Hankook R-S3 -> Germany?!
 

Hi there,

as this is my first post here, I would like to introduce myself... My name is Peter and yes, I am from Germany (I know, total surprise considering that title). I'm going to buy my Miata in the beginning of 2017. Looking for a nice & clean NB model (1.8 of course), preferrably with the 6-speed gearbox and torsen differential. Also, I registered on MT as I want to get that turbocharged at some point. Have been reading through the build section and other threads for some time and now the day has come to finally annoy you with my own silly questions :-)

Speaking of which: Do you know any dealer who might sell Hankook R-S3s, 225/45 R15 in my area? I would like to pair them with Advanti Storm S1s (15x9) or something comparable, finally found a dealer - atleast for these (870 Pounds = ~1100$ though, that hurts). But those tires are not easy to find here! Already wrote several mails to various shops (and Hankook, no response yet though) but noone seems to have them. It's really a pita (got that one? :) ) to get some parts for miatas here.

Thanks for your help! I hope, I didn't miss anything. I will definetly post some pictures and my plans for the car as soon as I get it!

Greetings from Germany
Peter

There were never many 225-45-15s available in Europe. A tiny batch of Kumho's a long time ago and Toyo R1Rs and R888. Those last two have been discontinued as well, so while there may be some old stock still lying around at some warehouse somewhere most places show them as sold-out.
Hankook RS3s were only ever available in 195-50-15s or something similar. The 225s never made it Europe. There are some 225 DMACK tires available, but they are as wide as a 205 Toyo.

The problem is that all the competition tires you'll see people mentioning here on miataturbo use some volitile compound that is forbidden for sale in the EU. I guess you can try importing them from the US. There just isn't much point in building around the 15x9 size in Europe.

R-S3 is not e-marked, and is not marked in the EU region.
You can always get them through grey-importers, if you really want them.

Not many 225/45-15 to choose from as E-marked.

No problem with 205's on 9" :)
Works well for the formidable Kumho V70A (K61 works well for sprint racing in Nordic summer temps). 225/50-15 also works if you want speed and wear over handling.

It's not always HA-oils etc, it can be plain old marketing choices.

But add some cornering and it looks a bit stretched (sorry, forgot that this is with 15x8" 6UL in the front, due to two scrapped 9" wheels)
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...669e6781b6.jpg205/50-15 V70A on 15x9" 6UL

Well thank you for your replies. I already saw that very few 225/45 R15 tires were available. The only ones I found were R1Rs somewhere for a ridiculous price (can't remember what exactly they were asking though).

I would quote, but haven't got that function worked out yet :). Maybe it's just the browser too. Internet Explorer sucks, I'm at work so I got nothing else to work with. Not that busy atm :)

@NiklasFalk Isn't 205s on a 9" wheel kinda small? :)
@BMWidmer I saw the R888R, but I guess that wouldn't have sufficient wet handling. The car will be my DD as well and as I said mostly road use. And that in Germany means rain. I chose the R-S3 in the first place as it seems to offer excellent performance in the dry, sufficient wet handling and not too much wear. I think the R888Rs are a bit too focussed on track-days for what I intend to do with them.

I guess it's more-reading-time for me. Also currently looking at offers for RPF1s and other wheels. 1100$ compared to <600$ in the US is too steep for me.

Edit: @NikasFalk I didn't see your comment about the 8" 6ULs in the first place. Or it took me too long to answer so that I didn't get the edit :) Anyways, the picture looks very nice. I guess 205s on a 8" wheel would be possible too. Probably more choice of tires here too. Are the back tires 205s too?

By the way, how did you manage to scrap both front wheels?! Sorry for you on that :)

Willkommen Peter!

Unfortunately international shipping does get very pricey. And there's no guarantee that you would get wheels/tires through customs in Germany either. A package that size will elicit some scrutiny.
Otherwise I'd say buy what you want on tirerack,com or another retailer, have it shipped to a forum member in the US (I'd volunteer) and then that forum member can forward the shipment to you.
What part of Germany do you hail from?

I just found some offers for the Toyo R1R in 205/50 R15. I guess it's my best (and cheapest) bet. Now I just need to find a cheaper source for the Advanti Storm S1s or other wheels I like.

