Mazda5 Tires: Issues & Replacement Recommendations

[GBean]

I know mine is cupping my 8 month old Yokohamas noticeably already.

 

[Heat]

... I was told our 5 is known for cupping tires. Is this true?

The '06 and '07 models are known for alignment issues from the factory - toeing (tires are angled slightly inward), which causes cupping.

They fixed this for the '08 model and it hasn't been an issue since.

 

[punter7768]

It's sad that it doesn't seem anyone here listened to you. I have used multiple sets of these on my Saabs which run very similar aggressive suspension setups with lots of neg. camber. The HTR Z-III's are the best tire that money can buy if you like grip and need a tire that can handle the setup without wearing funny like most all other tires will do on the 5.

The secret to these HTR Z IIIs is the solid inner tread line. Because it is solid there is no way for it to cup. That means more of your tread can be used since the wear is more even.

How many of you guys have replaced your tires because the inner portion was done but otherwise the tread was in good shape? The design of these Sumitomos allows for an even softer, more grippy, tread to be used without the mileage hit that you would see in other high performance tires.

The other thing is they are incredibly quiet and for a performance tire very comfortable. Way more so than much less performing tires.

I highly suggest you fellow 5 owners not ignore this advice.

OMG Lumens, So I just bought a used 2007 Mazda 5 with 49,000 miles. The previous owner bought 4 new Sumitomos HTR Z IIIs. They are warrantied out to 40k miles, but after less than 20k on them, the tires were horribly cupped and down to the wear bar. Maybe a bad batch. Maybe he didn't rotate them. Maybe alignment was off. But when I was driving it, the noise was loud.

Fortunately Discount Tire honored the warranty and gave me $83 credit towards new tires. NTB and Mazda wouldn't touch it. And when I called Sumitomo they just gave me the run around.

So I just put the credit toward the new Bridgestone Ecopia 422. Initial impression is that I expect a big increase in the miles per gallon. I drove it 50 miles and filled back up; calculated out to 48 MPG! But that was highway and I'll update on next fillups.

The car still seems to drift to the right though. A problem with all Mazdas? I'll post a seperate thread in a bit.

 

[Redclove]

With all the positive reviews here on the Continental Extremes, do the winter versions hold up to similar goodness?

These ones: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...ontinental+ExtremeWinterContact.jsp?locale=en

Cheers

 

[Redclove]

My 5 right now has BF Goodrich g-force Super Sport A/S which the previous owner must have put on, 205/50R17, 400/AA/A UTQG, they seem like very good tires so far, not too much road noise, good grip, good steering response, very stable especially at high speeds. I'd like to go 215 wide tires but I probably have two summer seasons left with these tires, they seem to be good so far!

I too have these loaded on my 2007 GT, also from a previous owner. They are terrific, the handling is great and noise minimal.

 

[ljmattox]

*Update* Just passed 5,000 miles with the Conti DWS 225/45-17's I'd put on a while back (hmmm...mileage piles up fast on this car!). No issues, SO much quieter than stock Toyo's, much smoother riding, even after I amp'd the air pressure a bit. Rain driving is a lot more confident also, and the on-ramp grip is a lot of fun. Looking forward to installing my JBR rear sway-bar in the next coupla weeks.

 

[DoubleT]

Just got my Yokohama Avid Envigors put on yesterday. Replaced my Toyo after 80,000 Km. Went way pass the point of using them, extremely noisy esp. after worn and not good for handling on road. I guess the good point is that the tires got me around and I only had one flat. The Yoko's (I like to call them Yoko Onos but i won't) were the best priced and had the best reviews. I can now hear myself think while driving. Mazda 5 seems to float now and really handle the turns. I will enjoy them for a month at least till the winters come on, blah!

 

[phunky.buddha]

Ok, I've read all the way through this thread... is ANYONE running 235/45-17, especially lowered a hair like on H&R springs? I want more contact patch. Based on highly precise measurements taken by feeling around the wheel well and eyeballing clearances, I think they'll fit on near stock offsets. Has anyone tried?

