket wheels. But if you just had to have OEM wheels this would be an option. Wonder if they still do this....

Well, crap, just looked and they no longer do that, just narrowing...

I think he's getting up there in years.
I am curious why widening is more difficult than narrowing though.
More expensive I understand, but more difficult, I don't understand.

[tbuck]

I would guess if you took in a wheel to be widened he would have to produce a band of material to match it, which would likely be difficult. If you took 2 wheels in and sacrificed 1 to make the other it would not be that bad, just cut them both and weld together. As expensive as these wheels can be that may not be most peoples first choice. That having been said I think I would do that, maybe one well used for the inside and one new for the face, just to have a set of Comp wheels at 11" for the rear.