YorkshireSimon

About to replace my tyres on my STi 7, standard 17" STi wheels.

What tyres have people experimented with, and opinions.

I have a situation where my fronts are significantly more worn than the rears, so unsure on my ultimate decision right now. Change fronts only with original Bridgestone tyres, or swap all 4 for alternative make?

Any help from anyone would be much appreciated.

Not got the scoob with me today, unsure of tyre size, but think it is 225x45x17, but could be wrong....

Cheers

YorkshireSimon

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

The Goodyear GD3 things seem to be rated very highly, i personally havnt tried these (still on a pretty new pair of SO2 PP's) but evo mag rated them above the rest of the competition when they did their tyre test.

Tony

Barnaby

I've just put Goodyear F1's on my STi7 UK. So far they seem very good, better than the OEM tyres anyway

Haven't tried them in heavy rain yet though, but in light rain they felt fine.

Personally I would change all at once just to be sure the car is balanced. But that is a bit of a luxury.

Chelspeed

I'm about to do the same thing. I swopped mine front to back at about 12,000 and at 15,000 they're all about the same (bald.....).

Powerstation recomend Toyo's. Any experience of these?

I can confirm that mine are 225/45's.

ADY 555 !

Hi Simon, Don't bother replacing your tyres, Replace your car..... You know you really want to. P1. P1. P1.

PSI3

I have the Goodyear GD3's fitted to my STi7 ( on 18's ) so far i have covered 9500 miles on them and have been very impressed with both wet and dry performance. Swapped fronts and rears today and anticipate getting around 15,000 miles out of a set.
On my MY01 i had the Toyo's ( on 18's )which again were very good but only lasted 10,000 miles before all 4 were shot.
I will definately be replacing the Goodyears with the same again.

simon

YorkshireSimon

Thanks everyone for the replies...

Sounds like these Goodyear's are rated enough here so far. how much roughly a tyre did you pay??

I agree totally with changing all 4, I have always changed in 4's on my previous scoob. I had the unfortunate experience of a rear tyre blow out at around 90mph on the M40 not so long ago. Not funny, I can tell ya. So, currently, fronts are pretty much illegal, one rear is about 50% worn, and one is only 2 months old, hardly worn at all.

Car has 16000 miles on the clock now, which you might think is a lot for an 8 month old car. Bear in mind here that I was using it as a company car up to end of August, and when I changed job then to one where I am given a company car, I have only done around 1000 miles, 800 of which were all last weekend at the Rally GB

So, I think I am saying, that I would compromise tyre life, to get a better grippy tyre....

Cheers guys

YorkshireSimon

PS. Ady 555, is that you, with a name change, cheeky.... Does this mean you have a P1 now??? I seem to recall an Ady 555 posting replies in For Sale forum a few weeks back.... Would that be you by any chance. Sorry, disagree in any case, P1 is a fantastic looking car, even now, but I really enjoy the Prodrive'd STi Type Uk, so much so, I may never sell..... Certainly can't bl00dy afford to now anyway...

Cheers

russell hayward

Still on the OEM's. 15,000 miles so far, swapped around at 10k.

Fronts have 4mm and rears have 5mm tread left.



[Edited by russell hayward - 11/21/2002 8:57:25 PM]

Barnaby

I paid £110 a corner, although I suspect you can get them cheaper. That's 225/45 17s.

Now I just have to figure out what tyre pressure is right

YorkshireSimon

Russell

You can't honestly be using your car to its full potential...

Barnaby

I made the fatal mistake in not moving my tyres around, so now have an imbalance.

Price not bad though, when my tyre blew out, it cost me 160 quid for a replacement from my dealer... Ouch...

YS

YorkshireSimon

Meant to say, my fronts are only illegal on the outside edge of the tyre, so maybe my pressures have been bang out... ?

Or, the out of the factory tracking is still no better than it used to be!!!

YS

Barnaby

I know exactly what you mean by 'out of the factory tracking'.

I'm sure mine is out as it tramlines a bit under braking. Probably explains why having the geometry checked is a favourite mod of Impreza owners

Dave T-S

Simon
We are running 18" Toyos on my STi, and 17" S03's on Carolyn's.

I actually think the S03 is an excellent tyre, and also think it has more steering feel than the Toyos (IMHO).

Barnaby
Try 32 or 33 psi all round.......

Barnaby

Ah Dave, now you've got my attention.

Balanced pressure all round? Isn't the standard car spec to have more pressure in the fronts?

When I told the instructor on a recent 1stLotus day I had 33 front and 28 back he looked at me very strangely. "It's the same weight on each axle isn't it? So surely it should be balanced pressures?" he said.

YorkshireSimon

Dave

As you know, I took your old MY00 Gold OZ wheels off your hands and they had the S02's on, which I continued to use and replace with like for like until getting the STi...

So I am familiar with the S02, not with the S03. How do they compare on tyre wear and grip levels. Also, what sort of price for S03 of our size...?

Incidently, what has happened to Tyres Northampton, tried their web site earlier, nothing came back, no DNS entry for it anymore as far as I could see. Always thought these guys were very good on tyre pricing..?

Cheers

Simon

Barnaby

I also think the S03 is great tyre (had them on my WRX) particularly in the wet.

The reason I didn't go for them this time, was that on my first track day in the dry on an S03 the tyre over-heated and I lost a lot of grip. I want to see if the Goodyear tyre does better...

Dave T-S

Simon
The STi7 seems to be quite kind to its tyres anyway. The OEM RE040's were on Carolyn's for 8000 miles and still had 3-4mm on them when we took them off, and our daily use is all windy country roads. You should expect to pay around £105 ish + vat for S03, fitted and balanced

The S03 seems to me to compare wear wise to the S02, and is close on grip. It definitely has more feel than the Toyo in the wet/damp.

TN should be around, did both ours several weeks back, they are pretty busy - I think they are more interested in actually selling tyres than maintaining the website

Barnaby
Re pressures, I have always thought the Impreza is too soft on the back with 28psi. The one thing the car does not like is two sudden direction changes - a flick left then right for instance. It needs a second or so for the suspension to settle, and running the back a bit stiffer helps that.

Re the S03's melting on a dry track day, this is normal with *any* road tyre with more than about 2-3mm tread left. If there is more tread, the tread blocks move around, friction heats them up and the rubber degrades. How much tread depth did you have on them?

The OEM RE040 makes an excellent dry track day tyre when worn to about 3mm - wide flat tread blocks that don't degrade too much



[Edited by Dave T-S - 11/22/2002 9:13:02 AM]

Barnaby

Thanks for that Dave, I shall definitely give balanced pressures a try.

The S03's on the track day had only a couple of thousand miles on them, so lots of tread. I also suspect I hadn't pumped the tyres up to a high pressure for the day, so that might have contributed as well.

Having said that I don't remember any previous tyres going off so quickly, and that includes Pirelli Pzeros.

ADY 555 !

Yes Simon you've sussed me, P1 arrives next month. See Wanted Section. Just out of intrest my SO3's on 16's are a very good all rounder, Just my 2pence worth. Ady.

YorkshireSimon

Guys

Thanks Dave for the additional feedback. As I know whatn the Bridgestone is all about, I think i will go down the S03 route.

Incidently, I haven't seen the TN banner ad on Scoobynet for a while, and with the web site being down, can someone please post their telephone number....

Ady555, nice one mate, glad you are getting the car you wanted. Bet you can't wait... So, you'll be @ Well Lane in Jan then???

Cheers guys

Simon

Cheers