mx5cartalk.com

HI,
The tyres on my NA are well gone and need replacing. They are Direzza Z2*'s however I do not intend on tracking this car again.

I have stock daisys (R14) but also a set of NB8A rims (R15) meaning there are too many options of 185/50/R14 or 195/60/R15.

I've heard the current market is a 'take what you can get' situation... Hoping someone can give me some pointers or up to date information?

I'm intending on driving the car from Melbourne to Brisbane soon. R15 has unused, hard, crappy tyres but I'd rather have trustworthy tyres for the drive up even if putting 2000km on them is wasteful.

Was hoping to spend about ~$600 plus cost of 4w alignment.

I don't care about NVH.

Thanks

I'd suggest looking at 195/50R15s, that will give you the same diameter as the factory 14s and there is a decent selection in that size.

Thanks I agree - I'd rather stick with the stock 14" rims but it's not looking practical to stick by it.

Unsure on what the currently in-vogue tyre suggestions are when you take out track days.

Got Bridgestone Potenza RE003 195/50R15 fitted to my NA8 last year when there was a 4 for 3 offer at Bob Jane - very happy with them. Michelin Pilot Sport are also popular. Haven't recently looked at what's available in 14" tyres, but a few years ago it was extremely limited.

15s still offer a superior selection of performance tyres to 14s. I use 195/50/15 Hankook RS4s on my NA, which offer great dry grip and good wet grip at a low price but don't last as long as some others. On my Clio (same tyre size) I use Bridgestone RE003 - not as much absolute grip and I wouldn't use them on track but they are good performance street tyres, very good in the wet, and they will last longer than the Hankooks. If you don't put many km on the car, or you're happy to take the extra performance over service life, I would recommend the Hankooks.

Nankang CR-S in 205/50/15. Looks very similar to Yokohama A052. 200 tread wear. I've just stuck these on as a track day tyre but they seem quite useable as a road tyre too. Did about 15 laps on a very wet day at Lakeside and they were perfectly safe and predictable. They cost about $216 each a month or so ago. They are a good deal of positive reports from track day people and in the the USA the Porsche people seem to like them.

I'll find out how they perform on track this coming Friday if it doesn't rain again!

http://nankangtyres.com.au/tyre/cr-s/

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Bridgestone have RE003 4-for-3 deal on now so I will chase that in 195/50R15.

I'm sure all the comments above will be helpful for lurkers :thumbsup:

deags wrote:Thanks all for the suggestions.

Bridgestone have RE003 4-for-3 deal on now so I will chase that in 195/50R15.

I'm sure all the comments above will be helpful for lurkers :thumbsup:

I have used and have been happy with the Bridgestone RE003s. People I know have them on multiple cars. Wet weather performance is questionable, I nearly destroyed my NB on a winding road when I hit a wet patch on a timber bridge, sudden unexpected snap oversteer. I wasn't driving quickly at the time, quite disconcerting. Having said that, they have been fine otherwise, BUT, recent reports are that they are not what they used to be, recently people are reporting being disappointed in the latest iteration of them. Some have implied that maybe the material has been changed over the years.

But yes, 4 for the price of 3 the RE003 is tempting. On my NC I've been running Michelin PS4. I'm very happy with them as a road tyre.

For just under $600 I think the Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE003 are a terrific tyre. They have never let me down on my 02 NB nor my 06 NC. They have limits but don't they all?
They wear well and when warm are quiet (for an MX5) OK in the wet and handle my style of road driving, for the price I don't know what else would trump them.

Cheers

Deleted Post

I do do 4-5 track days a year and a fair amount of highway /city driving. including this year, a 6000k roadtrip Brisbane -around Tasmania and back to Brisbane, Brisbane Agnes waters and the long way around back to Brisbane, and Brisbane Maryborough Brisbane,several Brisbane Sunshine Coast Brisbane plus regular jaunts around SE Queensland.
They have been on for 25 months and 23,258 k on them now and I would estimate they have about another 4-5k klm left.beforethey become illegal. They dropped my best times at Lakeside by 4 seconds a lap compared to the el cheapos I had on before and I have been very happy with them overall and will almost certainly fit them again if available. They are 195/50 x15 Hankook RS4. A friend is very impressed with his new Nankangs on his mainly tracked supercharged NA, but at $250 a corner they are a bit out of my price range.

I thought Nankangs were meant to be the cheap alternative to the known name-brands like Hankook and Yokohama? But at $250 a wheel they're in the same ballpark.

ManiacLachy wrote:I thought Nankangs were meant to be the cheap alternative to the known name-brands like Hankook and Yokohama? But at $250 a wheel they're in the same ballpark.

The Nankang CR-s were $217 per corner. They are a knock off of the Yokahama A052. Got a new PB with them after about 6 years. treadwear 200. They even seemed ok in the rain. Pretty happy so far. It's not a car that does a lot of road used unlike LoneSailor.