Most of my driving is on preaty rough back roads. Lots of potholes and gravel. I am about to buy some new tires to put on my stock 15 vert wheels. I'm looking for a tire that will work well on nice dry pavement but will really shine on secondary roads with below avarage surface conditions. The car is never driven in the rain or snow so wet and snow performance is not needed. I don't think a strickly off road tire would be best for me but maybe something that the rally guys use.

 

I'd go with a soft rally tire I guess, but they are expensive. I think you'd have good luck with a soft high performance tire, but just make sure it's got a good amount of tread.

 

What would be considered a good amount of tread; like in ?/16's of an inch?

 

I've run some Dunlop D60A2(205/60 15) and they were pretty good. Not the ultimate street tire but priced nicely. I even autocrossed on them in CSP and placed mid pack out of 16 cars. Thats 8th place on street tires. Overall I like the tires and eventually put a set on my GF Miata. Got about 40,000 miles before I replaced them. I went to 16" rim and bought Yokohama's then.

 

Tire rack still has some intermediates in my size; do you guys think those would work well in my case? They're cheap and seems like alot of people like em.

Fprep! which yoko's did you go with? And do you like em?

 

if you are travelling mostly on gravel then I would be going with a good Mud/snow all terrain tire. Tire life would be reduced on conventional roads, but the added control on rough and gravel roads would make up for it.

 

I have a set of cheap "diggers" on my daily driver that I put on for the winter; and it seems they get better traction than my high performance tires on my 7. I am guessing that due to my road conditions the cheap diggers that I can't even remember the name brand of, is actually a better suited tire. I may start autocrossing this year but my real love is for finding a new back country road and scarring all of the farm animals. I would be willing to give up the auto crossing to get more pleasure out of my back road terror. Most of the roads I frequent are in preaty sad shape; and I have even "X"ed a few off my list due to possible damage to the car. And gravel is a major concern but I don't think any tire is gonna save me if I hit a patch of gravel at 60 mph. These roads don't even have any stripes or markings on them. Fortunately I live in an area where I can drive safely on these types of roads for hours and hours and never run across the same road twice. I probably should of bought a jeep; but I have a RX-7, and need some tires.

 

Samps - I was running the A509(225/50 16 on TII rims). I'm not sure if they are still available. I like them. They are still on the car after 4 years. Only have about 10,000 miles on them. I've autocrossed them a few times. Good rain tire on the interstate at speed. Not sure on dirt/gravel roads.

 

I have D60 A2 myself, those tires suck in the dry....

 

I don't know for sure, but I think that some nice snow tires with lots of meaty tread on them would do REALLY nicely on loose surfaces.
I was thinking about a rally project car, and snow tires look like the cheapest way to get lots of grip offroad with a car.