ND Miata: Time for tires - preferred size for street use?

Probably overthinking this, but since it's the first time putting tires on the Miata and there's a lot of experience with them here, I figured I'd ask. Is it best just to stick with the stock 205/45-17, or bump it up gently? I went up 10mm from stock on my 128i, and I like the look of the wheel wells filled in a bit more, but it's lowered and stiffened and purposeful; the Miata is stock except for sway bars, and I don't want to take the playfulness out of it. Street use only, stock wheels only, no need for maximum stickiness, longevity matters to a point. Probably going to end up with something like the Conti DWS 06 Plus or Michelin Pilot Sport A/S4 (if there's a deal on them).

If you like your grip levels but want to fill out the wheel wells, maybe some spacers?They've become a lot more common for aesthetic purposes.

I have both of the tire models you're thinking of, but for my MINI. Either is a good choice. My ND has 17x8 wheels and 225 Continentals and handles perfectly. I have noticed that various mounted 205 tires in my tire rack are different widths, despite the same nominal sizing, and the OE Bridgestones for the Miata are the narrowest. Almost any other 205 will be a bit wider and a 215 would be fine, in my estimation.

I had not considered spacers. It looks like about 20mm would bring the tires out right to the edge of the wheel wells (maybe 25 in back) with the stock setup, but that feels like a lot; I'd worry about additional stress on the wheel bearings. If I went that way I'd probably go for 10-15mm. Any handling downsides from the wider track?

I know the Contis are well-liked here, and they'd probably be my first choice. It certainly looks like there's plenty of room for 215s, and probably more. You're right about tread width; the stock tires are 6.5", the Contis 6.7", and the Michelins 7". Something to consider for sure.

Happy to chime in because I just went through this exercise about 6 months ago. Never cared for the skinny-ness of the stock 205s and their failure to sit flush with the edge of the fender, so I bumped up to 215/45 on my RF. I am convinced that slight width change made all the difference, visually speaking- car looks so much better and should've come stock with 215s IMHO, and they provide a bit more rim protection around town.  Also didn't see much change in calculated mpg either, FWIW

215/45 was my first thought. The Contis are 7.1" tread width in that size, which seems like a nice little bump.

Stock size is fine on stock rims.  The OE S001 tires are super skinny for a 205.  The trouble with 215's is you lose a little gearing.  I find it noticeable.

Do you have any need for snow/sloppy use?  If not, Conti ECS02 is your droid.  Just finished up a test on them.  Incredible.  Will work in ambients down to the 20's or so.

No need for snow use - the car is parked for the winter. I was leaning toward the DWS 06 because of tread life more than anything else (50k mile warranty vs 30k for the ECS). For my use (no track, no autox, potentially long road trips) I was thinking I might not be giving up a lot - am I wrong? And I suppose some sort of snow capability would have been good for peace of mind at least when I was driving through the Bighorns a couple years ago and got caught in a June snow squall.

02Pilot said:

No need for snow use - the car is parked for the winter. I was leaning toward the DWS 06 because of tread life more than anything else (50k mile warranty vs 30k for the ECS). For my use (no track, no autox, potentially long road trips) I was thinking I might not be giving up a lot - am I wrong?

"Life is too short to drive on all-season tires"

Andy Hollis said:

Stock size is fine on stock rims.  The OE S001 tires are super skinny for a 205.  The trouble with 215's is you lose a little gearing.  I find it noticeable.

Do you have any need for snow/sloppy use?  If not, Conti ECS02 is your droid.  Just finished up a test on them.  Incredible.  Will work in ambients down to the 20's or so.

 

I'm on my 2nd car with Conti ECS..........the ECS02 came out just a month or two after my wheels/tires were fitted. 

I put 215/45 ECS on my ND Miata two years ago. I track it and DD it that way, and so far still have plenty of tread left. I haven't noticed the gearing effect, but I am also not Lewis Hamilton. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

How many miles have you put on the ECS over those two years?

