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I recently went through the same experience in terms of replacing the wheels and tires on my 04 spa. After hours of reseaching on the net, talking to Tire Rach geru's, and two other tire distributors, as well as the owners of two performance and tuning business, I discovered on theing - Everyone thinks they are an expert expecially those on the net. This is not an attack on anyone responding in the thread because they are giving you great advice as to what has worked for them or placed on the car by the factory.
My car is lowered by 1" all around. Based on this fact and the that I use my car as a daily driver and enjoys track racing a few times a year, I elected to buy 18 inch rims all around. Some of the newer 18 " wheels made by Volks are lighter than the stock 17 " wheels. Another issue to consider is that the size of wheels and tires selected need to be coordinated to ensure that the original camber and design settings are maintained for purposes of performance handling, accuracy of speedometer, and no loss in speeds for each gear.
There are a lot of factors to consider: style, performance, durability, gripping abilitie, patch size, etc. Anyway, for what is is worth, I decided to exhange my stock 04 wheels for 18x8.0 F and 18x9.0 R. The tires I selected were the Bridgestone RE050A, 225/40-18 F and 255/35-18 R. In fact, these tire sizes for both the front and rear are identical to the tire sizes recommended by Comptech 18" wheels for the S2k. You can see this on Comptech's web site. Also, in another forum on tires, Jim at Tire Rack also recommended the same size of tires for 18" rims with identical widths for Fand R. Finally, after researching this issue, I called several owners of S2k's that had 16" rims which they normally race with, and others with 17" and 18" rims. A comparison of wieght of the 18" rims I purchased vs stock 17.5" rims indicated that the style of 18" weighed less than the 17" stock.
Since I do not like the looks of large sidewalls on tires combined with my desire to maintain a closer fitting appearance between the body of the car and the tire, these tire sizes with the rims selected will maintain the car's slightly lower profile will fit nicely with no rubbing even during hard cornering. Perhaps it should also be noted that I need a little wider tire in the rear since the engine in my spa generates over 400 rwh and having a wider tire and a corresponding wider tire patch helps a little more in preventing and recovering from tail spins, a common trait associated with these cars.
It is a hard process to determine your needs vs. desires vs. budget. For me, grip and performance is more important than longer life. Anyway, please remember that I am no expert in tires and this post is merely my effort to provide a different prospective to add to your research. I am by no means an expert, but thought I could provide a different viewpoint that might help.
Good luck in your search
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