Applicable to: '99-'05 1.8 liter
I just got these tires for my 2000ls miata. Pretty expensive for a small 15in tire, but living in the ga mountains my choices were not extensive.
So far so good. I bought these to replace kumhos exacta which were making alot of noise and one tire had a bad belt creating a flat spot that thumbt when cold so hard it shook the car.
These michelins are quiet, predictable and feel really good to the driver, no more shakes or shimmy at 60mph and the care handles very good for a 75000 mile 2000. Very satisfied so far and would recommend.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.8 liter
185/R60-14 all season performance tires.
Bought these new for my 94 Miata after seeing them very highly rated by Tire Rack customers. They have very good grip, better than the Dunlop Sport A2's they replaced. It's like driving on rails. Only have had them 2 months so far but I am very happy with the choice.
I don't know about the fellow who thought they were too expensive at $145 each, but I got mine at Costco for $89.95 each, plus a $70 discount from Michelin. Out the door for under $400, including the nitrogen filling. By the way, stay away from Just Tires. I had bought my Dunlops there. When they wore out after 29,000 miles, I went in and asked for warranty credit. They would only give me money back if I bought one of the tires they carried, but they had NOTHING to offer in the Miata's 185/R60-14 size. So I asked for the rebate in cash and they refused. Wrote to the company (which is owned by Goodyear) and they refused to do anything since I no longer had the worn out tires. Their warranty is worthless!
Not an installed item
Applicable to: '99-'05 1.8 liter
205/45ZR-16 Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 on stock wheels for an 02LS
When my favorite tires (Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3) were out of stock, I substituted the PE2s, as they came up highly rated in reviews. Initially, I found the tires to be comparable to the D3s in the dry, and slightly less so in the wet.
However, after using up about half of the tread, the tires have become very nearly dangerous, hydroplaning on light ponding on the highway. I have not lost control of the car in the wet, but there have been several times that I have felt uncomfortable about the level of control available. These tires will be coming off before they make it to 4/32. Wear has been no better than the D3s either (neither are fantastically long lived tires). Would not recommend, despite the reviews.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99-'05 1.6 liter 1.8 liter
Michelin Pilot Exalto 195/50/15 on stock 15" wheels
These tires came on my miata when I purchased it used with about 50,000 miles on it. I actually had two different pilot exaltos on the car, summer and the all season. I believe michelin has discountinued the summer exalto. I ran these tires for about 10,000 miles and had to replace because they were running low on tread. I have to say these tires were a very good riding tire. Turn in was very sharp. Handled decently in th e rain (ofcourse I only had about 4/32nds to 5/32nds on the vehicle. Very predictable tire, gripped very well around hard corners and you could even slide the rear end out with just the right amount of throttle.
Overall these were great tires and really had no downsides. Like I said, these came on the car when I purchased used, and so I cannot really attest for when they were new. They are quite expensive. I purchased some BFGoodrich Geforce to replace these tires and I regret doing so. I bought the BFG's for about $75 a tire, and the Michelin ran about $145 a tire. The michelin are a lot better tire. The BFG's almost feel spungey compared to the michelin and they are a pain to balance. Well worth saving the extra money to buy the Michelin.
Over 30 minutes to remove completely
Applicable to: '90 - '97
185/60-14 All season tires, discontinued at least 2 yrs ago
On my 1990 Miata when purchased one month ago. 6/10 left. Noisy and my first wet day found to be very slippery resulting in a 6 correction slide. The next day traded them in on Yokahama AVS ES100s
These are not good tires for a Miata that is going to be driven with verve. Admittedly old tires, perhaps 5 yrs even though purchased 2 yrs ago they were probably old stock. The long life tire is not the best option for a sporty Miata. If you have these on your car save a potential disaster and put on fresh sticker rubber. You will find the improved traction and control amazing.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
Applicable to: '99 +
Snow tires w/ small sipes, 3 main grooves that run around the circumference of tread, looks like it has no tread other than aforementioned grooves, size 185/60/14 with steel wheels for '99 M2.
Preliminary views, w/ 2 minor snow events, some heavy downpours and dry driving. About 1k on tires. On snow, a major improvement over stock Michelins. I have a lot more confidence, control and stopping ability. Surprised at how good it was in the rain, no hydroplaning on big puddles! Pleasant turbine-like noise in the wet.On dry pavement, Miata communicates that tire is a bit squigly, akin to running too low of a pressure. Still, I haven't managed to get the car completely out of shape in spirited driving. So far, very predictable although limits are more easily reached compared to stock Pilots.
Ordered from Discount Tire, came within 3 days, just in time for a snow event. Makes 10AE look so ordinary w/ steel rims. This is an item I would buy again because of wonderful balance achieved between snow traction and dry handling. I believe the write-up on Discount Tire's site mentioned that it was designed for fast winter driving over European roads. May be less capable on snow than Guardex, Blizzaks, etc but I'm very content w/ my Arctic Alpins.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
Applicable to: '99 +
Michelin Artic Alpins
We originally had four Blizzak's on my wife's minivan. This tire was absolutely fantastic in snow: excellent traction, and ice: minimal slippage when braking under extreme conditions. We replaced them last year,99 with the number one reviewed/rated Michelin Artic Alpins and the difference was like night and day. The Artic Alpins were absolutely terrible in all aspects when compared to the Blizzaks.
