Non-racy tires?

I don't know 'nuthin about 'em. Except for my truck which has Michelin LTX/AT2s, every other tire I have has been bought on the premise that it would get heat-cycled out.

The problem is my NA Miata (FM suspension, intake/exhaust, Team Dynamics 15x7s) has some really used up RT615s. They're getting incredibly harsh over pavement irregularities, scary in the wet, and losing grip by days. I can "drift", which shouldn't be possible with my power on 205s.

So, since I drive the car a lot I'm thinking I'll get so "regular" tires. I don't mind paying for quality, and I have a truck for snow. I'm getting a set of 8" wheels w/ summer rubber in the spring, so these will be for daily aggro-commuting and driving to events.

What do people buy?

there's a set of 185/55R14 Goodyear all-seasons on my Miata right now, and they seem to do quite well as far as commuting goes and they don't suck too terribly badly on track, although I know for a fact that it would go MUCH MUCH faster with better rubber (which is sitting in my garage, waiting for my 6ULs to show up). I say hop on over to tirerack and start looking for a high performance (that's the class of tire, I wouldn't go anything stickier than that) all seasons and sort them by best review.

I have Yokohama S-drives on my Miata. I find the reviews at Tire Rack are only somewhat helpful since most people only buy one set of tires. That makes it hard to say whether one tire is really better than another IMHO.

I've got Kumho Ecsta ASXs on my Miata, and I've liked them. They are getting to the point where I can drift them,too.

+1 for Kumho ASX.

I've got a set of cheapo Sumitomo's on my NA and they seem to be pretty good. A bit wild on snow, but I'm not sure any tire will chage that.

The Kumho ASX was by far one of the worst tires I've ever had. I switched to Falken ZE512s and never looked back. Doing 80 mph in the rain without so much of a twitch says a lot about a tire (ZE512). Doing 60 and wondering if you're going to get home says a lot too (ASX).

red5_02 wrote: The Kumho ASX was by far one of the worst tires I've ever had. I switched to Falken ZE512s and never looked back. Doing 80 mph in the rain without so much of a twitch says a lot about a tire (ZE512). Doing 60 and wondering if you're going to get home says a lot too (ASX).

I think you and i cancel each other out, then.

The Ziex 512/912 are the worst tires i've ever run on any car. I'd rather the E36 M3ty Nexen N5000s that i hate on my mazda than the 512/912s.

I know i may be in the minority there, but seriously... driving the Escort in the rain on it's 912s has some SERIOUS pucker factor. The car does not make enough power that it should be able to spin through 3rd gear under ANY conditions. Yet, it does.

I've cycled through several sets of tires between... 3 cars? recently, and have come to the conclusion, I cannot say enough good about the Star Specs.

I ran Dunlop SP 60's on my Jetta after the Azenis wore out halfway through a summer, and I can at least tell you the SP 60's are infinitely better in every situation aside from driving too fast on dry pavement, but I still did that, anyway. Oh, and they actually have treadlife.

My Fiesta came with Kumho Solus KH 25 tires. They have good grip, ride is good. Recently drove 400 miles in the rain at mostly 75mph. worked great.

I'll keep voting for Continental DW or DWS every time one of these threads comes up. I love 'em.

mndsm wrote: I've cycled through several sets of tires between... 3 cars? recently, and have come to the conclusion, I cannot say enough good about the Star Specs.

+1 on the Dunlop Star Specs. Very grippy, but do not know about longevity yet.

I put Yokohama AVID ENVigors on my 525i a few months ago. They've been considerably better than the Sumitomo HTR+4s that were on there before, and I expect them to last better as well, given that they have a 60k mile treadlife warranty.

I had Kumho ASXs on my Saab 9-5, and I've got their SPTs on my 2002. The latter seem considerably better than the former. I had very good experiences with Bridgestone 960s on my old 5 series.

By far the worst tires I've had were the horrific Avons I tried on the Saab when they first came out. Noisy, low grip, fast wear, poor ride quality: they had it all. Awful.

spritedriver28 wrote: I've got a set of cheapo Sumitomo's on my NA and they seem to be pretty good. A bit wild on snow, but I'm not sure any tire will chage that.

I have run Sumitomo summer tires with very good results and very good prices. Based on that experience I'd sure give them a try.

I'm running 245/40 Direzza Star Specs as my drive-to-event-plus-if-it-rains tires on the M3 - I've also got a staggered set of stock wheels w/ Michelin Pilot Sport SP2s, a set of 7.5" '95 M3 wheels w/ 235/40 Toyo RA1s and a set of 9" rims w/ 255/40 RA1s. I've got a set of Bridgestone RE01Rs in the garage.

The Star Specs are great, great tires but are nothing like an all season.

I'll probably buy a set of 8 or 9 inch 6ULs in the spring w/ R comps or Star Specs for autocross.

What I want now is the something that can be used in cold, wet weather - not snow - but which offers decent accuracy, turn in, and ride quality.

I'm not so concerned about tire life - I have a short commute and split my miles over 3-4 cars and a couple motorbikes.

I have a truck for when it snows, but if I get caught out and have to creep 5 miles in beginning snowfall I'd like the option. Star Specs in the snow are hilarious - I tried moving the M3 in the driveway last winter and it wouldn't budge on level terrain w/ 2" of snow.

I'm looking at Nitto, Kumho, Falken, Toyo, Bridgestone, all at about $60-75 a corner...

I've heard tell that for an a/s tire, the Nitto Neo Gen is actually pretty good, this coming from a friend with a set on his ms3. He hasn't switched to his winter set yet, and MN has already had piles of fun with snow and ice. I know, not the BEST idea- but seems to be working thusfar.

I was thinking Neo-Gens.

It's no dumber a name than "Kumho Ecsta Supra 712" or "Dunlop Direzza Z1- Sport Star Spec"

And the price is right. I thought I read something about how they're designed to be agressive-alignment friendly, which given the massive rear -camber on my NA, would be a good thing.

93celicaGT2 wrote:

red5_02 wrote: The Kumho ASX was by far one of the worst tires I've ever had. I switched to Falken ZE512s and never looked back. Doing 80 mph in the rain without so much of a twitch says a lot about a tire (ZE512). Doing 60 and wondering if you're going to get home says a lot too (ASX).

I think you and i cancel each other out, then. The Ziex 512/912 are the worst tires i've ever run on any car. I'd rather the E36 M3ty Nexen N5000s that i hate on my mazda than the 512/912s. I know i may be in the minority there, but seriously... driving the Escort in the rain on it's 912s has some SERIOUS pucker factor. The car does not make enough power that it should be able to spin through 3rd gear under ANY conditions. Yet, it does.

I agree with you. I've had a couple pairs of Ziexes and they're consistently the worst tires I've ever had. Contrast that with the set of ASXs I had where my only complaint would've been longevity (15k miles under a Mustang Cobra really isn't all that bad and they still had some life left in 'em at that point).

I usually get about 40k out of a set of ASXs, but on a much lighter car with maybe a quarter of the power.

1/4 the power of my wheezy NA Miata would be about 25 BHP on a cool, damp day at best...

motomoron wrote: 1/4 the power of my wheezy NA Miata would be about 25 BHP on a cool, damp day at best...

I was referring to the cobra. The last Celica i ran them on made 135bhp when it was brand new, god knows what it made after 250k miles.

Duke wrote: I'll keep voting for Continental DW or DWS every time one of these threads comes up. I love 'em.

Agreed. I have the DWS on my Protege5, and they're ten times better than the Bridgestones they replaced!