Tires: Its between the RE-10 or SO-3. Which one is best?

[martyq2002]

I bought my R used with Kuhmos on it. So i never got to feel the RE 10. I dont care about wear, i just want the stickier tire of the 2. Their is a three dollar price differencebetween the 2, so its all good. Thanx

[rayyu882]

Get S03, more gripy. I had a back to back set of RE10 for my ITR, which I'm not totally happy with. I'll get S03 for my ITR from now on.

[Blazin ITR]

Get S03, more gripy. I had a back to back set of RE10 for my ITR, which I'm not totally happy with. I'll get S03 for my ITR from now on.

S-03
I'll never buy another brand or series of tires

[kabob]

A better value would be Falken Azenis if you have a seperate set of rims for the track (almost no wethandling with this tire) or Yokohama AVS ES100 if you also use your rims or car for daily driving.

If money isn't an issue, the S03 offers a bit more grip but it costs about $40 more per tire than either the Yoks or the Falkens. The stock RE010 is an overpriced, underdurable wunderkind.

[WTypeRogerX]

Can someone quote prices for all the tires listed above? It's interesting that the S03, AVS ES100, and Azenis are also the top tires for the WRX. Hopefully these are much cheaper in the smaller ITR size.

[kabob]

Check http://www.tirerack.com for the best prices on all three brands (assuming you know where to get them mounted and balanced for cheap)

[martyq2002]

What size SO 3 are u running. I was gonna get them in 205/50/15.

[Blazin ITR]

What size SO 3 are u running. I was gonna get them in 205/50/15.

215/17/40

[Type R 98]

Who makes the SO 3?

[rayyu882]

S03 is made by Bridgestone. 205/50/15 will fit just fine!

[Chris N]

S03 is made by Bridgestone. 205/50/15 will fit just fine!

If you are going to get the S-03, get the 205/50/15, not the 195/50/15. Good tire. =)

[Willard]

I have the 195/50/15 version of the SO3 on my car and I can say it is the best tire I have ever used!

I got them used and have put plenty of street and track miles on them (Watkins Glen and will be at VIR this weekend with them).

The wet traction (even at the wear bars) is awesome.

Now if I could only afford a new set of them...

[Trey]

S03, ES100, Kumho MX, Azenis are all 4 Tires you can't go wrong with. There are some different considerations to be made to narow your choice but these are the only 4 I would use. Currently have ES100 on my daily wheels and Azenis on my track/auto-x wheels.

[rayyu882]

I have the 195/50/15 version of the SO3 on my car and I can say it is the best tire I have ever used!

I got them used and have put plenty of street and track miles on them (Watkins Glen and will be at VIR this weekend with them).

The wet traction (even at the wear bars) is awesome.

Now if I could only afford a new set of them...

I would recommend you to switch to 205/50/15 on your next set, right now your tire 195/50/15 is 22.68 in diam, which is .8 smaller then your factory 195/55/15, therefore you your speedometer will be a bit off. If you do 205/50/15, your diam is 23.07, that's .4 smaller which is acceptable, try to stay below half an inch to get more accuracy with the speed and the benefit from the tire!

[Dave-ROR]

I would recommend you to switch to 205/50/15 on your next set, right now your tire 195/50/15 is 22.68 in radius, which is .8 smaller then your factory 195/55/15, therefore you your speedometer will be a bit off. If you do 205/50/15, your radius is 23.07, that's .4 smaller which is acceptable, try to stay below half an inch to get more accuracy with the speed and the benefit from the tire!

Who cares about speedo accuracy? the smaller tires also provide better overall gearing and weigh less. S-03's (no matter the size) track every fuggen crack in the road so I always suggest the 195-50-15's.

Best all around tire I've ever used.

[rayyu882]

I would recommend you to switch to 205/50/15 on your next set, right now your tire 195/50/15 is 22.68 in radius, which is .8 smaller then your factory 195/55/15, therefore you your speedometer will be a bit off. If you do 205/50/15, your radius is 23.07, that's .4 smaller which is acceptable, try to stay below half an inch to get more accuracy with the speed and the benefit from the tire!

Who cares about speedo accuracy? the smaller tires also provide better overall gearing and weigh less. S-03's (no matter the size) track every fuggen crack in the road so I always suggest the 195-50-15's.

Best all around tire I've ever used.

That's fine... just an sugguestion that's all, 195/50/15 will have more rev per mile. You just use more while other size can use less! That's personal choose! There are benefits in both directions! Besides... cops do care the speedo accuracy, not that you'll care at least!

[Trey]

Cops don't care about the accuracy they care about the speed you were going. 195/50/15 means you THINK you are going faster than you and and lesen your chances of getting pulled over.

I don't care for 195/50 for my own reasons but they are a perfectly acceptable size.

[rayyu882]

Cops don't care about the accuracy they care about the speed you were going. 195/50/15 means you THINK you are going faster than you and and lesen your chances of getting pulled over.

I don't care for 195/50 for my own reasons but they are a perfectly acceptable size.

Sure... they're acceptable! No question about that! Your speedo will tell you the speed but you're actually going slower!

You're right about the cop part... sorry, my bad! I still think 205/50/15 is a better fit for myself! No one have to take my suggestion really... honestly!