 

[Silentnoise713]

Ok, I've read all the way through this thread... is ANYONE running 235/45-17, especially lowered a hair like on H&R springs? I want more contact patch. Based on highly precise measurements taken by feeling around the wheel well and eyeballing clearances, I think they'll fit on near stock offsets. Has anyone tried?

Tool of champions .

I don't have an answer for you but I think you should ask if 235 will fit on stock 17 rims. I don't recall them being very wide. The 45 height shouldn't be a problem. Based on highly precise guestimate, LOL.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Tool of champions .

I don't have an answer for you but I think you should ask if 235 will fit on stock 17 rims. I don't recall them being very wide. The 45 height shouldn't be a problem. Based on highly precise guestimate, LOL.

Heh. Good quality answer to my wonderful quality question eh?

I'm pretty sure the 235/45 will be a bit too pinched on the 17x6.5 stock wheels. Every 235/45-17 I've found has 7.5in as the skinniest recommended wheel, but a ton of Maxima, Accord, BMW, Eclipse, SRT-4 etc people run them on 17x7 with the sidewalls still looking pretty straight. I know it's not ideal, but I want to give a little more bulge for curb protection, and I want the extra height for a slightly better ride and to fill the wheel well up a bit more.

I guess I'm just going to have to lower the car and see what it looks like around the stock puny 205/50s, then use my high precision hands and eyeballs to figure out if the 235/45 will clear everything. Or I could try to "massage" the wheel wells a bit and shove the 255/40s from my S2000 into each corner.

 

[SuperJETT]

So who has a tire that they've got a lot of miles on and are still happy with? Our Falken ZE912's are junk---3 are out of round and the inside of the car is extremely loud nowadays. Next week I'll be getting something put on, just not sure what at this point.

 

[csb1237]

New KUMHO tires - Vibration problem solved??

I recently purchased and installed a set of Kumho ECSTA LX Platinum tires, size 215-50ZR-17.

I did a ton of research on tires and got a recommendation on these from Radial Tire in Silver Spring, MD. The guys there really know their stuff, and a recommendation from them carries a lot of weight. I paid $104 per tire through tireteam.com, so with shipping and tax and a state tire fee, I paid

I had the tires the day after I ordered them. They were installed (road force balanced) at my local dealer for $120.

I can honestly say that my 5 has never had a ride this smooth. We've had the notorious vibration at highway speeds issue since we bought the car, and NOTHING has seemed to remedy the problem. These tires have definitely helped alot. While I'm not going to claim complete and total victory over the vibration issue (only time will tell) like I said before, the car has never had a better ride, even when it was brand spankin' new.

So what is so different about these tires? Not sure. The previous tires I had were Kumho Ecsta ASXs which were pretty good (I got 40K miles out of 3 of them, but did have to replace one of them this year because it went flat). Those were ultra high performance all season with a treadwear rating of 320. The new KUMHOS have a treadwear rating of 600 and are warrantied for 60K miles. These could very well be the lat set of tires we put on this car.

The new ones are a different size (I had 215-55-17s before) and they have a pretty high load rating at 95W...the previous tires had 91W, while the original OE Toyos had 89W. It is possible that the higher load rating could effect the dynamics of the vehicle such that the vibration problem is less pronounced. Not sure. The other morning, when the car was cold and we jumped right out on the highway, the vibration was pretty noticeable. Temperature seems to have an effect and the problem is definitely worse when the car is cold.

Anyway, we'll see how the new tires work out. So far I am enjoying them immensely and they are definitely an improvement over what we had before.

 

[SuperJETT]

I dropped by our tire store this morning and the guy I have dealt with for years recommended against Continental DWS. He said either the BFG Gforce SS or Cooper Zeon RS3-A would be my best bets.

I don't agree, I'll probably go with the DWS anyway unless someone has some last minute advice.

 

[lakersfan1]

His recommendation might be based on dealer markup (retail vs Wholesale). It might also be based on availability problems with the DWS. When my PTCruiser blew a tire hitting a curb last month, the 215/50/17 were on a four month backorder according to everyone I contacted. I had to swap to 235/45/17 in the front to keep the same model. I was still able to get a 205/50/17 for the DWS on my 5 though when I got a sidewall bubble two months ago from a nasty pothole.

