215/60/15 Tires NLA? Looking at wheel upgrades...
 

Hey guys,

My 89 came with the larger 205/60/15 tires originally. When I bought the car I redid my wheels (powdercoated) and replaced them all around with Yokohama Avid H4S All Seasons (it was that or the Falken ZE-512 at the time).

My tires only have about 4000 miles on them but are getting heavy on age. I'd like to make it through the rest of the summer with these, as the car is a second car, but I am not sure. I started to look around for tires again locally and at all the usual online spots and I am finding none in 215/60/15 any longer, even the sportier Pirellis I am not seeing. Only all season stuff or junk.

I really would like to go with a sport/summer/performance tire, definitely something less than all season this time around.

I love my fresh looking phone dials, but I am just thinking that I should bite the bullet, buy some genuine 17 Cup 1's, or 17/18 Mille Cup 1's etc. because I will get better looking wheels and be able to get tires reasonably easy.

Thoughts/advice/or other tire recommendations? We just put Michelin Pilot Super Sports on our Jag XK and they are ridiculous compared to the old Pirellis (but obviously the jag is a much bigger/faster car).

Buy the lightest wheel you can afford, it matters when your coming from 15's as its really noticeable. That said I went to 16"x7" D90's with 225/50's all around and it works well, 205/55 is also a valid option. I use Dunlop Direzza z1's (now z2's have replaced them) and like them, the RE-11A is also a great option if your looking for a sticky summer tire.

The Mille's are boat anchors, avoid them if you can.

I went to the 16" turbo phone dials on mine (1986). But I'm beginning to wonder what options for 16"
are going to be in the near future.

i have falken 912's in that size (215/60/15) on the front of my car currently and the same tire in 225 on the back and couldnt be happier. i have had a few different "sporty" tires over the last 8 years and these are easily the best.

Yep, don't discount the 16's quite yet. I would imagine that 225/50's will be around for them for quite a while. I also came from 15" dials. Managed to snag a set of CS wheels off a turbo s. I like the 16s.

Also if it helps, I found this site through RX-7 ownership (they are a sponsor of rx7club): http://simpletire.com/catalog/search_by

If you are willing to dig through some BS you'll find lots of tires like the Falken 912s mentioned above, Proxes 4's, Ecstsa ASX etc.

Ok so did anyone stay with 15" phones and find tires in 205/60?

The genuine Cup 1's are not too heavy, right? I really appreciate the recommendations for 16", but I figure if I have to spend the $ to get another set of wheels and tires, I'll go with 17s for the longevity. I like the turbo phones, but would feel like I was wasting money as well if I got the "same" wheels. I've always had a soft spot for Cup 1's, loved them on the 964 and 968. Most of the other wheels on an NA I think look too big (18 and up) or too modern. I'd like a set of wheels, preferably 5 spokes, that blend well with the car.

There's nothing wrong with my 15's (mint and powdercoated!), but finding tires has been ridiculous. I don't think I would go bigger 17" either, unless the wheel is very light.

Here is a High Performace Summer tire from Pirelli in 215/60/15 from Tire Rack

215/60/15
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

225/50/15
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=yes&tab=Specs


The differance in size between the 215/60/15 and 225/50/15 is that the 225/50 will be about 1.3 inches over all dia smaller then the 215/60. The width of the 225/50 will be about 1/2 inch wider then the 215/60. You and pull these specs right off of Tireracks web site and see. The links above are right to the spec sheet to compare the sizes. You also may want to call a local Porsche shop and in RI and what are putting on customer cars.

So you guys that have the ZE-912s like them? I definitely am not too happy with my all season Avid H4S I put on originally hence the reason I was looking at sport tires...

Jeff, thanks for the link on tire rack - I had searched about three weeks back and that didn't even come up. I'll keep it in mind.

I stayed with the 215/16R15's. Did a lot of research. The best research tool ended up being The Tire Rack comparison tool but it works best if you look at the numbers that are most important to you. Using only Dry Traction, Would You Buy Again, Noise, & Comfort, the results were:

Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum 33.2 points
Bridgestone Potenza G 019 Grid 24.3
Firestone Precision Sport 27.7
Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 31.5
.
The Kumho's were a clear winner in the points game so I got a set. I've only been running them for about a month but so far they've been very, very good. I can highly recommend them. They were also less $ than the others but that did not factor in my decision. I haven't had a chance to push them hard and I suspect when I do they'll show more of the all season side. I only drive this car in the summer and mostly wanted the highest dry performance I could get & these scored the highest.
.
One more thing. Before you buy go ahead and talk to some at the Tire Rack. They may be able to add some insight.

Depends on what you want to do with the car, if its street only and you don't go into attack mode much, the available 15" tires will be alright. If you like to Auto-x or drive the car hard none of the available 15" tires hold a candle to the Direzza's or the re11's in a 16 or 17" size. The trade off is the sticky tires die a bit faster (200 treadwear). Its a lot of fun while they last! I get 2 summers out of a set and did a lot of auto-x events in that time frame.

It's manly a street/highway car but I want to drive it harder (safe and within reason). This is why I am looking at tightening the front suspension, better tires, small things to add. Thought about a chip or MAF but not sure.

Basically the auto box holds me back and I understand that. Car is perfect and sometimes it has a lot of punch and other spots in the power and it doesn't. But when it does, I like it. I don't feel confident on the Avids I have now so looking for a solution. If I rough it for the rest of the season so be it, otherwise I'll make a move. I think I will have to consider direzza or re11 if I go the cup 1 wheel route.

I'd stick with the wheels you have and get the most appropriate tires available. With your stated usage as a street/highway car and the auto gearbox, I wouldn't want to add the unsprung weight of 17" wheels....especially Mille Miglias.