Bridgestone960/Nittos420S on Stock Rims

[JohnE]

Just upgraded my tires for a tremendous improvement. Had stock BFG front and General 255/55R18 in the rear when I got this car. Was not impressed. I've been running RE960's on my other cars with great success for a while and finally figured a way to try them on the Marauder too.
Went to Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position 245/45R18 (100W) up front and Nitto NT420S 255/50R18 (106V) in the back.

I have no issues with traction control or ABS with this setup. Only needed to change the tire ratio setting to 740 from stock 723 rev/mi to correct the speedometer.

The car actually takes pot-holes better with these higher quality tires, even though the sidewalls are shorter. The handling and grip is a substantially improved.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/592/MarauderTires960-420S.jpg
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/592/medium/Nitto420S-255-50R18.jpg (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/17287)
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/592/medium/Brig960AS-245-45R18.jpg (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/17284)


John

[JohnE]

Thought I'd report back on this combination. Bottom line is that these tires really works well!


The front Bridgestone tires are amazing on the street. They provide excellent steering response and amazing grip. The wet traction is outstanding! Turning and braking are well taking care of.


The Nitto rear tires are a little slippery when cold. Don't get me wrong, they provide far greater traction than the stock tires. Where these excel is on the race track, running them to their limits. Once warmed out, they grip well.


So far I've replaced the fronts once and still running the same rears. After two different days running the car to its limits on a race track, the fronts melted/wore down. The outside edge of the Nitto's have a bit of wear, but 75% of the tread is still good. The fronts were a casualty of hard braking and tight turns.



John

[JohnE]

Here is what the outside front and rear tires looked like after the first track day.