2.0 / 2.5 Roadster / Roadster Sport Tire Thread

[strider]

I'm at 8,600 miles and are at the wear bars on my AD07's - I'm going to wait until the Fall and replace them just before the rain starts here. Since this is a daily driver I'm going to try the Toyo Proxes 4 (treadwear 300). I'm hoping moving up to Sport front size will help negate the lower grip and leave me with the same amount of understeer. They're also cheap and available.

 

[dsm363]

I just tried to look up Neova AD07 tires on the Yokohama web site, and it looks like they're replacing the AD07's with new Neova AD08's.
Advan Neova AD08 Performance Tires | Yokohama Tire Corp.

Treadwear 180.

Talk about a moving target...

They don't make these in the non-sport Roadster front tire size though. I hope they don't stop selling the AD07s soon.

 

[kgb]

I just got my 3rd set of rears, so I am updating the database. Currently my mileage is 7100 miles.

As mentioned in my earlier posts to this thread, my first set were the stock Yokohama Neova A048. The rears lasted to 3100 miles. The fronts are still on the car. At 7100 miles, the fronts still have 4mm of tread. I was told that I am still legal until 3mm, so I am going to use that last 1mm of tread (I am cheap).

I replaced the rears with Toyo Proxes R888. They lasted 4000 miles. They made a horrible sound when at the end of their lives.

I don't remember the A048's. Nothing stood out about the rears. I do remember thinking they were loud, but that was mostly at the end of their life. The combination of A048's up front and the Proxes R888 in back was great. I don't have other configurations to compare that with, but I found those tires to be responsive and predictable. (When the car was all A048's, the suspension was set differently and I didn't really push the car except on highway ramps, so it is hard to compare).

Toyo's are difficult to get in Houston, so I elected to get what was in stock at Discount Tire. I got Continental ContiSportContact 3's. I tried to get the tires to spin with TC off and I tried to make the light come on with TC on, and I was unable, so they seem grippy enough. (ADDENDUM: When taking off from a stand still with TC off, the tires will make some sound up to 40mph) Not sure if I'd put them up front, but I'm also not sure why I wouldn't. I am open to suggestions. Any suggestions?

I think that since the fronts last so long, I may stay with a street legal racing tire. My next rear tires will probably be a little grippier than these continentals. What's the point of having a "super" car unless you can have fun with it.

 

[Nvbob]

Our rear tires are on the wear bars after only 4000 miles. I read through the forum (this thread primarily) and would like to know Potenza or Proxy 4's? We live just east of Lake Tahoe and travel over mountain roads every day.

Thanks.

 

[strider]

Our rear tires are on the wear bars after only 4000 miles. I read through the forum (this thread primarily) and would like to know Potenza or Proxy 4's? We live just east of Lake Tahoe and travel over mountain roads every day.

Thanks.

Well, from what I can tell on tirerack.com, Bridgestone doesn't make a Potenza that will fit the front whether Sport or non-Sport. They do make a rear that will fit. However, I like to have all 4 of my tires be of the same construction (I'm not opposed to different rubber compounds/hardness) so for the me, the Proxes 4 win because I can get all 4 (Sport size).

 

[Jaff]

My Yoko's are still good, but I think I'll try the Bridgestone Potenza RE-11

next...they've been recommended by a friend with track experience.

Our rear tires are on the wear bars after only 4000 miles. I read through the forum (this thread primarily) and would like to know Potenza or Proxy 4's? We live just east of Lake Tahoe and travel over mountain roads every day.

Thanks.

 

[dsm363]

Basically, there is only one tire that officially fits the non-sport Roadster exactly, right? That's the AD07. Are people using different front and rear tires then?

 

[Doug_G]

Basically, there is only one tire that officially fits the non-sport Roadster exactly, right? That's the AD07. Are people using different front and rear tires then?

Except that the AD07 is already obsoleted. There is still availability, but it's going away. AD048 is still available of course.

 

[Nvbob]

Yes, dsm363, the AD07's are the "official" non-sport tires. Since we travel over mountain roads that tend to wear tires quicker we don't look forward to buying new rears every three to four months. I was just curious about what issues and recommendations others had on this forum.
I also like to match front/rear and have read in this thread that others are using a 195/50 or 55/R16 for the fronts with good results. The Potenza RE760 Sport do come in both front & rear sizes. Has anyone tried them?

