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22K views 101 replies 34 participants last post by  Sullyfx 
#1 ·
At 8k I'm approx. 70% worn on my stock OEM tires. I'm (publicly) considering all of my alternate options (run flat not as big a deal to me). Here is the current list (with prices from TireRack and do not include tax, shipping, mounting/balancing, etc.) all are 245-45R18 (generally W, Y or Z rated). Prices are EACH tire as of the time of this posting.

I'm open to thoughts on any experiences with any of these tires on any other (prefer similiar) vehicles. Anyone have any comments, preferences, compaints with any of the listed tires. Why would you pick one over the other? Noise, ride comfort, grip, longevity, etc. What experiences do you have or know of. If you know of any other options (nitto?) please also post those options.

Goodyear (STOCK) Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar EMT (run flat) - $328

Bridgestone Potenza RE050 - $201
Bridgestone Potenza RE050 XL - $203
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A (run flat) - $263
Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position - $224
Dunlop SP Sport 9000 - $201
Continental ContiSportContact 2 - $218
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 - $208
Michelin Pilot Sport - $246
Michelin Pilot Sport XL - $268
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S - $247
Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico - $215
Pirelli PZero System Direzionale - $216
Yokohama AVS ES100 - $168

There are a few other back ordered ones that aren't as big name.

Thoughts?

-Ben
 
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#2 ·
benjet said:
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 - $208
Ben -

I have heard many a good thing about this tire and will consider it seriously when it is time for me to replace my runflats. The people that have talked this tire up to me are S4/A4, VWR32, and Sti/WRX drivers...apparently it really sticks and survives well (these are autoX type folks).

That's about all I know at the moment...
 
#6 ·
:rolleyes: I am nowhere near (I hope) the life of my new tires on my '05 V, but I need to consider the probability of some snow in the Chicago area next Winter, and I don't relish another set of wheel/tires hanging in my garage, like I now have for my BMW M Roadster, but I must admit, the roadster has NEVER been "grounded" by winter weather, so maybe extra tire/wheels is a necessity of having to live in this God-forsaken-climate! (I used to live in Southern California, but now I don't have to face that terrible traffic, so every place has its +'s and -'s)

:rolleyes2 I realize that nobody yet has any experience with much winter driving of their V's, but I am thinking that I might replace my run-flat F-1's with a decent "all-season" tire, not necessarily a run-flat. Heck, my M Roadster has never had a flat in five years' of driving, even though it never had a spare tire. (Wouldn't ya think that it would HAVE TO HAPPEN! Never did! Almost 60,000 miles to date!)

:annoyed: I happen to think that, with traction control and a bit of common sense, I can drive my V every day in Chicago area weather, just like I always have with my BMW M. Performance is pretty much the same (Well, it is until some road speed is gathered, after which the torque of the V-8 starts to make a noticeable feel of difference.) Anyway, both cars are damned quick, but I think both are fully driveable with decent tires and traction control.

The question is....

:hmm: are "All Season" tires good enough for the CTS-V? Because I know of no "Winter" tires for the car.

I know,,, I should call Tire Rack. I will! I promise! :yawn:
 
#7 ·
If Winter tires are needed in run flats I believe that Dunlop is the only mfg that has these.





Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3 and SP Winter Sport M3 DSST (Dunlop Self-Supporting Technology run-flat tires) are Performance Winter tires that were developed to blend dry road performance with snow traction. They are sized for sports cars, coupes and sedans that come from the factory equipped with low profile tires mounted on large diameter alloy wheels and are engineered to deliver performance and traction whether the road is snow-covered or not.

Both versions of the SP Winter Sport M3 feature a silica based tread compound that remains pliable in cold temperatures. Using Dunlop V-Technology, this compound is molded into a directional tread design that helps maintain good traction on wet and slush-covered roads while its high-density lateral zigzag sipes and independent tread blocks provide the edges to help bite into snow.

Both versions of the Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3 winter radials meet the industry's severe snow service requirements and are branded with the snowflake-on-the-mountain-symbol. They feature blackwall styling and are available in 65-, 60-, 55-,and 45-series, T-, H- or V-speed rated sizes for 15" to 18" wheel diameters.
 
