So, is there any tires left in 14" for a spirited street driven Miata?

Or do I really need to step up to 15"? I don't need 100% performance but I don't care much about noise, and it's not driven year round. Any suggestions for affordable summer tires?

Get the 15s. :)

Star Spec

This was going to be of interest to me, since I have a spare set of e30 bottlecaps, and I was thinking well heck, they must be pretty light, maybe I'll see if there are good 14" auto-x tires to mount.

Then it turns out that the bottle caps are about 14 lbs each.

Never mind...

This was going to be of interest to me, since I have a spare set of e30 bottlecaps, and I was thinking well heck, they must be pretty light, maybe I'll see if there are good 14" auto-x tires to mount.

Then it turns out that the bottlecaps are about 14 lbs each.

Never mind...

(double post, how'd I do that!)

nderwater wrote: Star Spec

I'm with this guy.

Falken RT615Ks are available too.

If you seek cheap summer performance tires you're probably out of luck, of what's cheap in 185/60R14 I think the H rated General Altimax RT43 is probably your best bet.

I like the way these cars feel on 14s better than on 15s.

14" are dying out in performance tire range - even worse in the vintage cars that use narrower tires. There is maybe one choice in a decent tire for MGBs these days, if you like sticky.

I am generally against the increase in rim diameters for looks, but going up one inch isn't going to harm handling if you are looking for good rubber. If the increased unsprung weight bothers you, buy lighter rims. It's a good trade off.

I'd really most like to stick with the 14 as I love the look of oem wheels. Aftermarkets always eventually look dated. Back in high school I thought chrome three spoke wheels were the height of coolness. But some Koenig rewinds or similar in 15 inch may be acceptable...

Thanks for the ideas guys

joey48442 wrote: I'd really most like to stick with the 14 as I love the look of oem wheels. Aftermarkets always eventually look dated. Back in high school I thought chrome three spoke wheels were the height of coolness. But some Koenig rewinds or similar in 15 inch may be acceptable... Thanks for the ideas guys

Mazda made a whole bunch of OEM Miata wheels in 15 :)

This is accurate

If you don't mind that they get skittish when it's colder than 40 degrees, and you're not going to get more than 25K miles of tread life, then Star Specs. That's what I'm running on a fair-weather daily driver/autocross car.

According to my bathroom scale, a 185/60R14 Star Spec mounted on a 14"x5.5" factory Miata alloy wheel (daisy) weighs 29.5 lbs.

Depending on how daily driven it is have you given any thought to running race take offs. Way back when I raced a showroom stock Miata I daily drove it as well. When the tires did there last heat cycle I'd be lazy and leave them on the car till the following weekend when I'd put the street tires back on. You could check with a place like John Berget tire..

Yokohama also makes the S.Drive in 185/55/14. A bit on the short side, but not bad.

Another vote for star specs. Mine have 2 summers (19 events) of autocross and (2) HPDEs on them +20k miles. They've got just enough life to get through the first 1-2 or so cold events this year then pop on whatever's ranked highest (I also have some 15s now as I'll put some all seasons on the stock 14s) of this years tires.

How do Star Specs hold up to HPDE track days?

Very well. On our Lemons Civic the star spec is currently our favorite tire as it lasts much longer than the AutoX specials like the re71r and grip almost as well. We get 3 full race weekend out of them (18+ hours per weekend, about 2800 track miles) typically, unless on a cheese grater track like CMP. They hold up well and of get overheated come right back after backing off just a bit.

bluebarchetta wrote: If you don't mind that they get skittish when it's colder than 40 degrees, and you're not going to get more than 25K miles of tread life, then Star Specs. That's what I'm running on a fair-weather daily driver/autocross car. According to my bathroom scale, a 185/60R14 Star Spec mounted on a 14"x5.5" factory Miata alloy wheel (daisy) weighs 29.5 lbs.

I do drive in the cold... I only park the Miata when they salt the roads. So the potential for cold drive is there. What about the dz102? Quite cheaper, but not the performance tire the star spec is

If you like to drive it in the cold, get a set of 15s for Star Specs, etc. and throw some kind of all seasons on the 14s for use in the coldest months.