MavrickFD

Getting tires soon but having trouble deciding on a size and brand. Got the FD with Kuhmo tires. Are they good?

jpandes

Kumho Ecsta 712's SUCK-***! I have them and hate them. They came with the wheels that I bought used. They are hard and won't wear out. The only good thin I can say abou them is that they are decent in the rain.

However, I have read that the Kumho MX's are good.

KaiFD3S

iTrader: (37)

If they are mx's then they are preety good tire's, I am running them and I love them...

7_rocket

iTrader: (6)

Check in the suspension section. I made a thread about tires, from waht others have to say kuhmo's are very good street tires, also Toyo t1-r's are suppose to be top quality tires

maxcooper

Kumho is a tire manufacturer, not a specific tire model. So no one can tell you if they are good or not without more information.

We also need to know what you value most in a tire: grip, longevity, handling response, etc. Some folks prefer hard rubber tires that last forever, but they would suck for a sports car since they would have no grip.

There are lots of threads about what tires to choose in the Suspension/Tires/Wheels forum on here.

If you have stock FD wheels, I recommend the size 245/45-16. You need to tell us your budget and what you want out of the tires to help narrow down the field.

-Max

7_rocket

iTrader: (6)

^^ Why that tire size? I thought if you have stock rims you would go with stock tire size also.

MavrickFD

I Don't really race the car much. I'd like to have a tire that has good grip and lasts long. I do have the stock rims and want to put some thinner tires on them but not super thin. I just don't like the tires looking fat. I only have a couple hundered to spend.

Cgotto6

iTrader: (8)

Why would you run the stock tire size when you could be running wider tires? Thats just plain common sense.

rynberg

Umm...this is a high-end sports car, not a Corolla. You're going to have to pony up a lot more than that.

In the 245/45 16 size, you could go with the Avon Tech M500 (www.tirerack.com) for about $100/tire.

In the stock 225/50 16 size, you could go with the Avons again for $90/tire. In that size, I would step up to the Kumho MX for $115/tire.

MavrickFD

I was only interested in changing the front 2 because the passenger side tire is slowly leaking. I probably will be better off just changing all 4. Guess I'll have to wait until the next paycheck. Thanks for the price quotes rynberg

wstrohm

$200 would buy you one Bridgestone Turanza tire in the stock size, sorry...

Natey

iTrader: (19)

I went from T1-Ss to MXs and the Kumhos are better. Quicker turn-in and just as much if not more grip. And when they do finally let go, they do it nice and predictably. I'm claiming that MXs are on par with Azenis...Maybe not quite as much grip, but they'll last a lot longer.

maxcooper

I started typing a short response, but it became a bit of a tire shopper's guide with poor structure:

You also have another choice to make. Buy online and have them installed locally, or just buy locally. Note that you can often negotiate with a local shop to get a better price if you print out an online price and take it with you for the negotiation. Perhaps you should find your best deal (or deals, since the tiree shop might offer a comparable, but different tire model) online and then go to a shop to negotiate (this works best in person). If the salesman offers you a tire you haven't heard of, don't buy it (or at least don't buy it until after you research it a bit online). Local installation should cost about $50-60 if you buy the tires online, and don't forget shipping (most online shops will quote you a real shipping cost). For installation costs, you can just call a bunch of shops on the phone, but the ones with the best prices might also be worth negotiating with for the tires, too. If you buy online, make sure you buy from a place that won't charge you sales tax (i.e. isn't located in your state).

That was a bit scatter-brained, here's a more specific strategy:
- Shop online for the best deals on a few different tire models that meet your budget and performance requirements. Look for decent tires that are "on special" as this is where you can really save money versus walking into a local tire shop and blindly paying full price. Learn about the tires you are shopping for. How well do they stick? How long to they last? Are they okay in the rain? Are they noisy? Gather up and print the best quotes for a few different tire models.
- Post your top picks on here and/or search google to see if the tires you chose are generally well-regarded or universally despised. Be aware that you will find varying opinions on any tire, though it is usually possible to figure who is full of **** and who knows what they are talking about. Tire Rack tests and comparative magazine reviews can also be very useful sources of tire quality/performance information.
- Call around to local shops for installation quotes, perhaps asking the shops to match the deals you found online (after adding shipping + installation, you know the shipping and installation costs at this point, so ask for an all-inclusive out-the-door price from the local tire shop)
- Be prepared for some shops to say "come down and we can work something out" on the phone when you present them with the online deal you found. You can probably negotiate your best deal with a local shop by going there in person. Pick one or more shops that seemed to have decent installation prices and seemed willing to negotiate and go there to see what they can do.

