tneyman

will 225/50/15 tires fit ok

MRM331

Sorry I didn't see this before.

Yes, 225/50 will work although you'll have to roll the back fender lips a bit and if you have front mud guards you may have to adapt them a little.

Personally I like the look of my current car on 225/45-15's as opposed to the 50 series.

My album has pics of my white car with 50 series tires and the black and blue cars with 45 series.

-Jason

ToySnakePMC

....Yum, fat rubber. I just ordered some 225/45 15's last nite on 15x8's. Cannot wait for their arrival from Good-Win Racing. I don't think I've ever seen this combo in person before, but it looks so right on various forum and web photos. I'm curious about mastering the art of rolling fenders as that will become a necessity before they're mounted. Not that my build is anywhere ready for tires and wheels of any description!

charchri4

What tires did you go with Pat?

tneyman

what is the easiest way of rolling the rear fenders,so I can put 225/45/15 tires on it.

charchri4

Rent a fender roller is the best way but I have rolled several cars DIY with various tools. Small hammers or baseball bats work OK but my fav is 3 to 4" exhaust pipe 18" long with just a little bit of weight taped inside and a nice cushion of tape on the outside. The trick to DIY tools is do it with a million soft hits moving it ever so slightly with each hit. Hard to dent the outside or go too far that way. It's a good idea to warm up the paint with a hair dryer to make it a bit more flexible.

Last one I did I had the rear end out so I could really get in there and let if fly with 2 pipes. Handy to be a drummer in this case! Figure at least a half hour and 5000 taps per fender. It's getto but cheap and works just fine.

But for about 50 bucks and a little shipping you can rent the tool to do it right. They are all over ebay and LS1 tech.

heatz

Is the 225/45/15 enough tire to handle the power of a V8 converted miata?

charchri4

No but the problem is there is nothing else out there short of track tires that is larger. In a perfect world we'd be running at least 255s on 9" wheels but no body makes tires bigger than 225/45s. Unless you go all the way to 17s and have a monster truck...

Rodlucci

I am having trouble locating 225 50 15 Z rated tires. I am finding I can't find a tire equal to the same Bridgestone RE 0071 tires I put on it 15 years ago. I found my car after selling it 12 years ago and it still has the same tires I put on it 15 years ago. Fifteen inch tires are not as common as they once where. The tires I am finding are H rated tires. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

charchri4

Welcome to the new world! You are 100% right the bottom line is there are no good tires anymore in 15s. They are all just too narrow. For street and occasional track the best you can do is 225/45-15s in Rivals or RS3s.

We should all get together, pick a tire and start a campaign to lobby them for a 255/40-15.

Rodlucci

I have 225/45/15 Rivals on the way for the rear and I found 2 of the 205/50/15 Rivals for the front. Next I will need to dial my Carrera coil overs in to accommodate the difference in height. I had 195/50’s on the front and 225/50’s on the rear. The diameter difference for the rear is .858” shorter and for the front it is .394” taller. I will split them in half from the center point of the wheel and dial in about 7/16” raise in the rear and a 13/32” drop in the front on the coil over to maintain the same weight distribution. I put it on scales 14 years ago and dialed it in at 52% / 48%.

mwest

I've been running the Toyo 888's 235-50-15 on my track car. Ideally, I second the idea of the 255-40-15.
When I got my car the previous owner had 255-40-16's on the rear and 225-45-15's on the front. I have the 235-50-15's all around. I'll be switching to a Hoosier racing slick for next year. Probably a 23-9.5-15. It specs out almost identically to the 235 888's I've been running. I tried this slick at the track last weekend and could not believe the additional grip.

1999monster

225/45r15s seem to be the way to go. The big rivals will give you the best wear and performance.

mwest

Wow, this thread is a year old & stil kicking. My track season is coming to an end Wed/Thurs at WGI. That will give me 25 track days on my Hoosiers. I've been running the 23x9.5x15 bias ply & like them alot. I've also used a Hoosier 245xR45x15. Very similar overall dimensions to the bias ply Hoosier. I like them both. Just depends on availability & price. Run the bias ply at 22-23psi. Was running the radial @ 25psi. Had 2 left rear tire failures on back to back weekends. Spoke with Hoosier. They suggested 28-30psi with my HP & rear wing. The 25psi is OK for stock Miata but not a 300hp with a rear wing. Plan is to run a day on ea set of slicks. See if I can tell if 1 is superior to the other. So far they've felt fairly equal.

mwest

Hoosier Slick Update:
Was at WGI this past Wed/Thurs. Fairly perfect weather. More run time then you could imagine. Went through 30gal of fuel on Wed. The plan was to start with & use up my bias Hoosiers on Wed then finish up with my Radials Thurs.