 

[SuperJETT]

It ended up being available like you mentioned. They couldn't find them available without a freight charge for the 215.

I ended up with the BFG Gforce 215/50, $723 out the door with alignment, road damage, etc.

Road noise is a lot lower, but ~35mph a wheel bearing starts getting loud so that's next on the list.

 

[Bluesideup]

I've been driving myself crazy with shopping for tires. Our Mazda5 has 205/50R17 Goodyear RS-As on it now, they are totally done with 50K miles. Even when new they had crappy dry and wet traction. I'd like to see an improvement in both areas when compared new to new. An improvement over the toasted RS-As is a given.

I finally narrowed it down to two tires.

The prices include the TPMS rebuild kits.

Continental DWS

205/50R17s are $514 shipped to my door
215/50R17s are $560 shipped to my door

Kumho Ecsta 4X

205/50R17s are $496 shipped to my door
215/50R17s are $492 shipped to my door

Kumho has a deal where they'll send you a $50 Visa card so the actual cost in the end is $446 or $452 making them almost $100 cheaper than the Continentals. The question is are the Continentals $100 better? They are lighter (3lbs) and probably better in the snow. I know 3lbs doesn't seem like much but just 5lbs felt like a big difference on another car I had with similar hp.

I would not think of the Kumhos as cheap tires but I really want to avoid future issues with the tires. The roads in Orange County are pretty smooth so I'm not worried about potholes but I don't want to deaden the feel of the van by installing tires that are too big.

 

[Silentnoise713]

I've been driving myself crazy with shopping for tires. Our Mazda5 has 205/50R17 Goodyear RS-As on it now, they are totally done with 50K miles. Even when new they had crappy dry and wet traction. I'd like to see an improvement in both areas when compared new to new. An improvement over the toasted RS-As is a given.

I finally narrowed it down to two tires.

The prices include the TPMS rebuild kits.

Continental DWS

205/50R17s are $514 shipped to my door
215/50R17s are $560 shipped to my door

Kumho Ecsta 4X

205/50R17s are $496 shipped to my door
215/50R17s are $492 shipped to my door

Kumho has a deal where they'll send you a $50 Visa card so the actual cost in the end is $446 or $452 making them almost $100 cheaper than the Continentals. The question is are the Continentals $100 better? They are lighter (3lbs) and probably better in the snow. I know 3lbs doesn't seem like much but just 5lbs felt like a big difference on another car I had with similar hp.

I would not think of the Kumhos as cheap tires but I really want to avoid future issues with the tires. The roads in Orange County are pretty smooth so I'm not worried about potholes but I don't want to deaden the feel of the van by installing tires that are too big.

Hey, these are the EXACT two tires I am considering @ 215/50/17. I thought Orange County is sunny and warm, no? Why do you want/need all seasons? The main difference, as far as I can tell, is that the Conti are tired and ture, have better tread wear, and prob a better overall tire. The Kumho Ecsta 4X are new so more detail is needed. Based on the "survey" results, the Conti are hard to beat. Then again, if you just commute/cruise, the Kumhos should be just find and save you some money. Long tread wear is nice but the last few thousand miles usually suck anyways. I am going to wait to see if Conti will offer another promo before December (Conti had a free GPS promo that ended not too long ago but I have no need for it). Comparing MSRP, the Conti is the top pick without a doubt. With the rebate from Kumho, it's a little harder to decide. A word of advice that was given to me about tires is to push down on the unmounted tire. If the sidwalls collapes easily, it is a cheap tire. Not sure how ture this is -could be old wives tales. Can someone confirm?

