Miata Mailing List: November 1998, Message #814

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>remember that the '99 wheel and tire was two pounds heavier than the '92
>factory alloy with a 195/55-14 SP8000 on it.  The SP was nearly worn out
>and the Pilot was nearly new.

>I also agree with an earlier poster that the Pilots leave a lot to be
>desired.  I ran some hot laps with the Pilots, put on the SPs and
>immediately dropped more than 5 seconds off my best time with the Pilots.

You're kidding?! Wow... I think that the Pilots are a fine tire. They
aren't as grippy as a Pirelli P-Zero or the Pilot MXXX3 (the M3's stock
tire, the SX-GT is the lesser little brother of that tire) but they are
pretty decent and they hold up to abuse (autoX hard street driving, etc)
pretty well. I still have sidewalls which I can't say for the SP8000s
I've seen run at AutoX courses. Also, the Pilots have MUCH stiffer
sidewalls than the SP8000s, meaning that you can run them are
ridiculously low tire pressures and not get rollovers. I've run them at
24 PSI no rollover, where you'd be digging a rim into the pavement at
that pressure with the SP8000s. 

In fact, I think that they hold up to abuse better than the Toyo Proxes
T1 Pluses... I know this list considers them god's gift to enthusiastic
drivers not willing to run R1s on the street, but I'll probably replace
my stock tires with the Pilots. Trust me, I'm tough on tires and I
haven't had any problems with the Pilots. 

As I've said many times in the past and I'm sure I'll say many times in
the future, the Pirelli P-Zeros are the best 15" street tire out there,
if you don't care about wear. ;) They stick, they hold up to abuse, they
ride well, they are quiet, etc etc. And, CHEAP! $74 a tire from Tire
Rack in 195/50r15. You'll get about 15,000 miles out of them, though. 

	-Kit, the guy who ran rookie class and burned through *3* sets of tires
in one season