Vertigo-1

iTrader: (3)

Well my worst nightmare finally happened. 9800 miles on the stock Dunlops, and last night I picked up a nail in my left rear tire. And of course it just had to happen about 2 millimeters from the sidewall. I've got it plugged for now but I'm assuming the tire's gotta go eventually.

So what are my options? I'm not trying to take the absolute cheap way out so if there's requirements to the RX-8 like requiring all 4 tires to be essentially the same, I'll heed that. Is the cheap way out to simply get two new OEM rear tires? With 10,000 miles on the current tires though I would think things would be really uneven.

My other obvious option is to change all four tires, rather well short of the lifespan that I was hoping for. But if that's the best route, I'll do it. In which case, what are some recommendations? I do corner like a madman and regularly hit 70 MPHs on highways. I'm in Hawaii, so snow never happens. I do however live in the rainiest city in the U.S. literally so decent wet handling is a requirement. I take it easy anyways when it rains but I don't want any unpleasant surprises if I take a corner somewhat fast in the rain or if I'm screaming down the highway. Would prefer tread life to be at least 20,000 miles. I'm expecting to have to pay a grand for 4 tires to get the required dry stickiness so anything less than that pricewise is a plus. I don't know what my options are to actually get the tires here though since I'm in Hawaii.

Thanks for any help!

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

If it really comes to having to replace the tires and you're happy with your Dunlops, I'd just go with two new stock rear tires. You'll be fine.

Vertigo-1

iTrader: (3)

I'm definitely happy with the Dunlops, they're wearing down ok (I do rotations with every oil change at 3000 miles) and their handling has been excellent and very predicatble in dry and wet, although the stickiness of the dry handling did go downhill quite a bit after 5000 miles. I was really hoping to get max life out of the Dunlops as I did want to change to "better" tires in the future but this is forcing my hand a bit early. I'm leaning towards changing all 4 tires honestly but not sure which to go for. Currently eyeing the Bridgestone Potenza S-03 and Goodyear F1 GS-D3.

gonnahanvan8

Buy a used dunlop with similar miles on it. they are on this board for sale all the time as well as on ebay.

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

i have 3 plugged tires... i don't worry

DOMINION

Would not hurt to get a tire warranty

Vertigo-1

iTrader: (3)

I'd be more than happy myself with a patch too given the cost of a whole set of tires. I'm so bummed out that it just had to be a sidewall nail which forces me to have to deal with changing tires now for safety's sake. I mean I'd gladly splurge for good tires if I could've gotten the max life possible out of the Dunlops, but to have to do it after a year and a half and then to imagine that this could just happen again kinda hurts. I expected to have to pay an arm and a leg for the RX-8's tires but not at this sorta rate. Yeah if I get four new tires, I'm definitely going to ask about what kind of warranty options there are or some kind of road hazard program.