Willkommen, very kind :) Danke, mein Freund :)! I'm happy to be finally able to contribute my little part to this awesome community :) Thanks for that offer, definitly didn't expect that. I am from Nordrhein-Westfalen, I think it is North Rhine Westphalia in English, the city I live in is Essen. My browser got some tabs of tirerack.com opened at this very moment, to get some impressions on what other wheels I might like. How much do you think would the shipping for 4 wheels be? I guess a lot. But most likely less than what that vendor in the UK was asking.

I know IL motorsports is located in Germany but it seems the wheel selection is quite limited on the website. Can any local vendor help you out?

Good call, but I already checked their site... Their selection isn't what you call a lot, that's correct :) I already wrote some mails to local dealers, but I will try to contact I.L. Motorsport and SPS Motorsport concerning the Storm S1s (SPS is offering a turbo-kit as well, might get interesting later, considering legal street use here - I just say german burocracy... But at the moment I think I would prefer the classic FMII - but that's another story and post to come). I also texted tirerack.com to ask what shipping of a wheel-tire-package would cost.

The S1s are still my favourite in looks and considerably cheaper than for example RPF1s (excluding shipping atleast). Maybe I can find some local vendor who orders a bunch of stuff from the US and can get the S1s way cheaper than me on my own.

But I think I would get a 15x8 sized wheel, as replacement tires must be available in Germany. The Toyo R1Rs are luckily available here in 205/50, but not in 225/45.

Just checked: UPS shipping from here to Essen (4 boxes, 24" x 24" x 12" and 25 pounds each) from here to Essen would be $1226. Probably a bit much, Customs would also be quite uncertain...

Wow, that's a lot of money... Racing Beat Europe, who offered me 820 pounds for the S1s (870 for 15x9) (without tires though) cooperate with Goodwin-Racing from the US, and that price includes shipping, so I would rather do that :) The shipping would be more than the wheels plus a set of mounted tires... Definitly no option. But thank you for checking, very kind!

Update: Contacted IL Motorsport and SPS Motorsport, let's see what they respond...

The advantage or having the same size all round, when you kill the two to the left with a barrier contact, you can place the survivors on one axle instead.

And you can use it to shift the balance, 9" gives more grip than 8" for identical 205s.

Ahhh I forgot about being able to switch left and right :) I read that before, that the same width tire on a bigger wheel gives more grip. A result of less play in the tire wall? Autocorrect is killing me, on the phone right now and just getting suggestions in German. Need to change that setting now. Edit - done. Easier than I thought.

I think some places still have the ATS DTC in 15x8 in Germany, not cheap but nice looking and not too heavy.
You also have the Motec Nitro available in 15x8 decent offset via ebay.de
MOTmotorsport have 6ULs and the TrakLite Burn/Gear that are reasonably priced.
That's all I could find that would fit MX5s in widths from 8 inch with reasonable offsets and weights.

Welcome to the forum. I lived in Augsburg for a couple of years, many moons ago.

Thank you mate :) I will look through all of those, most likely tomorrow.

Thanks :) Ah okay, Augsburg is not really near where I live, but good to know anyway! ;)

And our shipping department just did me a favor and asked for commercial shipping of your wheels/tires from here to Essen and that would only be $500....

Hm... that sounds better. I will consider it - depends on the vendors' replies. Still, with 1100$ for wheels plus shipping you come close to the guys in Britain. In that case I would of course try to do you a favor. But 500$ shipping is still a lot, I first wanna see if I can find a cheaper option. Plus I haven't even got the car yet, so I got time to decide what to do :)

Thanks again for your efforts!

Added six 15x9" to the collection during the winter, about $1000 plus $250 in shipping and tax.
Piggybacking on a friends container shipping helps, but it takes time.

Check out these guys...https://philstireservice.com/

Interesting. I really wanted to try the Pirelli Trofeo R, didn't want to raise the car for the 225/50 so got the 205/50/15. I only have 15X7's and 15X9's. Tried them on the 7's and they were fast, but felt horrible. Out of curiosity, I mounted them on the 9's to see if there's a lap time difference, sometime next week.
Did you end up changing pressures when going from 8's to 9's? My static stretch looks pretty much like your loaded 205 on the 9. What's the tread/casing width on the 205 kumhos?
OP-apologies for threadjack.

