Myth or Truth??

[WRXD]

Is it true that new tires are the best bang for the buck handling mod you can do??

Should you do tires before anything else???

[alachua]

Its one of the best upgrades, depending on what tires you have, and what tires you get. It can have a dramatic impact on the feel of the car, adding substantial grip, improving cornering, and increasing traction. Strongly reccomended to upgrad the stock tires on a WRX.

-Cliff

[05CGMSTi]

Well if you still have the Potenza RE92's that the WRX comes with then yes tires will make a huge difference. The RE92's are some of the worst OEM tires out there. When I got my '02 I put about 10k on the RE92's and then I couldn't stand it anymore. They squeal like a pig in the dry, hydroplane in the wet, and suck in the snow also. I ended up getting Yokohama Avid V4S's because I still needed an all-season tire. I was very happy with them, the only downside is they are a little noisy on the highway. They seem to grip pretty well for an ultra high performance A/S tire.

[MuddyREX]

Hell yeah. If you are still on the stock RE-92s, better tires with a stiffer sidewall will make a HUGE improvement.

I also reccommend choosing a wider size. Stock is 205/55-16, but you can fit 225/50-16 on the stock rims without any rubbing. A better gripping tire in the wider size will be a HUGE improvement over stock.

[WRXD]

I am definitely going for 225/50/R16

I just asked this question cause a friend of mine who has a Trans Am always gives me $hit because I have put alot of money into mods but still have stock tires.

He said out of all my mods, tires make the biggest difference and I have a hard time beleiving that.

as long as we are talking about tires....

what do you think of these: Hankook Ventus Hrii H405. I found them at edgeracing for $55 a tire...thats a hell of a deal for performance tires.

if I go with prodrive springs will the 225/50/R16s rub?

[WRX27]

i'd say new tires than sway bars and endlinks

[2Mopars1Ford]

Originally Posted by WRX27

sway bars and endlinks

We have had 5 subarus in the family (non performance ones) and from the couple stock/close to WRX's I've been in the body roll is like the ocean.

[wgknestrick]

Tires are something along with clutches, brake pads, (other wear-able) mods. It just isn't worth replacing them before they "need" to be replaced. I really regret installing a new clutch before my old one was either slipping or worn out. Tires are the same.

Get as much mileage out of them as you can.

[WRXD]

Originally Posted by wgknestrick

Tires are something along with clutches, brake pads, (other wear-able) mods. It just isn't worth replacing them before they "need" to be replaced. I really regret installing a new clutch before my old one was either slipping or worn out. Tires are the same.

Get as much mileage out of them as you can.

my thoughts exactly! No way I am getting them until I need them. I dont have that kind of money to throw around where I have perfectly good tires sitting in my basement.

[MuddyREX]

Originally Posted by WRXD

my thoughts exactly! No way I am getting them until I need them. I dont have that kind of money to throw around where I have perfectly good tires sitting in my basement.

Ok, then. Buy a rear sway and endlinks.

[WRXD]

Originally Posted by MuddyREX

Ok, then. Buy a rear sway and endlinks.

I did..they are sitting downstairs waiting to be installed. My point is my friend tells me its a waste on stock tires.

[MuddyREX]

Originally Posted by WRXD

I did..they are sitting downstairs waiting to be installed. My point is my friend tells me its a waste on stock tires.

It's not a waste, because the rear sway and endlinks stiffen the rear end up a lot. That was my first suspension mod and it made a huge improvement. Don't let them sit in the basement any longer, get out there and put those ****ers on.

The rear sway/endlinks make a different change than the tires do. With the rear sway, at least for me, I didn't see a huge increase in overall grip. Dont get me wrong, there was an increase in grip, but it was more of a change in the handling characteristics of the car. It went from gross understeer to a much more neutral handling car. I could slide the car around at will with the crappy RE-92s I had on the car when I first put the rear sway on. Now with the better tires, the car just grips. Better grip everywhere. The only downfall is that with the increased grip, I can't get the tail end of the car to slide around as easiy. Safer, but not as much fun.

Putting on a rear sway/endlinks and better, wider tires will completely change your car.

[TehWagon]

i felt the most difference with my rota wheel/tire combo. i did that before suspension and it made a huge difference. of course, seeing nice wheels with that godawful wheelgap will make you log right on and order springs, but i did feel a difference. next biggest difference was the rear swaybar.

[Raven18940]

Originally Posted by TehWagon

next biggest difference was the rear swaybar.

That's funny, it didn't look that impressive at that autocross event. :P

j/k ;)

I did..they are sitting downstairs waiting to be installed. My point is my friend tells me its a waste on stock tires.

There's a simple solution to this, waste the stock tires! I went through a brand new set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's in a year, you can easily finish those off a couple months. Drive the doors off it, brake later, turn sharper, accelerate earlier, it's mad fun and you'll be through those tire in no time. ;)

But tires do make a big difference, I just put the michelins back on the front and was like, "wow, I'd forgetten what front end grip was." The car turns in a million times better and I can pick up the throttle a lot sooner.

And the kind of tire makes a big difference, I used have goodyear's on my wrangler. They'd grip and grip and grip and then all at once let go, very hard to control a slide. Now we fitted Bridgestones a little while a go, same overall grip, but they lose grip much more progressively so I can actually hold the thing in small drifts.

[TehWagon]

Originally Posted by Raven18940

That's funny, it didn't look that impressive at that autocross event. :P

j/k ;)

AY!

for the record, troll said the opposite (who is experienced at teh auto-x...) he said the car looked like it was handling really tightly. any time suffrage was purely noob error on my part!!

[TehWagon]

pretty much! i'm on snows & stock rims for winter, and even w/the swaybar, i feel like i'm really wobbly...

[BradC]

Go for tires man.

My last car I used to run the old Azenis Sport, with Eibach's and Koni's. When I put my winter tires on, if felt worse then it ever did stock.

With the MSP, the upgraded suspension is worthless with my snowies. Yeah, it has sharp turn-in and is precise, but it lacks ultimate grip and feel. The difference bewtween good and crap tires is HUGE.


I can see where people are coming from with "its a replacement part, wait till they fail". But, what sense does it make to have a great suspension, when the ONLY part that ultimately has anything to do with roadholding is a set of RE-92 marshmellows that don't stick?