Tire Suggestions

Tire Suggestions

Hey, as some of you know, I bought a new set of 16" rims. I know NOTHING about tires. Im honestly not even sure what size will be good. Right now on my 14s I have 185/60/14. I want the most amount of rubber possible without rubbing. Thanks.

205/45/16 Toyo Proxies 4 are the tires I run. you won't have problems with rubbing as long as your wheels are < +44 offset. I really love the Proxies, I used to have Yokohama's but I killed them in 6 months. The Proxies are about a year old and still look like new, however subtract 2 - 3 months since I was not driving my car since the engine blew Hope this helps.

One more thing I should add. When I had my Yoko's they were highly directional tread. It made the car corner like it was on rails but the cost was constantly fighting the steering wheel to keep the car going straight. Those things grabbed every inprefection in the road surface and tries to pull me in to it. So I would suggest that depending on the type of driver you are that you take this in to account with selecting a tire. The non or semi-directional tread gives you a much nicer ride where you can cruise. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Directional tread has absolutely nothing to do with dry traction, the main function of a directional tread design is to resist hydroplaning by evacuating water from the center of the tire. The ideal tire for dry traction/competition is to minimize voids in the contact patch as much as possible. Most Semi Competition tires are asymetrical (Yokahama Advan, Falken Azenis RT, etc). non DOT competition tires (Kumho V710, Hoosier R/A3SO4, P Zero COrsa, PS Cup) minimize or don't even utalize tread design. I'm not really sure what you mean by "semi" and "highly" directional because a directional tire is directional. The Falken 512 (a decent and cheap tire for daily driving IMO) is a directional tire but it is in no way a performance tire.

And about your steering wheel not returning to center after cornering, sound like you have a alignment problem. Have your alignment shop zero out your toe and set caster to as positive as possible. I run Kumho MX as well as many other high performance/semi competition tires and I never have any sort of problem like this

I see what your saying but I'm speaking from personal experience. I have a slight toe in on my alignment but when I changed tires I did nothing different with the alignment and the difference was completely obvious right off the bat. Especially when driving on grooved pavement.

205/40/16 or 205/45/16 will work

The 512's might be one of the best all season tires (I have these on my steelies) but all season tires are not designed with performance being its primary objective. As far as I can see the 512's have a high 360 treadwear (for longivity), weak nylon sidewalls, small stability blocks and i've notice the tire tread width are smaller when compared to performance tires with the same rated section width.

But after all this, the 512's would be the ideal tire for slo's needs:
"I want the most amount of (sidewall aspect) rubber possible without rubbing."
so 205/45/16

Barnacules:
You'll do better in cornering with slight toe out.

get the azenis rt-215 if your area still has em. theyre %57 mounted per tire and they grip very well. they are discontinued however and they wear fast ~15k per change. they are cheap though. only get them if youre in warm climates. otherwise i'd suggest hankook's best tire(forgot what its called) or the BF Goodrich TA/KD's for better wear and overall performance for the money

My cousin had Kumho Ecsta SPT and Yokohama AVS ES100 tires on his Maxima. He told me that they both perform almost the same but the Kumhos lasted much longer than the Yokohamas. I'm planning on gettin the Ecstas once I purchase new rims.

Yea those tires are pretty horrible.

I got 512's on 17's size is 205/40/17 and am running like 35psi on all corners and I have noticed very little sidewall flex and they last awhile.

those ze-512 are junky tires to be driving hard on but for daily driving they do the job. definitely one of the most affordable tires you can trust on. the ones i got were 195/60/14 with 420 treadwear. thing with those is they tend to take a while to warm up. those things nearly killed me and my car in the rain. tell you the truth, i found the rt-615 to be better in light amounts of rain. im running on rt-615 cause i drive like a maniac and i use those as extra insurance so i dont go kill myself every corner. I'm on my 2nd set and my last set only lasted 6 months with 1 track day and 1 auto-x. i'd go with size 215/45/16 (205 if on coilovers). that size will keep your outer wheel diameter the same.

