Well discount tire locally is running a special on these tires this week where you get their certificates and free mounting if you buy a set of 4 or more. I'm looking to see if anyone has had any experience with these as I was all but set to purchase a set of Yokohama S drive's. My main question is are the Exclaim UHP's crappy tires and I shouldn't even consider waisting my money on them, or are they a solid tire with a cheaper price b/c you aren't paying for a name. Any advice is always appreciated and I'm basically wanting to know if I'm crazy for thinking about getting these instead of the Yokohama S Drives.

Come on guys anyone with experience on these?

I personally think you'll get more out of the S.Drive. One thing I see all the time in regards to the Exclaim is that they tend to "skate" in turns.

Skate? What do you mean skate? My other reason I'm contemplating the General's is their cost compared to the S Drive.

They tend to understeer in the corners. You're talking a fair difference in price...what about the Kumho Ecsta SPT or the BFGoodrich GForce Sports?

You may want to take a look in here, and maybe wait for a couple replies. There are a couple of local members in my area that have those, they may chime in.

http://forum.mazda6club.com/index.php?showtopic=92424

I really wanted the Gforce sports but they don't have them in a 91load index in a size that'll fit my rims. the 225/40/18 is an 89load index. I heard that the Kumho's only last for like 15-18k miles that was one reason I wasn't leaning heavily towards them. You know what though, I think I'll snag the General's. I have read up on a couple of other forums including a local racing/enthusiast forum and they've gotten nothing but really solid reviews. A lot of the guys locally don't know why they are so cheap and why you can find them even cheaper online at places like tirerack. Anyone know if Discount Tire will price match from Tire Rack? That'd save me another 43 bucks a tire given that Tire Rack has them for $83 a piece.

i have the exclaims on my rx8 wheels. I only put about 2k on them before i took them off for winter and i love them. i havent noticed any "skating", and i would reccommned them.

Generally, the people I've talked to that have them love them. They probably perform decently, but I also think they're that cheap for a reason. So I don't know if the rave reviews are because they really are terrific, or if the people that have them just haven't tried anything better. Often when I come across tire tests, the performance of cheaper tires like Kumhos come very close to the more expensive tires in careful instrumented testing, but doesn't quite match them. Whether or not you'll feel the difference is another matter. And a lot of areas like noise and comfort are very subjective as well.

Yeah price is always hard to predict though. I mean brand name plays a ton into cost 99% of the time. Are Michellin's really that good of a tire? To some people yes but are the stock MXM4's that come on the 6s worth 185 a piece....hell no lol. Well on another note I noticed the Generals only weigh 21lb per tire, throw that in with my ADR's at 22lb per rim I'll be at 43 per corner. Not light in any shape but that's 1.5lb lighter than factorey is that an amount that can be noticed?

Wow, the factory 17's are heavier than factory 18's? Cool. My stock 18's weigh 42 lbs.

Unless I was reading the stock specs wrong, the Michellin's are 23lb per tire and the rims are 21.5lb on the stock 17"s.

I have them. No complaints yet. I ended paying a bit more than you are from Discount Tire (guess it was a demand issue and Tire Rack was back ordered). 7,000+ miles so far and wearing well (report from discount at the last tire rotation).

I know there are many others, just as Awong mentioned, in the BC area. I also think JAX had them at some point and subsequently recommended them to me.

I got them because I needed an all-season tire that catered to wet weather. These tires fit the bill. Might also want to ask Tire Guy his three cents.

The General Exclaim UHP is not an all-season tire. Maybe that is why Exclaim UHPs cater to wet weather.

Check out discounttiredirect.com

It looks a lil more expensive than tire rack at first, but the shipping is FREE!

