Tire wear, car lifespan questions

[mikec]

I'm very happy with my ES100 tires. Front alignment is stock; I took out half the toe in the rear. My tire wear is excellent; even in the front and rear. I have about 8,000 miles on them. The fronts are at about 80 percent. The rears look about the same.

My car drives and handles just fine for the way I drive. I drive it more like an accord than a sports car. If I tracked it, or brought it to the limit, I may have a different opinion.

YMMV

 

[SugrueNSX]

I just went through a set of OEM tires on the back in almost exactly 5k miles.
And that was with a 93+ toe setting which is a compromise between handling and longevity.

You can use harder tires and compromise more on the handling which seems silly to me.

I think that the 91-94 NSX is a very affordable car when compared to a Ferrari. It’s not a very affordable car compared to a Toyota Camry or a Civic. It is going to eat rear tires and a set of OEM front brake pads are going to run you nearly $200 just for the parts.

The NSX is a very reliable car. However it is an exotic and parts are not super cheap and we are talking about a car that is 12 to 15 years old. You should have an emergency fund of at least $5k and preferably more like $10k in the bank for things like clutches and transmissions and the such like. Now you may not have to but if you can’t see yourself dropping 5 or 10 grand into the car in the first year or two without having to jump off a cliff then you should probably wait until you can afford the car. In the mean time consider a Miata. It’s not as impressive but it’s pretty affordable and it’s fun.

Regards,

Patrick

 

[jond]

Now you may not have to but if you can’t see yourself dropping 5 or 10 grand into the car in the first year or two without having to jump off a cliff then you should probably wait until you can afford the car.

We're still talking about NSXs right??? lol

 

[sjones]

I have yokohama es100's. 225/45/16 in front & 255/40/17 in rear.
I managed 18K miles out of my last set of rear tires and 42K from the front.

 

[wilsonp]

I have to agree - I change to Michelin All-season tires every winter, and I definitely notice the difference in the spring. The car is much more responsive after switching back to the Yokohamas.

BTW, I normally got less than 15k and sometimes less than 10k on my MR-2 rear tires, so getting two summers on my Yokohama rears seems fine to me.

I think it's interestng that most people think they'll only notice a degradation in performance with a move to non-OEM tires if they track their car. It's true that you will notice a change in performance on the track, but when I changed to Dunlop 9000's I noticed the crappy handling immediately. On the street. In everyday driving. I have been to Don's to adjust the alignment (this time to the most aggressive setting) three times with still very little improvement. The one time I put my OEM tires back on for a track event I noticed how crisp the car handled as soon as I was on the road to the event!
The corner-specific design of the OEM tires is one cornerstones of the handling of the NSX IMO. And notice that each tire has a direction of rotation and "side facing out" that would preclude switching sides for the tires.

 

[RP-Motorsports]

a set of OEM front brake pads are going to run you nearly $200 just for the parts.

That is why buying aftermarket pads (ex-Hawk HPS) are a better deal. 1/3 of that price, and IMO work even better.

 

[SugrueNSX]

Originally Posted by SugrueNSX
Now you may not have to but if you can’t see yourself dropping 5 or 10 grand into the car in the first year or two without having to jump off a cliff then you should probably wait until you can afford the car.

We're still talking about NSXs right??? lol

I just went through my invoices for the last year and they total over $6k and it would be a lot more if it were not for the fact that I did a lot of the work myself: drivers window, front rotors and pads, master cylinder, thermostat, etc. Now I do require my car to be in tip top shape and I don’t expect to spend that every year but owning this type of car without that kind of money in the bank is somewhat imprudent IMHO.

I wish I were laughing as much as you.

Regards,

Patrick

 

[SugrueNSX]

That is why buying aftermarket pads (ex-Hawk HPS) are a better deal. 1/3 of that price, and IMO work even better.

I think that maybe good advice seeing as how I went through an entire set of OEM pads in one event last time out. Partly due to the fact that I suck.
The point that I am trying to make is that parts for an NSX tend to be considerably more expensive than a lesser car. I guess I’m stating the obvious?

Regards,

Patrick

 

[nsxtasy]

$5-10K for unexpected repairs??? LOL!!! I've spent significantly less than that in over fifteen years of ownership (and most of what I've spent has been $2K for a clutch replacement). That doesn't count scheduled maintenance, or brake pad or tire replacements which are frequent due to my track use.

You have to be really, really, REALLY unlucky (or you have to be starting with a problem-ridden used NSX for which you presumably got a huge break on the purchase price) to spend anywhere near that amount...

 

[jond]

The point that I am trying to make is that parts for an NSX tend to be considerably more expensive than a lesser car. I guess I’m stating the obvious?

I will be finding out soon!!!
From all the research I've done though, things are *only* 15-20% or so more expensive then they were for my Type-R.

 

[sahtt]

A small sidenote; a component to the low tire life of many porsche's, ferrari's, NSX's, etc. is due to the heat cycling frequency since many of the cars are barely driven. Those who track often [exemplified even moreso in the motorcycle racing realm if you have experience there] understand that heat cycling, even on street tires, takes its toll on tire life. Most NSX owners I know take their car on relatively short drives a couple times a week. This doesn't have near the effect on the fronts compared to the rears due to the drivetrain layout causing the tires to heatup much quicker in the rear. It doesn't surprise me that a few members posted 10k+ miles that put a lot of them on the car annually [assuming much of which is highway or extended drives].

 

[KooLaid]

understand heat cycling, it's just that the temperatures reached on normal jaunts, short or long are probably no where near the temps reached when being pushed hard on a race track. I mean like hard cornering, stopping, acceleration, etc etc....

 

[DRIFTER]

Ive got you all beat in that i go thru 4 sets of rears before i replaced the fronts, and to my suprise they look hardly worn at all. One thing about the NSX as a daily driver is that in 5k miles your rears will be gone, i drive mine 3000+ miles a month so i get rear tires every month in a half or so, the guys at the Firestone place just love me

Bro,
Turn the traction control back on and let off the right pedal only 5k oouch $$

 

[Meeyatch1]

I'm bumping this to get some more input. People who daily drive their NSX, do you change rear tires everyother time you change your oil, or is there a better way to deal with the issue?

I'm about to buy a NSX for a year round daily driver. I plan to put 20,000 miles a year on it. Thats 3 sets of rear tires?

When I was running the OEM tires I bought a set of rears every time I changed the oil. :frown:

 

[Modernceo]

Ive got almost 10k on my Goodyear Eagle F1's now, no noticable wear for front or rear.

My last alignment, I asked for less toe for the front, and overall a little less radical of a alignment for longer tire wear. I mainly did this due to the horror stories I heard of tire wear, etc with the Nsx.

With my next alignment, I may ask for a little more aggresive of a alignment setting, because at the rate im going, it seems like these tires will last a long time !