[yamaot]

When I get this car, I am planning to switch the rear tire into a lower grade tire (a grade harder than the stock). Just the rear, but at same time remain the front one stock. Does anyone think there will be any problem (handling, stability) with this kind of setting?

The reason to do so is that I can have a longer tire life and i will feel more comfortable to smoke my tires.

thanks in advance

 

[RotaryBzzz]

ughh...well...if your whole goal is making a big cloud of smoke...go for it. If you other goal is keeping your IS planted on the road at speed...you might want to reconsider. Especially since the IS is rear-wheel drive. Your going to be going Tail-oh-so-happy.

If you goal is to keep down the tire costs by going with a higher density, lower cost tire...you don't need to put on the factory potenzas. Shop around... check out www.tirerack.com (i sound like a broken record eh?). See the price and specs of the tires they have listed. Don't be afraid to call the reps and tell them what your looking for or even requesting a catalog from them. Its VERY informative. You don't necessarily have to trade off traction and tire-life to get a good tire/versus cost. Shop around. Usually the non OEM tires like Yokohama A509 are a GREAT bargain for the handling they give vs. price. You could probably buy 2 BFG Euroradials (high performance tires) for 1 potenza RE___whateverthatis. Try to stay with the better brands ie. Dunlop, yokohama,....basically whatever they are using in amauteur racing gives you a good idea of price vs. performance bang for the buck. Seriously though....if you are interested in really learning and getting a non-biased tech guys opinion...call tirerack on their 800 number. Those guys know what their talking about....

 

[yamaot]

My purpose is to do some controlled drifting/power sliding. I heard if a tire is too sticky, it's hard to drift. Also it will obviously kill the tire very fast. So I am considering a harder graded tire for the rear, but at same time, I don't want to have unstable straight line performance. Any suggestions?

 

[Daniel]

If you want to drift, you may want to get tires designed for that. I know they have them in Japan, but I don't know about here. Also, changing only the rear maybe a bad idea because you will have alot more grip in the front and the result maybe excess oversteering car for the street.
One thing, the Potenza isn't that sticky, and it is possible to break them loose. I haven't done it in the corner yet (cause I am still not confident with myself yet), but I have done some peeling off on a straight without power braking.
Anyway, don't just change the rear, you may end up with a very loose car.

 

[yamaot]

Daniel,

That's exactly what i am afraid of - excess oversteering on street.

that's why i am thinking of a slidly less sticky tires in the back, but not a dramatic gap in between the front and the rear.

still, without trying, it's impossible to know what suits you better.....why don't they have 30 day return policy for tires

j/k

[This message has been edited by yamaot (edited December 12, 2000).]

 

[Daniel]

Actually, you can try this on the stock tires although I do want other people's input because I don't want you or anyone else to get in trouble.
Bascially, keep the front tire pressure at 33psi. Now, increase the rear to maybe around 36 or 37psi. You should start to loose the rear traction just a little bit. Not by much, but should be noticeable.
One thing you can try for you is to get the same tire but one size narrow, i.e. 205. You get less contact patch in the back, therefore less traction. But I don't think any reputable tire dealers will do that for you since they know it will cause the car to oversteer.
I think you should just leave the tire along and get used to the car first. Trust me, even with stock setting you can swing your backend out, but with the traction the tire has, it will allow you to save it alot easier than tires with less traction.

 

[yamaot]

thanks for the advise.

 

[Philharmonic]

YAMAOT - You might consider buying some USED tires, rather than spending the money buying harder-tred new tires. Shop around, you can find some very decent used tires for fraction of the cost of new ones... If you're lucky, you can find some that has about 5000+ miles left on the treds... then burn and drift all you want baby.

 

[SupraSport]

Originally posted by yamaot:
My purpose is to do some controlled drifting/power sliding. I heard if a tire is too sticky, it's hard to drift. Also it will obviously kill the tire very fast. So I am considering a harder graded tire for the rear, but at same time, I don't want to have unstable straight line performance. Any suggestions?

Hey man I give you props for what you want to do with your car. lol Nobody I know sets there car up for drift. My 2 cents is..well first your going to off the balance of the car, just remember that Toyota engineered and did extensive tests on the suspension and mixed and matched tires to make it handle a certain way. You will be setting your car up for major oversteer with hard compound in the back and soft in the front. But hey every driver has their preferance and some people love heavy oversteer, all in what you love and can control. This is all trial and error for you because everyone has a different feel on what they want..so you may be going through quite a bit of tires(owned my car for 2 years and ive had 4 different types of tires already). Also BECAREFUL, im sure you seen pictures of drift crews over in Japan..not one is in perfect looking condition, all the ones ive seen looks like they ate the curb a few times. Philharmonic has the best remark, buy a used set of tires..itll save you tons of cash. I went to a tire place just last month and scored big time on 255/40 17 BFG G-Forces. Over 90% tread and they let me have both of them for $100! They told me the previous owner upgraded to bigger rims and tires. G-Force KDs are hard core street performance tires that would of cost me over $500 for both brand new. Most of these places will sell performance tires for less then $50 each, all depending on tread wear. Good luck.

------------------
KP
94 6 speed
BPU

 

[SophieSleeps]

I have no problem drifting in my stock tires. If you go for harder tires, you're probably going to end up losing control. Take the IS out for a test drive without the salesperson. Find a clear area. I do mean clear, cause this car will do doughnuts in dry pavement. See what it can do. I'm pretty sure you won't want to get harder tires.