15" tyre advise to handle a power increase on an SE

StillIC · Postby **StillIC** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:23 pm

I have never dríven on RE003, but I have dríven on RE002 in 205/55/15, and they were the closest thing to a race tyre I have ever felt from a street tyre. They were great.

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:40 pm

I forget what wheel width you have but I use Hankook RS3, 225/45 15

chrons_rotary · Postby **chrons_rotary** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:12 am

I bought some Federal 595RSR tyres that were replaced with 595RS-RR recently in 205/50-15, and I believe they are a very good tyre for their price.
Bought mine for about $135 a tyre.
With the smooth torque delivery that Dann normally tunes for, you can get through most of 1st gear without wheel spin. (Was running about 260whp)
I chose NT01 for race tyres on separate wheels for the track.

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 3:46 pm

I can also voucher for RE003's for a street tyre. Even pushed on the track they were fantastic and well beyond my expectation. Oodles of grip, unlike the KU31 I have on my other rims.

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 11:23 am

that's for the replies. I contacted jax tyres and their buy 4 and you pay for 3 tyres ends this month. I ordered the bridgestone 003 which worked out at $510 for the set of 4 in size 205x55x15 -same size as what is on the car except mine are the 50's. plus a wheel alignment. so $550 all up.

any thoughts on the wheel alignment or just let them do what ever they normally do to a mx5? the car is totally for street use only -no track.

regards

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 12:28 pm

Re wheel alignment, make sure they check/do a 4 wheel alignment as the cost they've quoted you suggests a 2 wheel alignment. In other words, the quoter may not known or realised at the time that all 4 wheels can be aligned. Re wheel alignment specs, personally I provide them, as the first MX5 wheel alignment I got at a tyre shop after they replaced tyres was very ordinary.
Hopefully an SE owner will chip in with specs, but a starting point might be the specs CB recommended in 2012 to Silvia who has an NB8C:

Charlie Brown wrote:Silvia, I bet you're after a setting that're easy to drive around with, you're not interested in cornering at 10/10ths, or attacking the track.

If so here's the setting to get your aligner to dial in.

Front
Camber: 0.8 degrees negative
Castor: Maximum he can get (probably in the 5 – 5.6 range)
Toe: 1.5mm IN each side (3mm total) not out as you said in your post above.

Rear
Camber: 1.3 degrees negative
Toe: 1.5mm IN each side (3mm total)

There's no castor on the rear.

I'm guessing that you normally drive around with two of you in the car. Make sure he dials in the same settings either side. For example not 1mm toe in on the left and 2mm toe in on the right to make the 3mm total. The toe in must be the same either side as does the other settings.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=51702&start=15

The 949Racing & Flyin' Miata websites also have specs.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 12:33 pm

$40 for an alignment sounds like 2 wheels only.
A lot of places will only do an alignment to factory specs.

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:34 pm

I will look into the price on the alignment info a bit more

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:42 pm

My last alignment was $66 for all 4 wheels.

It may well be a 4 wheel alignment, they might be giving you a cheap price considering you've just spent over $500 there.

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:07 pm

your right it is for all 4 wheels. I got a bit of a discount because I decided to get new tyres on the hi-ace van too.

pepejesus · Postby **pepejesus** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 11:51 am

Good luck on getting them to align to your personal specs. Like Bruce said it will be a factory spec alignment, meaning that all four wheels will be pointing in roughly the same direction, that's about it.

If you want an alignment to your own specs, particularly something aggressive with big camber/castor, you will need to get a precision alignment done (probably somewhere else) and it will cost you a lot more than $50. Best money you will ever spend on the car though, imo.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:26 pm

Most shops are perfectly happy to align to your specs, just let them know before the booking and write the specs down.

Steampunk · Postby **Steampunk** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:51 pm

pepejesus wrote:Good luck on getting them to align to your personal specs.

If you want an alignment to your own specs, particularly something aggressive with big camber/castor, you will need to get a precision alignment done (probably somewhere else).

What are you on about? ANY alignment shop can and will do an alignment to whatever you tell them. I've used a few of the more well known franchises and they have all asked me how I wanted it set up, ie. They'd ask: "Do you have settings in mind or just set to factory?"
This is not just pertaining to my mx5 but other granny cars (Festiva, Pulsar Q).

And "you will need to get a precision alignment (probably somewhere else)"...so you're saying that Beaurepaires, Bob Jane etc. Uses ...what?...spirit levels only? pieces of string with weights? Voodoo rituals?

pepejesus · Postby **pepejesus** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:04 pm

Nope, just my experience with the alignments that are sold as a package deal with tyres, they are usually just to factory spec.

I'm not saying they don't have the tools/knowledge to do it, but often getting an alignment to particular specs takes more time and it's not usually factored into the price with these package deals.

If they'll do it to your specs to the level of accuracy that you're happy with then go for it.