200 TW tires, how much difference do they really make?
 

Finally mounted a set of 200 TW tires on the Miata. Up until now had not gone above 280, with the Kumho LE sport tires I had on it before. Those were a big jump over the Chinese made, obsidian compound rocks it had on it when I drove it home. How big a difference will it really make, WRT tire wear and grip? I am not talking about Rivals or RE71 pointy end of the stick tires, just lowly Falken 615K+

Will report back when I autocross them next weekend with my experience.

Those ratings are not particularly comparable between brands, as they are provided by the manufacturers and not entirely objective.

Any new tire will be better than a used one, some used tires lose so much grip after a few years that it's hard to believe the difference when you replace them.

You'll just have to see for yourself.

You can measure cornering grip. I have a G meter that I bought a while back and never used. I'd be happy to sell it to you, if you want to get all geeky about how you do.

JR

I like the Falkens, but I am not ever going to be competitive in my class with my current set up anyway. Stiff sidewalls.

200tw tires is a place I inhabit a lot. There is a pretty big variance in grip within 200tw and the best advice I can give is to choose a tire that performs well on your car the way you use it.

Falken 615 are good dry grip and hold up to continuous lapping on a race track pretty well. RE-11, RS-3/4, Dunlop Direzza, AD-08 are also good and maybe a bit more grip. Rival are excellent for a few days but seem to HC out long before tread is gone. RE-71R is arguably an 80tw R-Comp tire with 200 stamped on the side. Excellent wet or dry grip but tread wear is very short. I only get 5-6 track days on them before cords be showin' . NT-01 rated 100tw last longer on my car than RE-71R with similar dry grip.

If you AX to win, RE-71R cheater tires are the path to glory.