My Bridgestone Blizzak's were great this summer. Passing by SUV's, and cars of all types on top of ice and snow was great. Now that great weather is on the way...I want to get a head start and purchase the best set of Summer tires that'll handle the hot pavement and rain. Having winter tires I don't need all weather tires, just dry and wet.

I'm looking for some feedback on what my options are for not good but great summer tires are to put on my OEM 18" rims. What are people buying for their rx-8 this spring/summer?

 

P Zero M+S work great in all weather. Summer only though I would probably get PZero Nero's.

 

There are much more options if you go to 245X40X18. Its a safe move up in all the books. If you have a Sams or a Costco near you there are lots to look at and check out Tire Rack.

 

I bought some Michelin Pilot Alpines for the winter, which worked out great. I used to have some Pilots on my '91 Stealth TT that were summer tires. Those were pretty nice as well. This summer I think I'll stick to the stock tires, Protenzas, since they only have like a 1000 miles on 'em.

 

PZero Nero's I believe are all weather tires (Pirelli P Zero Assimetrico & PZero Rosso are the max performance summer tires). Might want to look at Bridgestone KDW2's as well. They sell them at Costco. For a good Max Performance tire that functions well in wet (but still gives you outstanding dry traction) you should look at the Goodyear GS-D3 & Michelin Pilot Sport 2's. For less expensive alternatives recently the Falken ST 215 & Toyo T1S are always good bets.

 

and don't forget the Potenza S03's.

 

Dunlop's sp sport maxx has gotten really good reviews. I just bought kumo's ecsta mx tires because of their value and I will be doing alot of autocross this summer.

 

I'm going to try out Goodyear Eagle F1's this Summer. 245-40 18's on the back and 225-40 18's on the front. I do most of my driving on the interstate and was very impressed with my 245-40 Blizzak MZ-03's this past winter.

 

Better off going with 245/40/18's all the way around. Because the RX8 is near 50/50 weight balance you should try to stay with same sized tires instead of staggered. The only time you should go staggered in our case is when you need more rubber in the back (ala turbo/FI) but staggered setup will compromise your handling a bit.

 

No, there are two versions an M+S tire and a max performance summer tire. They have a completely different tread pattern and probably a different compound as well.

 

No, the Pirelli P Zero is considered a Ultra High Performance All Season Tire with an M&S rating. The Pirelli offerings in the Max Performance Summer tires are the Pirelli P Zero Rossos & Pirelli P Zero Systems (Direzionale & Assimetrico). Seperate tires in the P Zero lineup. I had the Pirellis P Zero Rossos on my previous car. Good tire but nothing great. You have better choices.

 

Old Rotor: "There are much more options if you go to 245X40X18. Its a safe move up in all the books. If you have a Sams or a Costco near you there are lots to look at and check out Tire Rack."

Am I going to have to deal with the TPMS if I deviate from the stock tire size?

 

Umbra: "No, there are two versions an M+S tire and a max performance summer tire. They have a completely different tread pattern and probably a different compound as well."

What are M+S tires?

 

After reading up on everyone's post and doing some research, I think I'm going to scratch the idea of 'summer only' tires due to cost and fast tire wear. Due to compound, I'll probably end up continuing research on an 'all season' set of tires in hopes of me not needing to replace the tires until pre-winter '06 where as I think if I go with summer only tires I'll be replacing it pre-winter '05 or a few months into spring '06.

 

The M+S stand for mud and snow.

 

PS 2
F1 GS-D3
Ecsta Supra MX

 

The TPM work fine with 245X40X18. No probs...