Performance tires for 100% street duty?
#1
Performance tires for 100% street duty?
I recently purchased new wheels and I have been searching for what tires to buy in 205/50/15. The car is 100% street driven at around 8k miles/yr but with a healthy amount of spirited driving.
I'm looking for something with good grip but also with decent tread life in the ~$120/tire price range. I've researched but there are so many to choose from and a lot of the information available is pretty dated.
Please be gentle, this is my first time shopping for tires.
The two tires that I've had my eye on are Yoko S-drive and Maxxis VR-1. I'm close to pulling the trigger on the VR-1's but I'm definitely open to suggestions.
I read that the S-drives have great tread life, seeing as they're 300 UTQG, but are not much better than your standard crap all season tires.
I've also read that people are pleased with the VR-1 for the street and the amount of grip they have for the dollar spent. I'm concerned they won't last very long.
How many miles could I expect from a daily driven 200 UTQG tire such as the VR-1?
As I said above I am open to suggestions. What do you suggest for a 100% street duty performance tire with decent tread life?
I'm looking for something with good grip but also with decent tread life in the ~$120/tire price range. I've researched but there are so many to choose from and a lot of the information available is pretty dated.
Please be gentle, this is my first time shopping for tires.
The two tires that I've had my eye on are Yoko S-drive and Maxxis VR-1. I'm close to pulling the trigger on the VR-1's but I'm definitely open to suggestions.
I read that the S-drives have great tread life, seeing as they're 300 UTQG, but are not much better than your standard crap all season tires.
I've also read that people are pleased with the VR-1 for the street and the amount of grip they have for the dollar spent. I'm concerned they won't last very long.
How many miles could I expect from a daily driven 200 UTQG tire such as the VR-1?
As I said above I am open to suggestions. What do you suggest for a 100% street duty performance tire with decent tread life?
#3
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I like the s-drives because they work very well when cold too. I can't imagine needing more tire on the street anyway. Plus they last a good amount of time and are quiet. Like it really matters in a miata.
#9
S.Drives are a good compromise tire. They get greasy when hot, but at that point you're really pushing too hard for the street anyway. As noted above, they are pretty tolerant of temperature, and for that reason I ran them on my wife's DD NC. We don't get a lot of snow, but often see temps down into the 30's and 20's at night, and the S.Drives were never bothered by it, as long as your expectations weren't unreasonable. I found the S.Drives a bit noisy as they got higher miles, but most performance tires will...
I currently have Conti ECS on our NB, but they will be coming off shortly due to temps, as they are not recommended to be run under 40*F. I like them better than the S.Drives in the dry, but they can't go year-round for me.
I currently have Conti ECS on our NB, but they will be coming off shortly due to temps, as they are not recommended to be run under 40*F. I like them better than the S.Drives in the dry, but they can't go year-round for me.
#12
Another important factor is weather. What kind of weather do you get. If you are prone to a lot of rain and only want to run 1 set of tires it might change some opinions. Such as i strongly recommend the RS4 for summer days but not at all in the rain. (I have roughly 3000 miles on my RS4 and they look almost new also)
If you need a good streetable rain tire i would probably go with the Toyo RA1
If you need a good streetable rain tire i would probably go with the Toyo RA1
#14
That's a really good point that I didn't think was a huge deal. Obviously wet vs dry is important but I didn't know you couldn't use certain tires below a certain temperature. We don't get much snow here but it does get into the 20s pretty often in the winter. I'll start looking into to tires that work fine in the cold.
I really appreciate all of the responses guys. I guess to further filter my search, I'm not looking for a super plus ultra summer tire. But one that works well in dry, wet, and now cold. So one with good grip for a street car and I can use them year round.
I really appreciate all of the responses guys. I guess to further filter my search, I'm not looking for a super plus ultra summer tire. But one that works well in dry, wet, and now cold. So one with good grip for a street car and I can use them year round.
#18
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Sorry, missed the bit when OP was asking about cold weather driving. I always default to fair weather daily when I see anyone talk about spirited driving etc on these.
OP, OEM wheels for these cars are cheap. You may be better served by having a set of oem wheels with all seasons and a different set of wheels with performance summer tires. You can likely get the OEM wheels with all seasons for 200-300 bucks. I've seen a bunch get sold pretty cheap from folks that just bought the car and are swapping to more aggressive wheels/tires and sell off the set that the previous owner had recently replaced.
OP, OEM wheels for these cars are cheap. You may be better served by having a set of oem wheels with all seasons and a different set of wheels with performance summer tires. You can likely get the OEM wheels with all seasons for 200-300 bucks. I've seen a bunch get sold pretty cheap from folks that just bought the car and are swapping to more aggressive wheels/tires and sell off the set that the previous owner had recently replaced.