Wheels,Tires & BrakesPost Wheel, Tire & Brake related modification information and/or questions here.
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Picked up my car this morning from Tire Kingdom after having the new tires installed... It's rainy here in Columbus today, a perfect chance to see just how big of an improvement over the FR690s these things are. I went from inadvertently breaking traction at every light to having damn near perfect control. These things hold corners like crazy too, even through all the roads are wet right now. I went and hit my favorite twisty section of road (which is actually a parking lot) and they wouldn't break. The 690s consistently gave up about 1/2 way through the turn and I'd start sliding across the pavement - and that's when it's DRY. I've got nothing but good things to say about them for now. If the snow traction is half as good as their wet traction, I'll still be way ahead of where I was on the 'stones. I got em for $78 a piece (in 195/60/15) at TK, $397.07 out the door with the warranty.
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I also have the Potenza RE950's on one set of rims for the civic (winter and rain tires)... they're great. For the money, I could not find a better dry or wet tire that handles auto-X as well as these do. Have run a few auto-x with the RE950's and it did well (currently run Potenza S-03 Pole Position race tires at the auto-X). The improvement over the Nitto NT450's I had previously was very noticeable.
__________________ 01 Civic EX Turbo, 10psi of fun.
If you haven't lifted the head off of the block, you're not racing fast enough.
Excellent all around high performance tire. They are awsome but I still need more grip and will probably go to ultra high performance tires next year. 950's probably aren't worth a crap in snow, they are high performance tires.
I've got a lake effect snow winter coming up... Guess I'll get to find out about the snow traction pretty soon. My attitude when I bought them is that however bad they are in snow, they've still got to be better than the 20,000 mile old FR690's I rolled on last winter.
just got the 950s mounted yesterday at costco. took off the 185s and put on 205-60-15s. total was $405, including 8.25% sales tax.
my first impression is that the tires just look too fat for the wheel well. the tire tread on the 950s are huge and deep so it's not exactly a "smooth" look. lots of tire rubber, lots of tread.
and the stock wheels (hubs on 2001 EX coupe) really look like crap with the big, fat, tires. just don't have the dough for new wheels though so I'll have to live with it.
as far as driving, they definitely drive like superglue though compared to the skinny 185 firestones. can't wait to head out on some back road twisters to check em out. maybe I'll grow into the looks after I shine em up a bit and get them real black. I'll take some pix and reload so everyone can form their own opinion.
That's what I was afraid of with the 205s, so I wimped out and went 195. They look a little bigger, but it's not too noticeable. if I had a camera, I'd snap a pic of mine.. I'd like to see a shot of yours.
I have the 950s on my Konig Rated-R rims. They are 205/40/17s. w0rd. Great in the rain. Didn't feel like trying pancake tires in the snow so I bought some new tires for stock steelies for the winter.
I got an $80 off coupon from Costco for any Michelin or Bridgestone, so I went ahead and bought some new all-seasons a little early. Final price was about $309 for the Bridgestone Potenza RE 950 195/60/15, installed with lifetime balancing. My firestones were down to 4/32" at 22k (tires are considered bald at 2/32"). It's been about 500 miles, and my initial impression is simply, wow. The best difference in this tire is the stiff sidewall, I noticed that before anything else. I guess this could be a negative, so if you don't care about performance skip this tire and get a soft michelin or cheapo tire. Brake dive, acceleration squat, and steering reponse is all better, as expected. Dry traction is better, and wet traction is way better. I like them much more than my g/f's Yoko H4s, even though they're not quite as sticky (400 compared to ~360 treadware). Highly recommended.
I put 950's on my brand new 02 Civic 5-speed EX, and just loved them; they gave me outstanding "spirited"(as per Tirerack) driving 7 months a year here in Buffalo,NY. BUT, THEY WERE ATROCIOUS IN THE SNOW!! So, I got a set of Nokia Hakk..... studded (look it up), and it was almost 4-wheel driving, just amazing. Well I just went to replace them, and found out that they've been replaced by a "RE960AS pole position "for about $10 more each. Can't really tell any difference yet. Best bet on tire selection is to go on >tirerack.com< ,follow the prompts to include their tire decision guide, and carefully evaluate the "tests" and "surveys"...sometimes cheaper is better.
Bridgestone Potenza RE950 - Initial Impression 
