Explain yourself.

I'm currently facepalming as well but I'm not sure if it's for the same reason.

Cuz I'm an indecisive MFer and can't seem to just DO something?

Cuz new wheels or new suspension is a no-brainer decision? I know. I just figure if I've gotta buy tires I might as well do wheels as well. I'll be able to get new suspension by spring either way. But if I do tires only, I still will have to wait till spring to get suspension.

So basically: doing the wheels now means I get them now. Suspension will come springtime either way.

Still facepalm?

I MUST PLEASE YOU, OMNISCIENT INTERNET ONE.

I think in the end you won't do anything and just get all bent outa shape cause I just predicted it lol
These kinds of threads have a 99% tendency of ending up that way

I assumed that he was talking about this:

6lbs per corner is a ton. Get the lightest weight wheels you can afford that look good to you.

For the most part, yes.

But now that I think about it, its your typical dead end thread: guyths I want wheels. Nevermind I don't want wheels I want suspension. Nevermind I probably should just sped the money on air fresheners.

I mean either you need wheels or you don't.

I don't mean to be a negative nancy, but we all know how this goes for the most part.

LOL.

Quick OP, redeem yourself. Show us a receipt for the order of your new set of wheels and tires by friday or ban!

I for one like these wheels:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382990993

no idea what they are, or how heavy they are, but they look nice.

Edit: also, what's up with that GTO and why does it look so nice?

Hahahaha.... Props Vlad, you're right. You guys are hilarious. Seriously, if the TSWs hadn't been a letdown I would have a receipt for them Thursday (my day off) at the latest. I had cleared it with the wife and everything. But I can't buy them if they won't fit.

My new dilemma is this: I currently have Dunlop Direzza DZ101 tires -- a pretty aggressive, sticky tire. The level of grip is about perfect in the dry. However, I really need at least a marginal all-season tire because the dunlops were terrifying in the wet. I mean, I get outrun by a smart car in the wet because I can't get traction! It slips and slides all over, and since we have several months of cold, wet weather, I need a tire that works better.

I was planning on the Kumho Ecsta ASX because of price and good reviews. I know I'm giving up dry traction, but had hoped to offset some of that by going to a 255 instead of a 245.





Now I'm back to the drawing board. It looks very unlikely that I'll be able to find a reasonably priced way to get 255s under all 4 corners. This makes me incredibly frustrated.

My current wheels are 26 pounds, current tires also 26 pounds when new (obviously), so combined 52 pounds.

I have found some Andros brand wheels on TireRack. Stupid name. 18.5 pounds, 17x8, matte gray color (hopefully something like a gunmetal). With Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetric ultra high performance all season tires (24 pounds each), for 42.5 pounds total. That's a total weight savings of 9.5 pounds per wheel. Tirerack currently has a promotion going on for $138/tire and $60 mail in rebate, so after rebate total tire package is $1060.

That's a pretty compelling combo. Same size as I already have, though.

You can see the wheels here... Andros Spec D Matte Gray TireRack

Gonna think on that for a bit.

LOTS is up with that GTO. For one, it's had all the fenders widened. They're great looking wheels but unfortunately not even kindof an option for me. Bet they're CCWs but they won't be in the size I need or the size I want, and they'll be $$, and they would look silly as narrow as I am going. I bet those are 10" wides in the front and wider in the back.

Such a sick car, that one.

You could always just run the factory 18s, they look good.

Im normally not a cheap mesh wheel fan, but the ASAs look good and are only about 20 lbs in a 17x8.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382996144

Also the goodyears are big flaming piles of shit. In the 245/45/17 there isnt a big difference between the cheap and good shit (besides michelins). If you want good grip year round (im assuming no snow) look at the Bridgestones RE760s, and S04s, maybe even 970AS. Good thing about the Bridgestones is they are all great in rain and they are nice and comfy and quiet.

