255/40/15 or 245/40/15. It would be THE tire to have for the cars running 15x9s. That includes at least:
- miatas (90-05, not 06+ mx5s), toyota MR2 & MR-S, rx-7 and perhaps porsches in the new STR class (basically all the lighter/older cars made for smaller diameter tires)
- people running various xSP and SM/SSM cars in local street tire classes
- LOTS of street miatas with forced induction, v8 swaps, etc that need a lot of tire to put down power
- lots more street miatas that just want to look gooood.... :)
15x9 wheels are now very affordable in easy fitment ($120 each at Tire Rack; a bit more for the popular and very light 6UL from 949) and they are going to be selling like hotcakes... and 225 is barely enough rubber to fit. We want more!
Right now Hankook has my business because their 225/45/15 is the widest street tire out there (along with a toyo) with the short diameter that the miata needs. But I think there's a real opportunity for someone to not match, but go "over the top" of the 'kooks much like Hoosier did for race rubber when they made the 275/35/15, which seems to be a top selller. I'm not a market researcher, just a miataphile, but I do know that they've made over 750,000 miatas that can use such a tire on 15x9s, and miatas are THE most popular car at autocrosses across the country....
-- Glenn