Tire upgrade: Toyos to Nittos - and what a difference the 215s make

[JingChuan]

Lucky enough to have a long term tire guy (yeah, I've bought LOTS of tires) so he gave me a good trade in value for the stock Toyos. I wanted something stickier, quieter, longer-lasting, safer in the rain, fatter (well, for looks), and a bit taller for more cushion. I have to say, the Nitto Motivos were the right call. I picked up a set of 215-50r17s for the stock rims. Firstly, they do bulge a bit more, but I'd say that 215-50s are pushing it for a 6.5" rim, although still within manufacturer's specs. And if you live in the city and you or your significant other isn't the best at parallel parking, a little tire bulge is a good thing for your rims.

They've got quite the interesting and busy tread pattern: Big blocks on the outside, huge rain channels in the middle, siping all over the place... Like I said, I've had lots of tires, but these really are a lot to look at:

I took the stockers to Discount Tire in my truck, so I swapped the winters that I had left over from my 'speed3 with a little help from my pit crew this weekend.

You can see the difference from stock in this pic of the completed swap. Personally, I'd like a bit wider of a rim, as I hate that "sunk in" look of skinny, big-backspace wheels. I like them to flush out a bit more. But for the family truckster, it will do for now.

I also like how they fill the wheelwell a bit more. I grew up in the 70's, so I do appreciate a little more sidewall than is the trend these days:

So enough of the picture whoring already. The 5 only had light city duty until we took a short expressway trip to the burbs. I drove with the windows down so the kids could enjoy the weather, and I could listen to the tires. They're definitely quieter than the stockers, and of course quieter than the winter set. We exited the e-way at a bit over the rated speed, but definitely well within the 5's (and the tires) limit. I slipped into auto-x mode for a moment and taught the Mini in front of us a thing or two about an off-ramp line . DISCLAIMER: At no point was I endangering myself, my passengers, or the occupants of vehicles near us. The tires made no noise whatsoever, although I plan to push them a lot harder the next time I get a chance to play off-ramp drifter when no one else is in the car. But for a 60k mile tire, they sure stuck nicely. I could also tell that the extra 10mm (5mm on the radius) and/or the compound helped with the comfort level too. Even my non-car-type significant other noticed the difference, and she rarely notices any changes to our cars. I haven't had a chance to make any mileage or long term assessments yet, but I will be sure to report back any impressions from our pending road trips. As for right now though, I'd say the Nittos are a good replacement tire. Now, if I could only sneak a set of RPF1s past the budget committee...

I did take one other picture, and it somehow reminded me of a picture I took of my last garage, carpeted floor and all, way back in like 2004 BC (before children.) How in the world did I go from this:

To this???

Man, it seems like a lifetime ago...

 

[aha]

It's great to know 215 will fit - I hope no rubbing at all with full passengers. If only I could find a place that allows me for trading my tires.....

 

[JingChuan]

It's great to know 215 will fit - I hope no rubbing at all with full passengers. If only I could find a place that allows me for trading my tires.....

Do they have a lot of miles? If not, put them on Craigslist, etc. I've sold tires I didn't like in the classifieds before. You won't get full price obviously, but you can get something. I imagine most people would just advise driving on the tires until it is replacement time, but me and tires are like women and shoes: always buying new ones unnecessarily, with a bunch of extras in the basement.

 

[torquelover]

That does look a lot better. I'm half tempted to see if your tire guy could work his magic with our Toyos as well. I have you beat as I'm 2003 BC (before children) and have not one, but two minivans. One big, one little and no regrets whatsoever.

 

[JingChuan]

UPDATE

It's great to know 215 will fit - I hope no rubbing at all with full passengers.

Well we've done almost a full year (other than winter when I will swap in my winter set) in the 5 with the above-mentioned Nitto Motivos, and they've been great. They complement the already quick handling of the micro-van, seem to be wearing evenly and quietly, and look a bit better than stock IMO. They have never rubbed, and we really put that to the test this weekend. Due to some carpooling snafus, we had to put 7 people in the vanlet for most of an 80 mile trip to a wedding. While two of the passengers were kids in their boosters, two were 200 lb+ plus folks (one actually closer to 300) so I figured about 1000 lbs of flesh and extra stuff all inside the van. My wife and I are skinny and limber enough that we actually squeezed into the 3rd row along with my son in his booster seat. No, it was not comfortable at all, but it worked out fine, and we didn't lose any limbs because of blood circulation issues.

First of all, the rubbing: there was none. Most of the trip was highway, but there was also plenty of rough road / railroad crossing / etc to test the suspension and it came through just fine. Never bottomed out or rubbed. And I was in the back-back, so I had the perfect spot to observe.

Power: You know, I was so afraid of the lack of power in the 5 based on all of the reviews I read previous to buying it. So just imagine how slow it would be with all that extra load in there, right? Now we know it isn't a 6 seater Corvette or even a Mazdaspeed 3 (yeah, I had one), but I already knew that going in. It's no slouch, and while it won't win too many drag races, it can certainly handle normal/emergency acceleration tasks just fine. But what about tipping the scales at 1000 lbs over stock? Again, no drag race champ, but incredibly no dog either. Driving from NW Chicago to the SE burbs and then out to the West burbs, there was plenty of opportunity to merge, pass, urgent lane change, etc. and at no point were we wishing for more power. I'm not sure what the folks who complain about the power need to get out of their car. I have no complaints about it, and I've had some pretty quick cars in my day (I traded one of them for the 5!)

EDIT: I keep the tires in the 40-42 lb range regardless of the load.

 

[torquelover]

I too find the 2.5 MZ5 adequate. Maybe the complaints were more about the 2.3 liter MZ5? I had pretty much the same motor in my Fusion with a manual and it was horrid. Underpowered, loud, very narrow powerband, and geared way too short for highway travel.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Nice 215s! 235s fit too. I love mine.

 

[mether]

With the larger diameter tire, do you have to recalculate the speedometer?? (or change a setting?) Some cars automatically do this.

 

[phunky.buddha]

With the larger diameter tire, do you have to recalculate the speedometer?? (or change a setting?) Some cars automatically do this.

Depends on how large you go. Almost all cars come from the factory with the speedometer set a little optimistic- so going slightly larger won't hurt- you'll just correct the speedo a little bit. In the 5's case, I've found that going from a 25.0 inch tall tire (205/50-17) to a 25.5 inch tire (215/50-17) puts actual speed just a hair faster than the speedometer, like 70.5-71mph when you're showing 70mph on the speedometer. With the 235/45-17, it's a little shorter at around 25.3 inches, so it's just about dead on GPS vs dash speedometer at 70mph. Since you're looking at an analog gauge and a needle that floats around a bit, going a hair larger up to those sizes won't mess with your speedometer reading enough to get you in trouble.