I have a 2005 RX-8, bought new, I love the car but my only disappointment with it is the tire life. The car has just under 17,000 miles on it now and the tires are at least half-worn, probably a bit more. I'm a middle-aged fellow now and my peeling out days are pretty much over now. I've had the tires rotated regularly and the alignment seems to be fine.

My question is, what's the best tire for the RX-8 in terms of long life? My dealer service guy recommends Yokohamas but I wanted to see what feedback I could get here. My other car is a Lexus ES, front-wheel drive and quite a bit heavier and I easily got 30,000 miles out of the original tires on the Lexus. I'm hoping to at least match 30K for the RX-8, especially considering it's rear-wheel drive and the 50-50 weight distribution - but I don't want to sacrifice the fantastic handling.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

Can I recommend a Performance All-Season tire?

I'm running Bridgestone Potenza RE960 in a 225/45/18 all around. They have a 40k mile warranty... they grip well enough for an all-season, but still give me the confidence in adverse weather that I never had with the RE040's.

You can get them from a local tire shop for a good price... it's like car sales, you have to negotiate!

 

Look into some Kumho SPT's in 245 / 40 / 18. Great tire, should last much longer then your stockers.

 

Think of the tires that come on the car like the 'starter' toner cartridges that come now w/laser printers. They're meant to get you started and 17K miles is more than most have gotten I would think from summer Hi-P tires.

Believe me, you'll be happy afterwards that you at last had a chance to buy some better new rubber that will meet your needs.

Listen to all the opinions from those that have gone the route of looking for long tire life. Also use the tire sites and user opionion of the various tires you're interested in. For me tire life was immaterial, instead I was only interested in handling and a comfortable, quiet ride. Good luck.

 

BF Goodrich G-Force Super Sport All season 245/18s!!!

 

For a great all around long lasting tire, I've gotten alot of years out of the Kumho ASX.

 

Does it ever get cold or snowy where you live?

 

im interested in new tires as well, never snows and rarely ice in san antonio so I think I'm safe to buy summer tires for year round. I'm leaning towards pole positions but I'd like to hear more on tread wear. Anyone running toyo proxes?

 

G-Forces seem like a good deal also, anyone know tread life on these?

 

I've got 20k now on my OEM Dunlop 8090's and they still have 20-30% life in them, despite fairly spriited driving (middle aged fellow myself). I'm really rather surprised at their longevity.

Except for wanting to try something different (like summer-max Michelin PS2's) I'd go with them again.

Entering tread life-handling-comfort (in that order) into Tirerack's calculator for Summer tires it renders Grand Touring and Kumho Ecsta LX and Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 in the stock 225x45x18.

 

I just replaced my OEM Dunlop 8090's at 37,500 miles. They had about 3/32" tread left, which was still safe, though not great, on a dry road, but was worthless (i.e., dangerous) on a wet road. When newer, these tires were absolutely awesome cornering on a dry road, but were never much good on a wet road. I was surprised they lasted more than 30,000 miles, given how grippy they were and how aggressively I drove them. I would have happily bought another set, if not for the price ($288 per tire) and the poor wet road traction. So, I replaced them with BFGoodrich g-Force Sport XL at $115 per tire from TireRack.com. From what I've read, they should perform about the same as the Dunlops on a dry road, but should perform a bit better on a wet road, which is what I want. I've had them only for a couple days, but so far I'm very satisfied; the road noise seems to be about the same as the Dunlops, and in spite of the heavier load capacity (95W vs. 91W for the Dunlops), the difference in ride comfort doesn't seem noticable. I will reserve final assessment of cornering and steering response until the tires are broken in. I wish I had autocrossed with the Dunlops in their prime, so I could compare the lap times with the Goodrich tires, but alas I did not.

 

But the problem is that you cannot have long lasting treadlife without sacrificing fantastic handling. Soft sticky rubber on summer tires that helps provide fantastic handling does not give you long lasting treadlife. You get that from harder compounds. So you have to make a decision about how fantastic you want your handling to be ... OR ... how much treadlife you want. Sorry, but that's just the way it is with sports cars and performance tires.

 

Treadlife is not really a concern I have with my RX, I bought it to drive it, and driving it eats tires. If you want exceptional treadlife and a decent all around tire I like the Continental Contisportcontact (who the hell comes up with their tire names?) that I have as my "winter" tire. I have nearly 40,000km on them and they still have about 8/32" tread left.

I replace my summer tires about once every three months and my autocross tires about twice a season. (I occasionally run my street tires on the track when I'm too lazy to switch wheels). I personally run the Dunlop Direzza Star Spec on my car, but my girlfriend runs the General Exclaim UHP on her 8 and absolutely loves them for a daily tire. They definitely give up some turn in response but they are silent and seem to be wearing well. Also they seem to rock in the rain.

 

I'm currently using Toyo Proxes 4 and I love them. They give great handling response and good traction; they did very well in the rain, and were usable in the snow. However, the thing that impressed me the most is that after 7k miles, there are no signs of wear.