Looking to get a pair of tyres for my 2003 2.5. typed the tyre size into eBay and came across some Riken Maystorm by Michelin tyres. They are advertised as summer tyres and approx £40 quid each. What constitutes a summer tyre?and are they practical in South Wales where we get 4 seasons of weather in one day? Are they priced at £40 ish cos they’re crap? Any thoughts please
Hi Dave. There are literally dozens of threads on the subject of tyres to browse through, the advice and contradictions will blow your mind. To save yourself time it might be worth sending a PM to the acknowledged Forum expert on the matter - NickD - he knows more about the subject than anyone. Good luck.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve read all the threads re tyres. A lot of them relate to Chinese ones. These ones fought my attention because I don’t think they’re Chinese,they are some kind of Michelin,which is a well known brand,and I’ve never heard of a summer tyre. I’ll ask an expert.
Riken are Serbian made; they also make Tigar and Kormoran. Owned by Michelin since 2009. I’ve had Tigar tyres before on an Alfa; ok, but they were worn out after 7000 miles. I found them to be really noisy. Bizarrely, Riken started out as Japan, with US manufacture.
Today, Michelin pitches this brand as a Tier 3 tyre.
Thanks for the info.
When it comes to tyres I’m afraid I’m a bit opinionated!
I believe that as the tyres are obviously the only things holding you to the road there are no compromises to be made!
My Mk2 which I bought 2 years ago came with a new set of Chinese tyres on. The first drive home was in heavy rain and they were s**t!! Straight round to my tyre fitter for a set of Michelin pilots! Car transformed.
I am fully converted to Michelin tyres and have only use them on my daily drivers too. They are great in the dry, the wet and all year round and last and last. They are good all rounders.
If you don’t buy Michelins, fine, but don’t go cheap on tyres. One day it may cost you a serious pile up or, heaven forbid, worse. With premium tyres your driving experience will be that much better too. You only get what you pay for at the end of the day. Not saying there aren’t any tyres as good as the Michelins, of course they are but I just like the Michelins. Just look on the forum to take advantage of the experience of the guys on here as suggested above to find a good fit for the MX5. Just saying, in my opinion, tyres in the low budget range are fine for building tyre barriers around go kart tracks but have no place on cars like the MX5 with its high levels of road holding and handling.
Jumping off soapbox now…
Cheers all.
Thanks for your reply. I don’t want to go cheap where tyres are concerned which is why I searched for Michelins.I raised the question about these as I wasn’t sure if they are a cheaper version and therefore wouldn’t be any good. Being described as a summer tyre has put me off too. Sometimes the only way to tell it’s summer here is that the rain is warmer than usual
Hi
just dug out the invoice for my 4 Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres I had fitted as an example. They were £62 each including balancing, nitrogen fill and VAT. I also have the invoice for the Autogrip budget tyres the previous owner fitted and they turned out to be £55 fitted etc. So the Michelins really not a huge amount more than a budget tyre considering what they are and they will last longer.
Cheers