[martyq2002]

I got the RE10s. The SO'3 size choices were sketchy. The 195/50/15 is too small and the recommended weight is off.The tire rack would not even sell them to me. As far as the 205/50/15 semmed like the best choice but i had a problem with that size once. I bought Nitto Extreme Performance tires in 205/50 and they sucked ass. Mad sidewall flex. Dont know if it was the tire or the size but my car handled horribly. So i got the RE10s after all the car was sold with them and thats the size it works best with or they would have used 205 in my opinion.

[rayyu882]

I got the RE10s. The SO'3 size choices were sketchy. The 195/50/15 is too small and the recommended weight is off.The tire rack would not even sell them to me. As far as the 205/50/15 semmed like the best choice but i had a problem with that size once. I bought Nitto Extreme Performance tires in 205/50 and they sucked ass. Mad sidewall flex. Dont know if it was the tire or the size but my car handled horribly. So i got the RE10s after all the car was sold with them and thats the size it works best with or they would have used 205 in my opinion.

I heard Nitto had sidewall problem before (From my local direct tire), which could be the case for your Nitto Extreme, anyway, good luck with your RE010, may I ask how much you got them for? Did you buy a whole set or just 2 for the front?

[Chris N]

I got the RE10s. The SO'3 size choices were sketchy. The 195/50/15 is too small and the recommended weight is off.The tire rack would not even sell them to me. As far as the 205/50/15 semmed like the best choice but i had a problem with that size once. I bought Nitto Extreme Performance tires in 205/50 and they sucked ass. Mad sidewall flex. Dont know if it was the tire or the size but my car handled horribly. So i got the RE10s after all the car was sold with them and thats the size it works best with or they would have used 205 in my opinion.

Problem with a size once doesn't mean that every 205/50-15 will have a problem.

Anyhoo, they will wear out much faster than the S-03's, but they are nice tires.

[Dave-ROR]

I got the RE10s. The SO'3 size choices were sketchy. The 195/50/15 is too small and the recommended weight is off.The tire rack would not even sell them to me. As far as the 205/50/15 semmed like the best choice but i had a problem with that size once. I bought Nitto Extreme Performance tires in 205/50 and they sucked ass. Mad sidewall flex. Dont know if it was the tire or the size but my car handled horribly. So i got the RE10s after all the car was sold with them and thats the size it works best with or they would have used 205 in my opinion.

Well we can't really say why Acura selected RE010's but we can guess that it's because of the NSX using them so other high performance lines/models should as well. It would be a Bridgestone because that's the only good tires Honda/Acura buys to my knowledge and in 1997 it was the most logical choice costwise. Also 205-50-15 RE010's are made special for NSX's.

We can also consider that stock wheels are 6" wide. Bridgestone suggests 195 width tires for 6" wide wheels and 6.5" for 205's. You can run 205's on 5.5-7.5" wheels and can run 195's on 5.5-7.0" wide wheels. The "suggested" is simply what they see as best and that's the size they use when measuring the tire's specs for publication.

Now, going on S-03's alone, the 205-50-15 has .4" more tread width when compared to the 195-50-15, however, that is when measured on a 6.5" wheel and not a 6.0" wheel like the stock ITR wheel. While I don't know anyone who's measured them on a 6.0" wheel it is logical that the true difference is probably closer to .2" or .3" more tread width. Yes, this is a decent amount. However, for a street tire will that matter? I'd have to say no.

The 195-50-15 is also 1lb lighter, not much, but just trying to state all the facts. Of course, that 1lb is farthest from the hub and thereofre will have a greater effect than a lighter wheel. It's also smaller of course so as I mentioned above the gearing will be slightly more agressive over the 205-50-15's.

S-03's also have EXTREMELY stiff side walls for a street tire. Nitto's in my experience have very soft sidewalls in comparison to other performance tires.

The RE010's are a VERY old design but they are still decent tires, I just think they need to be a lot cheaper now a days. For what it's worth, the tread width when measured on a 6.0" wide wheel is 6.8" for the RE010's which is .4" less than 195-50-15 S0-3's (also measured on a 6.0" wheel as mentioned above). The S-03's also last longer in my experience and have far greater wet weather handling/traction.

Tire Rack will sell you 195-50-15's they just have to confirm that you know what you could be getting yourself into, presumably for legal liability related issues. They still call me when I order 195-50-15's but the convo is usually very short now and usually lasts about 10 seconds.

So far I've only heard of one case where a blow out was blamed on 195-50-15 tires (they were not S-03's if I recall correctly either) and that was on a Civic Si. No one was even able to determine if the guy lost control or what happened but the tire was blamed simply because it was flat (pulled of the bead) after the car spun and IIRC rolled. Once asked for facts, tire info, pressures, etc none was provided. :shrug:

Tire's are a very important part of the car that relates to everything the car does, braking, acceleration, handling, ride quality, etc so research companies web sites, user impressions, etc before making a decision. For me, 195-50-15 S-03's are my selection and they've handled a lot of high speed potholes and a fairly high speed curbing without one blow out so far so I am a bit biased against the "they wont hold all the dynamic weight transfer of the Integra" theory.

[martyq2002]

I was hoping for some feedback on the SO 3 in 205/50/15 incase i want to get them .Do u have them in that size.If so how do they compare to the RE10. Thanx.

[martyq2002]

I got them for 123.00 a piece on tirerack. Thanx for all the input,guys.

[RGoose18]

So aside from all the bullshit, which is a better tire, the S-03 or the RE010's ? I need tires soon and would appreciate some input