[MSCW list] MSCW Digest, Vol 65, Issue 14" Tires

[jmccombs3 at aol.com]

Thanks to those of you (esp. Bill Kekz) who clued me in RE: 14" tires for my early Miata.  At present, the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1s look good.  I've looked at various tires in the big tire ads (Tire Rack, etc.) in Road & Track etc., but those ads don't describe all the sizes available, and I wasn't aware that the Direzzas went down to 14".  Checking online revealed somewhat more choices and sizes.  Here's hoping they're still in production when I want to pick up a set in a couple of months (specific tire models seem to come into and go out of fashion and availability almost instantly, nowadays).

The car currently has a set of Hankook Ventus RS-32s.  The tread pattern appears to be fairly aggressive for dry pavement, but as they wear (getting close to the wear bars now), I find that they seem to be not so sticky as they once were.  I dunno if this is due to a harder rubber compound in the base, aging of the material, or my faulty memory and seat of the pants feel, or some other factor or combination of factors.  Anyway, they're not very sticky any more, at least so it seems to me.  My wife has a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE960as on her '92 Miata, and even though they're an all season tire (lots of sipes in the tread), I believe they have dry traction at least as good as the Hankooks on my '90, at least in the present wear state of both sets of tires.

FWIW, I had a set of Yokohama AVS ES100s on my Miata in the past, and although they shed water pretty well (just look at the tread pattern), I found the tread pattern to be rather squirmy in the dry, with those rather long and narrow tread blocks.  The dry adhesion wasn't what I was hoping for.

It's tough, choosing tires nowadays.  Once upon a time one could rely to some extent on tire tests published by Road & Track, but they don't do objective tire tests any more, as they don't want to offend potential advertisers.  Tire Rack's recommendations are much the same - just generalities.  There are other sources out there, but I can't subscribe to or belong to every possible automotive enthusiast group out there.  Word of mouth through the club is the best bet, and some knowledge of what a tire might be capable of doing according to its tread pattern, helps a lot too (but of course that isn't the whole answer).


--Jack & KANSEI ('90 Miata) & CANARIE ('92 sunburst yellow - Anne's daily driver)--


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Subject: MSCW Digest, Vol 65, Issue 14


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rom: Bill Keksz <bill_keksz at comcast.net>
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Jack, several CAR members are all agog over the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 
tar Spec.
upposedly wonderful in wet and dry, and available in 14".
ill


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nd of MSCW Digest, Vol 65, Issue 14
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