It seems that the ND 1.5l comes with Yokohama tyres, mine did and so did the 2 Civic Type R’s that I had previously, and I have to say that I like them! The ND 2.0l apparently comes with Bridgestone tyres which I’ve never experienced and seem to get a lot of flak on the forum. Wouldn’t it be nice if Mazda gave us a choice between the two brands at the time of ordering the car.
I had a nasty slide in my 2.0 ND RF whilst executing an overtaking manoeuvre. The tyres were fully warmed up, pressures checked prior to setting off and conditions were good, ie about 10 degrees and slightly damp. When I nailed the throttle I found that I was heading straight for the scenery as the back came round. A very nasty surprise! I immediately pulled over in a convenient layby to see if I had a flat. All was well in that respect and I continued on my merry way in a somewhat subdued manner.
At home I checked the tread depth which was about 4mm (9,000 miles on the car). I’m heading for the Isle of Man run in June so prior the then I will replace all four tyres as I now have little confidence in the Bridgestones. I was all set to go for Michelin Pilot Sport 4s but having done a little research the Continental Premium Contact 6 seem to have the edge.
If anyone has any experience of these tyres I would appreciate your comments.
Thoughts - road temperature could have been well below 10 degrees, road was damp, throttle “nailed”…perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise?
I doubt whether the tread depth has much to do with it if there was no standing water to shift.
I’m not having a go, I wasn’t there, so please don’t be offended. Point is, it isn’t safe to assume that the tyres are to blame or that it would have been different with new ones. Bridgestones do seem to be looked down on, but I’m pretty sure there are far worse tyres.
My own starting assumption would have been that I had made a mistake. These cars have a lot of grip, relatively speaking - easy to take it for granted.
The tyres i go for at the moment are the Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2. Great all round tyre, plenty of grip and good in the wet. Had them on a few cars now and really rate them.
As for the Bridgestone I had some of theirs on a Boxster and they were horrendous, break traction easily and noisy on the road.
I definitely made a mistake! Overestimating the available grip.
The road temperature could well have been below 10 degrees but it was a sunny early afternoon so it couldn’t have been much lower. The mention of tread depth was just to make it clear that the tyres weren’t on their last legs not because of any thoughts of aquaplaning. It really caught me out because previously the Bridgestones had been faultless with no hint of the issues mentioned elsewhere in the Forum.
I will have a look at Dunlop Sport Maxx as they do get good reviews, its always good to get feedback from drivers of similar cars. In the meantime I will try to be a little more circumspect when applying the right foot.
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I wouldn’t recommend Continental personally (I’ve had them on an E-Class and have them on my Smart car at the moment), I find them too noisy. I prefer Goodyear with Dunlop close second.
My own experience with the Bridgestone (S-02 N-rated) on the Boxster was that “they felt hard” compared to others, I could feel every bump and they skitted about. I changed them out for Pirelli P-zero which were great in the warm, really did grip like hell but when it got colder or wet then you could get them moving easily plus they wore quite quickly.
The Dunlop i’ve found to be the best all-round. Good grip in the dry, maybe not quite Pirelli levels but you’d have to be pushing hard to notice and really good in the wet which inspires confidence. As a bonus they’re quite compliant as well so speed bumps aren’t a major issue and they’re fairly quiet for a grippy tyre. Also you can get them in 215/45 size for about £90 a tyre so they don’t break the bank.
Hi M,
One point worth mentioning is that the 2.0l has the LSD so will and does lose traction on BOTH rear wheels with over aggressive use of the throttle. A none LSD car will just spin one wheel up so is less likely to go sideways.
I find that delicacy is the key and if you are pushing on never stop concentrating.
hi shiney brian here I to will need new tyres soon after reading this thread I think goodyear eagles will be my choice do the 215/45/17 tyres fit standard wheels?
That’s the size i have at the moment, no problem with fitting.
I had 215/45 R17 Goodyear Eagle F1s on my NC. They fit OK with no problems. However, I do have a couple of reservations about fitting wider (and taller) tyres.
1)The car is optimised by the Mazda engineers to perform best on 205s.
2)The 215s are about 4% bigger in diameter and will raise the gearing by this amount. The car is already geared very high (probably something to do with fuel consumption and emissions) and raising it further will blunt the acceleration slightly. If you watch reviews of the ND on YouTube it is very noticeable that in the US they achieve zero to sixty in about 6 to 6.5 seconds, a good second faster than UK road tests. Given that the US cars have a lower compression ratio and lower power (155bhp) I’m pretty sure that the only reason they can achieve the faster acceleration is because they have a lower final drive ratio.
I know 215s are significantly cheaper than 205s but I will stick with the standard size when I change my tyres.