Given your use case, I would recommend the Hankook Ventus V12 evo2 K120 that I have on my RF for DD use. Much cheaper than most 200TW tires but still a decent performance summer tire, I've had several sets on various vehicles over the years and always been happy with them in the wet and dry

In reply to 02Pilot :

12k miles but it's actually only been 18 months, and about 8 track night events and 2 full track days plus some autocrossing. They seem to wear pretty well at the expense of pace. They are definitely not comparable with the pace of 200TW tires but they're good for my casual usage. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

Any chance you could measure the tread depth on those? I don't doubt that the ECS is a great tire, it's just that with zero expected track time, and the real possibility of another 5k+ mile road trip, it seems a bit extravagant to buy such a high-performance tire that might only last half as long as the DWS06.

I have the ECS on the Boxster. I get about 45k out of the front and 30k out of the rear.  
That includes one track day, frequent canyon runs and daily commuting. Grip is excellent wet or dry. I've driven in the cold and they're fine but I wasn't bold enough to find the limits. 

In reply to 02Pilot :

I have an older version of the DWS on my MINI and they'll age out well before they wear out. There's probably 30k miles on them and lots of tread left, but they're about 8 years old.

DWS on the left vs the OEM Miata Bridgestone on the right. You can see the width difference and both are 205s. DWS is a 205/50/16.

The DWS does look a lot more square than the OE tire; I'm sure the ECS is even moreso. The treadwear question is what's giving me pause on the ECS, but who knows how many miles I'll manage to put on in the next few years (I did 10k/year in the first two years of ownership). This is enough of a conundrum that I might have to resort flipping a coin. I've looked into the spacers that Keith mentioned earlier, and those are tempting from an aesthetic perspective as well. This question has occupied more mental bandwidth than I anticipated.

02Pilot said:

The DWS does look a lot more square than the OE tire; I'm sure the ECS is even moreso. The treadwear question is what's giving me pause on the ECS, but who knows how many miles I'll manage to put on in the next few years (I did 10k/year in the first two years of ownership). This is enough of a conundrum that I might have to resort flipping a coin. I've looked into the spacers that Keith mentioned earlier, and those are tempting from an aesthetic perspective as well. This question has occupied more mental bandwidth than I anticipated.

What'd you end up with, 02?  I'm going to be ordering new tires this week and I was planning on Contis, but I'm in the same boat as you.   This ND is my daily driver, drive to customers sites, etc.  I have a dedicated track car, and the ND will (likely) never be on track in the current incarnation.

Also, the reason I'm replacing the OEMs already is because I broke a rim in an early season ice/snow storm the week before I planned to put on snow tires, so a little bit more of cold/wet resistance wouldn't hurt.  

I was planning on going for the 215s to lose a little gearing, as 70%+ of the time, this car has cruise on set at 78.  A few less RPMs in 6th wouldn't be bad, compared to the <1% of the time it's accelerating at full throttle.

For all of those reasons I was leaning towards the DWS.  I did notice that the TireRack price for the ECS02s is $187 for the 205 vs. $205 for the 215s, though... 

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Nothing yet - too many other things taking priority. Still leaning toward the DWS. I will update when I make a decision; if you jump before I do, please let me know what you choose.

02Pilot said:

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Nothing yet - too many other things taking priority. Still leaning toward the DWS. I will update when I make a decision; if you jump before I do, please let me know what you choose.

Copy that.  I'm leaning heavily towards the DWS as well... It does violate my fundamental law of summer tires for fun cars thing, but the reviews on TR don't seem to separate them from the ECS by that much.

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

I did also look into the spacers that Keith mentioned, and I like that idea as well. I saw some photos of cars with stock-sized wheels and 15mm front/20mm rear spacers, and it really does make a positive cosmetic difference. I'm considering them, but they do add significantly to the price of the job (over $200 for a quality ND-specific set)

02Pilot said:

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

I did also look into the spacers that Keith mentioned, and I like that idea as well. I saw some photos of cars with stock-sized wheels and 15mm front/20mm rear spacers, and it really does make a positive cosmetic difference. I'm considering them, but they do add significantly to the price of the job (over $200 for a quality ND-specific set)

Eh, I just rolled the dice on a set of 215/45r17 DWS.   We'll see how they do for me :)   I don't care that much about cosmetics to invest $200 in spacers, or the time to make 'em myself...

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Keep us posted. I'm aiming for the last week of March to get the job done, so any info (and photos) between now and then would be appreciated.