Yet another Miata tire question.

[BrilloHeadBen]

The time has come to replace my lousy old GForce Sports. Unfortunitly it wont be in time for tomorows race, but oh well. Ive been looking on Tire Rack, and I'm honestly can't decide between these 3 tires.

Yoko S.drive
Fuzion ZRi
Direzza DZ 101

All three are almost the same price, and scored about the same in the tests. I'm not quite in the market for more exteme tires quite yet. Partly because my budget doesnt quite have the room, and partly because I doubt I have the skill to require them yet anyway. So Miata gurus, what's the winner here?

[Loren]

Is your goal to buy cheap tires or to buy tires that will give you the best handling?

None of the tires you listed are really good performance tires. Any of them would be adequate street tires, but they would disappoint at an autocross.

Tell us what size you want and what your budget is and you'll get good advice.

[shakedown067]

None of the tires you listed are really good performance tires. Any of them would be adequate street tires, but they would disappoint at an autocross..

Gotta agree with that one. Spend a little more on tires, and get a bigger grin on your face when you hit the corners.

[BrilloHeadBen]

I'm certainly not looking to go as cheap as possible, I just figured RE-11's or Starspecs at my skill level was a waste of money. I'm looking to spend at most $400 on the set. I've been mostly eying the stock 195/50/15 size, although the 205's do seem to have more choices available. My other concern is tread life. I'd hate to go and buy another set in 10 months. I'm a newbie to autocross, so maybe I just need accept that I've gotta pay to play.

[Native]

http://www.vulcantire.com/cgi-bin/tiresearch.cgi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They're advertising the old-style Azenis 615 in 205/50-15 for $70. If they still have 'em, that is. Search 'em out elsewhere, there's bound to be a few lying around still.
As long as you don't drive like a dork on the street, they'll get hard before the tread wears out - the odd autocross here and there won't do much harm.

As for your other options, if you need to mix treadwear with grip with budget, of your 3 195/50 options, the Dunlop is the lightest at 18 pounds. Pick that one.

[Loren]

If you're not buying a set of tires every year, you're not having enough fun!

Okay, if you're buying tires to learn on with the explicit understanding and expectation that they won't be the grippiest tires out there, you've probably got some good choices there.

I have DZ101's on my wife's car. They're okay. Also ran a race with them on a BMW LeMons car a few weeks ago. They were pretty unimpressive as far as grip goes, but very consistent and predictable.

I've driven Miatas on Fuzion HRi and ZRi before. For the price, it's really not a bad tire.

The Yok's are reportedly okay, too. I think Bill Flowers autoxed on them for a while.

Looks like the DZ101 in a 205/50 might be your best bang/buck option for something that will have a reasonable life span and enough performance to learn to autox on.

[garage west]

I had Yokohama S.drives. Great tires for the street- inexpensive, quiet, round, even wear, stayed in balance, widely available, etc.

[jev61]

Ben, I bought 4 Kumho Ecsta XS in 205/50R15 from TireRack delivered to Valrico for $418 just three weeks ago. Joe

[Native]

Good choice. Very sticky and reasonably priced tire. Light weight, too.
They wear relatively quickly.