One Week in my 2007 Touring 3

[GeorgeMcGinn]

Question on Tires

Your review was useful to someone who has never owned a Mazda before. I'm thinking of buying a Mazda 3s 5 door touring (on or about 12/30/2006) but have a concern about the OEM tires. I like to check out as much as I can. So I checked TireRack.com, a reasonable tire sales and review site in my opinion. Their user's rate the Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires poorly. I live in the south so wet and dry pavement handling is the MOST important factors. Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S have much better ratings then Mazda's OEM according to TireRack users. I was thinking of requesting the dealer install the Michelin tires if they want me to buy the 3s. I'd be willing to split the cost but don't want to drive directly to my local Michelin dealer, spend $800 on the Exaltos, and trash the Eagles with 10 miles on them! The Eagles are actually listed on TireRack as costing more then the Exalto A/S tires.
So what's your take? Am I crazy! TireRack rates both the wet and dry tracking difference as over 2 points on a 10 point scale and the light snow difference almost 4 points in favor of the Michelin tires.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

excellent write up

 

[Olestra]

Your review was useful to someone who has never owned a Mazda before. I'm thinking of buying a Mazda 3s 5 door touring (on or about 12/30/2006) but have a concern about the OEM tires. I like to check out as much as I can. So I checked TireRack.com, a reasonable tire sales and review site in my opinion. Their user's rate the Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires poorly. I live in the south so wet and dry pavement handling is the MOST important factors. Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S have much better ratings then Mazda's OEM according to TireRack users. I was thinking of requesting the dealer install the Michelin tires if they want me to buy the 3s. I'd be willing to split the cost but don't want to drive directly to my local Michelin dealer, spend $800 on the Exaltos, and trash the Eagles with 10 miles on them! The Eagles are actually listed on TireRack as costing more then the Exalto A/S tires.
So what's your take? Am I crazy! TireRack rates both the wet and dry tracking difference as over 2 points on a 10 point scale and the light snow difference almost 4 points in favor of the Michelin tires.

Those Eagles are terrible on anything but dry pavement. You could probably still do with them since you don't see any snow. They apparently don't have a very good tread wear rating, so you'll probably be changing them out pretty soon anyway. If you do end up getting the Exalto's, you'll be getting an AMAZING tire for your driving conditions. (My sister in law decided to go with all-seasons and so I recommended those to her. She is now doing winter snow driving with them)