2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992) 1986-1992 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections.
Sponsored by:

Do Tires affect performance?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 09-14-09, 09:57 PM
  #1  
Full Member
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
 
luis911's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: New York
Posts: 162
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
NY Do Tires affect performance?

Ok so I Have stock 15 rims with the original style tires
Now Lets say I get some 17 staggered with some nice z rated tires, How will it affect performance? Like for example going from

TO




Im pretty Vague because basically I dont really have an understanding on the brands/specs and stuff like that yet.Thanks
Old 09-14-09, 09:59 PM
  #2  
Eats, Sleeps, Dreams Rotary

iTrader: (19)
 
Natey's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: West Coast
Posts: 4,455
Received 1,438 Likes on 743 Posts
A set of sticky tires is the single biggest bang-for-the-buck mod you can do for your car.
Old 09-14-09, 09:59 PM
  #3  
Looks ahead!

iTrader: (1)
 
jdmsuper7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Ephrata, PA
Posts: 1,079
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Yes. Every aspect of the car's performance, acceleration, braking, handling, transitions, will improve. The stagger will understeer at the limit. /thread
Old 09-14-09, 10:01 PM
  #4  
Full Member
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
 
luis911's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: New York
Posts: 162
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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

Last edited by luis911; 09-14-09 at 10:09 PM. Reason: Question!
Old 09-14-09, 11:08 PM
  #5  
The Silent but Deadly Mod

iTrader: (2)
 
Roen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: NYC/T.O.
Posts: 4,047
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
General Exclaim UHP
Old 09-14-09, 11:15 PM
  #6  
Mac Attack

iTrader: (5)
 
MaczPayne's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: California
Posts: 5,668
Received 20 Likes on 10 Posts
Hankook RS-2's are on closeout on tirerack.
Old 09-14-09, 11:19 PM
  #7  
Rotary Enthusiast

iTrader: (8)
 
immanuel__7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Ontario
Posts: 1,036
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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
Old 09-14-09, 11:26 PM
  #8  
The Silent but Deadly Mod

iTrader: (2)
 
Roen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: NYC/T.O.
Posts: 4,047
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
balancing durability and performance, people....
Old 09-14-09, 11:27 PM
  #9  
Former FC enthusiast

iTrader: (2)
 
KhanArtisT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 2,841
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
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.
Old 09-14-09, 11:56 PM
  #10  
Retard On Two Wheels
 
tulok's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Palmdale CA
Posts: 56
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Old 09-15-09, 12:21 AM
  #11  
Boost knob

iTrader: (13)
 
incubuseva's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Lake Stevens
Posts: 1,716
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
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.
Old 09-15-09, 01:50 AM
  #12  
Like a G6

iTrader: (1)
 
Tofuman FC3S's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: In the Dutch Mountains
Posts: 713
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Don't go stagger unless you need to...

Riz.
Old 09-15-09, 02:35 AM
  #13  
r o t a r y

iTrader: (2)
 
ultrataco's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Indiana
Posts: 629
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by jdmsuper7
Yes. Every aspect of the car's performance, acceleration, braking, handling, transitions, will improve. The stagger will understeer at the limit. /thread
+1 The most important performance up grade for any car.

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

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.
Old 09-15-09, 02:44 AM
  #14  
Listen to King Diamond.

iTrader: (4)
 
need RX7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Sterling Heights, MI
Posts: 2,832
Received 6 Likes on 6 Posts
Tires will make a big difference, if they're sized right. Don't get some huge rims and tires if you're n/a.
Old 09-15-09, 03:58 AM
  #15  
Full Member
 
lovemyRX7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Tri-Cities, Tennessee
Posts: 119
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
well. it definitely wont help if you have shitty tires.
Old 09-18-09, 11:24 AM
  #16  
Eats, Sleeps, Dreams Rotary

iTrader: (19)
 
Natey's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: West Coast
Posts: 4,455
Received 1,438 Likes on 743 Posts
Originally Posted by KhanArtisT
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.
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

I was talking about what the RX-7 was built for. Cornering, braking, acceleration...all around performance.
Old 09-18-09, 12:21 PM
  #17  
Rotary Motoring

iTrader: (9)
 
BLUE TII's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: CA
Posts: 8,212
Received 764 Likes on 506 Posts
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...
Old 09-18-09, 12:31 PM
  #18  
sar
Doin a rebuild.

iTrader: (1)
 
sar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Roswell (atl ) Georgia
Posts: 539
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Old 09-18-09, 12:56 PM
  #19  
Pop Pop BANG FIRE!

iTrader: (1)
 
jake1191's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Elkland, PA
Posts: 1,093
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Old 09-18-09, 01:12 PM
  #20  
Slowpoke

iTrader: (3)
 
Hypertek's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Socal
Posts: 5,273
Likes: 0
Received 6 Likes on 6 Posts
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 **** 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.
Old 09-18-09, 01:41 PM
  #21  
1308ccs of awesome

iTrader: (9)
 
eage8's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Woodbine, MD
Posts: 6,189
Received 17 Likes on 15 Posts
Originally Posted by Hypertek
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 **** 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
Old 09-18-09, 01:49 PM
  #22  
1308ccs of awesome

iTrader: (9)
 
eage8's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Woodbine, MD
Posts: 6,189
Received 17 Likes on 15 Posts
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
Old 09-18-09, 02:24 PM
  #23  
Rotary Freak

iTrader: (16)
 
PvillKnight7's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2,597
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
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.

Old 09-18-09, 02:27 PM
  #24  
Eats, Sleeps, Dreams Rotary

iTrader: (19)
 
Natey's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: West Coast
Posts: 4,455
Received 1,438 Likes on 743 Posts
Old 09-19-09, 05:34 AM
  #25  
Like a G6

iTrader: (1)
 
Tofuman FC3S's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: In the Dutch Mountains
Posts: 713
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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 **** 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.
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.


Quick Reply: Do Tires affect performance?



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:17 PM.