Well, if only such a friend existed :D

I will. These guys... I saw the name of the website somewhere else, but I can't remember where exactly... but it was definitely on this forum... maybe another user? ;)

Threadjack - no problem mate :) I'm happy that I am not the only one in this thread asking questions ;)
From what I know the 7" wheels seem like the OEM size for 205s. Adding an inch or two should improve grip, as NiklasFalk already said earlier before. In which way did they feel horrible? Maybe a result of the softer tirewall in comparison to a tirewall on a wider wheel? I don't know, I'm no expert at tires. But that's the only possible reason I can think of at the moment. I guess you used the right pressures. Keep us updated when you have tried them out on the 9s, would like to know if you could notice a difference and how it felt afterwards :) Hopefully not "still horrible".

One very similar discussion was held recently on this forum:
https://www.miataturbo.net/wheels-ti...-200bhp-90783/

I am wondering what your goal is here. Personally I just drive for fun on the track and absolute speed is less of a concern. I will run 15x8J wheels and for tires probably Nankang NS-2R Soft (120TW i.i.r.c.) in 205/50/15. Spending more than 1000 euros on tires and wheels for just having some fun is too much for me. For the wheels, I will probably just run the very cheap Japan Racing (JR-3) 15x8 ET25 wheels. They cost around 100 euros a piece i.i.r.c. Yes, they are Taiwanese / Chinese copies and yes they are not the best wheel in the world, for the money I think they are fine.

I would like to get the Advanti Storm S1s the cheapest way possible and some nice tires that I can also buy in Germany. I won't be on the track every weekend. I just love the look of those wheels, that's why I want to get them. 1 pound of unsprung weight more or less wouldn't make a difference that I am able to notice. I am also constantly looking at alternative wheels, but yet I couldn't find any that I liked as much as the S1s. As for tires, the Hankook R-S3s are no longer an Option, as they are not available here. The thread title might be a bit misleading now. I think my best option are the Toyo R1Rs, which I can get here for ~90 € each. They offer a very good performance in the dry, I won't spin everytime I go around a corner in the wet and they don't cost too much. I would maybe pay 15-20€ less for normal street use only tires.

I hope that answers the question. Sorry, I might have drifted a bit off-topic while replying to the other posts :) I just enjoy talking about any car-related topic.

No difference in pressures, I set the same cold pressure with dry air and it just works.
No idea what the width is in reality, they fit with a little stretch, no creativity needed when fitting either (unless you use 10 year old tires, then you might need to shock them on).

What do you think about those wheels? I got an offer by a vendor 130km from my town - 1.000€ for the wheels plus Toyo R1Rs installed. These are Advance R230s in 15x8. I quite like them :)

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6cb52c6f5f.jpgAdvance R230 15x8

Those are ~14LBS for a 15x8. That's reasonable imho. With stock power consider running those R1R's in 195-50-15, they are a quicker compound than the larger sizes.

I also think 14lbs is alright. The S1s would be 3lbs less, but way more expensive when you include shipping. I don't think I will stay at stock power for too long, maybe I'll boost the car in the next winter :) But interesting to know, didn't find that anywhere. I guess quicker compound = not as soft -> more durability?

Would be nice too. I just saw that the 195/50s cost like 25€ each less than the 205s. Maybe I will just buy the first set in 195/50 and then use them as long as I can with more hp, then just buy the next set in 205/50.

Thanks for the tip mate :)

Hi, this is my car.... :-) I really like the wheels and those Advan tires, but might have to go for some 15x9 wheels with a 225 tire due to running a EFR 6258 at 1.2 bar. The 205 are barely up to the task to get grip at that powerlevels...

What's the vendor you are talking about? SPS Motorsport?

Wow, awesome! Didn't expect someone to say "that's my car" :D I love the looks of your car, there are some nice little details like the tinted indicators... Which tires will you be running at 225/45? Same model?

Yes, I have talked to SPS Motorsport. Got your wheels there too? They've been very nice to me so far.

The wheels will be 225/45 - but I don't know which one atm.