215/40-R16 Yokohama S.Drive tires

Amen, I had to part with the tires that came on my Miata even though they had more than 50% tread remaining, they went into a spin with a very light rain on the street..... I was taking a turn onto a freeway on ramp at about 35mph or so, I'd taken the same turn at 45mph in my Jeep Grand Cherokee if that'll give you some idea of how slippery those tires were! About a year earlier they'd handled wet pretty well.

Periodically the Feds try to pass some rule requiring tire to be replaced after 2 or 3 years. I certainly oppose such a bill but I can see the reasoning behind it....

Amen, I had to part with the tires that came on my Miata even though they had more than 50% tread remaining, they went into a spin with a very light rain on the street..... I was taking a turn onto a freeway on ramp at about 35mph or so, I'd taken the same turn at 45mph in my Jeep Grand Cherokee if that'll give you some idea of how slippery those tires were! About a year earlier they'd handled wet pretty well.

Periodically the Feds try to pass some rule requiring tires to be replaced after 2 or 3 years. I certainly oppose such a bill but I can see the reasoning behind it....

Sorry for the double post, my fault entirely, I'll go sit in the corner now...

LOL no need! I agree on tire grip dropping after a few years but that's part of my point. This tread life seems to give me about the right longevity with quite good grip. Trust me, these tires grip far better than you probably expect from a

cd

I installed 195/45-16's on my 1999 miata on 16x7 enkei wheels and found them to be more noisy and rough riding than I expected but their wet and dry traction is very good. They are absolutely useless in snow.

BrianMinto Calgary

Well I ended up going with a different setup (in good part due to the advice I received here):

My order should be shipping today or tomorrow, I think, so I'll get them soon enough.

:-)

I replaced the Racing Harts on my MSM with 16x7 Enkei's in an affort to soften the ride It did, but not much. I suppose I should have gone to 15" wheels, but just didn't like the look. I wimped out and put all-season tires on them (I know, I know) because I thought I needed to be able drive in the occasional snow we have in Dallas. But then I decided to retire from my job and it turns out I don't have to go anywhere if I don't want to.

You might want to do what retirement kind of got me into. - - Wife doesn't like to drive small cars, prefers cars like a Chevy Impala.

I prefer cars with "sports car handling" AKA Miatas. My 99 LS is getting up in age and miles. It's in good shape, but has about 50 thousand of the 90 thousand miles as road miles to/from Florida Georgia. (Red, Turbocharged, mild customization, Rota wheels, etc.)

It seems like a (horrors) P/Ups are standard for basic transportation & general use around here. I originally swore that I was not gonna get a P/U years ago. However, a friend made me an offer I just could not refuse some years back. He had an old Chevy LUV sitting in his yard, and offered to give it to me for the cost of getting it running, or if not, then I'd help in getting it to a junk yard. Turned out that the electric fuel pump had an integrated filter, which was totally clogged up. I drove it to work for several years, used it to haul stuff involved in some home remodeling, etc. Finally, I sold it for $250. (It was all but worn out.) Then in 2007, my wife wanted to haul stuff from her deceased parents home in Illinois to our place in GA. New P/U time when all was said and done.

The Miata was in daily use until I retired in 2005. When I bought the P/U, it went into limited use, (Club events, nice days, etc.) and spends a great deal of time in the garage. As time and health permit, I'm slowly accomplishing some minor "deferred maintenance" to bring it back to "climb in and drive a thousand miles" condition. (new hoses, belts, brake pads, etc as needed.) Just had and cured some minor electrical problems that chased back to the cigar lighter socket shorting out intermittently, and blowing a fuse, which in turn shuts down the radar detector and an A/F ratio meter. Next effort is to find where I hid the plastic buttons that attach the carpet to the top well, and reinstall them.

I ended up with 195/50R15 Toyo T1Rs on 7.5" wheels. They're really good in the dry, but they are (at least from my POV) *great* in the wet.

Why not? I'd sure be asking and if I didn't like the answer I'd have my attorney ask for me. A vibrating tire will eventually do damage to the suspension and will probably fail sooner or later.