I know this is a well worn subject - what new tyres I mean - but the existing thread in the tech section has left me bewildered, so I thought I’d start afresh.
I have a 1995 Mk1 1.8 currently running Firestone Firehawk tyres of 185 60R14 size. Despite being hardly worn, they are old and some tread is coming away, so I may have to replace them.
Please excuse my ignorance but I don’t understand the size codes. I’m assuming that I need to fit the same size. A lot of recomendations on this forum suggest Toyo T1-R tyres, but Toyo don’t do them in this size. What then do people recommend for spirited road driving all year round, wet and dry, with a desire for minimal noise if possible?
The techies amongst us will tell you better than I can - but I thought you could get different depths of tyre as well as the wheel sizes ??? But then again, I’m only a girl!!!
I have toyo proxes on my 91 v spec - 15 inch wheels. not mega fat. So does partner Mick on his '94 G limited but his are slightly fatter, can’t tell you exactly what without going outside to look!
Mine were just under 200 quid fitted, balanced etc for all 4. He’s gone from being a skittery, hair-raising ride in the wet to a road-hugging beastie with the toyos. Most of the blokes in our area recommended these and I’m glad I fitted them - perhaps you could research those locally to you (not sure where you are).
All tyres are a compromise, quiet and comfortable, or balls out handling (or somewhere in between ).
The 14" 60 profiles are towards the comfy end. Many will tell you 15" with lower profile to keep similar circumference, and maybe a little wider, would give better handling.
That means new rims though and 14" tyres aren’t expensive so for comfort and handling I’d go for the new Bridgestone Turanza E300. We’ve just had a set on our Mazda 6 and they are superb, a little squidgy for the first few hundred miles then you appreciate how amazingly quiet they are and how good the handling is, http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres-BRIDGESTONE/TURANZA,ER,300/185,60,R14,82,H.html
I’m very impressed, I always thoughts of Turanza as a “cooking” Potenza, less sporty and a bit comfier as the range of sizes they come in suggest, but these are very good at both tricks.
Tyre choice really is down to what you’re looking for isn’t it. A change of profile probably makes the biggest difference to comfort and handling. I don’t think you’ll ever get the handling out of a 14" 60 that you could from a 15" lower profile, but you may not just want handling.
Compared to a change of profile, differences between good brands seems like fine tuning, but there are real differences, we took T1R off our MX5 and put Potenza’s on and it was better for us. I can see what some folk might see in T1R, on the right surface on the right day.
That review site only has the old ER30 Turanza on btw which was not a particularly good tyre, we had those as OE and I was disappointed (poor wet grip and average everywhere else), then Dunlop Sport 01 which were much better, then back to new Turanza E300 which are better still. But, that’s on Mazda 6 FWD with different goals perhaps from MX5 so YMMV as they say. In the last 5 years on several various cars we’ve had 2 sets Dunlop, 2 Conti, 2 Michelin, 3 Bridgestone, 4 Toyo and 1 Firestone, some came new on the cars and some were replacements.
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