Tire Options

[slayerfan86]

This is my first time actually putting some thought into what kind of tires to get. I used to always just get the cheapest tires that worked with my car.

I drive an 06 Mazda6 s 5-door with the 17-inch OEM rims. I live in Southern California.

What would be a good tire for the money? I want tires that do well in the rain because my g/f is terrified of driving when its rain. I need something that will do really well. I also want tires that ride comfortably and quietly. Lastly, I would like them to corner well but that's not my highest of priorities. What do you guys think?

I was looking at the General Altimax HP online and it looks like a good tire. The guy at Goodyear was trying to sell me a set of Dunlop Direzza DZ101 tires. He was selling them for 140 each until I told him the Mazda dealer was selling them for 115 so he is willing to match the price, even though he would be selling them at cost. But the reviews on the Dunlops show that they have issues with rain driving.

I know very little about tires

Advice needed please.

-Robert

[threewhistles]

Look at the Kumho range of tires. I've been very pleased with my Kumho SPT's. They are a summer tire, which wouldn't be an issue where you live as long as you stay out of the snow / freezing cold. Summer tires generally are better in every weather condition, including rain, than an all-season. If you want an all-season Kumho makes the AST range of tires. I have found the brand in general to be nice performing tires at a good price.

[speedtown]

I have goodyear eagle F1 all season and they are fantastic in the rain and slush type snow (not sure if you'll get any in CA) and they are pretty grippy for this type of tire. Though I think they're a little more expensive I think the last time I checked 170 a piece maybe? check tirerack some times they have some sweet closeout deals.

[posttosh]

QUOTE (slayerfan86 @ Dec 13 2008, 04:55 PM)

This is my first time actually putting some thought into what kind of tires to get. I used to always just get the cheapest tires that worked with my car.

I drive an 06 Mazda6 s 5-door with the 17-inch OEM rims. I live in Southern California.

What would be a good tire for the money? I want tires that do well in the rain because my g/f is terrified of driving when its rain. I need something that will do really well. I also want tires that ride comfortably and quietly. Lastly, I would like them to corner well but that's not my highest of priorities. What do you guys think?[/b]

Depending on how fine you want to slice it, there are five categories of tires:

• "Extreme perfromance"
• Tires (sometimes called "summer" tires, but that's a misnomer)
• All-season
• Winter
• Studded winter

Extreme performance tires are expensive and fast-wearing; their main benefit is high speed driving on _dry_ pavement. Effectively, they are street-legal racing tires. Forget those for every day driving, especially if you expect to encounter either wet pavement or cold temperatures.

In Southern California, you will not need either winter tires or studded winter tires.

If you are concerned about driving in the rain, all season tires are the second worst choice. What makes a tire "all season" is a chemical alteration to the tread compond to keep water from being shed from it (a natural property of rubber compounds); that alteration allows snow to stick to the tread of an all season tire and gives some traction in light snow. However, it also allows a film of water to adhere to the tread on wet pavement, whereas a non all season tire will "squeegee" the pavement. As a result, where a non all season tire has fairly intimate contact between the tread and the pavement, an all season tire has a film of water between the tread and the pavement, and that film acts as a lubricant. The wet traction of all season tires is compromised compared to the wet traction of non all season tires.

The first recommendation for a good tire for Southern California is the Yokohama S.drive. Its price falls in the low-medium range, not the cheapest tire that you can buy, but usually about $40 per tire (depending on close-out sales, etc) less than the best tires you can buy for the Mazda6, such as the ContiSportContact3, the Pirelli P Zero Nero, or the Yokohama ADVAN Sport. (In the ADVAN Sport, you would have to get a 205/55R17 size tire -- that is an excellent fit for the Mazda6 -- instead of a 215/50R17 size tire, because Yokohama does not make the ADVAN Sport in the 215/50R17 size. In the Pirelli line, do not get confused between the P Zero Nero and the Pzero Nero M+S, which are completely different tires; the one without the M+S is the good one.)

One hint for shopping for tires: the tire models where the casing ("sidewall plies" in Department of Transportation speak) is made of rayon are usually the best tires in a given tire manufacturer's line. The cheapest material to use for the casing is polyester, and that is the material you will find in most tires. Rayon is a better material -- it retains its properties and strength over a wider range of operating temperatures than polyester -- but the advantage of rayon over polyester is not a huge one, and rayon is more expensive for the tire manufacturer to purchase than polyester is. So whereas tire manufacturers' literature will always say that every tire in the line is better than every other tire in the line, every one more wonderful than every other one, the tire manufacturer puts up and stands to be counted when it uses the more expensive material in the manufacture of its tires. Those are the ones marketed to the people who know tires. You will not find it easy to find out the rayon-casing tires. When manufacturers use polyester in the casing, they usually do not trumpet the fact (understandably), so most tire descriptions are silent about the casing material. Persevere.

A second hint: Tires that have at least one continuous rib running around the circumference of the tread, unbroken by horizontal channels or sipes, will "nibble" less than tires where the tread design is all blocks, with no continuous ribs. That nibbling requires constant tiny steering corrections as you go down the highway, so tiny that you probably don't notice it at the time, but you arrive at your destination more fatigued, because you have been gripping the steering wheel more tightly and steering more with your eyes than you would with continuous-rib tires.

Good luck in your search.

[slayerfan86]

Thanks for the input. I will have to keep putting thought into it. I'm still leaning towards the General Altimax Hp tires for $125 each.