posted November 26, 2001 12:39 AM           

I've been reading way too many conflicting opinions about what wheel/tire combos are best for this car. I'll prolly get a bunch of conflicting replies here, but what the hell...

To start, my goal is this... Better performance than the stock setup w/o spending a fortune (i.e. just changing out the wheels & tires), and without introducing funny side effects from drastically different tire circumference.

After playing around at discounttire's site and more so at tirerack, I am almost as confused as I was to begin with, I just know a lot more now. I noticed some conflicting data, maybe you could enlighten me?

(Data below from specs at tirerack)
Stock: Michelin XGT-V4 at 195/55-15, diameter is 23.3" and revs per mile 890.
Other 1: Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 at 195/55-15, diameter is 23.4" and revs per mile 870.
Other 2: Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 at 195/50-15, diameter is 22.7" and revs per mile 890.

Question 1) How is it that two tires (stock & other 1), with the same W/P-D specs can have different diameters, and even more different revs/mile? My only guess is that, since the Kumho is a higher performance tire that it's stiffer and thus doesn't sag as much when loaded?

Question 2) What is more important, overall diameter or revs per mile? Seems the revs per mile is a more real-world number to match up to maintain original speedo/gearing/etc.

(More data from tirerack)
Other 3: Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 at 205/45-16, diameter is 23.2" and revs per mile 873.
Other 4: Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 at 215/40-16, diameter is 22.7" and revs per mile 888.

Going Plus-One.
The "Other 3" looks like the best match as far as diameter, but the revs per mile is 1.91% lower. The "Other 4" is low on diameter, but the revs per mile is only down by 0.22% which is damn near exact. Also, theory is that a 215/40 would yield better performance than 205/45.

Question 3) Which is a better choice and why?

Question 4) If you've had any experience with this Kumho tire, I'd like to hear about it. I've read good stuff, and it's a real price/performance deal to go well with my limited budget!