Miata Mailing List: December 1994, Message #62
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   From: "Alex Little ((919) 254-5038)" 
Subject: never tire of tires
   Date: Fri, 2 Dec 1994 12:25:49 -0500

A previous append:
> I have had good experience with my Bridgestone SF-325s.
> I have a '94 R package, and I have not experienced poor handling
> with them in either dry or wet weather.  Living in Austin
> means I may not get a chance to try them in snow very soon.

Well, I have 3 theories about this:

#1 -
The performance of my tires deteriorated quickly at about 15k miles.
Since your car is a '94, you may not have enough miles or wear on them.
(although if you drive frequently at 8/10ths, you likely would have.)

#2 -
Bridgestone may be making better tires.  They've had 5 years to fix them.

#3 -
Wear-induced changes may be more noticable under certain conditions or
driving styles.  For example, in summer we get afternoon t-storms
which dump lots of water on the roads in a hurry.  I commute in heavy
(for NC) traffic, so its a lot of hurry up and then slam on the brakes
kinda driving (yuk!).

I noticed as the tires wore, the car got progressively harder to
control, even in conditions that should not have given it a problem.  By
15k, it was getting to be very noticable.  Combining that with the lousy
wet braking (or more accurately, the tendency for miata brakes to get
wet easily and not be there unless you remember to brush the water off
the rotors), it was causing some pretty scary drives in rush hour
traffic.  Once I replaced the tires, the wandering/slipping/hydroplaning
went away, although the brakes still stink.

Later,
Alex Little