street tires

[bio243]

i've been using yokohama paradas on 17 inch wheels. i've gotten pretty good performance out of them but i've gone through about 6 sets in the last couple of years and i can't afford to keep replacing them at this rate. i was wondering if any of you have any recomendations for a new street tire. i really don't like the idea of giving up the performance i have with the paradas, but i have to have more durability. i've heard good things about kumhos, so i am thinking about going with kumho ecsta supra 712s, but i'd like to hear what you guys have to say first, thanks.

[altiain]

No offense, but neither the Paradas (either Spec), nor the Ecsta 712s are going to be considered real performance tires. They may sell 'em that way in the tire shops, but about the only place where they might outperform a real performance tire would be in tread life.

I've used the Ecsta 712s on a previous car, and I'd rank them right up there with the Dunlop SP5000s I put on my wife's Accord - they're round, they're black, they hold air, they'll last for awhile, and they're cheap. Notice that I didn't mention performance in there at all.

If you want some real perforance, and are willing to give up some tread life and accept a very minimal increase in ride harshness in exchange for amazing dry traction and very good wet traction, then the Falken Azenis are probably your best bet. Let me put it this way - there is a reason why every Miata except one running on street tires at the last autocross was on Azenis - they really are that amazing. In fact, the fastest Miata of the day overall was on Azenis, beating out five Miata on real race tires.

If you're not interested in going to that extreme, then I would suggest reading up on the following tires at Tire Rack and the "Tires & Wheels" section of the pointy board (miata.net), and then deciding which one to try:

Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-DE
Toyo T1-S
Kumho Ecsta MX
Yokohama AVS ES-100
Bridgestone Potenza S-03

These five tires have different strenghts and weaknesses, but they do all share one common trait - they are real performance tires, designed to maximize dry and wet traction and provide the driver with the feedback he needs. Form follows function with these tires (as it should be), instead of function following form (as it does on the Paradas, where the primary design goal was to have "a cool-looking tread pattern".

[Treibenschnell]

I can speak for the AVS-ES100's, the Azenis, and the Pilot Sports... they are all great tires. For the Miata, the Azenis are the best bet. On my Passat, the Yoko AVS-ES100's are top notch... even beating out the Pilots when it comes to price and performance (IMO)!

[tailchaser]

For the rather interesting record, my current Azenises (2k street miles, 5 autocross events - 30 runs) are quiter and smoother than my 13k mile ES100s that have never been autocrossed... I got 11k miles combined out of the last set of Azenises (including 2 schools), and they got noisy with flatspots.

Get the Azenises. They rock!!!!

[POS Racing]

Get the Azenises. They rock!!!!

I agree! But do they offer a size that will fit your 17" rims? I've got a feeling they will not be as cheap as my 14" Azenis.

[bio243]

thanks guys....best (cheapest) place to get the azenis? can't seem to find 'em on tirerack

[POS Racing]

What size tire do you run?

225/45ZR-17"

[bio243]

i forgot to add one thing to all this...i'm poor...lol

[sammm]

i forgot to add one thing to all this...i'm poor...lol

Get the Azenis. You won't reget it! They are relatively cheap for what you are getting. They will grip, but they will wear fast as well. I got around 6K combined street and autocross (s)miles out of my first set. I'm going to Discount today to get new ones. They do great on dry, OK in the wet, but be careful with standing water. They will skitter like a stone across a pond.

Find the cheapest price you can online, take it to your local Discount Tire and make them beat it!

[bio243]

i typically run 205 40's or 215 40's, the 225's would be pretty big...my 215's rubbed when i had them up front, so i'm betting 225's will rub like crazy....the 225-40 17's run like 110 a tire. you guys probably have deeper pockets than me, but i want to reitterate the poor part. 110 bucks is a lot of money to me at the moment. anyway, thanks for your help guys, if anybody has anything else to add, i'm always open for good experienced advice. and when i get rich again (or a job for that matter) i'll start saving for azenis first thing. thanks

[BigDmiata]

here's another hint think about getting rid of the 17's unless you show your car alot. a good set of factory or lightweight aftermarket 14" or 15" wheels with azenis will be your best bet for all out performance.

[tailchaser]

15" Helium's are <$90 each at Discount Tire, and they're light.

[rx7gslse]

ok, the Azenis are cool... we all agree with that, but $110 for 6k miles I'd hardly call them an economical tire...

What is *rough* budget here?

The pradas you've been runing look to go for about $95 on tirerack.. I'd reccommend the ES100s in that price range form what I see.. The Kuhmo MX's are great tires too.. Stickier than the ES100's, but they aren't gonna last as long.

The FM901 is a half decent tire, probably 15k miles, but they're LOUD. I ran those on my P5 and wasn't all that impressed mainly due to that.

For even cheaper tires, the Summitomo HTR+ actually ain't half bad... They're like 60 some bucks each in 17s. Not as good as teh others, but better than most tires in that size/price range..

I know I'll probably get bashed on here for saying get anyting other than the Azenis, and even more so for saying if you like your 17s, stick with them.

Hey, it's your car :)

[tailchaser]

Dang... If I weren't so lazy, I could probably have looked up the name of those wheels that were on gslse's car and offered to sell you a set real cheap... Then it would be just tick-tick-tick of the clock until he showed up on my doorstep to beat my a$$.

[joe.MIATA]

For even cheaper tires, the Summitomo HTR+ actually ain't half bad... They're like 60 some bucks each in 17s. Not as good as teh others, but better than most tires in that size/price range..

I have these Sumitomo's on my celica. They've been on for about 4 years and 50,000 miles. They have been a great tire for a cheap, fairly grippy, all-season tire. They are getting a little noisy in their age but that is the only fault I have with them. I'd buy them again.

FYI- I just purchased new 15" azenis's's's for the miata today...

[altiain]

ok, the Azenis are cool... we all agree with that, but $110 for 6k miles I'd hardly call them an economical tire...

I know I'll probably get bashed on here for saying get anyting other than the Azenis, and even more so for saying if you like your 17s, stick with them.

Hey, it's your car :)

Nah, we won't bash you. We'll just change your name or your avatar or something and ridicule you.

As for how long Azenis last, lugnutjon is the king of tire killers (he once burned up a set of ES-100s in ~8000 miles, and bought six sets of tires a year for his old Camaro SS - 4 race sets and 2 street sets), and he managed to get 13,000 miles out of a set with a few autocrosses. That's not much less than what I manage ot get out of ES-100s.