Better tires= considerably better handling

[v8vega]

I bought a 89 Cavalier Z24 reciently, it had 195 65 14 no name mismached tires on the front, and 215 60 14 on the rear, which are no longer made, the 195 65 are the biggest 14" tires anymore. I also have a 87 Fiero GT and a while ago I bought 4 87 Fiero GT wheels that had Sumetomo Srixon 4 tires. They look just like HTR H4 I think they replaced Srixon. I used paint remover to remove the paint from the Fiero wheels and sanded and buffed and polished the rim part, they look good. My Z24 has a much more surefooted feel, and better handling cornering. All 4 are 205 60 15 and they are 1" taller than the 196 65 14 and 3/8" taller than 215 60 14. Miata .net has a calculator that says when my speedo says 60 I'm going 61.3. No noticable change in acceleration. My Z24 and Fiero are both 5 speeds. both run good, my Z24 has 184,700 miles and Fiero has 155,000 miles. It seems like the Z24 is a smigon faster but hard to say.

[Alxsmt]

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec <------- worth EVERY penny. no more traction issues in 2nd gear, even in the rain! most popular autox tire for a reason. it would acually make a decent drag tire too

[pocket-rocket]

I know the BFGoodrich T/A Gforce KDW's I put on my 92 were a huge improvement over the Kumo Ecsta 712's that were on my car when I got it. Mine were 245/40 ZR18s though, both old and new. I got them for $204 each and had them put on at Tire Rack in South Bend. If I ever get the money to fix that car back up again, I think for sure my money is going back to BFGoodrich. I was impressed with them. Awesome dry traction/cornering, same in the rain, until they got worn. Now it takes 3rd gear to get them to stop spinning in the rain.

[v8vega]

Now I added new rear shocks

The wheels and tires helped a lot but it still drove poor jiggling, bouncing, wobbling around made me think this car is a pile of junk. It had new front struts when I bought it and he gave me a folder where I found a reciept that told me the struts were Gabriel Ultra and I wanted matching rear shocks which I found on Autozone's site. These aren't super high perforrmance struts/shocks but since the front were on and new I didn't want to change them. I think the rear shocks were original 1989 and with the new Gabriel shocks now the car drives and handles nice and I'm happy with it.