Id look at the BFGs also, everyone is loving the new comp 2 the KDW2 is an old reliable performer and the SSAS got good reviews when it came out but its a lil older now. The BFGs will give you all the performance (comp 2s even did good in wet) but you normally give up some road manners with BFGs and most reviews say the same thing.

I have limited continental experience but I havent heard a single bad word about the new Extreme contact DW, I am still a little leery about continental given past performance but all the good press the DW and DWS is making me want to try a set.

Kuhmo makes a few good tires, the AST isnt one of them, notice its only an H rated tire.

Sumitomos HTRZ III is a decent tire for as cheap as it is. ONLY THE III not the II.

Have heard the Hankook V12 is similar to HTRZ III, so if your looking to go cheap may want to compare these.

Goodyear makes a handful of good tires, generally they are very expensive and something just as good can be found for less, their cheaper stuff is generally not very good.

The Nitto Invos generally test pretty good, with decent dry grip, good wet grip, and good road manners.

With the prices of tires in that size Id probably go with an RE760, S04 because of the manners and how nice the Goats already drive, and would consider the Comp 2.

According to tirerack, you can get 50 back on the BFGs and a Bstone football for the Potenzas.

Edit: sorry I was looking at 245/45/17, not 255s. probably be better off running a better tire in a 245, than a shit tire in 255s. Since I was looking in 245 so I saw the AST not the ASX, but what I said will still hold true if you change the model and remove the speed rating.
Example: Kuhmo makes a few good tires, the ASX isnt one of them. Even tireracks test against two mediocre tires (Eagle GT and Yoko AVID) have the ASX getting its butt whooped.

Heres what they said
"What We'd Improve: A modest increase in dry traction along with a large improvement in wet grip
Conclusion: A sporty tire for drivers who do not focus on wet traction"

So apparently it sucks in the dry and wet.

This was all assuming your not driving it in snow (as you only said cold and wet), if so my bad you can disregard almost everything i said, except the part about avoiding Goodyear and Kuhmos offerings.

Haha Josh, Thanks for the great effort in this thread :)

The stock 18's are boat anchors. Plus I don't want to go 18's because $$. 17's get the job done on this car, like 15's on a Miata. Going bigger is wasting money and weight. The stock 18's are close to 30 lbs apiece.

As for tires, I need all-season capability. We get snow sometimes, but even when we don't, the rain is a COLD rain in the wintertime... Like freezing or near-freezing. Need something better than a good summer tire. So I'm looking at ultra-high-performance tires, like:

Ecsta AST, Conti DWS, Goodyear F1 asym, etc. Those goodyears are super pricey normally, but TR has them on sale for $138 apiece, which is very few dollars more than the Kumhos. You really think they're crap overall, or just crap for the price?

Either way, I'll check out some other tires.

Dammit this is frustrating. I want someone to take my money but not too much of it.

I used to sell Goodyears and Kuhmos, for the most part they sucked.

Goodyear makes a few good tires like the MT/R w/ kevlar and the GS-D3, and some of the other eagles are okay, but generally they are ridiculously expensive (GS-D3 and MTR), or in some of the eagles case they wear out QUICK, but for the most part I can think of way more bad Goodyear tires than good, which sucks because all the other manufactures are coming out with new shit thats awesome, Mich, Bstone, Continental, and BFG all come to mind.

The Kuhmos I wouldnt run either. I like most of their summer line, and you guys know about the Vstuff, but havent had good luck with the other stuff. In high school me and a buddy both had 4th gen fbodies. He had ASXs, I had KDWSs (BFGs now discontinued equivalent) the BFGs rode better, and had better traction in both wet and dry, and lasted longer but we were both high school kids with V8 fbodies, so it probably just came down to who did fewer burnouts and donuts.

