What 19" replacement tire is cushier than Toyo A36 [Unanswered]

Well, I don't think there are instrumented tests for COMFORT widely available, so am truly asking for member's seat of the pants opinions on how their replacement tire choice compared to the OEM A36 for COMFORT. That's it. No more complicated than that. We're what 22 posts in, and while there are some helpful posts for searching and helping to steer the conversation to, well, my question, exactly one member provided a direct answer to it.
 
Oh, {HardRight..]for the love of....I'm just trying to determine if there is a tire that is MORE comfortable than the Toyo A36.
You could try this:

If there's one halmark historically of the Toyota/Lexus driving experience it is a cushy ride. Go test drive a RAV4 trim with 19 inch wheels. If Toyota has stayed true to form that's what you'll find. You can then bet they chose (or co-designed with the manufacturer) a tire that fits that profile. Then check what shoes are on the vehicle. Then go buy them.

They might be sh*tty in other respects, particularly wear, like Toyota OEM Yokos I've had. I could have had Michelin Defenders instead but my wife didn't like the color of that car (what are you gonna do?) and the salesman was a flat "no" on swapping. But I digress.

You bought a vehicle at a price point that was designed and marketed for the sporty end of the segment in a trim with sporty wheels. There is always a tradeoff between cush and handling. So, alternatively, you might want to trade for a Toyota if the test drive proves up the way I described.
 
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Another off-topic post. Spectacular. Hoping for a winner on #25.
You're starting to sound like a guy defending a choice not seeking advice. Or is it risk aversion beyond reasonable bounds?
 
Appreciate everyone trying to be helpful, but let's keep it simple. AVC has specified the type of feedback they are looking for. They have also made it clear that they are aware of other options like going to a smaller size wheel to get a thicker sidewall, but the focus of this thread is finding a 19" tire that is more comfortable than the OEM tire.

If anyone can provide feedback that compares the NVH of the A36 with the NVH experienced from a different brand/model of tire in the same size, on the same vehicle, please feel free to do so. If you can't, please refrain from posting. Thanks!
 
I'll Answer the OP first - the Conti LX25 seems to be the overwhelming consensus of most. Yes, there will always be "I like this or that" or "I hated this or that", but again, if you survey 100 the LX25 seems to be the general winner.

Now my comments. Trust me, I can be as anal as anyone about specifics, but I don't see how this got so far off the rails - this seems kind of simple. Tire Rack has all the specs and ratings, including "comfort" - as close to cushy-ness as you're going to get. I understand about wanting 1st hand input, but that's where tire rack reviews even show what car people have it on.

Also consider where you drive. You're in North Texas, don't know if you ever/never drive in snow. I'm currently looking at a performance summer tire, probably the Michelin Sport 4 SUV, it's only a 20,000 tire but should last me over 4 years, and People hear "performance summer tire" and they think Mustang or Camaro. - nope. A summer tire will likely be quieter, smoother and better wet traction and braking than an A/S. I almost never look at price as the tire is one of the most important safety (and comfort) components of a car. People will spend hundred of dollars on cosmetic upgrades but cheap out on tires.

Summary, you really can't go wrong with the TR reviews or the Conti LX25
 
I'll Answer the OP first - the Conti LX25 seems to be the overwhelming consensus of most. Yes, there will always be "I like this or that" or "I hated this or that", but again, if you survey 100 the LX25 seems to be the general winner.

Now my comments. Trust me, I can be as anal as anyone about specifics, but I don't see how this got so far off the rails - this seems kind of simple. Tire Rack has all the specs and ratings, including "comfort" - as close to cushy-ness as you're going to get. I understand about wanting 1st hand input, but that's where tire rack reviews even show what car people have it on.

Also consider where you drive. You're in North Texas, don't know if you ever/never drive in snow. I'm currently looking at a performance summer tire, probably the Michelin Sport 4 SUV, it's only a 20,000 tire but should last me over 4 years, and People hear "performance summer tire" and they think Mustang or Camaro. - nope. A summer tire will likely be quieter, smoother and better wet traction and braking than an A/S. I almost never look at price as the tire is one of the most important safety (and comfort) components of a car. People will spend hundred of dollars on cosmetic upgrades but cheap out on tires.

Summary, you really can't go wrong with the TR reviews or the Conti LX25

The A36 only has 12 reviews. Sample size is too small, so when you look up the A36, you get this:
toyoA36.JPG


When you look up the Continental CrossContact LX25, you get this:
continentalLX25.JPG


Now, based on the Tire Rack reviews, the LX25 seems like an excellent choice. Like you, I agree that you can't really go wrong with this choice. However, it doesn't answer the question of whether or not the LX25 is more comfortable when directly compared to the A36. We can definitely assume that it is, but OP is asking specifically for first hand experience from CX-5 owners who went from A36 to Tire X and noticed a difference in NVH.
 
Then I'll kind of agree with the poster. I'm sure there are many people here who went from the OEM to something else, and can compare that something else. However, I'll agree with someone in earlier, if ***all*** you want is a softer ride, decreasing tire pressure is the answer. However you should be taking the tire characteristics as a whole.
 
