Tires

[curiousfool]

I would like to upgrade the tires on my 2009 RX8 R3. I am currently checking out Toyo Tires' Proxes 4 Plus. Any other suggestions?

[GySgtFrank]

Depends on what you want out of your tires. All out performance?, good wear?, cheap price?

[IamFODI]

I know I'm late to this party, but the board is poking me to post. Hope y'all don't mind the thread bump -- maybe this'll be useful to someone in the future.

One of the benefits/problems with the R3 is that the OE tire is bespoke. It's 2 generations old at this point, but was top-of-the-line when it was current; plus, there's a specific version for the R3 with its own part number, which means it was likely tweaked for the R3 specifically. That's a benefit for obvious reasons. It's a problem because almost any other tire you can find will be a DOWNgrade from stock overall. And if it's not from a tier-1 manufacturer (Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental, Goodyear, Dunlop), it'll most likely be a big downgrade.

For the stock wheel, the only other tire you can really argue for is the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. Better dry grip, WAY better wet grip, smoother ride, less noise, longer life, and less loss of performance as it wears. It's even 5 lbs lighter per tire, which is a lot. And even that tire has a downside: it sacrifices just a little bit of that razor-sharp feeling in the stock car's handling. Well worth it IMO, just because the advantages are huge. But the caveat is worth having.

A few other tires have the dry grip advantage but everything else about them is worse. Everything else makes the same sacrifice to handling sharpness (often much worse) with fewer or no upsides.

Nothing else is really worth considering unless you're willing to accept major compromises to how the car handles and feels. If you have an R3, you probably aren't. One would hope, anyway.

HTH someone.

[t_g_farrell]

The Dunlap Star II are good as well foran RX8. A buddy of mine runs them and loves em.

[IamFODI]

Originally Posted by t_g_farrell

The Dunlap Star II are good as well foran RX8. A buddy of mine runs them and loves em.

Not available in the R3's size, unfortunately. But definitely worth considering for an 18" wheel if dry handling is your main focus.

[IamFODI]

FWIW, there's now this as well: Bridgestone Potenza S007A

It likely won't match the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S for wet grip or NVH, but it stands a good chance of beating it for dry grip and feel. It's 2 lbs heavier than the Michelin, but still 3 lbs lighter than the OE tire. Could be a great call for an R3 that doesn't see much rain.

[Thunder19]

I recently bought a set of Mickey Thompson Tires' Sportsman S/T for my 1995 Mazda RX-7 Turbo. I highly recommend it.

[IamFODI]

Originally Posted by IamFODI

FWIW, there's now this as well: Bridgestone Potenza S007A

It likely won't match the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S for wet grip or NVH, but it stands a good chance of beating it for dry grip and feel. It's 2 lbs heavier than the Michelin, but still 3 lbs lighter than the OE tire. Could be a great call for an R3 that doesn't see much rain.

FWIW, Tire Rack review is up: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=239

Wet performance below that of the S-04 Pole Position is a bummer. That'd put it below the Michelin PSS and way below the PS4S in that respect.

Nice to hear it has the response of a higher-performance tire than the S-04. Kind of sucks to hear it lacks the extra feel and feedback though.

So, overall, I guess it's less promising as a direct upgrade for the OE R3 tire than I had thought. Still, it looks like a good tire if you absolutely have to have one for both street and light track use, or if you never drive in the rain.