I would take most youtube 0-60s with a huge pinch of salt . Most are one up (in contrast to what I regard as definitive - Autocar tests) , most rely on speedo reading (inaccurate), road not necessary level and hence the results I have seen vary from high fives (as it were) to mid 7s .
And yes , to get a good 0-60 you need to be bloody brutal on the clutch and gearchange and it’s not a useful metric anyway as in gear acceleration(now sometimes known (irritatingly ) as ‘roll on’ ) is more relevant but everybody relies on 0-60 so that’s it !
Someone in the forum noted that the US use a different method of test for the 0-60 times to the UK (and others I believe).
From memory it was when the ND was just out and the same cars were being used for tests (in Portugal?) by the US and UK/Europeans and the US method produced faster 0-60 times.
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All very valid points and none of which you’d notice in everyday normal driving. The only difference i noticed was an increase in comfort and more wheel protection than the standard size, also the speedo is now nearly spot on with the sat-nav.
I thought I would post an update for anyone who is looking for replacement tyres for their ND. After much deliberation I opted for a set of Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres. I have had the tyres on for about four months and put a good few thousand miles on them in a variety of conditions. Shortly after fitting I had the car serviced and the alignment set up (the camber was out but otherwise OK).
In everyday driving the tyres feel exactly the same as the Bridgestones. However, I have never lost traction even when pushing right to the limit.
We took the car on a two week holiday to Scotland, touring around the west coast and up to Fort Augustus. Experienced some very heavy rain (liquid sunshine) whilst there and the car behaved perfectly in difficult conditions. We then went on the 25th anniversary trip to the Isle of Man which included a couple of runs up a hill climb course (The Sloc) on closed roads. Using all the road and pushing pretty hard on the second run the car felt absolutely planted and the tyres gave perfect steering response. I also had the opportunity to drive around the Andreas circuit which is an old airfield which has been turned into a circuit. I had two fifteen minute sessions and after starting steadily I gradually upped the pace. I can honestly say that the car and tyres could not have performed any better. It was the first time I have ever driven on a circuit but the car handled so well and steered so precisely that it filled me with the confidence to keep pushing until the traction control started cutting in. At that point I retired from the circuit because it was so tempting to just keep on pushing and I didn’t want to risk an off.
To summarise all of these ramblings I would thoroughly recommend Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres. They are a perfect tyre for the ND.
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Thanks for the update.
I have got Michelin CrossClimate tyres on my BMW X3. They are an excellent tyre on an SUV working well in all the weather conditions I have encountered over the last two years. This does not include any significant snow however. I’m not sure they would be suitable for the MX5 which by its very nature is a car that is driven in a more spirited manner. When I used my MX5 as a daily driver I invested in a set of second hand alloys and winter tyres which does involve a bit more initial investment but the tyres last twice as long! The winter tyres were a revelation in very cold, wet conditions and felt unstoppable in snow.
I have seen an NC on CrossClimates and they will probably perform well but you will get less grip compared to a good quality summer/winter tyre combination.
I would be interested to know how you get on if you opt for CrossClimates.
Maccy.
Kumho WinterCraft WP71 205/45 R17 84V available from MyTyres for £56.60.
Worth thinking about at this price!
That’s the same for every car tested in USA vs EU and the reason is simple but surprising, they always do a rolling start in the USA, everywhere else is a standing start! It’s not really 0-60, it’s more like 3-60 vs our 0-62 mph.
I can’t see going from 205 to 215 width makes much difference given it’s only 5% wider and 1.5% taller diameter (don’t forget the sidewall will sit at an angle, not flat, and as others noted this is a little extra kerb protection), providing both front and rear are a matching width you shouldn’t upset the balance of the car but you will get a smidgen more grip. I ran some figures and rolling circumference goes from 1936mm to 1964mm so you’re only regearing by 1.45%, that’s only 0.9 mph at 60 mph. You also raise the ride height and reducing wheel arch clearance by 5mm. Where I do find a huge difference is price, to the tune of about £20 a corner!
Back to tyre brands/models I really disliked the OEM Potenza S001 and couldn’t wait to be rid of them, rubbish in the damp and wore quickly (the Bridgestone RE050A on my DS3 was similarly pants). I’ve had Michelin Pilot Sport 4 since and found them much better all around, especially in the wet, I consider them the best summer tyre I’ve ever had on any car! However, owing to the price I went for Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 on the rear this time and it’s a good tyre but not quite as good as the PS4. Conti’s Premium Contact 6 was another on my shortlist.
For those who want an all season I hear Michelin CrossClimate 2 is the most “summer biased” of the class so may suit those who use their MX-5 all year round, Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2 is reported as better in the wet and snow but only a dedicated summer tyre beats the Michelin’s in the dry.
Tyre reviews should always be taken in context. A Nissan Qashqai with a tonne and a bit over the front wheels will give very different driving experience to a MX-5 with half a tonne on the rears.