Tires oh tires (Long post)

[norouzi]

So I was driving down to MD from VA a few days ago when the mp3 started shaking a little bit - I wasn't sure if it was the engine or the road but then it became really violent and I knew it was one of the tires.

So I pulled over to the shoulder (absolutely no room - specially with the snow bank taking some of the space) - the SP9K actually had split in two, I was stuck on the side of Highway for 3 hours waiting for the tow truck driver to come (he went on the wrong side of the highway the first time around and I had to wait again!). I was pissing my pants the whole time thinking one of the mack trucks was gonna come and side swipe me into the hospital.

It was a nightmare .... thank god I had my cell!

Anyways I got 32K out of the OE tires - which is longer than what I've been reading about on the board. One of the other tires is about to give also - the other I just found out has a bad leak - and the last one seems to be a little better than the rest.

Right now I'm driving on the doughnut and I'm not driving past 40mph - it's such a hassle.

I went thru all the posts about tires - and I have decided to go with the Sumitomo HTR+s, which are only mentioned a couple of times.

The reviews that this tire had on Tire Rack are amazing - this is an all season ultra high performance radial which should handle the snow that the SP9Ks could not tread on. It should last longer too, is not pricy, and should perform good on dry surfaces.

I wanted to know has anyone tried these tires or know of someone that has??

They are right under 100$ on tire rack - one other question I had is about the aspect ratio -- I found this tire for 215/40 /17 and 215/45 /17. Will both of these sizes fit on the racing harts without any lowering?? And if so - which one would be better to go with and why??

Since I was forced to do some research on tires in the past few days - I came upon these tire gauges -

They will visually tell you if ur tires are deflated or not -
They seem interesting - I was wondering if anyone also knew of these and can tell me if they suck or not.

Thanks

 

[Natey]

I'm not really sure about the tire size, I've got a P5 and....it's different.
This I AM sure of: Those valve-stem pressure guages are a little too cool to not get ripped off in about a week. I can't even keep the regular chrome ones on. :mad:

 

[rowan]

Go for the 215/45-17. It is the same size as on the Mazdaspeed Protege. Slightly bigger, but more rubber = better pothole protection. I have 215/40-17 on right now and they are ok but they fit better on a 17x7.5" wheel for one thing, and I am kind of missing the extra sidewall.

 

[norouzi]

I just got back from NTB , got the sumitomos 215/40/17 - and I'm just happy that I'm not driving on the spare any longer ... however one of my wheel locks broke - gotta get a new set or just another nut now.

One thing .... I do remember how the car drove with the SP9Ks, and I haveto say that these all season tires don't come close to that feeling - even brand new.

Atleast I won't haveto change these tires in 30K.

 

[mx6929]

my stock tires will be worn out in another 1000 miles, i will get a set of 205/40/17 federal ss595...one japanese JCGT racer tested it by drifting around and said it's very good...although i don't drift (can't do it i should say)...i will go with it though...