Finally bought a Miata

Greetings,

My '95 is not pretty, but I am enjoying the drive.

I will be sharing the car with my 17 year old. He is not a car guy, but needs to get around for school and such. I figure it will be a useful tool to develop car control skills.

The first upgrade is tires. The S.Drive tires on it are at the wear bars, so they need to be replaced. These are 15×7 wheels.

I also have a set of 14×6 wheels I was given for free. The tires there are not street safe at all, and must be replaced as well.

I live in the midwest, which means every kind of weather imaginable.

I thought about getting some really grippy tires for summer, and some winter tires, but I am not sure that helps my youngster learn driving better. I figure some decent all season radials would be better, because the threshold is lower and more approachable. I am not sure which approach is best, or which wheels to select for which season.

I do not want to get the $30 cheapy tires because I want to enjoy the car too.

So the question is what a smart strategy with two sets of wheels for a Miata?

Also your tire selections are appreciated.

Let me be the first to welcome you to the cult.

15x7s are good and offer a wide variety of rubber. I suggest you sell the 14x6s for what you can get - certain

[edit] That was weird. Certain 14x6s have some value. I would put whatever you can get for them towards getting a second set of 15x7s with fresh tires. Most places that mail order do free mount and balance if you buy together, which saves you about $100 a set in labor. Good luck!

Is there no tire selection for the 14×6 wheels?

And what tires? They seem to go from cheap tires of unknown quality, to any-ole-thing-will-do, to racecar.

You can find lots of snow tires for 14" wheels.
I would get something like the continental extremecontact sport for the 15" wheels and snow tires for the 14" wheels.

I just bought falken 312 from simpletire.com for my miata for 112 shipped. They are round, black, hold air, dont hydroplane, and have a relatively low grip threshold. Should be stupid fun to learn car control with for cheap. These went on the stock 14x6 on my 2000 miata.

I just picked Falken RT615K+'s for my 14's for roughly $70 a corner (after rebate) from Tirerack. We got snow today, and the Miata is still in storage, so I can't really "review" them yet, but you can't beat them for price.

In general, though, it's way easier to find summer tires for 15's. If you're gonna use 2 sets of wheels, I'd probably put snows on the 14's and something sticky on the 15's, as suggested above.

I get what you're saying about all seasons and the speed threshold at which they break away, but kids can get into a lot of trouble even on all seasons. I'd suggest getting something sticky and taking him autocrossing or to track days instead. In my experience, allowing young drivers to explore the limits of a vehicle in a controlled setting (even if it is at significantly higher speeds) is a safer solution than having him feeling out the capabilities of the car on the street, even on all seasons. I'd also recommend signing him up for a Teen Street Survival School, as getting a feel for the capabilities and limits of a car is one of their primary objections. (Info here: Teen Street Survival) My future driver and I will be doing both this summer.

I was looking for that link! Thank you.

To be clear the intent is not for the young one to try to drive at the limit on public streets. The common thought is really sticky tires hide driving mistakes, and do not encourage driving skills improvement. How far away from that is reasonable is the question.

That Falken 312 might be the right choice.

In reply to jrg77:

Ive only got a couple hundred miles on them so far. So don't take my recommendation as a long term growing ownership report. But for the price, can you really lose? My size was 185/60/14

BFG Comp 2s (summer only) are $275/set for your 15x7s in 195/50/15. I use them and they're great and will last way longer than Azenis or something similar. I rarely approach the limit on the street and I uh... drive fast.

I bought Pirelli Cinturato winter tires for $181/set (175-65-14) on tire rack. Also great. Can't lose with the miata.

Seriously, just copy what I did. I'm extremely pleased with it for street use (I also have Yoko A008s for track). It's almost unbelievable but you can really get proper tires for this car for next to nothing. And they'll last forever!

Are you near any autocross sites? We're just starting up the season here in Kentucky and this is a great time to get into it in a Miata with your kid. A mostly stock 95 will put you in E-street and really go a long way toward teaching a teenager how to drive quickly but responsibly (hooning in a parking lot instead of a back road). And one event will expose you to a number of different tire options where you can talk to their owners about the pros and cons of each choice.

I run Hankook Ventus V2 for DD purposes and they are good in the rain, predictable on breakaway but not terribly grippy when pushed.

A HUGE Plus One for the Street Survival program. Followed by autocross... Where are you located? There are a lot if us here who would be glad to take you both under our wings and help you give it a try. Someone is bound to be near you.

I would second, or is that third, running in the SCCA as an E Street build. Limits your build cost and focus on the driver. That said you should keep the 14x6 rims, again the Falken 615's are as good as it gets for these rims.
You can move up to the 15x6 from the NB's, I run the 195/50 15 Bridgestone RE 71's at 35 PSI front and 34 PSI rear. I freshened the struts with KYB's,added a bigger front bar, changed all the fluids and went to as many events as I could.
My '95 is now on the Koni adjustable's and if the pilot bearing had not seized, leading to lots of additional "while you have the engine out" expenses, the car is finished and now I just drive it.

Learning to drive on the stock springs does accelerate the body roll, but learning to work with a compliant suspension teaches you how to work the tires. At their limit. That and the 15x7 lead you into STS, and the need for cubic dollars.

The S.drive is a good choice. It's my preferred non-crazy street tire. Decent grip, good price, good comfort. It's what we use at Flyin' Miata for street tires.

You can get some snow tires for the 14's. Much better than all seasons.

KyAllroad wrote: Are you near any autocross sites? We're just starting up the season here in Kentucky and this is a great time to get into it in a Miata with your kid. A mostly stock 95 will put you in E-street and really go a long way toward teaching a teenager how to drive quickly but responsibly (hooning in a parking lot instead of a back road). And one event will expose you to a number of different tire options where you can talk to their owners about the pros and cons of each choice. I run Hankook Ventus V2 for DD purposes and they are good in the rain, predictable on breakaway but not terribly grippy when pushed.

Need more info. I want to come.