#8 ·
benjet said:
At 8k I'm approx. 70% worn on my stock OEM tires. I'm (publicly) considering all of my alternate options (run flat not as big a deal to me). Here is the current list (with prices from TireRack and do not include tax, shipping, mounting/balancing, etc.) all are 245-45R18 (generally W, Y or Z rated). Prices are EACH tire as of the time of this posting.

I'm open to thoughts on any experiences with any of these tires on any other (prefer similiar) vehicles. Anyone have any comments, preferences, compaints with any of the listed tires. Why would you pick one over the other? Noise, ride comfort, grip, longevity, etc. What experiences do you have or know of. If you know of any other options (nitto?) please also post those options.

Goodyear (STOCK) Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar EMT (run flat) - $328

Bridgestone Potenza RE050 - $201
Bridgestone Potenza RE050 XL - $203
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A (run flat) - $263
Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position - $224
Dunlop SP Sport 9000 - $201
Continental ContiSportContact 2 - $218
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 - $208
Michelin Pilot Sport - $246
Michelin Pilot Sport XL - $268
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S - $247
Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico - $215
Pirelli PZero System Direzionale - $216
Yokohama AVS ES100 - $168

There are a few other back ordered ones that aren't as big name.

Thoughts?

-Ben
1) Stay away from RE050s. They provide no appreciable increase in performance over other tires on the bunch, but WEAR OUT faster than any of them.

2) S03s are fantastic. Wear "well" and provide a ton of grip and good wet weahter.

3) Sport 9000s provide the least amount of grip of the group. They ride great (read: soft) but talk to you at the least amount of loss of grip.

4) Continentals (read same as RE050s) - "Good enough for Porsche?" - yeah cause they were the lowest bidder!

5) Gs-D3s are GREAT, except in ANY snow or ANY ice. If the road is at all slick (like oiled asphault, slight freeze, etc) they break away easy. GREAT wet tires.

6) Pilot Sports are good tires, but pricey. Probably as good as the s03s but the s03s look better. You don't need the XL, it's Reinforced and rougher riding. The A/S are great tires (3rd time running them on a car), but they don't provide as much grip as the others. Wear better though. Kinda not quite enough tire for the CTS-V.

7) Others, haven't owned.
 
#9 ·
I have had the S-03 and also the GS-D3's. I had the GS-D3's on my 03 CTS 5spd and they made a night and day differance on that car, but forget any snow or ice with those tires. You can even go 5mph without breaking lose the rear end. When I got stuck in snow I just had to park it and wait for someone to pick me up!!! As for the s-03's they too were also a great tire and they seemed to wear less than my GS-D3's.


Jonathan
 
#10 ·
Everyone - Thanks for all the replies - keep them comin!

wildwhl - those cars are AWD (and lighter) and therefore may have a different tire application to a high TQ car like a Z06 or the like, but apparently many others like them (not discounting your contribution).

Wienk - I'm in CA, so I don't have an ice/snow need but I'm glad you brought up your dilema as well, it's certainly something that plays a role for yourself and others on this forum.

miscreant - as always I (we) are thankfull for your continued contributions!

Everyone else again thanks. I *was* leaning towards trying the Yoko's because several of my BMW friends seems to like the AVS Sport? (but those are not the ES100), and heck if they are gonna wear out every 10k why not try the cheaper ones first. I don't have good experience with prior Goodyear HiPo tires (prior to F1 series), but I could be convinced to try them again. The S-03 are about even so far with those (by recommendation).

-Ben
 
#11 ·
benjet said:
Everyone - Thanks for all the replies - keep them comin!

wildwhl - those cars are AWD (and lighter) and therefore may have a different tire application to a high TQ car like a Z06 or the like, but apparently many others like them (not discounting your contribution).

-Ben
Ben -

Good point, I hadn't considered that. Sounds like they may not be for me since my V will for certain see occasional slick conditions (ice and OH MY GOD possibly even snow).

Let us know what you end up with and how you like them, please.

