Opinions on these tires

[GDB]

I am looking at getting a set of BFG Traction TA's in 225/60-15 for my ti. I have never used these before but they seemed to get pretty good ratings on tirerack.com, but I thought I'd ask around here anyways to get ya'lls opinions. Thanks.

-Matt

[ddiorio1313]

I would go with a lower profile if it was me. 225/50 or 45, just looks cooler and allows for more of the tire to touch the road. More tire on the road more traction and handling!

[tastade]

It looks like it is the best/second best (depending on speed rating) for tires in that class "High performance all season"

The question remains, what driving condition will you be using the tires in?

In response to the comment about 225/50 or /45, they dont make that tire in a 15" with those aspect ratios. Also remember that putting a lower profile tire on without changing wheels size (i.e. a 225/50 r15 would show about 5-10% higher speed than a 225/60 r15) and you would be running 5-10% more revs on the highway, so instead of 4000 rpms, you might run 4200-4400 rpms. Not ideal for fuel economy or engine life. If you go lower profile you need to increase your wheel size as well.

[96cali]

Not to mention a lower profile 15" tire will accentuate the fender gap and make it look even more like a 4-wheeler than the stock 15's. Unless you lowered your car and kept the 15's....

[Jeff Spooner]

I would suggest Michelin tires. the are better at being perfectly round than other brands. the MXV line are the best for ride quality and milage. They normaly get 60k or more. Had a customer w/ a 740 who had 79k on the original mxv4's. the Pilot Sports are a better handeling tire but dont expect more than 20-25k. these MXV4 cost more up front but in the long run they cost less

[ddiorio1313]

I didn't know it would throw off the speedometer and tach that much, sorry if I suggested a bad idea. I just didn't notice a big change when I went from 205/15 16 to 215/50 16. I guess I didn't think much about it cuz on my Ti sport in 1997 it came with 205/55 16's and in 1998 on the sport model they went to 225/50 16's. So, I figured I could just drop in profile since the 98 model did, but they probally calibrated for that. I forget what web site I was on, but they did an entire break down of how tires and wheels work when dealing with wheel size compared to profile...it may have been tirerack, but I am not sure...

[tastade]

Yeah, if you go from 205/55 R16 to 225/50 R16, your sidewall (and diameter of the tire) remain about the same so your speedo will still be close.

Roughly, how to interpret those numbers, the first number is the width of the tire in millimeters and the second is how high the sidewall is as a percent of the width.

Using google to convert mm to in (type: 205 mm to in)
So 205/55's would be roughly 8 inches wide by 4.4 inches (8 * 0.55) tall. 225/50's would be 8.9 inches wide by 4.5 inches (8.9 * 0.50) tall.

So actually, the 225/50 has a taller sidewall than the 205/55, but you will get better handling using the 225/50 on dry surfaces, due to less sidewall flex and more tire patch on the road. The sidewall might also look thinner because the tire is a lot wider (1 inch). So if you go lower profile, you need to also get a wider tire (because then the diameter of the tire wont change much).

I didn't know it would throw off the speedometer and tach that much, sorry if I suggested a bad idea. I just didn't notice a big change when I went from 205/15 16 to 215/50 16. I guess I didn't think much about it cuz on my Ti sport in 1997 it came with 205/55 16's and in 1998 on the sport model they went to 225/50 16's. So, I figured I could just drop in profile since the 98 model did, but they probally calibrated for that. I forget what web site I was on, but they did an entire break down of how tires and wheels work when dealing with wheel size compared to profile...it may have been tirerack, but I am not sure...

[ddiorio1313]

Tastade: Thanks! I knew the second number was the height of the side wall, but I didn't know that it was a percentage of the overall width of the tire. I always thought the second number was a fixed number. That all 50's were the same height. I will definitely be able to use that equation down the road....

[tastade]

Instead of calculating them yourself, go check out this tool:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
It will tell you how much your speedo will be off, and a myriad of other statistics.

[GDB]

Alright I went ahead and got the Traction TA's. And I looked at the Michelins and decided these would be better for what I want. I've got a set of michelins with about 1/2 the tread left on them, but they have a tread wear of 680 and are hard as nails (I'm getting rubber in 3rd gear on a bone stock ti) So i'm looking for something a little stickier. Thanks for the advice though.