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Tires for '95 NSX OEM Wheels Becoming Unavailable?

G

gkantziper

Registered Member
Joined
21 May 2017
Messages
55
Location
Jamestown, NC
I'm a new owner. My car has OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE-010 Front: 215/45ZR16 Rear: 245/40ZR17 tires that are still in good shape and the oldest is date coded 12/15. I was just curious about availability and price of new tires and couldn't find but one brand available in these sizes and the tire didn't look good to me for "normal" street driving. Please educate me about this situation or am I just looking in the wrong places? Is this why so many replace their OEM wheels?

One other thing about my situation is my driveway has a steep entrance and my car is stock and just barely goes up (scraping front lip sometimes) so I don't want to change ride height.

Thanks.
 
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Welcome to the world of NSX ownership. Besides the great ownership and driving experience, you'll get to enjoy high parts prices, limited or no availability of critical parts, hours sourcing rare parts from overseas suppliers and a shortage of highly qualified mechanics. That said I love my NSX.

Regarding tires, try moving down to a 205/45R16 on the front. There are many good options (brands) using this size. The slight change in diameter won't affect your TCS.

Staying with the stock sizes, the BF Goodrich G-Force Rival S 1.5 would be a fine choice depending upon your local weather.
 
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yep the 16 front is a tough one...just have to scourer tire rack, discount tire ect ...and try to not mix and match different brands...other option is to go 17/17 with different wheels.
 
docjohn said:
yep the 16 front is a tough one...just have to scourer tire rack, discount tire ect ...and try to not mix and match different brands...other option is to go 17/17 with different wheels.
Click to expand...

I like my OEM wheels and have plenty of time to search so...

Thanks.
 
Yes, the problem with the 16"/17" tire availability has existed for at least 4-5 years. As noted, the common solution is to open up the search to allow 205/45 16 fronts. This used to bring up a very large selection of tires; but, not as much as it used to.

If you check the specifications for the new 205 tires, you will likely find that the tread width may roughly be the same or slightly larger than the 215 RE-010. If you go to Tire Rack's web site, you can find the specs.

Possible tires in the combination include:
Yok S drives (205 is actually .1" wider tread than RE 010)
Sumitomo HTR
Bridgestone RE 71R (extreme performance so maybe not what you want)
Quite a few others if you search

If you go to the Tire Rack web site, select your vehicle and then do a search on the 205/45-16 tire size. When the search results come up, select a tire and go into the specs. In addition to the tire you have selected it will flag whether there is a matching rear size for your car. You can also check the diameter and tread width on your selected tire. The RE 010 had a diameter of 23.5" and most of the 205 tires appear to be within 0.1" of this value. The revolutions per mile on some of these tires is less than the RE 010 so the ride heights might actually be a nudge higher even though the section width is less.

I went with Bridgestone RE 760s with the 205 front option. They are a summer ultra high performance tire, not extreme performance tire. Very happy with them; but, unfortunately they do not appear to be available in the 205 size any longer.
 
ajmr2 said:
I HIGHLY recommend these Falken AZENIS RT615K.
Click to expand...

Make sure you are looking at the RT615K+. The older RT615K is not available in 215/45R16.
 
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Old Guy said:
Yes, the problem with the 16"/17" tire availability has existed for at least 4-5 years. As noted, the common solution is to open up the search to allow 205/45 16 fronts. This used to bring up a very large selection of tires; but, not as much as it used to.

If you check the specifications for the new 205 tires, you will likely find that the tread width may roughly be the same or slightly larger than the 215 RE-010. If you go to Tire Rack's web site, you can find the specs.

Possible tires in the combination include:
Yok S drives (205 is actually .1" wider tread than RE 010)
Sumitomo HTR
Bridgestone RE 71R (extreme performance so maybe not what you want)
Quite a few others if you search

If you go to the Tire Rack web site, select your vehicle and then do a search on the 205/45-16 tire size. When the search results come up, select a tire and go into the specs. In addition to the tire you have selected it will flag whether there is a matching rear size for your car. You can also check the diameter and tread width on your selected tire. The RE 010 had a diameter of 23.5" and most of the 205 tires appear to be within 0.1" of this value. The revolutions per mile on some of these tires is less than the RE 010 so the ride heights might actually be a nudge higher even though the section width is less.

