Okay, I had my new rear tires (Potenza RE050A, 265/40/18) put on Friday at Les Schwab. They were trying to sell me this "Siping" deal for the tires. Basically its a process the puts razor fine cuts in your tread. They claim it produces better traction, cooler temps thus loger tire life plus other benifits that I can't recall at the moment. I passed but at almost $700.00 for 2 tires I thought I'd ask if anyone here has done this & what were their opinions?

Thanks!

 

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/sipe/

 

Thanks moog! So why would I want to do this to a high performance tire? would I see better traction & longer tire life? In theory it seems I should but the article doesn't mention fair weather at all.

 

I think the manufacturers for our High Performance Tires have already taking this into consideration in their R&D of our tires. I say, if the manufacturers haven't already incorporated it in their design, leave it as is. As the article stated, the shop has to consider the tread pattern in order to do this correctly. I say why risk it unless you know someone else first hand that has done this to the exact same tires as yours & has had no issues.

 

Did you put those on the factory 18x8.0 wheels???

 

?????

 

Nope I put them on OEM 18x8.5's. I upgraded to Track Ray's. I plan on going 245/40's on the front (18x8.0). I just couldn't justify replacing them now because the dealer gave me new ones less than 10k miles ago.

 

I was thinking about putting that size on my track wheels (going to get set of rears for the front), but they told me the most I could put would be a 255/40/18. How easy did the 265/40/18 go on? Do they bulg at all?

 

They look awesome and no bulge. I wanted to go 275 originally but that would have been too much and probably wouldn't have looked good.

I figured if I had 245's on my touring 18x8 wheels that 265's would be fine on 18x8.5's. And they are. I can't wait to get the 245/40's for the front! That is going to look great and the diff in handling will be a big plus too. Just adding the extra on the rear I can feel much better bite.

The size you can get will depend on the tire. I originally wanted Toyo's but could only get 275/40 or 255/40. Their 265's were only in 265/35's which was to low profile for me.

I ended up staying with the Potenza's just for the size. the RE050a's are very highly rated and I'm really liking them a lot so far. I'll try to get some pic's up for you later.

 

I would really appreciate some pictures. I wanted the 265/40 michelin PS2, but my tire guy said that they were to wide for the 18x8.5. I thought that they would fit good so I might go ahead and get the 265 instead of the 255. The 265 is closer to the stock diameter then the 255. I just don't want my tire to dismount from my wheel on the track.

 

Order them. The only reason I could think of is if they are "run flat" which have a much thicker sidewall and could be a problem for them to mount. My guy had a bit of a problem geting them to seat to the rim to take air but that was it. I'll do what I can to get pic's up sometime tomorrow.

 

Sounds good.

 

PM Sent.