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

So I got these mounted up yesterday and took 'em for a quick drive.

Initial feeling is that they're really smooth and quiet compared to the OEM tires.   I had to run down the highway a bit, so I did about 20 miles of highway and 10ish miles of hilly back roads.  They seem to grip fine for normal driving, on ramps, etc.  I have them at 36 PSI.    I never got them upset or anything, but again, I only really had one decent onramp and no great twisty roads.

The 215s don't seem to really change the gearing appreciably, maybe noticeable a bit at the top of 1st and 2nd, but even on the highway setting cruise at 77 results in a 78 GPS speed.   Compare that to 78/79 on the old, nearly-on-the-wear-bars Potenza S001s, it's basically noise. 

Overall, seems fine for now.  I'm completely happy thus far.

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Sounds good. I'm planning to get mine ordered next week, and mounted the next when my indy has time in his schedule. If you have a chance to grab a photo from the side that shows how they fill out the wheel wells, I'd love to see it. Thanks.

02Pilot said:

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.

Sorry just saw this. Unfortunately I totaled the car and don't have access to it anymore. But I would say they were about to need replacement just due to shoulder wear. Maybe one more full track day remaining. I was wearing the outer shoulders due to lack of camber (stock ride height, camber maxed out to 1.8). They would last much, much longer as DD only tires without all the shoulder wear from track driving. 

I've had DWS in the past and loved them too. I loved them so much they are now my default SWMBO's car tire. 

I feel like this is the right place for this

"Good tires," machinenbau mused, casually lighting a cigarette, "but certainly not great tires."

sorry about your car, glad neither of you were hurt and so glad to hear you had the track insurance.  

02Pilot said:

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Sounds good. I'm planning to get mine ordered next week, and mounted the next when my indy has time in his schedule. If you have a chance to grab a photo from the side that shows how they fill out the wheel wells, I'd love to see it. Thanks.

Will do.  I should have the car oot and aboot this weekend, I'll try to grab a picture.  

WonkoTheSane said:

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.

We put DWS on the '18 Mazda 3 toward the very end of last year. I already think it's a relatively fun car to drive with the 2.5 in Sport mode, chucked it around a few cloverleafs, very acceptable grip for what we want out of them. And drove them in the snow in January or February. I had to try harder than I thought I would to get them to break loose. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

Yeah, not a problem - you've had other things to worry about. Sorry about the car.

Here we go:  DWSs on a dirty, dirty car:

Vs the day I bought it on the Bridgestones:

I don't know that it looks that much different...

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Doesn't look much different from stock to me - maybe a little bit fuller. Thanks for the photos.

Ordered the 215/45-17 DWS06s today - should have them on the car by the end of the week.

In reply to 02Pilot :

I think you'll be happy with them, it sounds like your use case is a lot like mine.  I drove down to DE from CT on mine yesterday, the ride was comfortable and easily quiet enough to make phone calls.  I still haven't managed to make them seem uncomfortable, and keep cornering sharper and faster with no complaints from them.   I'm totally happy for my use case still.

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Thanks for the feedback. They seem like just about the right mix of capabilities for the way I use the car.

Got the new tires mounted up this morning. Haven't driven much yet, so I can't really comment on performance. They do, however, have a bit more visual presence in the wheel well; it's more of a difference than I would have expected from just a 10mm jump in width.

02Pilot said:

Got the new tires mounted up this morning. Haven't driven much yet, so I can't really comment on performance. They do, however, have a bit more visual presence in the wheel well; it's more of a difference than I would have expected from just a 10mm jump in width.

That's because it's more like a 20mm jump.

The stock 205/40-17 S001 is really narrow for a 205...more like a 195.  Even a normal 205 looks massive by comparison.

In reply to Andy Hollis :

That makes sense. Just looking at them dismounted the difference was obvious.

In case anyone is wondering how ECS02 look for my (not a ND) daily driver, ;p FedEx delivered these yesterday. $600 US converted from arctic pesos, including 13% sales tax for 205/45/16. Doesn't feel terribly extravagant...

Time for a bump

I got a reminder that I hate my tires, they are Hankook's and they suck out loud in the wet.  But thankfully they are low enough in tread to not feel bad getting rid of them.  Primarily commuting, but fun commuting.  I just can't stand the tires feeling squirelly in the wet.

No plans to go substantially wider or taller for the tires, so I'll stick with the stock size and roll with whatever the size difference in manufacturer is.  I'm putting roughly 30k on the car annually, so mileage/treadwear is something to consider as well.

Looks like the Continental ECS02 is well liked by everyone in here, with the DWS in close second?  The DWS might be more suited for treadwear?

Others to consider?