I went with Bridgestone RE 760s with the 205 front option. They are a summer ultra high performance tire, not extreme performance tire. Very happy with them; but, unfortunately they do not appear to be available in the 205 size any longer.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I just did what you said and it worked great!
 
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ajmr2 said:
You are correct Sir. I pulled out my invoice and they are the RT615K+ F 215.45.16 86W, R 255.40.17 94W.
Thanks for the clarification. Fantastic tires and affordable!
AJ

Corrected Tirerack info:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Falken&tireModel=Azenis+RT615K+
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendation. I took a look and they are reasonable. The OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE-010s that are less than half "gone" are really loud. Freewheeling at lower speeds (just to listen to the tires) you can really hear them. Not so much at cruising speed on the highway they are fine.
 
The Kumho tires that came on the car 2 years ago were square and loud. The Falkens were recommended to me by a good friend of mine who is in the business and has sold me all my passenger car and road racing tires for 40+ years. He also endurance races an Acura Integra R in SCCA Production class and runs the Falkens as intermediates, so they are perfect for daily driving, cruising, hitting backroad apexes and an occasional track day. Several racing organizations have taken notice to them and they are becoming more and more popular as a spec tire.
You will not be disappointed. Just sayin!
AJ
 
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After reading recommendations on here, I too got the Falken AZENIS RT615K+ rears on my stock '95 wheels a few months ago mainly because they were on the front when I bought the car a couple of years ago, and the rear Michelins needed to be replaced. In addition, they are very reasonably priced from Tire Rack, and I got an even better deal on them through a nice local used car dealership that hosts cars and coffees. I also like how the tread pattern looks. They have been good (I don't track).
 
gkantziper said:
Thanks for the recommendation. I took a look and they are reasonable. The OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE-010s that are less than half "gone" are really loud. Freewheeling at lower speeds (just to listen to the tires) you can really hear them. Not so much at cruising speed on the highway they are fine.
Click to expand...

If you go to the Tire Rack and check the specifications, sometimes they will provide information on tire noise. Sometimes the information will just be 'this is xxxxx's low noise tire' which may not be particularly useful if you are trying to compare across brands.
 
I currently run 215/45/16 and 255/40/17 ad08r on my te37. I source the fronts from Demon Tweeks in the UK. Surprisingly, end cost including shipping is quite reasonable. They also offer the oem rear size 245/40/17. Good luck.
 
gkantziper said:
Thanks for the recommendation. I took a look and they are reasonable. The OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE-010s that are less than half "gone" are really loud. Freewheeling at lower speeds (just to listen to the tires) you can really hear them. Not so much at cruising speed on the highway they are fine.
Click to expand...

Take a look at my post #77 here: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...re-Star-Spec-AD08-R-Ecsta-LE-or-s-Drive/page4 There are some downsides to the RE-010s but those are the tires that were designed specifically for the NSX (also Yokohamas -- I forget the model now) and per my post referenced above I miss the handling that was afforded by the RE-010s. Just sayin.......

Best,
Jeff
 
mwagner10702 said:
Welcome to the world of NSX ownership. Besides the great ownership and driving experience, you'll get to enjoy high parts prices, limited or no availability of critical parts, hours sourcing rare parts from overseas suppliers and a shortage of highly qualified mechanics. That said I love my NSX.

Regarding tires, try moving down to a 205/45R16 on the front. There are many good options (brands) using this size. The slight change in diameter won't affect your TCS.

Staying with the stock sizes, the BF Goodrich G-Force Rival S 1.5 would be a fine choice depending upon your local weather.
Click to expand...


Would going to 205/50R16 be okay for the front tires? That size opens up even more options.
 

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