will probably need new summer tires this year for my 07 g35s, so i've been looking around and see that the OEM tire (potenza re050a) are quite expensive! $940 on tirerack.com!

they also have the Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position for almost half the price as the re050a's.

anyone have any experience with the pole positions?

are there any other, less expensive, tires that would be a good alternative to the OEMs?

 

Check out Michelin Pilot Super Sport. Honestly the highest rated summer tire currently on the market. I have had them on my 08 6MT sedan and now on my 13 XS sedan and the tires themselves feel like a mod. Crazy impressive handling, smoothness like a luxury car, and the wear REALLY well for a summer tire.

Check them out. They are worth the extra cost. Same tire family that the Bugatti Veyron comes with. Good enough for a $1million dollar car, it is good enough for my G!

 

I know its not a summer only, but the Pirelli P6 4 Seasons are the best i've had on my G. Quiet, sticky, wear good thus far as well

 

Those Pilot Super Sports are really good, a tire easier on the budget but still a very good dry & wet performer are the Toyo Proxes T1Sports, I'd give them a look~
http://www.treaddepot.com/group/prt1s.html

 

If you do some research those bstones...^...have a very low UTQG (wear factor) which won't get you more than 10K miles of wear...my experience!
I only use Michelins, remember "Your life may depend on what's between you and the road!" Over the past 20 years I run all the best brand tires on the market, Michelins are the only ones that never let me down!
Gary

 

Another vote for Michelin Pilot Super Sports. But don't take my word for it. Read the test results from Tirerack and Consumer reports. Also take a look at the list of cars that use these as original equipment. I have mine on 18's, I think 19s would be a good choice too.

 

I had Pole Positions on my old Nissan Altima SE-R and they were a blast! Super sticky and fairly good wet traction as well. Only got about 20-25k miles on 'em, tho.

 

My only experience with other summer tires, whether Hankook, Falken, Bridgestones etc always lead to quicker wear and a lot more noise than the super sports.

Another tire to check out is the Nokian Z-Line. It isn't as extreme as the Super Sport but has better wet traction and feels more 'luxurious'. rolling down the road. It is also a low rolling resistant tire and cheaper than the Super Sport. Performance wise it is rated pretty highly as well.

My friend has these on his A4 and loves them. He drives pretty hard as well.




But my vote is still for the Super Sport. It is the tire created by god as it does so many things well.

 

I have a PSS siting in my garage waiting to be mounted. But for the price of potenza re050a on tirerack, I would definitely go with PSS instead.

Even the re050a is much better than my old set of Falken 912/512 ...

I wonder if PSS is too "expensive" for track use? Or I should go with something cheaper and save for PSS for every day driving.

 

I remember the days of me being a cheap *** with tires... i had a set of Falken FK452s. POS tires wore out in 10k miles and were so incredibly noisey any time I took my dad for a spin he demanded I get my wheel bearings checked out.

Thank god that ship has sailed and I have come to my senses haha.

As far as PSS on the traction, the tires hold up surprisingly well. You would have to have a LOT of track time to eat them up. Maybe try one and see how they fair with your car and then decide from there. You will enjoy that tire a lot more on the track.

 

the nokian's don't seem to come in 225/50/18, which is the size i need for the fronts.

 

Once the 452s start wearing, they're super noisy. The 2 sets I had in the past did the exact same thing. Never again.

For an all-season high performance tire, the Hankooks are hard to beat.

 

I have the Michelin Pilot Super Sports on my coupe and absolutely love them. I'm on my second set for the front after 14k due to extreme camber wear, but that was caused by worn out bushing. The rear look great. These aren't the cheapest but you get a lot of band for you're buck as far as performance is concerned.

 

The super sport are well rated tires all around, but if cost is a big concern there are a lot of other tires you can consider. If you are willing to give up traction and driving "feel", then you can check out tires in the max performance category from other brands, like the kumho le, hankook v12, sumitomo htrziii. If you are willing to give up mileage and comfort for more performance you can look at the tires in the extreme performance category, like the hankook r-s3, toyo proxes r1r, or dunlop zii,

If you are talking about road track, the PSS are just about average or on the bottom end. You won't see many people at or below max-performance. Quite a few people run PSS, but that's about it. If you are talking about drifting events, then yeah, you probably want to get some used crap econo-tires on there. Makes it easier to drift too. Easier to control with econo-tires.

Edit: forgot to mention to OP. If cost is a big concern and traction is less of a concern, then you may want to consider tires in other categories with less traction and significantly longer tire life, like the ultra high performance, or high performance or grand touring categories. (progressively less traction and more tire life)

 

How is the wet rating on the PSS's? We get 40-60" of rain around here in the spring and a small portion of my commute goes through a forest (covered in morning dew).

I am seriously interested in these as my shifty Falkens make it seem like all my wheel bearings are going bad (when i swap this spring anyways, on Bridge Blizzaks right now [quiet as a mouse]).