garynjr

Hey all, I hear the stock Potnza tires are pretty crappy so i was wondering if anyone out there had any luck with some other tires? I know that my other car was like a diferent car all together when I replaced the sneakers...

Thanks... G.

Old Rotor

What driveing conditions do you have where you live, wet,dry,hot, cold,where do you live and how do you drive. Give us some info please and we can give you better advise. THANKS....

8_is_enuf

Also -- my car is a lease - can someone mention the cheapest replacement tires and where to get them.

Thank you. (Sorry to thred jack)

swoope

iTrader: (5)

heres some help.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...e=&sortValue=0

and the kumhos at the top are cheap now... and rock..

beers

youpey

i have these. not really good in snow, a little slick in rain, but far superior over the stock tires

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....1=yes&place=15

i love them

StewC625

If you live somewhere that gets winter weather, but that they deal with it well and quickly so you don't have much snow driving, then I strongly recco the Pirelli PZeroNero M+S tires - I got them in size 245/40/18 and they look, ride and handle terrifically.

RX-Aight

One thing to think about buying tires online: most places will charge about $15-25 a tire to mount, esp a little higher with low-profile 18 inchers. And ask if they have a touchless machine so they don't chip and scratch your wheels. And always look at your wheels before and after install before you leave for damage.

Dark8

If money is no object then Bridgestone S03s or Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 would be a good replacement. If you are on a budget like the rest of us then Pirelli PZero Nero M+S or Avon M550 are good choices.

garynjr

Thanks guys...
I'm on a realative budget... Don't want to shoot the moon or anything but I want good tires and I don't mind paying more to get them...

As for driving conditions and style...
I live in PA near Philly so we do get the occasional snow but mostly I would drive my truck if/when need be. They usually have the roads clear in a day or so even if it's a pretty bad storm. Rain on the other hand is quite another thing. It rains quite a bit. Like for the last 4 days. So it has to have excelent wet traction. And of course Superb dry traction but with a little forgiveness to the tempermental roads we have around here that are not always perfectly smooth.

As for driving style, Well I just got it. I used to drive my other car what I would call hard. Always pining the needle and flying around corners. This one though seems to get up to speed so darn fast that I don't feel like I'm driving it all that hard. But I can when I want to really have some fun. :D I've already heard the nice little warning churp at 9k a few times.

So no worry about snow... Rain is important but I also know to drive in the rain (not like on dry like some people seem to think) but I want it to be able to get out of the way when I need it too.

The stock tires are still on it now. Has a good amount of tread on it but they seem kinda twitchy some times. They definately don't like it when the road isn't perfectly groomed and they don't do so hot in sub 35* temps...

Hope that helps... Thanks...

Also anyone know of a good National place to get tires? A place that will treat the car well? Like have the internal weights for the rims? Sears doesn't have them and they F--ed up my rims on the other car by puting tose stupid clip on's and then having to reballance them again scuffed thecrap out of the rims. Then they said there was nothing they could do about it. Last Time I will EVER go to Sears for any car!!!!

Thanks...

garynjr

Forgive me for my ignorance but is that the stock size? And if it's not, fo youhave diferent rims? Can they just put diferent size tires on it like that? Thanks, G.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

i really recomend tire rack. they also have recommended installers you can use... then they drop ship the tires right to the intalation place.

beers

L8APEX

I had a decent experience with NTB. Don't know if they have them where you are. They were careful with the rims, used the little sticky weights, but won't clena them off really good , and the one here price matched what I found online. That said, I did not go with them on my newest set, but through no fault of their own. They just could not get the tires I wanted.

As far as what to get, dunno. My mindset is super sticky, short life expectancy now. I can tell you, stay away from the KDW 2's. Some folks around here love them, but they are one of the loudest tires out there, and are not that comfy on the ride, more like a 4x4 truck.

And for stock size, 245-40-18 is not stock, but is close, and gives you a couple things:
1-more tire on the road
2-more options for tires

the stock size is limited in who makes them and how many models are available.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

stock is

225 45 18

garynjr

Thanks..

So you can still fit that size on the stock rims?? Any negatives to doing that?
Does it effect your speedometer? Thanks!!! G.

L8APEX

yep, still fits on the stock rim, with no problem. No downside that I know of, and speedo is about 1% off. Not really enought to worry about IMO.

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...&postcount=321

Glyphon

i've got about 2.5k miles on my kumho ecsta spt tires (the ones swoope was refering to), and i absolutely love them. nice and quiet, smooth ride, good handling (no experience with them on snow...they are summer tires, just not much snow down here) at an exceptional price.

no doubt the s-03s are a better tire in terms of handling, but they are louder, and 2x as expensive.

damn...the spts have gone down in price since i bought mine...about $8 cheaper per tire now.

compared to the stock potenzas, the SPTs are much quieter, much smoother, longer tread life, better handling wet and dry, and they are less than 1/2 the price.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

i think the spts are more than anyone can use on the street and still not be a jackass...

now if you are doing trackday or autoxing different story....

beers

RX4life

i have General Tire EXclaim UHP... best bang for the buck.. Z rated and they perform really well in terms of hard cornering on the streets..they are like 100$ a piece.

garynjr

Thanks. I will look in to that...

Hey, why are your turn signal lights White? Mine are yellow... Did you change them? Thanks, G.

L8APEX

clear corner markers, the only real apperance mod i have done, along with half the folks on the forum. a quick search will probably give you 4 or 5 places to buy them, and more than one opinion about them.

jf65

After reading lots of reviews, just bought the Kumho Ecsta SPTs. Only have a few hundred miles so far, but they handle significantly better than the Potenzas in dry conditions and are significantly quieter. The front-end seems to push less in a corner now...
Mine are 18s on custom rims. They were $119 ea plus about 25 for mounting.

tlniec

I've always liked Kumho... I've used their Ecsta Supra 712s on my other car for years. I'll have to check out the SPTs when it comes time to get my RX-8 a new set of shoes.

ftwmcmillan

I recently bought the general tire exclaim and these tires are great. They are so much quiter than the oem.

salituro64

There isn't even ratings listed on TireRack for this tire.

Ranged28

I had Kumho's once on my Accord and three of them had to be replaced for the tread detaching from the sidewall. I would never buy Kumho again. I have Nitto's on my 8 and I love them!