Not an installed item
Applicable to '99 + 1.8 liter
195/60/R14 H rating tires. 400 treadwear rating, 400 traction rating
My 1999 miata came with the yokahama tires. I just passed 19k miles and they wouldn't pass inspection. I found the Michelin Pilot tires at Sears. They are a newer line of tires, I believe close to top of the line (not a Z rating though). They were on an introductory sale for $72 in late april 2000, so I got em for $72 per tire.
I took the car up to the VA Blue Ridge parkway yesterday to give em a try on the winding road. I have a lot better traction than the stock Yokahama tires, a tiny bit more "fluffy" ride, kind of hard to tell. Just a hair under feeling like a go-cart. I really love these tires. They look a little more beefy than the old ones. The wet traction and handling is an extreme improvement, no more skiing on water. It handles the corners about the same, which is great considering you can fly around hair pins with a stock Miata. I'm happy with these, they look good, feel good, and are a lot more durable and just overall better quality than the stock tires.
Not an installed item
Applicable to '99 + 1.8 liter
Factory fitted tyres.
These tyres were quiet and provided accurate and predictable handling in dry conditions. I didn't feel as confident about throwing the car into corners in the wet though. They did last me fo 18500 miles though with very even wear. Though to qualify that I guess that a lot of that was driving 60 miles a day up and down the M5 motorway in Gloucestershire.
Unless I can find a better recommendation I'm going to get another set as soon as i wear out the Goodyears I've just put on. (See my other comments)
Not an installed item
High performance tires, V-speed rated, 180 treadwear rating, 195/50-15, rim scuff guard
I have over 7000 miles on the tires and nearly 100 autocross runs. They are getting near the end of their life and will need to be replaced soon. Given the hard life that these tires have had and my results autocrossing with them, I would have to give them a thimbs-up. Ride is good, yet not too stiff. The road feel is quite good, but can be vague near the edge of adhesion. During hard usage, they can wear quickly due to their soft compound.
The tires seem to be pretty good on the road and on the track too. I will replace them with a wider tire for the track but will try to stick with the same treadwear rating based on the wear I got from them. If used as street tires only, I would expect to see at least twice the mileage from them if only occasionally driven hard, significantly longer if seldom driven hard. The rim guard is a nice feature that prevents most minor scuffs to the rim from curbs and other hard objects. For a stock tire, I would have expected a harder compound tire, but was pleasantly surprised to see that Mazda provided something that worked so well when driven hard.
These tires are top rated by Consumer Reports, even over the Dunlop DA2-60's overall, although not in the performance category. After high shimy, lousy- in-the-wet stock Bridgestones that were the OEM model for my '90, I went for the Michelins. They were CR tested to be very quiet and very good in the wet, and snow, although I take the car off the road at the first sign of road salting. The tires are vastly quieter than the Bridgestones. I could actually hear the radio without going to damaging decibel levesl, and the exhause note of the car could easily be heard over the tire noise. However, I plan to get rid of them. Why? They are a fine boulevard tire, quiet and with decent handling. High speed noise for traveling is much lower, something many many Miata owners, including myself, would value. However, unless one is in to tire drift when hard driven, the MXV4's slip a bit when pushed in a dry corner when compared to the OEM Bridgestones. I'd be curious what others think of the dry cornering grip of the Dunlop's compared to OEM Bridgestones. The Michelins are just a little too civilized. Thinner sidewalls I suspect.
This is a follow up to the gentleman who had problems with the tire
The MXV4 is designed more for luxury tourers like Mercedes, Audi, Sabb, BMW and the like. My father has used these tires exclusively on his Benz and Audi and not had a problem with them, regularly getting 50,000 miles out of them. Whoever sold them to you sold you a performance/touring tire more designed for comfort than responsiveness
I'm getting ready to replace my second set of these tires,and definitely not going to make this mistake again. the first set were only a bit oversized from the stock Bridgestones at 195/60/14, and much of the 65mph vibration was blamed on that. One or more of them go somewhat out of round too. They also wore out quite quickly. They were down to near the 2/32 limit at around 25K. They DON'T have a treadwear warranty, but since the salesperson specifically quoted to me that they were a 40K + tire, they agreed to call it some type of compound defect and replace them for about 1/2 prorated price, (here's the kicker) with only another set of Michelins. Well ok I said, they didn't seem that bad. So, now 17K into the next set, they are all 4 out of round, and Michelin Headquarters (again as they did with the first set) said they weren't going to replace them as there is no mileage warranty, but since I have a local roadhazard warranty, they might suck up some of the cost locally. As far as performance goes, they always felt somewhat heavy for the car, but had pretty good dry grip. the wet traction was ok , but I was never too confident of it. in summary, I don't know if the Michelin MXV4s are just not set up for the Miatas suspension, what with them going out of round after rotation, etc... they were also rather expensive at $105/tire for what you get. A lot was promised for the price, but not a lot was delivered. my next set will not be Michelins. Anybody else had experience with Michelins??
Go out of round on the Miata. Expensive, not a good value.
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