Del Val Miata Club

Serving Miata Owners in the Delaware Valley Region

Tires

  • October 30, 2017 10:41 AM
    Message # 5450975
    Deleted user
    Good morning ,

    I have an '07 MX5GT with the 17" wheels and I have 62000 miles on the original Hankook tires.. Which have been fine until now when they have gotten absolutely horrific in the rain .  I am looking for recommendations for high performance tires that will also give me a semblance of safety in the wet. I have considered perelli, michelin, Dunlop But I would really like to hear from anyone who has had experience with any of these high performance tires on Miatas on wet ground.

    Thanks in advance for your help. 

    Joe 

  • October 31, 2017 8:49 AM
    Reply # 5465900 on 5450975

    If you use the car as a daily driver, summer and winter, I would suggest you consider a good high performance all-season tire.  There are quite a few of them on the market.  Tire Rack recommends NOT driving on summer-only tires when ambient temps are below 40 degrees.  Plus, I believe all-season tires will certainly out perform summer-only tires in the rain.

    Last modified: October 31, 2017 8:50 AM | Neil Tusing
  • October 31, 2017 9:53 AM
    Reply # 5466562 on 5450975
    Anonymous wrote:Good morning ,

    I have an '07 MX5GT with the 17" wheels and I have 62000 miles on the original Hankook tires.. Which have been fine until now when they have gotten absolutely horrific in the rain .  I am looking for recommendations for high performance tires that will also give me a semblance of safety in the wet. I have considered perelli, michelin, Dunlop But I would really like to hear from anyone who has had experience with any of these high performance tires on Miatas on wet ground.

    Thanks in advance for your help. 

    Joe 

    Joe,

    Seems to me you got good use from the Hankooks. 62,000 miles is pretty good. Maybe they lost their rain performance somewhere at high 50,000 mile mark or at 60,000. I have a few cars some I race some are street cars, these include Miata's, Vette's and Porsche's. Other then my track tires I don't use the same tires on multiple cars including the other non-sports cars I own. I try and find the specific tire I think will be best suited for that specific vehicle. It's odd that I rarely if ever find the same tire for more then 1 car other then my track cars.

    I research all over the place and look at reviews and speak with other people and try and find reviews by professional drivers. Aside from the driver, tires  are the single most important  element of the car. It's what keeps your car sticking to the road surface and keeps the car going where you want it to go. If you consider that only 4 rubber patches (contact patches)about the size of a large cell phone is all that keeps your car responding to your commands. people greatly under estimate tires.

    You need to 1st decide what kind of driving you'll be doing. Will it be warm weather only, will it be year round regardless of snow and other challenging conditions. 

    If this is a daily driver including snow you may want to consider 4 snows all around or at the very least 4 good all weather tires. Warm weather only, then a warm weather tire, if you like to hear your tires squealing in the corners then maybe a more performance oriented tire. You may want to consider 2 sets of tires. Cold weather winter use and warm weather performance use.

    As Neil suggested try Tire Rack (other tire sellers now have similar reviews as Tire Rack) and look at the reviews on tires you're considering.  I consider reviews only from people with same or similar cars to me, similar parts of the country. I don't look at reviews from Ca or Az or Fl. Only those who experience the same weather conditions as me and only those with a minimum of 5000 miles on their tires driven in same conditions as me and similar style. I also look at reviews/specs made by the tire mfg.

    I've had good results using the following tires on various cars: Bridgestones, Continental Extremes, Toyo Proxe's, Yokahama AD08. Bottom line is you need to do a lot of research to find the tire you'll like best. Lastly, another factor aside from mileage on a tire is age. All tires are date coded. A tire with lots and lots of tread but 5 years or older may look good, but has lost it's ability to perform the job it was intended to do because the rubber compound is no longer flexible, or the tire has begun to develop little cracks and splits. Some you can see on the side walls but it may have deteriorated even more on the inside where you can't see it. If you have an older tire but it still shows lots of tread it may be time to consider replacing  those tires.

    I routinely check my tires for any damage and make sure they are all properly inflated, where possible I've deleted or removed the TPMS, I really don't like those things. I just check my tires visually all the time and with a guage at least once every month and before setting off on a long drive.

    Sorry I went a bit overboard on this response, but I'm a nut when it comes to tires.

    Last modified: October 31, 2017 9:59 AM | Anonymous member
  • October 31, 2017 1:55 PM
    Reply # 5470428 on 5450975
    Deleted user

    To Neal and Mr. West ..

    Thank you both for your response. I am also a fanatic about my tires. I do believe that since there is only a small number of square inches of my vehicle touching the ground that that must be the most important point .  I started off in the sixties with an alfa Giulietta , A duetto , An old GTV , And the GTV6 All of which Performed  spectacularly with different models of perelli Tires in the warm weather Switching to Bridgestone's Or michelin in the wet depending on The car .The problem is this is my 1st Mazda And although the Hankooks were adequate.. your assumption is correct that it has been about 7 or 8000 miles that the wet weather  Performance has been starting to become unacceptable . Eventually when I have had it for a while I will more than likely wind up with Winter tires and summer tires but for now I think the ticket is an all season and most of the response I'm getting from friends leans towards the michelin AS3 .. The only problem  is none of them drive mazdas. The closest is my brother's Honda S2K . Curious now to see if anyone has driven The NC with the michelin AS3? And was the experience positive or negative ?

    Thank you both again for your input ..anything additional anyone would like to throw in there would also be greatly appreciated.

    Joe

    PS ..I will admit that the screeching of a high performance tire through a couple of hairpins will absolutely raise my blood pressure, my heart rate will definitely go up about 20 points .. And the smile certainly takes a while to fade. ; )



  • November 03, 2017 8:27 AM
    Reply # 5514494 on 5450975
    Deleted user

    Good morning 

    Just an update.. I landed up buying the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ W..for an all season tire these are pretty impressive I must say .  My NC has become a whole new animal ..Thank you for your input as always.

    Joe

  • November 04, 2017 5:21 AM
    Reply # 5527879 on 5450975

    Joe

    Glad it worked out for you

    Morris 

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