Just discovered (1 hour ago) that the rear offside tyre has a split (fun has stopped) and needs replacing, but all the tyres are quite worn so I’ll replace all round.
As this is a significant investment I can’t afford to get it wrong so thought I’d ask people who have probably already made all the mistakes and can recommend a tyre based on experience. Will push budget out if you tell me a particular tyre is worth it 'cos I’ll be riding on em for a lot of hours once I’ve got 'em.
I obviously want a good all-round tyre that grips well in all weathers but lets you play too.
Not really relevant but current tyres are Uniroyal Rain Sport 1 205/45 R16 83V
The choice of tyres always seems to produce a lot of discussion. A lot depends on what sort of use you are going to put your new toy to. Are you going on track with it being a big consideration… My 1999 1.8iS came from the factory on Michelin Pilots. When I bought it it had two of those on the front and two Firestones on the back. It has always driven well but I recently decided to fit a complete new set all round and I went for what Mazda reckoned was OK for it when it was new, so I purchased four new Michelins. I have very recently read that Ferrari are fitting Michelin Pilots to their latest offering so if they reckon they are up to it I suspect that they are not likely to be wrong. You can buy other make cheaper tyres but these ones, for me anyway, really do the job
toyo t1r’s i have on mine and they work very very well with the 5 ,the 5 is very tyre sensitive so picking the right tyre is important, ive used these on all my cars and they work best on the 5 very progressive you get plenty of feedback and know when they are letting go they dont just snap and let go if you get me, allso exceptinoal in the wet ,most likly due to the v groove pattern.
There is much tyre discussion down in the Tech area but to add my twopenneth worth… stick with Uniroyals you really will not go wrong with them - i haven’t
not necessarily cheap but definitely different - depending on what track-style you have in mind, they ain’t gonna last too long are they? i don’t know what good track tyres are since i don’t do track - hopefully, someone with infinitely more knowledge than i will help you there
Well i’ve just changed all four from Avon ZV3 to Toyo T1Rs because they seemed pretty cheap. I’m impressed so far with the Toyos and i’ve never been impressed with Avon on this car or other cars of mine.
If you’ve got deeper pockets than Toyo money, then Continental SC3 are very good all round tyres and my personal favourite, although i’ve not used them on a MX5, in fact not even sure they make the right size. Michelin PS are also very good tyres, I had them on my Porker and they were lovely, although they do wear quickly.
Tyres can also be a bit of a personal choice too, some prefer a different feel to others so it can be a bit of a suck it and see. But the Toyos seem better than average to me for the money if that helps.
Dunno if they’re still available, but I’ve used Goodyear Eagle F1’s and love 'em. But it’s down to personal choice and how deep your pockets are really.
Looking at the list of tyres i’d say it doesn’t harm to have a new thread discussing it, given that some of the tyres mentioned are old models and have been replaced by newer versions.
Lets just have one big new thread with all the tyre opinions in it, but date stamp the stuff from the old thread. Unlike most people I don’t replace dead tyres every 5 years with new ones (which gives hugely misleading comparissions) I was using up to 10 tyres a day last year. [more work for Geoff to keep updated though, sorry]
Also it’d help to have a unified format for tyre data - if someone loves Pirelli P5000s but only ever uses their car to drive slowly on sunny weekends the value of their recommendation is near zero. So how about copying the format of reported data from one of the tyre comparison sites, so we get an idea of wet grip, dry grip and the conditions the tyre is used under?
Tyres are complex things, and tyre reviews are, at best, riddled with subjective data. Lets try to make this a valid and useful resource by being systematic about it.
I think thats pretty good actually Geoff, how about adding which model of car, tyre size and milage done? I know it could be making an industry out of it, but they are all important factors?
