Need Advice on All-Season Tires

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Mike Danielson - 22 Oct 2004 23:12 GMT

I have a 2002 Miata with the awful Turanza tires that are worthless on slippery roads. I want to replace them with a quiet and safe tire that is useful in snow that is up to a couple of inches deep and yet will work OK during the summer. My Internet review on this subject indicates that the Bridgestone Potenza RE950 is the ticket. Here is my problem--my tire size is 205/45R16 and the Potenza does not come in that size. What would you recomend? Any other tires for my situation? I live in the Eastern part of Washington state.

regards

Mike Danielson

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Leon van Dommelen - 23 Oct 2004 01:34 GMT

>I have a 2002 Miata with the awful Turanza tires that are worthless on slippery roads. I want to replace them with a quiet and safe tire that is useful in snow that is up to a couple of inches deep and yet will work OK during the summer. My Internet review on this subject indicates that the Bridgestone Potenza RE950 is the ticket. Here is my problem--my tire size is 205/45R16 and the Potenza does not come in that size.

So what is wrong with the 205/40-16 or 205/55-16?

Leon

> What would you recomend? Any other tires for my situation? I live in the Eastern part of Washington state.
>
>regards
>
>Mike Danielson

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Leon van Dommelen :) Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
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EXIT THE INTERSTATES (Jamie Jensen)

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Lanny Chambers - 23 Oct 2004 03:03 GMT

> I want to replace them with a quiet and safe tire that is useful in snow that
> is up to a couple of inches deep and yet will work OK during the summer. My
> Internet review on this subject indicates that the Bridgestone Potenza RE950
> is the ticket.

While the RE950 is a very good tire in the summer (for an all-season),
I'm not sure you'd describe its snow performance as better than
"marginal"...if not "white-knuckled." Most other all-seasons are
somewhat better in snow than the 950, though significantly worse in
summer.

If you need reliable snow capability in a Miata, buy an extra set of
(steel) wheels and mount real winter tires. Do the math: if your
insurance deductible is $500, you'll be making money the first time you
use them and don't run into anything. See tirerack.com.

Alternatively, use a beater Honda or Toyota for snow. Like I do.

The real advantage to this plan is that it frees you to use real
performance tires for the rest of the year. No Miata owner should suffer
with all-seasons in top-down weather! As a bonus, summer performance
tires are also amazingly grippy and predictable in the wet, orders of
magnitude better than any all-season. They don't last very long, but on
a Miata, tires are a consumable, part of the price of letting the car
perform to its potential. If you bought the Miata as a sports car, not
just a cute convertible, then don't scrimp on tires.

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Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
'94C
the alignment page:
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

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Natman - 23 Oct 2004 17:32 GMT

>The real advantage to this plan is that it frees you to use real
>performance tires for the rest of the year. No Miata owner should suffer
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>perform to its potential. If you bought the Miata as a sports car, not
>just a cute convertible, then don't scrimp on tires.

Why are summer tires better in the wet?

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Lanny Chambers - 23 Oct 2004 21:31 GMT

> Why are summer tires better in the wet?

Nearly all high-performance street tires are designed for superb grip
both wet and dry. Freed from the requirement to stay flexible in cold
weather, their rubber compound is much sticker (in its temperature
range), and the lack of siping puts more rubber on the road with less
tread squirm. They can also use tread patterns that squeegee water from
the pavement and plow through puddles, but would be ineffective in snow.

Examples: Toyo E-1S, Bridgestone S-03, Falken Azenis (except in deep
water).

All tires are compromises. The above sacrifice cold capability and
treadwear for maximum summer grip. They aren't cheap, but if you bought
a Miata as an economy car, you already know you made a mistake.
All-seasons compromise *everything*--they're OK all the time, but never
really good at anything. I just think it's a shame to cripple a Miata
with mediocre tires--the car is a compromise, too, and one should
accentuate its strengths.

Signature

Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
'94C
the alignment page:
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

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L. Santer - 26 Oct 2004 16:18 GMT

> I want to replace them with a quiet and safe tire that
> is useful in snow that is up to a couple of inches deep and yet will
> work OK during the summer. My Internet review on this subject indicates
> that the Bridgestone Potenza RE950 is the ticket.

RE950's in snow? I kind of doubt those claims. I have a friend with
them who has on his miata. He and the towing company that pulled him
out of the ditch last winter will back me up.

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Grant Edwards - 26 Oct 2004 17:11 GMT

> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

Ditch the MIME crap, eh?

> I have a 2002 Miata with the awful Turanza tires that are
> worthless on slippery roads. I want to replace them with a
> quiet and safe tire that is useful in snow that is up to a
> couple of inches deep and yet will work OK during the summer.

No such thing. Tires that are useful in snow are not OK during
the summer. Tires that are OK during summer are not useful in
snow.

The closest you're going to be able to find are "high
performance winter" tires like the Nokian WR or the Michelin
PA2.

> My Internet review on this subject indicates that the
> Bridgestone Potenza RE950 is the ticket.

I've driven Potenza RE-something tires (very similar to 950's)
in light snow. That's something you only do once. You either
get killed, or you buy snow tires the next morning.

> Here is my problem--my tire size is 205/45R16 and the Potenza
> does not come in that size. What would you recomend?

Get a set of "high performance winter tires" mounted on a
second set of wheels (14 or 15 inch). TireRack.com has
packages.

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Grant Edwards grante Yow! A can of ASPARAGUS,
at 73 pigeons, some LIVE ammo,
visi.com and a FROZEN DAQUIRI!!

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