Miata Mailing List: July 1992, Message #18
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   From: (none)
Subject: Re: Tires
   Date: (none)

Josh -

Assuming that your San Diego e-mail address represents your year-round 
residence, and assuming that you're looking for high performance street 
tires to fit the stock alloys, I can recommend the following:

		Yokohama AVS Intermediates
		Bridgestone Potenza RE-71s
		Dunlop D40 M2s (205/55-14)

I think the Yokohama may be the best all-around street tire for Miatas.
They're excellent on both wet and dry surfaces, important in Chicago.
I got stock-size 185/60-14s on mine and love them.  They also come in
195/60-14 if you want to go a little bigger.  I'm not sure whether you
can get 205/55-14s.  Easy to find -- call the Tire Rack -- and fairly
cheap (I paid less than $90 a corner for mine).

The Bridgestones are great tires, especially on dry pavement, but will
be tougher to find since they're being phased out of production (dumb
decision on Bridgestone's part).  They'll also be quite a nickel more
expensive than the Yokohamas.  I'm not sure what sizes you'll find out
there.  I believe they made both 185 and 195/60-14s; don't know about
205/55s.  These would probably be the fastest tires you could put on.

The Dunlops are similar to the Bridgestones: Expensive uni-directional
tires with great handling and braking characteristics, especially on
dry surfaces.  You're limited to 205/55-14 in these, which is why I've
put them third on the list.  That's a lot of tire for a 5.5 inch rim,
and some folks are uncomfortable with that.  I'm not sure whether I'd
run 205/55s on the street, but I do run 5.5" Panasports shod with Yoko
A-008RS-II 205/55s for racing, and it hasn't bitten me yet.

Other contenders:	Yokohama A509s
			Bridgestone Potenza HP-41s
			Dunlop D60 M2s

These are all lower-priced, lower performance cousins to the ones I've
listed above.  If your money is tight or the demands you make on your 
tires are less rigorous, any of these -- especially the A509s -- would
be an excellent choice.

What about Michelin or Pirelli or Goodyear or BFGoodrich, you may ask.
Truth is, I'm just not very impressed with most of their stuff at the
moment, although I hear that some of the Pirellis are OK.

I'm going to go ahead and forward a copy of this message to the list,
since it may be of general interest.  I just hope it gets out in one
piece.  My editor is hosed this morning.

Steve Bruun
Cat's Paw Racing
#22 CStock Miata
Chicago Region
sebruun@ihlpe.att.com or