I used to hear tires are at least partly responsible for every aspect of performance from your car, whether it be launch traction or ride quality, and I always kinda shrugged it off thinking yah yah black and round, whatever its not that huge of an issue. Then the BFGs came off and I put some sumis on, then some falkens, and I saw how big of a difference it was (negatively) and now I run the absolute best tire I can afford, the camaro drives SOOOO much better now that I have some good tires on it.

With snow and what your looking for Id probably run the BFG Super Sport A/S, BStone 970AS, or the Continental DWS (based on the huge amounts of good reviews). None of them are full blown winter tires, but are supposed to perform well enough in it.

Also I have no idea about the Invo in the snow, but if they came in wider sizes on 17s Id have a set because they are so pimp looking. Due to its light siping I doubt it be very good in the snow.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383000157

Full disclosure, we get no snow down here, okay maybe once a year and the whole town looses its mind, remember the Superbowl a few years ago, and when we do get snow I generally power through it with some RE760s (which have no siping) or go hooning around with friends in 4x4s. so I have very limited experience with tires for the snow.

PS: if you didnt know tirerack has tests for most of the tires in this segment that gives you quantitative data points, and makes it easy to say X tire is better at this than Y tire and can help you making your decision.

Also as much as I like tirerack, normally local tire shops will price match w/ shipping and can make doing warranties that much easier, if you plan on buying it.

Thanks, a price match is what I'm hoping for.

Thanks a bunch for all the feedback on the tires. I know they make a huge difference, and now that you mention it, I've always had poor experiences with Goodyear. I used their Eagle GT on my PT cruiser turbo a while back. great dry and wet traction (compared to the stock goodyear eagle RS-A's...) but snow traction was nearly nonexistant and they wore out quick.

Anyway, I'll have to do some more thinking on tires.

At this point, it's kinda looking like I'll be fulfilling Vlad's prophecy and just buying tires. If I buy tires now, then after I get coilovers I can revisit the wheels.

Awww crud who knows. More research. I don't want to give up on this.

WHAT?

No.

Just..... no.


Those are AWFUL tires with NO grip. Damn, the last time i ran those pieces of shit was in an EK Civic hatch with a stock bottom end B20 in it with a Crower cam. N/A.

And i'd STILL rip the fuckers off going into 3rd gear. That car MAYBE made 200whp if i was lucky.


Normally "tires" and "grip" are subjective, but holy shit this could NOT be more wrong in this case.

Also: The Kumho AST sucks dick. The ASX is a superior tire, despite being a design that pre-dates whatever deity you happen to believe in.

OK.

So the DZ101 is a sucky, soft-compound, wear-quickly tire that doesn't have any grip?

I dunno, the things felt pretty good to me in dry. Make a lot of noise in hard cornering though. I liked that my Eagle GT's made very little noise when pushing them to the limits and beyond.

I am shopping the ASX, not the AST. AST sucks. ASX seems so-so. But cheap. And mileage warranty :skid:

So, do you think I'd get as much grip with ASX's or similar?

I refuse to talk about how awesome and grippy cheap-ass all season tires are.


It's almost like you think your DZ101s are Star Specs, maybe?

Then GTFO because that's what we are talking about. Some of us actually have to get to work in crappy weather but want reasonable performance. You said my summer tires have no grip, so I asked if something marketed as ultra-high-performance all season would offer comparable grip as my sucky summer tires.

QFT man. I don't think they're star specs. But they're a soft compound tire that wears like crap and has no warranty because they're marketed and sold as a high-performance summer tire. I assumed that they'd at least be grippier than an all-season tire.

I bought the car with these tires. They suck. You'll notice I'm not buying another set.

GUYS i'm not a baller but I'm not trying to buy junk. I haven't asked if Nankangs are a good tire, alright? I'm just trying to do the best with what I've got, and I have limited experience, hence why I'm here.

Triple post FTW. BTW, I wasn't being sarcastic above in my first reply to your DZ101 criticism. I was just restating.

Nitto Motivo.

Oi. I'll be back when I've done more brainwork.