Be glad we don't have older Lotuses. Try to find a 225/60VR14! Heck, try to find a 225/60 14 inch tire in ANY speed rating.

Make one and millions... well, thousands (hundreds?) of Esprit owners will beat a path to your door!

This may change if Esprits start to escalate the way 911s and "crappy" Ferraris like 308s have been. You can still buy an Esprit on the "ground floor" right now so to speak. Infact a friend who used to have several RX-7s just bought himself a Turbo. The bastard But it's hard to find a $15k 308 or a $10k 911SC anymore. Heck it's hard to find a running $5k 944 anymore!

 

You have an esprit? Got pics? Is it nice to drive? Id love to know all about it.

 

Havent tried those but have been loving the Falken Asenis RT-615s. Fairly easy to track down from places online or America's/Discount tire.

 

Not me, a friend of mine.

If I had an Esprit I don't know what I'd do. I'd be afraid to drive it but I'd hate to have it just sit there. So I'd sell it...

 

If i had one i reckon id drive its nuts off. Actually come to think of it, last time i looked there were a few manufactures making 14's in wider 60 series sizes, presumably to cater for the muscle car market.. too tall for 1st gen rx7s though.

 

I do want a set of 245/60-14s for the bridge port RX-7. I worked on a Cutlass that rode on those and the proportions were perfect.

Disclaimer: My first car ended its life on a set of 245/60-15 Eagle STs

 

I think I'll go with the Antares Ingens A1 205/60R14 88H Tire such as found here. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Antares-I...&wl13=&veh=sem

They are directional and apparently perform well in the wet.

We're pretty limited with our stock GSL-SE rims. It's been suggested that I should just get whatever for them for now, and maybe pick up some 15" wheels at some point.

 

By the way, it turns out the Federal SS I mentioned apparently have bad wet characteristics according to these reviews. Federal Super Steel 657 Page2 - Tyre Reviews

 

Recently went thru this with tires for my SE. Found and installed a set of Nexen tires,believe they're made in Korea. nowhere near the performance of Yokohama AVS tires on car previously but those were about 14 yrs old and was apprehensive about running car at speed for fear of them coming apart. When dismounting them,sidewalls cracked and split like they were plastic.
The Nexen tires are ok,have driven with them when caught in rain to get home,seemed ok in the wet for limited driving i did.
Went to 15" rims for better performance tire selection as others have done.

 

I previously had a set of 205/60-13 Federal 595's and found them great in the rain, I thought I had more wet grip than dry grip even.

I can't understand why mainstream companies aren't making 13" performance tires anymore. Surely they still have the tooling to do this, and even if there isn't a ton of demand, jack the prices up, whatever. There IS a market for 13" performance tires, and pretty much every small or small-ish car from the 70's - 80's came with 13" wheels. There's got to be tons of 13"x8" wheels that are totally useless now just floating around.

 

Well there are two distinct categories that dictate the market:
1) I want a cheap tire for my cheap classic so I can go to cars and coffee -- The Kuhmo or no-name brand 13 works fine
2) I'm looking for cheap tires for my trailer/camper -- again no-name brand 13 works fine
3) I'm heading to the track with my vintage track rat -- the Toyos and Hoosiers are still available and will work great on a 13x8 rim.

What doesn't really exist anymore, at least not in large quantities are the people who fit this category:
4) I want a performance summer-only street tire because I want to brag about it at cars and coffee or I want to once a year drive hard enough to get them to squeal.

For me, I realized with the Yokohamas that there is no do-it-all tire. If you want to be competitive at autocross, you need a specific tire and you don't want a ton of sidewall. If you want to drive fast at the track you need a track compound. For everything else, it doesn't really matter what you're on because street driving, even when you think it's epic and fast, is still miles away from the limit of a street tire and overkill for a track tire...until a deer jumps out in front of you...in which case you're probably screwed no matter what.

So anyway, I get it. When you make people choose between a cheap tire or a track tire, you realize not many people want something in between.

 

I was just recommended these Fuzions in 195 because that is the only width they have at tirerack: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...um=96HR4FZTOUR

The reviews have been both good and bad on all the tires I've looked at so far. I'm so confused at this point. I don't know what to get anymore.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head, honestly I think my car handled better on the 175/70-13 snow tires it was originally on. Zero grip, but much more responsive handling. I'm currently in category 1, because I wanted something cheap as a stop gap while I figured out what I wanted to do with my car.

The stiff suspension and sloppy tires really don't mix well. It just seems to amplify the play in the steering and makes the handling unpredictable. I thought the Federal's were pretty good when I first got them, but I liked them less as I drove more. Either something became screwed up with my car (possible), or I just changed my mind (more likely), I dunno. I personally feel the Federal's would have been better on a 7" wheel, I think it's too much tire for the wheel. I know people run this size though because there isn't much that fits on the stock wheel anymore, which I do like the looks of. Honestly there are better selections out there in a 10" tire lol. 13" and 14" just seem to be totally abandoned, although supposedly 14" is getting better, I dunno.

 

Well I'm having a heck of a confusing time with 14" right now. I almost think 13" would be easier to find at this point.

 

Jeff, check out Amazon. I just picked up a set of Federal SS595 205/60/14 for $250 shipped to my door. Very good tire, super grippy.

Also check out Walmart, they have a pretty good selection of 13" and 14" tires for our cars at excellent prices.

 

Wow, thanks!

found these.
My friend has the Federal SS 595s in 17" on his corvette and likes them. Perhaps they will do well in 14" too?

 

Yep those are the ones! The price went up a small amount but still very reasonable.

I have them in 14" and I can say they are really great. They balanced well and grip very well. And they were all manufactured within a few months of when I purchased them which is a huge plus.

Oh and they are decent in the rain too, which is more than I can say for my other performance tires.

 

Thankyou very much!

 

You can also get Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Specs in 14" as well as the Falken Azenis RT615K+. I have Star Specs on my Civic and they're very grippy.

 

How is the ride on those Federal tires? I daily drive my 7 now, not really wanting a race tire since I'm unlikely to ever have it on the track.

 

My comments are for the 205/60-13 size on the stock 5.5" wheels. They're really not a race tire, I think they're like 400 treadwear or something. They have a soft squishy sidewall and ride like a stock tire. They have good grip in the dry, and good grip in the rain.

I even once drove the car in the morning after roads had iced up (from raining during the night). People were calling in late to work who drove jeeps, meanwhile I drove in to work with no problems (embarrassing for them!). I can't comment on driving them in the snow however, I don't imagine they would do well, but who knows.

My only complaint with the tires is the soft sidewall and large width of the tire seems to be non-ideal for the stock wheels. Although there aren't many ideal setups for the stock wheels anyways. I wish I had kept mine, since the issues I was having at the time were most likely not due to the tires.