Although many people -- in my opinion -- overemphasize tread design, one element of tread design that is valid to base a conclusion on is that a tire that has a tread with at least one rib that is continuous, unbroken by block divisions or even sipes, will tend to maintain a "line" (straight or in a corner) better than a tire the entire tread of which comprises separate blocks. Broken block treads tend to "nibble" or wander a bit in straight line travel, as on a freeway, requiring micro-steering corrections; and block-only designs tend to drift a bit more than tires with continuous ribs do in cornering, as successive blocks come into contact with the road only to be succeeded by momentary loss of contact because of the voids between blocks. Note: the unbroken rib of the tread need not look like a rib; the center portion of, for instance, the Yokohama AVS Sport or the Toyo T1R, which look like stacked Y's, are continuous ribs.

The General Exclaim UHP is a good example of a block tread, and the Yokohama S.drive is a good example of a continuous rib tread.

They don't have the Exclaim UHP's on there plus they charge sales tax b/c I'm in Tx. I spent 40 to have them shipped from Tire Rack so the total cost was $412.16 with the road hazard program. That's hard to beat given they ship from Shrieveport so ground shipping will get the tires to me on Tuesday.

Then what is the advantage of having a block tread?

Your question assumes that there is an advantage to having a block tread.

A block tread presents more edges to the road, and -- in some cases -- shorter paths for water evacuation. But block treads are also inherently more noisy than treads that comprise more ribs and fewer separate blocks. Look at the tread designs of the very high performing ContiSportContact3 or Yokohama ADVAN Sport, and you will see that the voids of those excellent tires' treads are arranged much more longitudinally (riblike) than across the tread (blocklike).

But if you know this, I'm sure the tire manufacturers know this as well. Why would they produce tires with that type of tread if it serves no purpose? Block tread probably has an advantage in snow or off road tires, but why would General use that kind of tread design in a supposedly performance tire?

The very most important function of a tread design -- well above performance -- is to sell tires by looking sexy in the tire showroom. If you look at the threads in this forum, you will see that most of them deal with appearance, not performance. (Admittedly, there are several wheel threads for every tire thread, which skews the tally.) The tire manufacturers recognize that, and they are in the business of selling tires.

Hmm, makes sense. But the Exclaim UHPs don't look particularly good to me, lol. To me they look too blocky for a high performance tire.

So what you're saying is that since the UHP's have a lot of the blocks, despite all being verticle it might be the best for water? Or is the tread design of that specific tire still pretty good even for water.

I've had the Exclaims for about 6.5K now. No issues and they're still nice n quiet.
I just came off of Falken 512's and those were good for about 24K b4 they had to go (they got loud in the end).
I've gone from NC to NY twice now in the pouring rain cruising at 75mph w/ no issues in the Generals.
Like you, I was looking for a bargain tire that had decent tire life but would hold it's own during "spirited" driving. So far the Exclaims have not disappointed.
Discount Tire will price match wherever you find them, but they do add the cost of shipping (from that distributer) to the total cost. I saved about $20 total after getting the whole package at DT. Not much but I did save
For what it's worth, the General Exclaim UHP's have (so far) done well in my book!

Yeah the main reason I opted to go with Tire Rack over discount in the end is b/c there are only 2 of the Exclaims in Austin and they wouldn't have more until later in the week. My thought was since Tire Rack is 416 total for all four compared to the 700 they want at discount(that's with mount&balance) I saved enough to not have to be patient lol. So in the end the Generals will cost me 470 after tax so I'm happy with that. Even if they aren't perfect this setup isn't the final setup anyway.

I have no personal experience with the General Exclaim UHP. You need to ask someone who has actually driven both on General Exclaim UHP tires and other tires, so there is a basis to make a comparison. However, eye-balling the Exclaim UHP's tread design, the Exclaim UHP would not be my first choice for my own car. Earlier in this thread, I referred to the ContiSportContact3, which is the antithesis of block-y. General is Continental's American subsidiary. Continental knows how to make high performance tires, and the ContiSportContact3 is the company's best tire yet.

I have them on my "show" rims.
They are great tires, for what you pay for them.
I use Federal's as everyday tires, and they're great for what I payed for them too.
It's all a matter of how much you're willing to spend on performance.
Like me, I'm not autocrossing the car, so all I need is a decent set of tires at a decent price.

See...I never claimed to be an expert, that's why I need to rely on my fellow 6-club peers. Thanks for the correction.

