Leon van Dommelen wrote:

> You might get a meaningful answer in this group from someone for the
> question "What is the best tire and alignment to get the best street
> performance, blast the cost?", or "Can you tell me a tire that lasts
> many miles gently commuting, and good rain and straight line grip when
> needed in an emergency?" but not on "Can you give me alignments and
> performance tires that produce incredible grip while lasting a
> long time?" Any good answer to the last question is *equally*
> bad, since what you gain on one part, you give up on the other part.


Good points.

FWIW I can heartily recommend these Falken Ziex tires for the tire part of
your second rhetorical question... lasts many miles gently commuting, good
rain and straight line grip when needed in an emergency.

Really the car was the way I wanted it with the Pirelli P7000's at 35psi
front and 34psi rear and the alignment I had done when it was new.
Unfortunately those tires are not available any longer and it seems decent
tires are hard to find in size to fit 14" Miata wheels any more.

So I'm inclined to believe the advice that the tire wear pattern is
irrelevant indicator of alignment. However I will plan to read up (again)
Lanny's page and have it re-aligned again when I get new tires just for
known-quantity sake.

I still haven't finalized my new tire choice but I'm leaning towards Falken
Azenis 195/60-14's or Toyo T1-S 195/55-14. I'm presuming I can get the kind
of fun feel I want from the car with either of these tires, might get more
miles out of the Toyos but might get more absolute grip from the Azenis...
Anyone care to comment?

Thanks-