Best Tires for the Mazda RX8

Great tires for Mazda RX-8. Very predictable, with good grip both on dry and wet. They work great both for dynamic driving on mountain roads and occasional track days.

Best tire I've ever use. Incredible grip, even in the rain. The picture represents the wear after a trackday.

Update to my review above after having owned these tires for over a year. First off, I'm still impressed by the grip that these achieve for the price. Just a little bit of warmth in them and they are extremely sticky. With that in mind, after participating in an autosolo and putting a moderate heat cycle through them they are ever so slightly less grippy than when new. This is mainly noticeable on the rear wheels which seems just a little bit more willing to lose traction but nothing major. This is to be expected of any tire really, as they will harden and lose grip as they age.

Also, after a year of use, the front tires are cracking slightly within the tread which did show up on my MOT. This isn't necessarily the end of the tire as they still function perfectly, but it may cause future MOT fails is the perishing worsens. That's not exceptional lifetime for a tire but then these are budget semi-slicks so you shouldn't expect long lifetimes from them - especially if you're using them as intended.

Overall, grip is still what these tires were always about and they still have plenty of it.

As a side note, if you're interested in amateur motorsport such as autosolos please be aware most clubs don't permit the use of semi-slick tires. This unfortunately includes the accelera 651s along with yoko ado8, nankang ns2r/ar1 etc. It's a very annoying rule as it means that the only real way to enjoy the grip these tires provide is to spend hundreds on a track day.

These tires were very good brand new. But in time lost way more performance in dry than any of my previous tires. It's still about 5mm left and I'm losing confidence in these to the point that I was way more confident in driving my winter tires in dry in spring when it was about 10-15 degrees Celsius and tires are the same age. Good thing they are losing grip quite progressively so there is no snap, but losing it way to early. Nope, never again.

Great budget tire, no issue as my speed is only 140-160km/h. Price is equivalent to quality, cannot compare with other expensive brand tire because the price of it is what you get as an average one

I’ve had those tires for 3 years now on my Mazda rx8, they are excellent for every day drive and spirited driving as well. Very good on dry and really impressive handling, in wet. I’ve also tried a track event, but they got extremely heated from the 3 round of the track. So if you don’t go to track days, then those are the best bang for your buck.

I have run these for several seasons now on my RX-8 (they make perfect "UK Winter" tires!), a car rather sensitive to tire choice if you want to maintain the excellent handling. I think they're fantastic - grip in cold wet/damp conditions feels almost as good as UHP tires do in the summer - which is phenomenal for a tire that can also actually deal with snow & ice! Wear seems excellent - I haven't even noticed any thus far, though I do only run them during the winter months. The price/performance ratio is insane - normally tires in my size/fitment are rather expensive, but these were a good chunk cheaper than any other decent all-season/winter tire I could find - a bargain really. I'm very happy with them, and would definitely buy them again, if I ever need to (going to be a while at this rate!). I'm a fairly spirited driver, and these inspire so much confidence in cold/damp conditions, that I find myself chucking the car about and having almost as much fun as I do in the dry with summer tires, except in conditions that would otherwise make summer tires squirm. Very impressive! Wet grip is amazing - I just push on as if it was dry and barely notice any difference. I can just drive, whatever the conditions, and not worry about losing grip unexpectedly if I decide to have a bit of fun. Exactly what you want for most of the year in the UK climate. They also perform very well in warm wet conditions - I've used them a few times as "get me home" wheels from track days in the summer in torrential rain with no problems. In the cold dry, there is still plenty of grip too, but obviously not as much as a good summer tire at that point, but still very impressive for an all-season tire, and more than adequate for some spirited dry winter driving. Obviously the warmer it gets, the more apparent the difference to a proper summer tire gets, but they are still perfectly usable all year round if necessary. The sidewalls are a little bit squidgier, as expected, but the handling is still pretty good for this type of tire, all things considered. I have the "XL" variants, which I think helps - a nice compromise between still maintaining some stiffness for handling, but also significantly more comfortable and forgiving than my usual UHP summers, nice for more relaxed winter driving. This is exactly what I wanted - something a little more comfortable for winter but still reasonably sporty feeling when you want it. Of course, sods law - as soon as I bought these I haven't experienced any snow whatsoever (even had a few long trips up to Scotland, but not even a flurry!). Like buying a sledge. So unfortunately, I haven't been able to put them to the test in that regard. However, given how well they perform in all other conditions, I have full confidence that they will handle snow no problem. The closest I've gotten is some very cold frosty mornings, which these tires deal so well with, that it almost makes you forget you're even driving in adverse conditions. Bravo. P.S. Tire reviews really need to separate out the dry and wet grip ratings into cold and warm for winter/all-season tires!

Bought these Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 tires after reading and watching several very positive reviews. Used these on my road legal track day toy (Mazda RX8). On dry roads, these offer excellent control and feedback, very similar to other UHP tires I have had. Not driven with these in the wet (and not planning to!), but I would expect them to struggle in the rain, given the tread pattern and depth. On track, these are truly excellent. I ran a same-day direct comparison with Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersports and the Cup2s provided a small but noticeable improvement in grip and felt very sure-footed and confidence inspiring. Highly recommended, especially for on-track.

Use them for about 22.000km (one year and seven months) in mixed roads (city driving and highway journeys) The first impression was excellent. The dry and wet grip was absolutely great. The road feedback was very good. I couldn't believe that a low budget tire like this is performing so nice. My driving style is "aggressive" pushing the car in to the limits especially in curved roads and after 10K the wear was significant on the rear tires but the performance in both dry and wet roads was really good. They started loosing grip at around 19K and at the last 2k km the rear tires "died" No grip at all in dry conditions and I was lucky because the weather conditions was good. Overall their performance was excellent but for limited time. Recommended as a cheap solution that is not going to last to much.

Use these on track mostly as they are too.stiff and noisy for the road. They hate cold and wet conditions. On a dry track, they are very good. Grip and feedback are impressive for a cheapish tire. They do not overheat or wear on the edges like road tires Overall wear rates are good. In the wet, they are very poor. To be fair, I used them in very cold conditions. Unable to get heat into them, they were hopeless. Overall, a good tire, but I would push you towards the Goodyear Eagle Super Sports. 99% as good in the dry, excellent in the wet and good on the road