You can go to these sites to find tires online:
http://tirerack.com (Tire Rack also has tire comparison tests that you should read to both learn about what makes a tire good or bad and see how various tires do when pitted against each other, and the Avon M500s look like a bargain that did well on comparison tests)
http://vulcantire.com (225/50-16 Falken FK-451 for $82 each!)
http://onlinetires.com (225/50-16 Falken FK-451 for $78 each!)
http://discounttiredirect.com (free shipping!)

Get an idea of local pricing here (however, you shouldn't rule out going to another local shop, just don't buy any crappy store brand tires, and beware of salesmen trying to sell you siping, insurance, warrantees, or other add-ons that you don't need or want):
http://discounttire.com (Discount Tire and America's Tire local stores offer similar pricing to online tire shops when you factor in the shipping and installation costs)

Costco is another good place to get tires locally. It might even be worth joining just to get the tires (however, I just searched and they don't seem to have any "bargain" tires listed for the RX-7 at this time).
http://costco.com

Don't let any tire shops or online deals lead you astray from the following two sizes; these are the only sizes that make sense to use on the stock wheels. Since you aren't much into performance driving and want to save money, get whichever size you can get the best price on:
225/50-16
245/45-16

Do some shopping and then come back and post which deals sound best to you if you'd like a final check before making the purchase. Tell us the precise model, size, price per tire, other costs (shipping, tax, etc.), total cost, and vendor. The tire model is most important so people can tell you that a certain tire sucks (like the Kumho Ecsta 712 warnings above) before you buy it if you put it on the list. But you probably want to at least post the per-tire costs, too, so people can tell you that a Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 at $116 each is a better deal than a Instockza Locrap 6000 at $113 each, even though it costs $3 more per tire. And since you should figure out the other costs before buying anyway, you might as well post them. For example:

- Sumitomo HTRZ, 225/50-ZR16, $66 each, onlinetires.com, $51.21 s/h, no tax, $315.21 subtotal + ~$60 local install = $375.21 total for 4 tires (<-- real, sort of -- they would charge me 8.25% tax in CA)

and not:

- BF Goodyears Mizspellas 225 130 4 of em shiip like 5o (<-- can't tell what tires these are, or what the
total cost is, hence a worthless listing)

-Max
sufferring from diarrhea of the keyboard, but maybe it'll help someone

RETed

Work a little more...like another month.
Save that money and add to tire fund.
LOTS of people like to skimp on spending good money on tires.
You're going to regret it later on.
Get some real tires for your sports car.


-Ted

Julian

iTrader: (14)

Street Tires:
I have had good luck with the Kumho Ecsta 712's 245/45-ZR16 (W) for street use. Rain and shine and and high speed open road race;
poor life on 225/50-ZR16 Pirellli P-Zero's (OEM tire on car) 8,000 mile life, poor wet grip, marginal dry grip;
Yokohama AVS dry's 245/45-ZR16 good dry grip, better than P-Zero wet, better life, no longer avaliable.

Auto Cross:
Good luck with Hoosier AS03, AS04, Kumho Victoracer V700, wish V710 came in 245/45-16

Track:
Yokohama ADVAN A032R general use and when feeling poor
& Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 245/45-ZR16 (Y) serious and ultra high speed ORR

Mazda99Nikon

Bought a set of 4 Fuzion ZRi 225/50/16s. They were cheap. They are also very good tires. Based on the last 3,000 miles, they will last a long time - I'm guessing 30,000 miles. I daily drive my car with a little spirited driving on the freeways when traffic is non-existant. The tires are excellent in the rain and aren't so hard that they pound my kidneys on the way to work. After about 400 miles, they reach a good level of adhesion, but really need higher pressures to prevent the tire from rolling over the soft sidewall. A better solution would have been to buy 245/45/16 size and run normal pressure. They are not snow tires so park the car come November. Four tires with install were about $380.00 local.

BOOSTD 7

Just HAD to mention, if you buy from Tire Rack ... make SURE and buy them by clicking on the banner up top first. The 5% comission the site gets doesn't really matter, but them making plenty of sales through the site and continuing to advertise does. If you call them and say you came from rx7club.com, it doesn't help at all. The only tool they use to decide whether to continue advertising or not is by sales from banner click-throughs.

Now back to your regularly scheduled discussion.

DamonB

I've worn out one set of Kumho MX's and just ordered another. I've been very happy with them.

BOOSTD 7

Hope you clicked on the banner to do so