BEST TYRES FOR PHASE 2 NSX?

[DamianW]

just thought I'd say how chuffed I am to be part of a forum which can discuss differing points of view in such a grown up and mutually respectful manner.
It has crossed my mind more than once in this thread alone the kind of flaming and derogatory responses that would have been thrown around on some other boards I have been to in the past.

Its too small a community to start bitching at each other. Different people want different things out of their NSX, so long as we can all appreciate that we'll get on fine

Nice to see the forum getting some use now isn't it?

Ooh, reminds me I'll have the Combe pictures back on Thursday, including one of your engine bay...

[mcibuk]

Wow - What a thread!!!

As someone who will never want to explore the limits of my car on public roads nor the track (guess i'm just a whimp) it's great to see some enthusiastic exchange of views and opinions with smiles all round at the end.

I saw a similar thread on a USA forum a while back which ended up getting quite ugly so i'm relieved to see sense prevailing here.

I've been particularly interested in this thread as i need a new rear tyre now and was interested to hear comments.

Has anyone got any recommendations for for a long lasting tyre (more than 2k) for strictly fast but sensible road use in all weathers?

Much obliged and learning a lot from the Forum

Cheers,

Peter

[ctrlaltdelboy]

Peter

if your NSX driving is going to be reasonably gentle then you may want to 'relax' your wheel alignments a bit to preserve tyre wear - both standard settings are designed to a greater or lesser degree ot work well when the car is being pushed - when it is not being pushed these alignments result in rear tyres wearing prematurely on the inside edges.

look here for info on the factory alignments, you will see that in 1993 the rear toe setting were changed retrospectively for all year models from 6mm to 4mm (give or take 1mm in each case) as a result of a class action lawsuit from a bunch of whining yanks who objected to their 'tires' wearing out too quickly as a result of the 'racecar setup' that Honda built their supercar with :roll:

so for gentle driving without suffering premature tyre wear you should ensure that your rear toe is down to at least 4mm - you may even wish to reduce it lower than that, as 4mm is still a little aggressive (when speaking in terms of regular driving) - I have heard of some people getting close to zero toe at the rear.

hope that helps

Darren

[mcibuk]

Darren,

Many Thanks - very helpful - i've got enough reading material from the link to keep me quite for a while!

Cheers,

Peter

[modarr]

Hey, just to stick my oar in for fun...

My wheels came with Khumo Ecsta's , 225 front, 255 rear.

Opinions?

Steering not unduly heavy on track, parking is a bit of a strain.
Dry grip is excellent, as good as SO3's, may be better with the increased footprint. Haven't driven hard enough in the wet to offer a worthwhile opinion.

TCS will NOT save you spinning on track. Leave it off and keep your foot in if the rear breaks away, the car will behave much more benignly.

ABS cuts in so late that its a real bonus because when it does come in, without it your probably heading for a very hairy lock-up and off. It WILL keep you on the black stuff.

Lowering the rear tyre pressures does produce much more progressive oversteer, not sure about going as far as 10 psi though.

Understeer when you don't want it (usually tight bends, entry and often power on exit) used to plague me too. i found that braking deep in to tight bends eliminates understeer and loosen up the rear ready for some power oversteer on exit. Do it right and you lose little momentum, fail to catch the slide and you spin (Kevin will testify that I know this well). The NSX is remarkably stable under braking, you won't believe how deep you can go under heavy braking.

I have found that increasing tyre contact patch does not translate in to proportionally more grip. The NSX suspension, as with the MX5, is so well designed that it 'works' the correct tyre sizes to maximum performance (and short life). Much wider rubber may not get the full benefit of the suspension. This of course is affected by the set-up of the car in question, I'm talking about a standard NSX here, before I get a lightening bolt hurled at me.

Just a few passing thought that may be of interest to the odd person.

Mo

[Ciaran]

have to agree with all Mo's comments, including the bit about the odd spin (as previously confessed :? ).

Have been running 36psi in the rears, and have found it working well, seems to be wearing very well, and oversteer is very pregressive and lots of fun. 8)

Ciaran

[modarr]

Cool,

Thanks Ciaran :wink:

[david_f]

After trying to get Toyo Proxies for a month (last December) I gave up and got a set of Kumho Ecsta, without knowing anything about them. This may seem risky, but the Yokohama's were showing wire so.......!! 6 months on 5,000 miles, a half track day, and I am very impressed. ok I did take off half the toe out on the fronts, which has improved tire life heaps. In the wet they are very good, and very predictable. On the track, (my first in the NSX, Mondello - just outside Dublin), they were very balanced, ok two quick spins in the first session, but no fault of the tires or the TCS (which was off, and really must be to get the best from the car on track). But in the latter sessions, when I learned to take two laps to warm front AND rears and leave the 4x4 brigade off, I started to have some real fun, again they grip very well and are very balanced, which means you can have lots of fun with the trottle. I will certainly be going for them again next time. oh and for anyone interested 225/45/16 and 255/40/17

Hi Guys, given I started this little hare, I thought I should let you know what I ended up doing. Firstly, on the door stop of my car and in the handbook (late 2000 model) it states the tyre sizes as 215/45x16 front and 245/40x17 rear - not sure where the 205 fronts (on 16") came from? Also, having listened to what others had tried, I ended up going for the Honda recommended Yokohama A 022s. They definitely give a harder ride on the road than the Dunlops and I’ll have to wait to see how they perform/wear on my next track day (Brands Hatch). Incidentally, I did Snetterton last time out with a race driver as a coach and we both found the standard set-up (i.e. straight out of the showroom spec) set-up immense! The only change I’m going to make is harder pads (Ferodo DS2500), dot51 brake fluid and Mobil1 oil (15-50). Having danced all round the Elises and Caterhams, I can assure everyone that we don’t need big wheels or bigger brakes to be a track day hero. Guest that Mr Senna knew something about cars after all… I’ll post again after my next track day. Cheers.