for barnicles. I dont know why you have your wheels (im guessing front) toe in. it only makes it understeer more and its not the way to set your car anyways. have it at zero, you wont have to fight the wheel to go straight. toe in or out is hella unsafe not to mention kills your tire's life.

not rly, slight toe in is a good setup for drag racers, it inhances high speed straight line stability while sacraficing corning abilities. slight toe out improves turn in response but sacrafice some high speed straight line stability. I just have my alignment shop set it at zero, maximize front positive caster, and set camber to -1.6/-1.0.. good setup for moderate speed, tight/complex road courses which requires you to have no understeer.

Yokohama Avid H4s. Same ratings as parada with a tread wear rating more than double! Best tire i've ever had.

oohh i seeeee. lol, i forgot drag racing still exists

I've got Kumho 711's and they've lasted 25,000 miles and I still have a summer left on them (check my garage, they have about 10,000 miles on them in those pics). I did a lot of long road trips with them up through Michigan into northern Wisconsin and whenever I get the chance I'll tear it up on some country backroads. They've worn well, and they have fantastic grip, but they do tend to wander a little when there are imperfections in the road.

lookin to pick up a set... for my 17 inch rims...

which one?

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireDetail.do?rcz=91780&rc=CALINT&cs=205&pc=33660&rd=17&ar=40

or this one?

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fi...NT&cs=205&pc=28756&typ=&rd=17&ar=40&tc=FALHZ7

the falkens are $62/tire at www.edgeracing.com if you decide on those. just thought u'd save ya some money. toyo proxe 4 are $72/tire

http://www.edgeracing.com/tires/2054017/

The decent tires from Kumho are only teh MX or better (victoracers, V700's, V710), but even the MX has a weak sidewall, they stand up to heat better than my old azenis RT215's, a little lighter and seem to last longer but now that teh RT615's price dropped I will probably switch back to falken.

alright guys... thx for the help... ill go with the 512's

like i said before...my 16" Rotas are rockin 205/50/16 Nitto Neogens...I think they are the perfect size....you get plenty of tire and plenty of rim protection...

i can vouch for the falken 512's. I see y they are rated number 1 tire.... They are very nice. They so far show no sign of wear after 1.3k but thats to be expected. I corner like a nut wit these and they grip more then the 205/45/16 hankook hr2's i had.
I have the falkens in 195/60/14 and one of the best "mods" i've down to the car beside the suspension upgrade lol
they dont' seem as wide as the tires i have that are 195 but they are very sticky, pretty quite and smooth on the road

If you're deadset on the 512's then www.vulcantire.com is by far the cheapest place to buy from. I got them in 215/45/17 for ~$280 shipped, and that was including paying extra to have one tire shipped from their Utah warehouse. Great customer service and fast shipping too.

I'm not all that happy with the 512's. I wish I'd just spent more and gotten the Neogens I wanted. If you do get the 512 make sure you run them at a minimum 33-34psi. The drive home from the tireshop with them @ 30 in rain was downright scary. They have some seriously weak sidewalls.

DR's? Why!? C'mon man, you cant corner on DR's, you'll have NO wet traction, and they'll wear in no time.

Just pick up a set of BFG KDW's , Advan Neovas or A032r's. They'll all be sticky enough for good launches, yet you'll still be able to push the car hard in corners. Besides, whats the fun in having a MR2 if you only go fast in a straight line?

Toyo's or Yokohama's. Maybe Nitto if you have the money...peace

BFG KD > BFG KDW
W stand for wet traction, and you dont need no stinkin wet traction in the middle of summer, Besides KD cost like $30 more.

he lives in MD. What if he's out driving and it starts to rain? That does happen in summer.
Stick with some sticky non-drag tires Mike, then buy an extra set of stock wheels and get some DR's for the track. The KDW's, Neovas and the A032R's are the most popular street tires among many of the Supra guys, so they should do the job on a 300+HP MR2. The Goodyear F1-GSD3's are also pretty damn good.