Should I stay with S04 Pole Position or get anything else?

roplusbee

There are at least 2 threads that discuss tire selection in this section. Check out the stickies and use the links from there. You could always search..........use the google machine or the forum search feature. You are welcome.

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2007 350Z NISMO #0618: Zerolift | UPREV | F.I. | Greddy | Competition Clutch | Injector Dynamics | Aeromotive | Pioneer | JL

Davey

It depends on what you want...

RE11's are pretty hardcore just for daily driving. If you like to drive "spiritedly" and want great performance on warm dry days and you're willing to compromise some performance in the rain (especially cold rain) they are a great choice.

The S-04's are also good tires and they are cheap, especially considering the performance level. If you don't need the most traction possible in the dry, they're a great choice. They're more of an "all around good" tire than something like the RE11. They will do better in heavy rain and slightly colder temps.

Both tires (like any Bridgestones I've tried) will have good turn-in feel due to the stiff sidewall.

Keep in mind that with these kind of tires, on a car like the Z, tires are not that big of a deal, because if you don't like them, in 8 - 12K miles, you'll be trying something else out, anyway.

If I were looking for a tire for a daily driven car that feels good in day-to-day use and could still dish out some performance I'd pick the S-04. If I were looking for tires for a weekend toy, I'd pick the RE11.

GZ3

I DD my re-11's and its not a big deal.... Doesnt seem like a hardcore tire at all. I was actually a bit disappointed with them after all the praise they got on here. To me they ride excatly like the re050a with better handling characteristics. Thats pretty much it. They are a little quiter too. And its rain grip is pretty amazing. The only reason id chose the pole positions would be price. MPSS are a good dd tire, soft and quiet, decent handling, moderate lateral grip... Even though its a summer tire has pretty good all weather performance

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09 GT-R
12' 370Z 7AT HANDED DOWN
12'+13' 5.0 SOLD

Davey

I guess I didn't make it clear enough... They're "hardcore" in the sense that they sacrifice wet grip for dry grip and the treadwear is not that great, and they're expensive - not that they are uncomfortable. For a daily driver that sees 3-season temperatures and stop-and-go driving, they seem like a waste of money IMO.

The point is that the S-04's are quite a bit cheaper and other than the ultimate dry grip they'll do fine.

GZ3

Yea the treadwear is terrible, i managed to get them price matched and got all 4 in the nismo wheels sizes for 884 i think a couple of months ago. I had to haggle a bit though, not something the avg comsumer does. And the Pole positions were 7xx. I heard from many track rats the poles are better then the stock re050s, and to me the re11 was an improvement over re050 but not by the praised margin given here. My next set will probably be pole positions or the new re71r mild to wild ha

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09 GT-R
12' 370Z 7AT HANDED DOWN
12'+13' 5.0 SOLD

Spooler

I have had SO-4 tires and I currently have RE11's. The RE11's are a much better tire. No issues with South Ga. rain storms. The SO-4's would skip in a hard turn that was bumpy. Yes, skip. They would skip over the bumps and slip a bit. The RE11's do no such thing. Thread wear is still unknown at the moment. I will see how many Interstate miles I can put on them.

Davey

That's a hell of a deal.

sambar

Still undecided between the S04 and RE11. My heart wants to try the RE11 since I've never owned an extreme performance tire before and now I have the right car to experience that, but my head says keep it sane and get more tread life . All decisions in life boil down to the tug of war between these two, don't they..

So today its been exactly one month since I got the car. I looked at the odo and I've put on exactly 620 miles this month. Its a second car (intended to be a weekend car), and I will continue to do my office commute in the other car. I guess I will end up driving the Z between 8K to 10K miles a year, so my guess reading other threads is that I can expect perhaps 10K miles on a set of RE11s (and perhaps 15 to 18K if I go S04).

So really boils down to.. do I want to have more fun and replace the tires same time next year, or stay with S04 and get two years out of them?

GZ3

Those discount tire guys WILL haggle a bit!





Op give them a try, as far as turn in and response they are amazing

__________________
09 GT-R
12' 370Z 7AT HANDED DOWN
12'+13' 5.0 SOLD

ScottOmatic

First as for the sidewall ratio, yeah the front tires may look a little taller with the same tires as the rear because the rims are narrower. Yeah, ideally you'd probably like the sidewalls to look the same or a little bigger in the rear but first and foremost IMO is handling.

The idea with a square setup is that you give a little grip more to the front end, it should understeer less because the fronts aren't going to be giving out that much earlier with the now equal tire sizes.

People say that the skinner front rims can handle the wider with just fine and a lot of the track and autocross guys are going this route. I have an older Z that came with a square setup and I am really used to similar tire dynamics that the square setup has.

Of course, if you plan to do some suspension mods in the near future you can dial-out a lot of the understeer that way, but tires are a cheap and straight forward route. After all, they are the only thing between the car and the road!

As for the extreme tire category and the RE-71's. I was looking at these but my car is not ready to track yet and I don't know when that will be, so I think the few hundreds of dollars and maybe double the tread life of the Pole Positions might be just fine for the time being.

sambar

Still undecided. Not that there's any information I am lacking at this point, sorry I don't mean to spam or troll. I have all the info - thanks to everyone - but can't decide

Per my calculation, s04 will cost 900 and take me 18 months (cost of $50 per month), while re11 will cost me 1100 and take me probably 11 months ($100 per month).

Can't make up my mind if the $50 extra per month will be worth the difference between the two. I'm not going to be doing any wet driving (it's a second car and I'm in drought-struck Cali) unless it rains suddenly on a sunny day but I will be driving quite a bit on bad roads.

I guess I don't really have a question at this point- just can't decide

$50 vs $100 per month difference is quite a lot for tires alone.

Guess I'll stick with (pun unintended) the s04 after all. I love how they grip now, they don't lack anything for my level of driving aggressiveness.


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loiro370z

I was in the same situation, S04 or RE11 , but ordered Nitto Invo
275/305 combo for $986.00 shipped

MacCool

S-04s are great tires, especially for the money. They run a close second the PSS at about 30% (or more) cheaper.

It's easy to overthink tires. Unless you're some kind of driving expert, it's highly unlikely you'll be able to outsmart Nissan's engineers and come up with a tire setup that will perform better in "spirited" street driving, but you can certainly spend a lot of money and brain-thrashing trying to.

sambar

Thanks all. I have ordered the s04 tires.

Swindler

Just got some S04s put on my G. looking forward to seeing how they compare to the stock RE050As