IamFODI's 2012 Mazda5 6MT: Intro, plans, questions and build

[theblooms]

First, love the history your sharing. I'm picking up all sorts of info.

I have a tire question as my Premier A/S are almost done, but not available in the same size any more. So I want to ask, how are your finding the Pilot Sport 4 and how they're holding up?

I just bought a set of Michelin X-Tour AS2's from Sam's club.
I'm pretty sure it's just an updated version of your Premiers. They currently have a deal for $70 off of a set. You may want to check them out.

 

[IamFODI]

First, love the history your sharing. I'm picking up all sorts of info.

I have a tire question as my Premier A/S are almost done, but not available in the same size any more. So I want to ask, how are your finding the Pilot Sport 4 and how they're holding up?

Thanks!

To be clear, I'm using the Pilot Sport All Season 4. I suspect that's what you meant but wanted to make sure; there is also a tire that's just called Pilot Sport 4, and it's different (and not available in this size).

On dry roads, the Pilot Sport All Season 4 grips much harder than the stock suspension is set up for. In terms of cornering grip, this is about as far as I'd go without well-executed suspension mods (which are basically nonexistent for this platform).

Hydroplaning resistance is great. Grip on a wet road feels secure.

I guess there's always room for more braking and wet grip. But it's hard to imagine how another tire could be better in those ways without serious downsides that outweigh that advantage for this application. E.g., a performance summer tire might be better in those respects in the middle of summer, but it'd be worse in late fall and early spring.

Steering is linear, intuitive, and communicative. The tire is very well behaved everywhere. True to form for Michelin, its performance almost doesn't seem to deteriorate as it wears.

The wear rate is a bit underwhelming. To preface that, though:

1. I drive rather enthusiastically (apparently these tires are less forgiving of wheelspin than their summer-only counterparts), and
2. I never rotated the tires until literally today.

After about 20k miles of that, my fronts were down to 3/32" and the rears were around 6/32". Starting tread depth is 10/32". We'll see how close these tires ultimately get to the 45k mile treadwear warranty mark.

Road noise seems rather high, especially as the tires wear. Different in pitch but comparable in overall volume to our winter tires (Michelin X-Ice Xi3).

Not sure how to judge ride quality as I only have my winter tires to compare to. Seems fine, though. The winter tires are more compliant, but not by much.

The All Season 4 had enough winter performance to get us through our relatively mild winters. I didn't use our winter tires at all in the '22-'23 winter. I threw them on this past winter, but only because we were planning a road trip to somewhere with a bunch more snow.

Overall, I'd say the Pilot Sport All Season 4 is the right 3-season (plus mild winter) tire for this vehicle. Or at least the best currently available compromise. I'd be happy if it were quieter, more compliant, and longer-lasting; I just can't think of anything I'd want to sacrifice to get those improvements.

 

[hoghunter]

It's 10 watts extra. That's an extra 0.7 amps. I've been running them on all of my Mazdas for the last 15 years. I promise, you're fine.

You stated somewhere, that when using the H9, there is a modification to a tab or something....do you have a write up about it?

 

[theblooms]

You stated somewhere, that when using the H9, there is a modification to a tab or something....do you have a write up about it?

You have to slightly modify the tabs. Here's a picture.

Or, they make harness adapters where it's automatically taken care of for you.

 

[hoghunter]

Thanks for the info!

 

[dlarkin_dc]

Yeah, I meant the PS 4 AS !

Thanks for all the feedback. As for quieter and longer lasting tire, that's what the Primacy AS was. The CrossClimate, I'm guessing was Michelin idea of a direct replacement.. but dropped the traction rating to B. *Shrugs* I think there's some PS4AS in my future!

 

[N7turbo]

Yeah, I meant the PS 4 AS !

Thanks for all the feedback. As for quieter and longer lasting tire, that's what the Primacy AS was. The CrossClimate, I'm guessing was Michelin idea of a direct replacement.. but dropped the traction rating to B. *Shrugs* I think there's some PS4AS in my future!

Since I've spent so much time looking at tires lately, I thought I'd share what has been helpful to me.