Do Tires affect performance?
 

Ok so I Have stock 15 rims with the original style tires http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2566/...4623bdd4_b.jpg
Now Lets say I get some 17 staggered with some nice z rated tires, How will it affect performance? Like for example going from http://www.misfittoysracing.com/miata/wheels/tires.jpg

TO


http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u...8/CRW_2871.jpg

Im pretty Vague because basically I dont really have an understanding on the brands/specs and stuff like that yet.Thanks

A set of sticky tires is the single biggest bang-for-the-buck mod you can do for your car.

Yes. Every aspect of the car's performance, acceleration, braking, handling, transitions, will improve. The stagger will understeer at the limit. /thread

Nice quick responses. Thats my next step in upgrades then. Who makes the best tires in terms of balancing durability and performance. In other words best bang for buck

General Exclaim UHP

Hankook RS-2's are on closeout on tirerack.

toyo R888 ARE some crazy stuff as well and a long time, u can take corners after you just drove past at 80KM and not squeak a sound and just hang on cause it taking you where you pointed the car to :D

balancing durability and performance, people....

I disagree with tires being the best bang for the buck mod. If you have an NA or even a stock turbo TII and you only participate in 1/4 drag racing, upgrading your tires would be the biggest waste of money.

I think Kahn may be right about Stock cars drag racing, but for everything else, or if your car has uprated power, I think tires are the best mod you can do!
To the O.P
look on tire rack, read some of the reviews for tires you're looking at including price, tire rack does road-testing for many of the tires they have for sale.

Don't go with 17 inch rims. Get 16. The vast majority of 17's will be quite a bit heavier than your stock rims. Now, since your rims are rotational mass, if you increase them it will be like adding 5x that weight in your car. So you may lose some performance.

I have some 16x9(?) rims with 245/45/16 tires on them. They're toyo proxes T1-R. They were expensive (750 bucks with a buddy price) and they lasted about 2 years daily driving.

Also, make sure you get the correct offset rim and the right size tires.

Don't go stagger unless you need to...

Riz.

+1 The most important performance up grade for any car.

A stock FC will tend to understeer (well, mine did :dunno:), so having wider rear tires will make it even worse, unless you're putting down a lot of power. :icon_no2:

look at tirerack.com. They have lots of good info, customer reviews, etc.

more good reading here

I love how we bombard people with information. :D

Tires will make a big difference, if they're sized right. Don't get some huge rims and tires if you're n/a.

well. it definitely wont help if you have shitty tires.

If you're drag racing a stock N/A RX-7, you're already wasting your money on the entrance fee to get on the track, 'cause you're about to get smoked by a Miata...or worse :lol:

I was talking about what the RX-7 was built for. Cornering, braking, acceleration...all around performance.

Don't go with 17 inch rims. Get 16. The vast majority of 17's will be quite a bit heavier than your stock rims. Now, since your rims are rotational mass, if you increase them it will be like adding 5x that weight in your car. So you may lose some performance.

But manufacturers aren't making 16" tires in the very high performance sizes and compounds any more.

You have to step up to 17s to get the right widths and better tires now.

Lucky we have some good, affordable, light rims now like Enkei RPF01.

I had to go from 16" TE-37 to 17" TE-37 to keep up with my growing love of grip...

I suggest 16" wheels or even 15" bbs wheels. Smaller wheels means cheaper tires, wider tires/wheels mean more traction.

My favorite tire on my GXL is the BF Goodrich Gforce Sport. They provide really solid braking power. I have the bbs 15" wheels and went with 215, 50, 15s. 215 is 10cm wider than stock on a softer rubber. The 50 profile will give you significantly less height that stock 60s, and combined with the harder sidewall will result in less rollover. I can't think of a time when I could lock these tire up... and more than often I would hear the gravel from the road being torn up and thrown into the wheel well.

Whatever you do dont get goodyear eagle RS-A tires. I picked up a used set that had only less than 1000 miles on them and they dont stick at all when it rains and they make getting the car sideways on dry pavement way too easy as well.

On the other hand I've had a set of federal ss595s for a little over 6 months now and i love them. half of that time was on my very which had a horrible mis-alignment due a new tie rod and me being lazy and they still have good tread. I have auto-crossed with them and they seem to stick no matter what. Plus they are cheap but are a little hard to find anymore. I definitely plan on getting a full set for the widebody vert when its done and im hoping to have that around 400whp.

choose your tires wisely.. high performance tires are a waste if your not gonna use them.. i had falken rt615s all around that i won at a raffle on my car and i had to commute back and forth to work, tires didnt last for shit since they have a low treadwear rating/high grip.

Do what you like as far as wheel sizes are concerned, alot of guys here dislike 17s and up yet some people wont even go lower than 17s.

lol, I have falken rt615s on my rx7 now... I regret buying them, the rears only lasted a year and they're not that great...

I think 17s are the perfect size, 18s are way too big, 16s are probably fine, I've haven't had a decent set of tires on 16s.

are you going to be driving this all year around? That is a big factor if you don't have a set of winter wheels with different tires.

if you're driving it all year around like I assume you are, I have BFGoodrich g-force super sport A/S on my corolla that I like a lot.

Also, I'm staggered 225/255 currently and it still likes to oversteer a good bit :) I need to take my rear sway out... but if your NA, deffinitly don't stagger, it'll just make it handle funny/poorly

ooo, I also forgot... yes, tires are the most important thing on your car, it's where it touches the road. your cars performance is completely up to your tires. everything goes through them.

yes, they affect performance :)

Tires don't really make a difference. They're all made out of rubber. Except the colored tires for doing colored burnouts. They are pretty cool. Personally I would buy more Jesus air fresheners.

http://blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/...8/IMG_1886.JPG

Then you buy new tires... I know lots of guys commuting with R-comps, and when they wear out you get new ones.

It's easy: Tires aren't expensive. Why? Cause without them you can't drive your car (safely) so it's a small price to pay.

Riz.