Ecoweenie Tyre for NA MX5: What's the narrowest?

[cianha]

I'm on a bit of an economy drive with my 5 at the moment, as I'm doing a lot of motorways miles. I hav ea set of 14x5.5 Daisies in the back room, and I'm thinking of putting the most fuel efficient tyres I can find on them. I think there are some decrepit 185/60/14's on there at the moment.

Assuming a narrower tyre would decrease rolling resistance, what's the minimum I can fit to them?

[Garett]

I would personally just keep the recommended tyre but go for something with a good rolling resistance score on both the EU ratings and indepentant tests. The Dunlop Sport Bluresponse look good and are supposed to be very quiet too.

[PATTERNPART]

Pump them up a couple of extra pounds. Check them often.

[MX-5 Lazza]

A set of tyres is going to cost a lot more than any saving you might make on fuel. At best I reckon you will get an extra 1mpg (probably less). How long will it take you at that rate to pay off £200 or more for tyres?

[cianha]

Thanks, the Bridgestone Turanza 195/50/15s that are currently on don't have a lot of life left, and the 15" Halfords specials where they're mounted are pretty hefty, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, and get the most efficient tyre on the lighter Daisies.

Those Blueresponse look good, I'll see who does them locally.

[skinny]

if you're serious about improving fuel economy, one of the best things you can do is to fit the 3.6:1 ratio diff to lower your revs esp on the motorway.

but yeah, a few extra lbs will decrease your rolling resistance. slightly thinner tyres at the same pressure will have pretty much the same footprint, and will only reduce your aero resistance.

[Gilhooligan]

Lowering the ride height too for improved aerodynamics. Has the added benefit of looking way better too.
I wonder how much more fuel economy a decent manifold and de cat will give?

[cianha]

A friend of mine calculated that he was getting 3-4mpg more since he fitted his decat. It's on the list of upgrades.

I'll look into lowering the car when the time comes to replace the springs/shocks currently on the car.

[vrsmxtb]

Bridgestone do a 165/50/15, there are narrower but they all seem to be 60 profile. Might make an MX5 quite lively, the 185s do seem to be very hard to unstick!

[dblack1]

The extra money that you put into ecotyres won't save you enough fuel economy to pay for themselves. Eco tyres have a shorter life than regular tyres (don't believe me, look at the manufacture warranty) and perform worse. They are cool tyres, but I wouldn't recommend them.

[skinny]

falken ZE-914 are supposed to be eco but also high performance tyres. i was offered them at a very good price (£185 fitted and balanced) with my new wheels but i don't want eco, so went for kuhmo's instead.

[Munter]

dblack1 said:

The extra money that you put into ecotyres won't save you enough fuel economy to pay for themselves. Eco tyres have a shorter life than regular tyres (don't believe me, look at the manufacture warranty) and perform worse. They are cool tyres, but I wouldn't recommend them.

Point of order. Tyres don't have a mileage warranty in the UK. Defects only. If it wears out in 1000 miles, well that's the consumers fault.

[dblack1]

912s are not performace or economy.

The reason I brought the milage warrenty into it is because it illistrates my point.