Wildwhl
 
#14 ·
benjet said:
Bridgestone Potenza RE050 - $201
Bridgestone Potenza RE050 XL - $203
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A (run flat) - $263
No experience with them.

benjet said:
Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position - $224
I'd like to say I love them, they've got excellent grip (maybe not so much as the older S-02 or the MXX3/Pilot Sport PS2) and are quite civilized.

But...I've had two of the S-03s on my M5 develop belt separation - one front enough to develop a shimmy, and one rear enough to start leaking. I've gone to Pilot Sports on the M5 (I'd have done PS2s but they weren't available in those sizes yet.)

benjet said:
Dunlop SP Sport 9000 - $201
Comfortable, nice soft ride, nowhere near top-drawer in grip.

benjet said:
Continental ContiSportContact 2 - $218
A shop I use for chassis work (at least what I don't do myself) loves them, no personal experience yet. Just ordered a set for my wife's car.

benjet said:
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 - $208
My only exposure to them has been a few minutes of peaceful motoring, but I know several folks who love them.

It was a coin-flip whether to go for these or the Contis for the spousal wheels.

benjet said:
Michelin Pilot Sport - $246
Michelin Pilot Sport XL - $268
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S - $247
The Pilot Sport is a safe choice - good grip, good behavior, reasonable life. You don't need the all-season version here in the Bay Area, do you?

If you're after serious grip, you might see if the Pilot Sport PS2 is available. So far as I understand it, it's the Pilot Sport carcass with the tread of the old MXX3; the blockier tread sticks better.

benjet said:
Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico - $215
Pirelli PZero System Direzionale - $216
Pirelli likes to confuse things. There's the original PZero, the PZero Nero (the newer dry-grip tire), and the PZero Rosso (the newer comfort/wet tire.)

I love the old PZero Asimmetrico, the asymmetric tread with the very closed outer-edge rib (anyone remember the old Yokohama A008?) are a big help for Macstrut cars without enough camber curve - it's the only thing I'll put on our old Saab (the 205/50-16 is also pretty cheap.) We get surprisingly good life out of them.

The Direzionale is, according to Pirelli, only for the front of light cars.

I have no personal experience with the Neros or Rossos. Once again, I'd think if you want to go that way you're looking more Nero than Rosso.
 
#15 ·
I've had nothing but good experiences with Michelin, the older MXX3 on my Viper GTS and the Pilot Sport on my M5. When it's time to replace on my V, I will look to Michelin first. I've always found their wet weather handling to be great, and have used them for extended periods at high speeds (120-160mph).

Prior to the Michelins on the M5, I had the Dunlops 9000 tires... I didn't like their dry or wet handling characteristics as much... but then again without the label many guys might pick a tire other than their favorite.

I replaced Pirelli PZeros on my Porsche 993 with Contisports... the Contis were louder, handled better in the rain and worse in the dry... and they chunked on the track more than others.

I used to hear alot of good things about Bridgestone from the Porsche guys when they were S02 verions, but haven't heard anything good lately.

My take on all-weather tires is that they are a compromise... High Performance tires obviously handle better in the dry AND IMHO in the rain... while dedicated winter tires (Blizzak) deal with snow very well. Like when dealing with your wife/girlfriend, a compromise means neither side is happy. :lildevil:
 
#16 ·
Interesting combinations here. I have run wide michelin pilots. Good grip. Wear like erasers!

Toyo Proxes, guiet good wear, good grip.

P-0's good lateral grip good wear, quiet. Terrible at the dragstrip.

I have the opposite experiance with the 9000's. Excellant handling dry or rain, quiet, excellent at the dragstrip. Pretty good wear.

These were 285-40-18's as I remember. Narrower tires perform differently than the fat boys. IMO..
 
#17 ·
Pirelli likes to confuse things. There's the original PZero, the PZero Nero (the newer dry-grip tire), and the PZero Rosso (the newer comfort/wet tire.)
The P Zero Nero is advertised as an all season M&S tire. Its fairly new and its the top rated ultra performance all season tire on tirerack.com. Supposedly available in V tire size at W rating. Price and tread wear also seems reasonable. I have no expereince with Pirelli tires other than on motorcycles but I think I'll give them a try when the F1s wear out.
 
