Advice on Tyre choice

[Craigjm]

That has always baffled me, for all the information that is on a tyre side wall, stiffness is not one of them.

There has to be a metric for it somewhere.
Rubber in general is measured on the shore scale.

Mount tyre, apply pressure across the width, measure deflection or pressure to give a value.

That has always baffled me, for all the information that is on a tyre side wall, stiffness is not one of them.

There has to be a metric for it somewhere.
Rubber in general is measured on the shore scale.

Mount tyre, apply pressure across the width, measure deflection or pressure to give a value.

There is a metric. Newtons per degree as I mention in my post above. Anyone who thinks they can sense 1 newton difference is a liar especially on a car like an MR2 so to most people it would be a meaningless metric.

[Dev]

Let me clarify what I said. You hit the nail when you mentioned premium. No issues whatsoever with Michelin Bridgestone etc. fit Nankang and landsail and all that kind of thing and you will have issues. One should buy tyres like they do shoes. If you really care about your feet you buy decent Goodyear welted shoes not cheap cemented stuff and the same idea is true of tyres.

In terms of sensitivity 90% of drivers of ordinary mass produced cars would have no idea what they are looking for and drive it nowhere near a point where it is really relevant

I agree. There is a reason why premium tires from the likes of Bridgestone, Michelin and Yokohama place an emphasis on sidewall stiffness for high performance tires. Their budget stuff does not have the better materials for cost savings. 
The manufacture of this car worked with both Yokohama and Bridgestone to make tires that have this characteristic.
 Sure you can win races or soft compound sticky tires but it's not the same thing as really enjoying the car the way Toyota designed it. Tires are also part of the suspension system and with too much compliance you can feel it everywhere, slow speed, high speed and casual driving. I love the jolt my stiff side walls give me when there are irregularities in the road surface, it grabs my attention.

My other car is just the opposite. It's a luxury car that prefers the soft sidewall experience.   




 

[Dev]

That has always baffled me, for all the information that is on a tyre side wall, stiffness is not one of them.

There has to be a metric for it somewhere.
Rubber in general is measured on the shore scale.

Mount tyre, apply pressure across the width, measure deflection or pressure to give a value.

You have no choice but to read anecdotal reports of soft tires and avoid them like the plague, however tire manufacturers are now mentioning it in their literature for the specific tire where they improve the tire carcass for better feel and turn in response. 

 The reason why a lot of tires have turned to soft sidewalls is due to complaints from owners. As wheels got larger the sidewalls got smaller.  When this happened there was very little compliance which resulted in a rough riding car and in some cases rim damage. The weight of these cars also contributed to this problem which we are immune.

 When you consider the MR2 stock sizes they generally have larger profiles than most modern cars which presents a problem because the tire manufacture does not account for the larger sidewall which makes it very compliant and soft. Basically the feel of the car has been castrate with a lot of tire options because they favor larger wheels in their design primarily for comfort, economy and cost savings.

[Ardent]

There is a metric. Newtons per degree as I mention in my post above. Anyone who thinks they can sense 1 newton difference is a liar especially on a car like an MR2 so to most people it would be a meaningless metric.

1, if the metric exists,  why not list it? DB, load, etc is.
2, 1 Newton maybe not, how about 5?

I'm no driving god, but I can tell the difference between a rainsport and an ado8r.

When I bought mine, it had the OEM Bridgestone re040 on it. Although we all accept that was designed with a stiff side wall,  there is no actual point of reference in numerical terms. I wish there was.

[Craigjm]

There should be more info than there is to be fair and a lot of the info there is available is useles. If you see a tyre rated A for wet grip and another C for instance what does that actually mean? I would assume it would mean how well it would grip in the wet. It actually means what it's stopping distance in the wet is on a control car so an A stops in less distance than a C. Not really that helpful. It's the same with all these ridiculous ratings like what really is the difference between and A rated and B rated washing machine how much more does it really cost to run? You have to really dig to find out

[Dev]

I am lucky to have upgraded my wheels to light weight 16/17 early which updated my selection of tires. The tires I run now are relabeled Bridgestone RE003 which is a fantastic tire. It's not a track street tire as they have their own issues with temps and wear, but it's in the same category of what the car came with except it has a lot more grip. Nice stiff sidewalls that you can feel like the original.

 I seen some owners over inflate their soft tires to get the same responsive feeling but it's not the same thing because all they are doing is crowning their tires and loosing grip.