I'm more inclined to try the Proxes 4 but have read that some are having issues with the TC. Is this true? Can anyone give us a review on their wear/ride and experience with them?

This is our daily driver, we do not do any track time, and we're old farts so there's no racing involved.

Thanks again.

 

[ChargeIt!]

(Roadster 1.5 experience Toyo Proxes4 have worked well, except for the reported TC issues. The 2nd set of rears (originally delivered with Toyo AD07 which lasted 14.5k miles) now have 30,000 miles on them (!) and should be replaced before start of next NorCal wet season. The TC issue (during regen, making regen disappear without warning in the first 0-10 miles on 15% of trips) was eventually solved by tedious trial-and-error adjustment of tire pressures. (The relative difference between F/R also has an effect.) The original front AD07s were replaced (too late ! after an "unsual event" on wet roads) at 41k miles, with upsized Proxes4 195/50/16.

Proxes4 traction is very acceptable, but not as good as AD07. Good enough where "old farts" and "no racing involved" is your motto :wink: (But note: have not been tried in snow.)

Note: due to 2.0+ feature of "New Tires" you might have less issues with TC when compared with 1.5 Roadster.

 

[kgb]

Other than Roger Reid, has anyone else confirmed use of a non-stock front tire size? Can anyone confirm successful use of 205/50R16? Or anything else other than 195/50R16?

 

[Timothy]

One downside of the stock Yokos--the car goes around corners like a slot racer. I have a hairpin turn on the private road I travel on the way home from work, and I stick like glue to it no matter how fast I go. The Telsa replaced an Alfa Spider Veloce which was easy to put in to a four wheel slide on that corner. So the Tesla is less fun! :smile:

 

[vfx]

So the Tesla is less fun! :smile:

Is your traction control on?

 

[W.Petefish]

I just had to replace my rears. Went from the Yokohamas to the Cooper Zeon ZPT. I notice that they are quieter than the Yokohama tires were.

I went with those partially because they are sold at a local shop that I trust. (and they actually listened when I told them the jacking procedure and points)

 

[Timothy]

Yes, it is on. I haven't tried it off yet. I want to do so under controlled conditions so I don't end up over the edge of the hairpin!

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Other than Roger Reid, has anyone else confirmed use of a non-stock front tire size? Can anyone confirm successful use of 205/50R16? Or anything else other than 195/50R16?

My understanding that tire width is a tradeoff between rolling resistance and grip, with an obvious upper limit on what will fit in the wheel well without scrubbing. I assume that there is no actual difference between the Roadster and Roadster Sport that would affect the tire widths that would work in front - it's just that the Roadster comes stock with the narrowest tire for maximum efficiency and the Roadster Sport comes stock with the next larger width for increased traction performance, likely at the cost of reduced efficiency.

In other words, there should be nothing wrong at all about fitting stock Sport tires on a non-Sport Roadster, except that you won't have the maximum efficiency afforded by the narrower tire. 205 seems extreme, though, when 195 seems to be available in a number of brands.

 

[Nvbob]

We replaced our rear tires yesterday with Toyo Proxes 4's. The original Yoko's were down below the wear bars (almost bald) but wearing evenly after only about 4500 miles. This seems to be about average from what others on this forum have said. We immediately noticed that the tires are considerably quieter. We took the day to "break in" the tires with a short road trip to Reno (about 60 miles north of us) and did not have any issues with TC or regen. Even with a small off-the-line race with a Viper (it was no contest) there were no issues. Our front tires still have about 90% of the tread and when they need to be replaced we plan on going with the Proxes with them also. They don't make a 175 so we will go with the 195's.

 

[vfx]

I found the Proxes4 to be louder above 60mph that the stock Toyos.

 

[Nvbob]

Really? We didn't notice that they were noisier. Our drive yesterday was on various surfaces and speeds (from nice new smooth asphalt to nasty, old, worn, brutally noisy concrete) and our only complaint was the tire noise from the other cars and trucks.

 

[vfx]

Have newly paved high speed roads with no other cars around and hear it clearly. The old tires were on the old pavement so they should have been louder. YMMV