#18 ·
Not to thread hijack here, but:

If you replace the runflat tires with non runflat, the guy at the dealer was telling me that you can possibly crush the Tire pressure sensor (~$300 ea) if you ever got a flat tire. Is this true?

OEM tires are way too expensive for me so they are not an option, but I dont want to end up costing myself more later.

Can the car be run without the Tire pressure sensors or will the car freak out? (I remember the guys running the silver state had a problem like this).. Can you disable the sensors or just stick the sensors in the trunk? What option do you have?

Reed
CTSVETT
Http://www.cadillacfaq.com
 
#19 ·
Also, if you're planning on using a tire repair kit, the goop will ruin the sensors.

Based on C5 info, haven't tried it on the V... If you run without sensors, you will get a "service tire monitoring system" error message on start-up.

You can:
1) Do nothing, and live with resetting the error msg at startup.

2) Get LS1Edit and turn TPM system off.

3) Find a dealer, or someone with a GM Tech-2 programming tool, and get them to turn the TPM system off. This will eliminate the error messages. The procedure would be found here: http://stopforce.com/RPO.html These instructions are intended for Z06 owners wishing to install sensors and enable the TPM system, but you can use the info to also disable the system by setting it accordingly.
 
#20 ·
Cannonball Run or whatever (One Slap of America) the V's were using aftermarket wheels and having major problems with being unable to drive hard due to tire sensor errors. That's what people talked about at the time, I suspect the car doesn't like being put at high speeds when it thinks the tires are flat (duh).

That crushing of the sensors does stink.
 
#21 ·
mrbadss said:
If you replace the runflat tires with non runflat, the guy at the dealer was telling me that you can possibly crush the Tire pressure sensor (~$300 ea) if you ever got a flat tire. Is this true?
Sure it's *POSSIBLE* if your tire fails (depending on the failure etc.).

I *BELIEVE* the pn# for the sensor to be - 25763677 (please verify before ordering this item). Copy from GMParts Direct (each w/o shipping - but gives you an idea on sensor pricing):

GM LIST: $82.47
OUR PRICE: $47.01

It's a risk I'm willing to take. YMMV.

-Ben
 
#24 ·
I agree with the small liklihood of crushing a tire sensor with a non-run flat tire. It would take a catastrophic blow-out to deflate the tire fast enough where you couldn't respond to low tire pressure and pull over. I think the ~50 bucks or so you could lose if you damaged the sensor is worth the trade off of spending a lot less for non-EMTs. Of course, you have to also weigh in the cost (and space) of a spare tire, wheel, & jack.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Time to bring this thread back to life!

So if EMT/RFT is required there are only 3 choices that fit STOCK size (the Mich Pilot Sport EMT/RFT are NOT availabel in this size)

1. STOCK Goodyear F1 Supercar
2. Bridgestone RE-40 (I think)
3. Dunlop (I cant' recall the model off hand)

Both 2 & 3 are a significant step down from #1.

For non-EMT/RFT - we add Falken's to list posted as the top of this thread.

Just off the phone with one of the TireRack Test Drivers (who has driven all of the tires below) Based on his suggestions - The current (IMHO) top choice list should look like this:

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 - $208 (less $75 rebate on 4 - for the next 48 hours or so) - nearly as good dry performance/handling (as the stock Supercars), MUCH better wet handling, quieter and hopefully a little better treadlife (12k-15k).

2. Yokohama AVS ES100 - $168 - Not quite *AS* good performance wise as GS-D3 but you should be able to expect 15k-20k out of them.

3. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S - $247 If you need all weather this maybe the way to go, should hope to see 20k out of them. He said he would recommend the A/S over the non-A/S as they are very close to the same but the A/S has a much better treadlife.

4. Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position - $224 about the same wear and handling of the Yokohama's but you paying a premium over them (for no good reason).

I'm leaning towards trying the GS-D3 and next time the AVS E100 OR TOYO PROXES.

Any thoughts?

-Ben
 
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