But because I had so much run time on Wed I ran 2 of the bias tires down to the cords. At the lunch break I switched over to the radials. After 2 sessions I felt something give on my left rear. Came off and found about a 1-1.5 hole in the outside sidewall. Put my 1 extra radial on and went back out. Awhile later felt that same not so great feeling. This time had a similar 1-1.5" hole in my right rear tire inside sidewall. Now I'm down to 2 good bias plys and 3 radials. But on a closer inspection I see some cord coming through on 1 of the radials. OK--I'm down to 2 & 2. I put the bias on the rear and radials on the front. My logic here was that none of the radials have yet to fail me on the front. The bias have not failed me anywhere. I called Hoosier and left a message asking if my idea made any sense with bias on 1 axle and radial on the other. I later received a message saying if that's all I got, then go with same tires on same axle. They suggested same layout I had with radials up front. But, his logic was, radials would give better turn in up front.

Anyway finished up my last session Wed. with this set up and it felt pretty good. Went out next morning and before too long I felt that all too familiar feeling. This time the right front radial had a 1-1.5" hole in the inside sidewall. What was really odd, was that all the holes looked very similar and were positioned in about the same place on each tire. Except 2 were on the inside sidewall. I went through my tires and was very hard pressed to find 4 useable tires. I was tempted to put 2 of the corded tires back on. But, then I came to my senses. I figured I was very lucky that none of these tire failures resulted in any damage to my car or me or anyone else. I had plenty of track time under my belt--so why press my luck and drive wondering when & where my next tire would fail me and would I be as lucky as I had been. That was enough to bag it on Thurs. Spent the day instructing and enjoying myself by finishing the day with my Z-06 student having a big smile on his face and his car at the end of the day looking exactly as it did at the beginning of the day. All in all not such a bad 2 days. Guess I'm done with Hoosier Radials.

crispy

Any pics of this setup by chance? Tirerack specs this tire at 24.2". Clearance issues?

GoKart

No experience with the 235's but my 225/50's (23.9" tall) RA-1's fit well on my car. This is with 15x9's and stock fenders. The 235's are about 1/4" taller and slightly wider, but it wouldn't be something a fender roller couldn't fix.

charchri4

Every time I see that I think wow best hood ever!!! I think crispy is an NA so might be a tad tighter but still rollable. Or is that rollible...

crispy

Awesome info Gokart. Thanks for the pics. I am undecided whether to stick with my 16x8s or step down to 15s. I might have to start a new thread for that.

v8miatanet

I know some guys with connections to tire and rim makers. They can get almost anything made, but it has to be a big enough order. I am sure fm and brian g would have done it by now if there was big enough demand.

charchri4

Wheels are not the issue, tires are. What we need a tire that is 10+ inches wide and less than 24 tall that is affordable and streetable.

Casey

I have 225/50-15's on my car although I can't find a good picture of them. I rolled all my fenders with a baseball bat which solved the backs from rubbing on acceleration. My front tires will still rub when braking and turning at the same time. I have Koni yellows (on the highest spring perch) with Martin's springs and NB top hats in the front.

charchri4

For what it's worth Crispy this is 15x9 +36 with 5mm spacers behind them and 225/45/15 Rivals. They measure 23” tall with 8.5 of tread on the ground. The rear fenders were rolled, the car was a least an inch lower than stock and it looked like this:




I never hit or had any problems at all with them hitting even when it was an inch lower than these photos.

crispy

Good info Jim. Thanks for the offset info also.

I don't think I have the heart to give up my 16s yet. I may just have get some 225/45/16 R888s(23.9")to roll around on. Maybe I will pick some MT ET Streets in 24x9x15 with a set of rear wheels for the straight line days.

norotors

I am looking for something taller, as I only have maybe 2 inches of ground clearance under my diff cradle right now (RX-7 rear). I found Discount Tire has 225/50x15 Kuhmo AST's for a whopping $80 each. They are kinda hard, but predictable and I like to slide. Any one in NC want a slightly used set of 225/45x15 BFG Rivals?