Yesterday I finally got my TSW Nurberbrings 21x9" front, 21x10" rear with Hankook V12s in 245/35/21 front and 285/30/21 rear. Sorry no pictures yet. Just haven't had a chance to do it. Thanks to many on this board who have helped with important info that was essential in getting this mostly right.
Many may be aware that I have been pretty vocal about suspension slop in my P85 with air suspension compared to a similar P85 without air suspension (exact same tires and rims as mine) and a P85+ with air suspension (both of which I have driven for several days here in CA).
Well, the short of it is that this wheel tire setup had a much bigger positive impact than I expected.
The most notable issue with the stock 21" setup was when accelerating hard out of a corner. There was always a major clunk, momentary lunge and instantaneous loss of power all of which totally destroyed the feel of cornering under power and took the wind out of the cornering longitudinal attitude and the acceleration. In short, it destroyed the potential thrill big time when trying to punch it on an on ramp with a turn :-(
Those of us who have driven performance cars on a track know that exiting the apex of the turn is key to lap times and the delivery of power during the process is the tool the driver has at his/her disposal. Solving this fundamental flaw is key.
The feeling is totally different now. Definitely not at the level of the P85+ but the significant increase in rear width (and probably the stiffer tires; I had the 21" contis) smoothes out the awkwardness and delivery of power to the point that it is actually exciting (like I always thought it would be). Furthermore, it is now possible to dial in over steer which was previously not possible because the traction control or stability control (not sure which) would just kill the power making it impossible to "dial" anything but slowness and heavy-handed under steer.
That was the good news. The bad news is that I am getting a little bit of rubbing on the front tires when in reverse with the steering wheel all the way cranked to one side. I had heard of others having this same issue with the Hankooks in OEM size like this even on standard 21" rims so not sure what to do about it. I think I am going to live with it for now and move to PS2s when these tires wear out. I expect performance to be even better at that point.
And, of course, it is nice to the know that the rear 285s fit with no rubbing and work flawlessly. I can't believe how much better this car looks with wider rear tires. The 245s just look wrong on such a wide heavy car, especially when cruising lowered on the highway (I live in the CA bay area so I see more MSes than Priuses on the highway). This was always the comment that my 20-somthing sons would make when admiring the beauty of my model S -- "if only the rear tires were not so narrow"...
I should also say that the Sunnyvale Service Center was super helpful and got the new TPMS sensors paired within minutes of my arrival at their store. Lots of positive comments by the staff about the wheel and tire setup as well.
Anyway, just wanted to share my initial feedback. Pictures to follow.
Many may be aware that I have been pretty vocal about suspension slop in my P85 with air suspension compared to a similar P85 without air suspension (exact same tires and rims as mine) and a P85+ with air suspension (both of which I have driven for several days here in CA).
Well, the short of it is that this wheel tire setup had a much bigger positive impact than I expected.
The most notable issue with the stock 21" setup was when accelerating hard out of a corner. There was always a major clunk, momentary lunge and instantaneous loss of power all of which totally destroyed the feel of cornering under power and took the wind out of the cornering longitudinal attitude and the acceleration. In short, it destroyed the potential thrill big time when trying to punch it on an on ramp with a turn :-(
Those of us who have driven performance cars on a track know that exiting the apex of the turn is key to lap times and the delivery of power during the process is the tool the driver has at his/her disposal. Solving this fundamental flaw is key.
The feeling is totally different now. Definitely not at the level of the P85+ but the significant increase in rear width (and probably the stiffer tires; I had the 21" contis) smoothes out the awkwardness and delivery of power to the point that it is actually exciting (like I always thought it would be). Furthermore, it is now possible to dial in over steer which was previously not possible because the traction control or stability control (not sure which) would just kill the power making it impossible to "dial" anything but slowness and heavy-handed under steer.
That was the good news. The bad news is that I am getting a little bit of rubbing on the front tires when in reverse with the steering wheel all the way cranked to one side. I had heard of others having this same issue with the Hankooks in OEM size like this even on standard 21" rims so not sure what to do about it. I think I am going to live with it for now and move to PS2s when these tires wear out. I expect performance to be even better at that point.
And, of course, it is nice to the know that the rear 285s fit with no rubbing and work flawlessly. I can't believe how much better this car looks with wider rear tires. The 245s just look wrong on such a wide heavy car, especially when cruising lowered on the highway (I live in the CA bay area so I see more MSes than Priuses on the highway). This was always the comment that my 20-somthing sons would make when admiring the beauty of my model S -- "if only the rear tires were not so narrow"...
I should also say that the Sunnyvale Service Center was super helpful and got the new TPMS sensors paired within minutes of my arrival at their store. Lots of positive comments by the staff about the wheel and tire setup as well.
Anyway, just wanted to share my initial feedback. Pictures to follow.
