Relevant info:

Stock 71 240

Wheels not yet purchased

Tires will be almost exclusively for dry spirited street usage, possibly limited autocross in the future

Near future plans for type1 front air dam

Few years from now possible plans for light suspension modification and slight lowering

Very limited mileage will be put on them

 

Tire property priorities

1) Steering response

2) Minimal road noise

3) Ride comfort (I expect it to be sporty, just don't want it harsh)

4) Stability

5) Traction

 

Car will avoid the wet whenever possible, and babied if unavoidable.

 

There are lots of threads talking about preferred widths and sidewall heights, and various suspension setups. The problem is that a lot of these tires are no longer available in 15" sizes. I haven't bought wheels yet, but I really want 15's and going 16 just for tire choices would really be too bad.

 

Ideally I would like a 195/60 tire, possibly a 205/60 since I will go with a front air damn before too long on my 71 240z otherwise stock.

 

Tire rack is very limited for the 195, and even for 205 only has higher performance all season. I'm not finding much better choices anywhere else either. Maybe Goodyear eagle sport all seasons.  I realize I won't be pushing these tires to the limit on track, but even still it seems silly to put All seasons on a car that will barely see rain much less snow.

 

Things open up a little more if you consider 195/55 or 205/55 and you get some Summer tires on the map again. 

 

Of course if I did bump to 16 I could run 195/55R16  Potenza RE760s.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

I've got 15" Koning Rewinds from Direct Tire with Hankook Ventus 205/50s and love them.  $560 after all the rebates, great deal to me.  15s on the orange one, 16s on the red.  I prefer the 15s on a 240.  The 16s are on my 280 now.

 

 

Toyo RA1s - we run these as race tires for vintage events and they are great right out of the box - no shaving required. I would avoid the R888s as they are roller skates dressed up to look like tires.

There are actually several good summer tires, but Tire Rack and other retailers do not sell them in the winter, so it's a bit hard to look them up right now.  Look at the following:

 

Hankook RS3

Dunlop Start Spec

Toyo RA1

BFG Rival

 

 

That said, you might struggle to find a street size in 15".  Racers run 225/45R15 and there are some great tires available, but the OD is about 1.5" smaller than stock.

 

On my street Z, I run a 16" wheel because 205/55R16 and 225/50R16 tires are widely available.

 

I've got 15" Koning Rewinds from Direct Tire with Hankook Ventus 205/50s and love them.  $560 after all the rebates, great deal to me.  15s on the orange one, 16s on the red.  I prefer the 15s on a 240.  The 16s are on my 280 now.

 

What size are those 16"s Cliff? I'm running 225/50 x 16 Conti DW's on 16 x 7" Konig rewinds. I'm thinking of going to 15 x 7's to drop the car some. Even with Eibach springs, my car is a bit too high right now. Z's just look so much better when they are hugging the ground.

 

I prefer the look of the 15's on your orange car as well.

RA1s are available and in stock. I will be picking up a set later this week (Tire Rack warehouse outside of Hartford, CT so no shipping charges - $783.)

Good to know about the RA1.  While it may be "the best tire for 15x7 right now", I personally am not super comfortable having a Race and Autocross only tire as my sole rubber option. Maybe that is just how they are classified from the manuf., but even then with a treadwear of only 100 I think i'll go with something a bit more rounded and not classified as track only.

Edited December 28, 20159 yr by DaveR

Look for a 180 - 200TW tire.  They are sticky summer tires, yet won't be race-only.

What size are those 16"s Cliff? I'm running 225/50 x 16 Conti DW's on 16 x 7" Konig rewinds. I'm thinking of going to 15 x 7's to drop the car some. Even with Eibach springs, my car is a bit too high right now. Z's just look so much better when they are hugging the ground.

 

I prefer the look of the 15's on your orange car as well.

The 16s are 205/55.  They did fine on the red one but on the lowered orange one the fronts rubbed the inner fender lip when turning sharp.  Putting them on the heavier 280 worked out good, they wouldn't fit my Camry. 

15x7 with 205x60x15 Dunlop. No issues! Car is lowered. Would go with 225x50 if i could find them.

I ran the Toyo RA1s on my daily driver Contour SVT for 18,000 miles.  Never an issue on the street, track, or autocross.  On a S30 that weighs 700 pounds less they should last longer.

The only downside I found when running RA1's was that they don't like low temperatures.  I keep my Z on the road as late as possible into the winter, basically until they put salt on the roads, then it gets stored.  One night the temperature dropped down to about 5°f and one of the tires split up the sidewall...  the cold turns them brittle and can ruin them.

So if you are planning to use RA1's as a daily driving tire, and your car will see very cold temperatures - then I'd either have a second set of wheels/tires for colder months, or sacrifice a little grip and get a lesser tire.

If you don't have to suffer cold temperatures, I doubt there is a better streetable 15" tire available.