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.