NSX FAQ

Tire Tech

Legacy FAQ page this replaces can be found here.

OEM Tire Specs

OEM tires were developed specifically for the NSX. They work with the NSX suspension to promote scuffing of the contact patch even when the car is traveling straight. The rears toe in and the fronts toe out slightly, poising the car for instant response and direct steering feel. The tires themselves are constructed with the internal plys angled to scuff sideways (ply steer) when the car is driving in a straight line. This helps give the car its precise turn-in characteristics. Combined with directional tread patterns this results in 4 different part numbers for the tires located at the 4 corners of the car. Eagle F1 tires for the McLaren, Ferrari(currently running Bridgestone-Michelin) and Shelby Series 1 vehicles feature very large tread blocks formed into asymmetric and directional tread designs, and are also corner-specific.
1991-1993

  • Yokohama A022H1
    • Front 205/50ZR15 – diameter 23.2 inches – 896 rev per mile – 21lbs – discontinued
    • Rear 225/50ZR16 – diameter 25.7 inches – 807 rev per mile – 25lbs – discontinued
  • Bridgestone Potenza RE010
    • Front 205/50ZR15 – discontinued in this size
    • Rear 225/50ZR16 – discontinued in this size
  • Dunlop SP 8050
    • Front 205/50ZR15 – discontinued in this size
    • Rear 225/50ZR16 – discontinued in this size

1994-2001

  • Yokohama A022H0
    • Front 215/45ZR16 – diameter 23.6 inches – 879 rev per mile – 21lbs
    • Rear 245/40ZR17 – diameter 24.7 inches – 840 rev per mile – 25lbs
  • Bridgestone Potenza RE010
    • Front 215/45ZR16 – diameter 23.5 inches – 900 rev per mile – 22lbs
    • Rear 245/40ZR17 – diameter 24.6 inches – 861 rev per mile – 27lbs

2002-2005

  • Bridgestone Potenza RE040-H0
    • Front 215/40R17 – diameter 23.8 inches – 875 rev per mile – 22lbs
    • Rear 255/40R17 – diameter 24.9 inches – 837 rev per mile – 29lbs

Special Considerations for OEM Tires

ALL factory tires are corner-specific (meaning they cannot be rotated). Do NOT let anyone rotate your stock tires or mount them incorrectly. There are arrows are on *both* sides of the A022s, labeled “SIDE FACING OUTWARDS” and “SIDE FACING INWARDS”. Also, when new, the A022H have a HUGE triangle-shaped (pointing in direction of rotation) colored sticker on the tread that says (for example) RIGHT REAR with a diagram of the NSX highlighting the wheel. Also, Yokohama A022 tires for the NSX have built in bias – the fronts pull to the outside and the rears pull to the inside. Therefore if you mix a normal A022 (RX-7) with a A022H (NSX tire) you may get some handling surprises.
OEM tires for the NSX wear out quickly. There are several reasons for rapid (not necessarily excessive) tire wear. Factory tires are a very soft, sticky compound. 1991-1992 NSX’s came with different rear toe-in settings. With that setting Yokos driven on the street (not racetrack) typically get 5,000-8,000 miles to a set of rear A-022H tires, and usually at least double that for front tires. The ’94+ models came with 16 inch front and 17 inch rear tires which last a little longer. The front tires tend to wear out first on the inside. Turn the steering wheel all the way to one side to inspect the full width of the tread. This wear is caused by both the toe-out and negative camber of the front end. See Alignment for more discussion of alignment.

How Should Tires Be Stored?

If stored flat on their side, un-mounted in a cool, dry place with no sunlight (i.e. dry basement), tires have a shelf life of about 8 years. Wrapping them in big plastic trash bags helps.

Aftermarket Tires for the NSX

The Tire Reviews section contains information on various aftermarket tires, including suggested sizes of each for different size wheels.

More Details on the Yokohama A022H

There was a change in compound of the OEM Yokohamas according to George Lugo at NSXPO’97. The compound was made a little bit harder (10%?) to address the “premature tire wear” concern that was brought out in the early years. (true???)
Michael F. Hollander, Yokohama Tire Specialist writes:
Here’s some additional information from our Technical Department:
The compound of the front and rear NSX tires are slightly different in grip level. In addition to the compound, there are numerous construction and tread profile differences between the tires. These differences are necessary to work with the design of the suspension to give the target handling requested by the vehicle maker.
UTQG tradwear ratings are based on a tires wear performance against a standard monitoring tire chosen by the US Government. The manufacturer chooses the exact rating to use based on testing data received for the compound used. Although the grip level of the compounds used for the front and rear of the NSX is different, the result of the test against the course monitoring tire were relatively close. As the ratings used by manufacturers is normally conservative, the tires could be rated the same to avoid confusion for the uninformed customer.
Compounds can be made today to have different grip levels but be relatively close in wear characteristics. Although the grip level of the front and rear tires is different, ti is not a large change from one to the other. The request from Acura was to help stabilize the car during high speed cornering and assist with the development of a slight understeer condition. To accomplish this, the rear tires are constructed to add a “toe in” effect in the rear as well as generate more grip in the rear than in the front to give “understeer”. The compound grip change to make this happen was small, resulting in relatively close UTQG ratings.
Tires and Wheels