Best Tires for the Mazda RX 8 231PS

These came with my car so I'm reviewing them in used condition, but tread life etc. appeared fine when received. They perform ok in the dry at high temperatures, so I would say they are acceptable as summer tires depending on pricing etc. In cold or rainy weather they don't do well, and I would avoid driving on them in cold, rainy weather especially. Car starting sliding on the highway today with them despite driving carefully (rear slide out at about 90mph going uphill in 40F, drizzly weather).

The value for money on this tire is a great price point and while a little noisy on the road, there is great feedback from the road when in twisty roads. Lots of grip when in dry conditions and it allows for a holding good speed round corners. When on the limit, the progression is a gradual with the rear end slowly slipping away and snapping back when releasing.
When in the wet, remembering these are semi-slicks afterall, you do need to tread a little lightly. However, I've driven these on the motorway in multiple significant downpours and not had an issue with not using the tire or accelerating excessively.
I love the look of the square sidewall and the rim protector is an added bonus. I also can't complain about the wear being 13k in and them looking like new.
Overall, I've used these in a number of different roads, backroads, motorways and honestly they're a great tire and I'll be purchasing a set for my RX-7 as well.

These tires are still very new but I'm impressed enough that I have to review them already. When I first had the tires installed and drove home I was very aware that I was still in the breaking-in phase and yet I was immediately impressed. It happened to be pouring down with rain, and despite this the car was extremely confidence inspiring and much more able to hook up and deal with the wet road than before. I had previously had a set of budget tires (comforser) for a short period while I sourced some decent track tires and the difference is night and day. Mind you, the bar was set pretty low with the budget tires but before this I had a set of Westlake RS semi-slicks which were decent in the dry but terrible in the wet. Now on to dry performance, these are possibly the grippiest tires I've driven. That includes yokohama AD08R and AD08RS which they are at least on-par with at about half the price. Give them 10 minutes to get some heat in them and they stick like glue. Now it's hard to say how progressive the handling is, since on the street I've really struggled to reach the limit of grip but the one time I got close the car was perfectly controllable and slid what felt like only a few inches before hooking up again. No scary moments so far. Overall I'd say these tires surprised me in both dry and wet grip. To be honest the wet grip is pretty insane for a semi-slick. And for the price, the dry grip may well be best in class. Definitely gonna be getting these for my MR2 when the AD08RS's need replacing. Comfort is fine - they're a hard track tire so don't expect too much.

They are unwearable. Got them with the 2nd had car and drive 21000 miles and they still look like day one, despite being installed on the rear wheel drive of a sport car! :D Dangerous wheels over 15mph.

Bought these for my Mazda RX-8 after the original equipment Bridgestones became dry and began cracking. After buying these many people told me about how the RX-8 does not react well to a poor tire choice, especially so in the wet.

By that logic then, these are not poor tires. These are, in fact, brilliant tires, not just because of their low price.

In 235/40/18 these were £55 per tire which represents pretty brilliant value. Obviously a little more expensive than your usual bunch of Haidas and Landsails, but a damn sight cheaper than anything by the likes of Hankook, Falken or Toyo which sit at that kind of 'premium budget' or 'mid range' section of tires.

Upon fitting these, dry grip was drastically improved although that was not hard given the previous tires. What was impressive however is just how much more aquaplaining resistance the car now has, something very important when all power is being pushed to the rear wheels. The car is incredibly stable at speed in the wet, and even when coming off roundabouts and exiting corners with partial throttle, there's no indication you're ever on the edge of these tires' ability.

Road feedback is very good, you can feel the tire is on the edge of its boundaries before it starts making audible warnings of the approaching grip barrier. The car is running on coilovers with a Fast Road setup so obviously comfort is hard to gauge - but noise levels are very reasonable and the tire does the best it can given the circumstances it is put under on the setup.

Finally - wear. The tires have only been on for around 4000 miles, but pretty much the whole time they've been on they've been driven with 'spirit' - and they're holding really well. Rears are at around 6.5mm, possibly a little less, fronts just a little deeper so a working life should be around 15k in on the rears which given the driving the car is subjected to is impressive.

Overall brilliant to find a very good quality budget tire.