Survey:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=UHPAS
Conti
215/50ZR17
Load Index 95 = 1521lbs (690kg) per tire
Speed Rating “W” = 168mph (270kph) 95W XLMax Load = 1,521 lbs
Max psi = 51 psi
Treadwear: 540
Traction: A
Temperature: A540 A A 1521 lbs.
51 psi
10/32"
21 lbs.
6-7.5"
7"
8.9"
NA
25.5"
818
Country of Origin "MX" = MEXICOMX , Country of Origin "BR" = BRAZILBR

Kumho
215/50R17
Load Index 95 = 1521lbs (690kg) per tire
Speed Rating “W” = 168mph (270kph) 95W XLMax Load = 1,521 lbs
Max psi = 50 psi
Treadwear: 420
Traction: AA
Temperature: A420 AA A 1521 lbs.
50 psi
10.5/32"
24 lbs.
6-7.5"
7"
8.9"
8.5"
25.5"
814
Country of Origin "KR" = KOREA, REPUBLIC OFKR

Bolded what I think are some advantages of each. I like that the Kumho's are a little deeper and heavier but the Conti seem to use better material and design.


Tire choice is completely dependent on what you want/willing to pay. I ask a Tire Rack member who is active on the Miata forum to my tire needs below.

My criteria, in somewhat order of importance:
-Quiet and plush ride
-High tread wear, preferably +50K
-Low cost of purchase
-Good MPG
-All season tires that handle northeast winters (mostly snow and occasional ice).

I am considering the following in 215/50/17 and would appreciate your input or if you have something else I am not aware of. There are too many tire choices out there!
-Hankook Ventus V4
-Kumho Ecsta 4X
-Continental ExtremeContact DWS


Answer:
Rudy Riedel The Tire Rack rudy@tirerack.com
Thank you for your email. Of the tires you have it narrowed down I would recommend the Conti DWS as my top pick followed by the Kumho 4X. I was not too impressed with the Hankook via the testing we did here.

 

[lakersfan1]

A word of advice that was given to me about tires is to push down on the unmounted tire. If the sidwalls collapes easily, it is a cheap tire. Not sure how ture this is -could be old wives tales.

Sidewall stiffness is a matter of composition of the sidewall. Not a signal of better or worse tires. Some tires have steel plys in the sidewall, some don't. They all have different numbers of plys in the sidewall as well. Stiffer sidewalls will make the ride a little stiffer, but will hold their shape better even when underinflated.

I've got DWS on both my cars and can't be happier with them. I am leery of Kumhos because of their Korean origin. I've heard mixed reviews. Continentals are Japanese and have been around alot longer than Kumho.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Sidewall stiffness is a matter of composition of the sidewall. Not a signal of better or worse tires. Some tires have steel plys in the sidewall, some don't. They all have different numbers of plys in the sidewall as well. Stiffer sidewalls will make the ride a little stiffer, but will hold their shape better even when underinflated.

I've got DWS on both my cars and can't be happier with them. I am leery of Kumhos because of their Korean origin. I've heard mixed reviews. Continentals are Japanese and have been around alot longer than Kumho.

I guess the question is are there any good tires that have a soft sidewall. Do you know of a good passenger tire that is light weight and/or has a soft side wall (not counting slicks)? Would a 'soft' sidewall be more supectiable to developing abnormalities? I'm not a tire expert but of the higher end tires that I've seen/touched (pushing down on it) all have a very solid (stiff is a bad word) feel. The cheap ones collapse easily but it could just be the line that I happen to sample.

Continental is German and have been around for a while but Kumho, the tire business, have been around too, just not as long in the US. I read that the Ecsta 4X are suppose to be the successors to the Ecsta ASX <- not all that great but great value. The new kid (Korean) on the block is Hankook, they seem to be subpar still. Also, why are you leery of the Korean origin? I'd take that over Mexico or Brazil (from a manufacturing standpoint).

 

[Bluesideup]

The Ecsta 4Xs are on back order in 215/50R17s with no projected delivery date. I thought about going to the Continentals which are available but in the end I went for the 4Xs in the factory size. As I was saying before we have smooth roads in Orange County so the extra 5MM of sidewall wouldn't make that big of a difference to us. As much as I wanted to go a little bigger I couldn't justify the extra $108 of the Continentals.

I'm going to be installing Koni FSDs next month to reduce the chances of cupping these new tires.

edit: hmmm now that I'm home and I look at our Mazda5 I think the 215s would be a better look and a better fit for it. Ah well it looks like they are ready to ship. I think the $108 will matter more to my wife than the look of the vehicle.