All I'm saying is that you won't see Exclaim UHPs being driven by anyone at an autocross course. That's how I gauge tires, lol.

Ok I lost a little faith in Tire Rack today. The guy called me saying "Hey these General UHP's you ordered in a 225/40/18 won't fit on a Mazda 6 you know that right?" Needless to say I laughed a little at that.

maybe because he didn't know that you have a set of aftermarket rims?

It has a softer sidewall than other summer UHP's, so I've heard.

Just because a tire is great for autocross, doesn't mean it's great for street driving, including rain traction, comfort and noise.

Honestly if comfort and noise are in your top reasons for buying a tire then you're right - you are not looking for an ultra high performance tire. Almost all good auto-x street tires are equally as good on the street (street tires because r-compounds don't count). Some are not the greatest in rain, but I know very few people who have multiple sets of auto-x tires, and it does rain during events.

If the OP is not going to autocross, then the Generals would probably work. For the price, you would expect them to be shitty, but I've heard from pro reviewers and regular people that they're a good tire for every day driving. I've actually considered them myself for my 18x7.5 wheels I'm getting, but I'll probably go with the SPT's instead. There are others that I'd love to get, but price DOES matter. Though, as long as the tires work very well for the driving I do, that's all I need.

When I ordered my wheels and tires (235/40R18) from TireRack, they called me too. I think it's good that they check with you so you know of potential problems.

I have General Exclaim UHP's on RX-8 wheels (235 40 18). For normal street use, they are fine. They do great in the wet (at least when they are new). But I have noticed that they seem to get noisier as the mileage racks up. I think I have 6000 miles on them. I use them for summer only so they are not installed right now. But they are the best bang for the buck for street use. Both wet and dry grip are much improved over the stock tires, but that may be a little misleading because they are wider than the stock tires.

to the OP, when I had to replace my stockers I took me weeks to figure which ones to go with. I went with 225/45/18 exclaim UHP and haven't had any issues with them at all. Ive driven about 6k on them and just rotated them for the first time. No uneven wear so I was happy. Also ppl say there alot of road noise from them on the highway. But I can tell you that my stock re050 were louder then these uhps. Also couple of weeks ago we had a good snow storm here and they did pretty well for snowy weather.

Did I mention that even after I told him they were going on aftermarket 18x7.5"s that he still said the 225's are too big? I thought it was AWESOME customer service at the same time that I was surprised he told me 7.5"s don't fit on a 225 tire. They're shipping today and should be here tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. As soon as I get them the rims go on so I will post pics either tomorrow or Wednesday .

Isn't 225 normal for a 18x7.5 wheel?

From what I have read yeah.

The guy that called me just wanted to confirm that 235/40R18s were exactly what I wanted, because they don't fit on an unmodified 6 without fender roll. I told him yes, and that was it.

Woot! Got my tires today getting them put on tomorrow.

Bump this topic, how do you like those generals?

I have had them for about 5k miles and love them. There are some big differences between the UHP and the stock Potenza's, but they are a great tire for the money.

Would you care to elaborate on said differences?

10k on these already and still going good. Still can't get them to squeal no matter how hard I take corners. I must be going too slow...

They're noisier than what I had on my stock 16". Trade-off for lightweight tires I suppose. They grip the best when it's warm outside (70F+). Wear looks normal so far.

I've had them for about 20K miles.. starting to wear down a bit (camber wear) but all in all it does a great job gripping on wet and dry surfaces. The sidewall is a bit soft when compared to Fuzion ZRis, but the it's def a great bang for the buck tire, and is lighter than its ZRi counterpart.

Looks like I'll be going with anoter set of the generals

Like what was said before...the sidewall seems to be much softer than the stock potenzas. You can really feel it when cornering hard, but never really bothered me. I dont auto x or anything, but this is a great tire for a daily driver.

i've had these on for like 40k... amazing tires for regular driving.

i rarely abuse my car, but it's worth the $$$ you pay for the set.

Can someone with the Generals take a look at your sidewall and tell me what country they're made in?