2017~2024 Mastercraft Courser HSX Tour Ordered

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2020 CX-5 Signature Azul Metalico
After much frustrated searching I have finally successfully ordered a set of Mastercraft Courser HSX Tour 225/55 r19. They should arrive from Bogotá tomorrow. I will have them filled with nitrogen as my past tires filled with it have held pressure considerably longer than with air. This tire remained off the radar for me for a long time probably because it is "H" speed rated and not "V". The speed rating is really of no importance to me because I travel on a highway maybe once a month and get up to maybe 75 mph when passing a tractor trailer. The rest of the time I am on much slower roads including unpaved. Far more important to me than speed rating is traction on unpaved surfaces and this tire appears from the pictures of its tread patten to have a slight leg up in that department. Tire life is something I won't fret about because all the tires I've owned get chewed up on the unpaved section I cross daily. The Mastercrafts have gotten very mixed reviews from what I read online ranging from great tire to horrible. We'll see...
 
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After all the effort you have had to put into finding new tires, let's hope your experience falls in the "great tire" category!
 
After much frustrated searching I have finally successfully orderd a set of Mastercraft Courser HSX Tour 225/55 r19. They should arrive from Bogotá tomorrow. I will have them filled with nitrogen as my past tires filled with it have held pressure considerably longer than with air. This tire remained off the radar for me for a long time because probably because it is "H" speed rated and not "V". The speed rating is really of no importance to me because I travel on a a highway maybe once a month and get up to maybe 75 mph when passing a tractor trailer. The rest of the time I am on much slower roads including unpaved. Far more important to me than speed rating is traction on unpaved surfaces and this tire appears from the pictures of its tread patten to have a slight leg up in that department. Tire life is something I won't fret about because all the tires I've owned get chewed up on the unpaved section I cross daily. The Mastercrafts have gotten very mixed reviews from what I read online ranging from great tire to horrible. We'll see...
Mastercraft Courser HSX Tour 225/55R19 99H is made by Cooper Tires with “600 A B” UTQG. Possible 60K miles of tread life. “B” on temperature rating is not good. Hope the price you paid is reasonable comparing to the US.


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Strangely the tread pattern on the same tire looks different on WalMart website:

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I fill my tires with 78% Nitrogen.

And if you think about it, since the Nitrogen is a larger molecule, you lose more (percentage wise) of the smaller molecules over time. So, by repeatedly refilling with the 78%, you're essentially increasing the overall Nitrogen % and therefore losing less pressure over time. (hahah......while that is true, it's likely not enough to have any impact).

Honestly, I rarely have issues with tire pressures going down. Air temps have more of an effect than actually losing pressure. I typically have to lower pressures in the spring time because of increase in ambient temperatures (and vice versa in the fall). I know tires do lose pressure over time, but I rarely notice it unless something else is leaking (valve stem, nail....etc). Maybe if I lived somewhere where temps were fairly constant I'd notice.
 
Wow you guys are great! Great information and thank you.

So out with the old, (original stock tires at 24,500 kilometers or 15,400 miles).

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And in with the new, Mastercraft HXS

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As I said earlier the tire looks, visually at least like it might have an edge over the stock tire in difficult tracion situations.

As to Nitrogen I've found it to make a huge difference with past tires as to how long they hold pressure. They filled my new tires with it for free today and no tricks. I saw the machine. I think they do it without asking on new tire installations. They did balance and alignment too as I watched. Impressive modern equipment for both operations. I also liked no shooing the clients to a waiting room while the services were perfomed. I stood around and observed every step. The guys at Tullanta, Cali today were great. Absolutely will go back when the time comes.

It will be interesting to see how these Mastercrafts hold up over the next 15,000 miles on my rough road test bed compared to the original stock tires (pictured above). My wild guess is that they'll hold up as well as the stock Toyos. I suspect the Toyos get their top ratings from highway perfmance and that they don't much like unpaved road travel.

All things auto are more expensive here. The tires cost me about $200.00 apiece.
But there are compensations, ha ha, Viagra costs US $4.00 for four tablets, over the counter.
 
