16" Tires: Bridgestone RE570 or Dunlop Direzza DZ102?

Bmachine

Bmachine

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I need to put some fresh rubber on my 16" Style 5 wheels (1 piece). Front fender is rolled so I think I can do the 225-50-16 all around. This way they can easily be rotated when needed.

I have a budget of maximum $500 all included (mounting, balancing, ship, tax, etc). I am looking for a good all arounder with special attention to dry handling, noise and comfort.

I found two good candidates based on the the reviews at TireRack:

Dunlop Direzza DZ102 from Tire Rack shipped to and mounted by a local shop.

Bridgestone RE570 from the local Costco.

I would be tempted to go for the Bridgestone but the thread design on that tire is very prominent and a little too "track tire" looking for the coupe.

When doing a search here I saw a few recomendations for the Conti Extreme DW. But those would be a bit above $500 all included.

Any thoughts on any of these combinations?

Thank you.
 
Bo,

you are a braver person than i am. i think you are going to get rubbing with that wide of tire - even with rolled fenders. do you have neg camber plates? the 225/50 tire is 9.2" wide / the 205/55 tire is 8.4" ... keep in mind the vertical dimension of these 2 tires (profile) is exactly the same size ... so they will look the same from the side

did you mean bridgestone 760? i had those on an audi a3 - pretty good tires, but they don't compare to the re050a which is on my 911 or the re11's on my coupe.

i would recommend that you look at continental extremecontact dw - 97.1 / 98 bucks a piece. these are great tires. talk to Chris Macha (HBChris) ... he has them on his coupe and loves them.
 
Thanks for the feedback Scott. Ive done several searches on the board on that subject and it seems that 225s have about a 50/50 chance of rubbing. It seems that it really depends on the width of the shoulder of the tire and how much the sidewalks bulge out.

In one thread, someone (forgot who...) was using 235s without issues while other had rubbing with 205s. Stan and his great white are running the 225s. So it seems to be a bit of a flip of the coin unless you know the "bulging" characteristics of the tire you are looking at.

But from what I read, it seems that, if it does rub in front, using 3mm spacers usually solves the issue.
 
Bmachine said:
Thanks for the feedback Scott. Ive done several searches on the board on that subject and it seems that 225s have about a 50/50 chance of rubbing. It seems that it really depends on the width of the shoulder of the tire and how much the sidewalks bulge out.

In one thread, someone (forgot who...) was using 235s without issues while other had rubbing with 205s. Stan and his great white are running the 225s. So it seems to be a bit of a flip of the coin unless you know the "bulging" characteristics of the tire you are looking at.

But from what I read, it seems that, if it does rub in front, using 3mm spacers usually solves the issue.
Click to expand...
Bo,

you need to keep in mind that Stan uses 225/60-14's which have a narrower contact patch / more rounded sides.

if you look at many people w/ 205/55-16's you will see that the outer edge is cut up. i know i have a minor cut, i know that Chris Macha has some minor cuts too.
 
My 205/55/16's rub after I put on the CN springs. Still need to roll the fenders or machine the wheel hubs down.
 
MyFemurHurts said:
My 205/55/16's rub after I put on the CN springs. Still need to roll the fenders or machine the wheel hubs down.
Click to expand...
i think the lowering springs make a great difference in how well the coupe drives, but this also creates the rubbing. as Murray used to say, the coupe requires rolling the fenders and the use of negative camber plates.

Bo, the question you need to find out is what wheels (diameter / offset / rim width) people have used with wider tires. for instance, with a 16" wheel, if you used a wider 225/50 tire on 7" et-11 wheels, that will put the tire .4" closer to the fender than the 205/55 as well as .4" closer to the strut. a spacer will put it even closer to the fender.

to keep the edge of the tire in the same place as a 205/55-16, and use a 225/50-16, you would have to use the 8" et-24 wheel. that would most likely rub on the front strut, the only way around that is to use coilover struts with 2.5" springs. this is only from a fit perspective ... i have no idea what wider fronts would do to handling balance.
 
16's

just to chime in, I have 225/50/16' on all corners, no rubbing, inner fender lips rolled tight. (-) camber plates front, adjustable camber/toe rear- rear sway bar delete, knock-off chinese alpinas, Bilsteins and CN springs. Ride is tight but a bit stiff.
 
Thanks Peter.

Out of curiosity, which tires are you running?
And do you have the staggered 7 / 8 Alpinas or is it a square setup?

Bo
 
Bmachine said:
When doing a search here I saw a few recomendations for the Conti Extreme DW. But those would be a bit above $500 all included.
Click to expand...

I just mounted Conti Extremes to my coupe, so I don't have a firm opinion yet; but so far so good. They are quiet which was the top thing I was looking for in a tire. I have Yokohamas on my other coupe and while they look better and perform very well, they are noisy. I paid around $500 for the Contis from TireRack, but with shipping the final tally was closer to $600 IIRC.
 
same on all 4

So here are some shots of the tires they are 225/50/16 Firestone/Firehawk. I was much more trying to get fitment at the time than performance but I do like them. As I mentioned below, grip is very good but ride can be a bit "harsh"; I put that up to the Bilsteins, CN springs and the 16 in. wheels more than the tires. I also have (-) camber plates front and adjustable rears. Hope this helps.
 

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