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Note that the OP may live at high elevations, Bogota is over 8500’ in elevation, the differential in the air pressure inside the tires verses ambient pressure is greater than most places and may have an effect on holding the gas inside the tire. I used to visit Bogota regularly, I really felt the lack of oxygen!
 
Note that the OP may live at high elevations, Bogota is over 8500’ in elevation, the differential in the air pressure inside the tires verses ambient pressure is greater than most places and may have an effect on holding the gas inside the tire. I used to visit Bogota regularly, I really felt the lack of oxygen!

I think he's outside of Cali which is close to sea level. Beautiful city!
 
I do live outside Cali, in an area called Dapa in the mountains above the city. My home is at 6890'. I travel to Cali almost daily and it is at 3280'. You would think it is at sea level but it's actually in a high valley between the western and central mountain ranges. There's a big temperature range between my home and the city too. Average 65 degrees F at my place and 80 to 90 F down in the city. Interesting point about the effect on the nitrogen in the tires.
 
I do live outside Cali, in an area called Dapa in the mountains above the city. My home is at 6890'. I travel to Cali almost daily and it is at 3280'. You would think it is at sea level but it's actually in a high valley between the western and central mountain ranges. There's a big temperature range between my home and the city too. Average 65 degrees F at my place and 80 to 90 F down in the city. Interesting point about the effect on the nitrogen in the tires.
Thanks for the correction. It's been 40 years since I've been there and forgot that Cali was that high. CarpDiem was closer than I was in the reference to Bogota. I lived in Buenaventura for a year before transferring to Santa Marta for the second year while in the Peace Corps. Buenaventura and Cali were quite the contrasts.
 
If the shop is filling with Nitrogen for free that's one thing. But to charge for it, that's another.

And what is a person to do if their tires are a bit low on pressure? You can't top off the pressure yourself (if you want to keep the percentage of N high) so you'll have to go somewhere to have the tires filled.

This brings me to another problem with shops filling your tires with Nitrogen. Think about how a new tire is mounted on the wheel. Unless the room the tire is in is filled with Nitrogen the tire starts out with the same air that the installer is breathing. Once the tire is mounted then the installer can add Nitrogen to the proper pressure. How much normal air was in the tire prior to adding the Nitrogen? Dunno but it's not zero.
 
My experience with nitro is that I never had to add air in almost 2 years after I got the car. The moment I changed tires and have normal air now I have to add air every few months. Same experience on previous cars. They all came with nitro when I bought them. So it does seem to hold pressure and react to ambient variations a bit better. But no freeze or winters here in Phoenix may be that helps too.
Will I pay for it? most likely No :) but if it comes with the car or new tires why not.

Good luck with the new tires. The thread looks better than the Toyo, especially for the road conditions that you mentioned befofe.

btw, the removed Toyos look worn out a lot
 
"Unless the room the tire is in is filled with Nitrogen"

Well we were all giggling a lot while the instalation was performed so perhaps it was. No charge for it appeared on the bill so I think it was "no charge". The shop asked me to stop by at least once a month so they could top off if necessary so if I follow their advise I'll never need to top up with air.
 
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cz5t thanks and I share your experience with nitrogen. Has really worked well for me with other tires. Without it the pressure on the best (Michelin) tires I've bought drops before long. That was certainly the case with the stock Toyos. And yes the wear on the used ones, can you beleive it! Fifteen thousand measly miles and shot to heck. People probably wouldn't beleaive me with out the photo.
 
⋯ And yes the wear on the used ones, can you beleive it! Fifteen thousand measly miles and shot to heck. People probably wouldn't beleaive me with out the photo.
15K miles and your Toyo A36’s look worse than my Toyo A23’s with 45K miles. Especially the outer 2 they seem to have camber wear. May need to rotate the tires more often, once for every 5K miles.
 
Quite right I will be sure to get the new ones rotated. I don't mean to make too much of it but regular travel over rough road seems to take a serious toll on all the tire brands I've tried.
 
Quite right I will be sure to get the new ones rotated. I don't mean to make too much of it but regular travel over rough road seems to take a serious toll on all the tire brands I've tried.
Yes, not much you can do on short tread life due to rough road condition. Tire rotation can only help on uneven wear between the front and rear set of tires.
 
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