Toyo A23 and A36 were selling ~$230 a couple of years ago. There’re not many people buying the A23 and A36 for the price of Michelin’s level. And we should also remember that Toyo A36 seems to only be used by Mazda, specifically since MY 2017 on gen-2 CX-5. Very few have reached 40K ~ 50K mikes with OE A36 tires and required a replacement. That’s why we won’t see too many reviews and comparison reports between A36 and different tires.
 
I've read some of the last several posts since the moderator's warning and subsequent comment. Many of my previous points have been reiterated.

The OP poster wants a definitive comparison of the ride comfort between 19" A36s and the contenders. He's looking for slight improvement in comfort over the A36s. He's not convinced that the ride comfort of A36s can be improved upon without such comparison. He would contemplate switching to 17" wheels if no one can demonstrate that the 19" A36s can be improved upon, providing that the 17" wheels would give him what he wants presumably with a particular tire pairing if he can get an authoratative answer.

Indirect observations and reasonable assumptions are not sufficient. Other factors like quality, longevity, rain and snow performance are evidently secondary.

Sooner rather than later he will need new tires with the current ones at 3/32" I believe I read somewhere above. In the absence of the definitive comparison he seeks he might punt and buy another set of A36s. Or he might come back here and review these very useful comments in "taking a risk" (my scare quotes, not his words) on another choice.

Despite his protests to the contrary, there is value in these indirect approaches toward finding a superior tire which may be of use to him if all else fails in finding definitive comparisons. Failure to find those comparisons is likely to be the case.

There's also the question of thread "ownership". I find that to be a dubious presumption on the OP poster's part. What is being presented that the OP poster complained about might be of interest to others and possibly, eventually, himself.
 
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Then I'll kind of agree with the poster. I'm sure there are many people here who went from the OEM to something else, and can compare that something else. However, I'll agree with someone in earlier, if ***all*** you want is a softer ride, decreasing tire pressure is the answer. However you should be taking the tire characteristics as a whole.
I think that idea crosses a line. Deflating tires below the manfacturer's recommended pressure can compromise safety, even if only at the margins.
 
I think truck tires might give a harsher ride over bumps than passenger car tires. The reason probably mostly because they have more plies.

I've seen promotional stuff on tires that describe their special shock absorbing sidewall compounds. Continental and Avid come to mind.

As far as a consumer rating from a current owner I doubt that any comparisons would be very useful. It's a pretty subjective thing without any kind of test instrumentation. New tires always seem quieter and smoother than the old tires they replaced.
 
I think truck tires might give a harsher ride over bumps than passenger car tires. The reason probably mostly because they have more plies.

I've seen promotional stuff on tires that describe their special shock absorbing sidewall compounds. Continental and Avid come to mind.

As far as a consumer rating from a current owner I doubt that any comparisons would be very useful. It's a pretty subjective thing without any kind of test instrumentation. New tires always seem quieter and smoother than the old tires they replaced.
My experience with Avid Ascends on my Sienna says they are cr*p. Avid Ascend GTs are a different story.

The non-GT's outer tread was scrubbing off the tires when on the front and one had developed a light chop sound by the time I got to 25k. I probably rotated them at 10,000 miles. This Sienna has a tight turning radius for its size so I reckoned the scrubbing might be a byproduct of the suspension geometry. I moved the choppy one to the back so I wouldn't hear it as much then got rid of them around 30k miles.

The non-GTs were replaced with the GTs, not a first choice; the story of how they got on the car not worth getting into. That "GT" makes a big difference. They have been only a shade firmer than the non-GTs (my wife doesn't even detect that), retaining Toyota's intended cushiness of the ride, but they are wearing great at 15,000 miles with no detectable shortcomings relative to the non-GTs before they started going to seed. I would not hesitate recommending the GTs in this application, though I would have bought the Contis were it not for that untold story.

The moral of this tale is that small differences in a name can make a big difference.
 
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I think that idea crosses a line. Deflating tires below the manufacturer's recommended pressure can compromise safety, even if only at the margins.

Yup, but every time we offer review or experience with tires in general the original poster keeps screaming in ALL CAPS, BOLD, or BOTH, "COMFORT". So he's (mostly) left with decreasing the tire pressure, maybe from 35 to 30 psi.

truly asking for member's seat of the pants opinions on how their replacement tire choice compared to the OEM A36 for COMFORT. That's it.

So there you have it. Also Look how he responded to post #23. He only wants to hear about comfort and nothing else. Ipso Facto, if our response doesn't address comfort he's not interested in any other information about tires.

Another reason why there's so little addressing his only concern - so few of us are going to buy (therefore able to recommend) a tire based on cushiness alone. I'm sure there's some nice spongy $98 Walmart tires, but none of us have them.
 
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Regarding 'staying on topic', I think we've done a good job.

I think there's only so much specific info we can give without straying a little off. For example, if I ask what's the best wax for shine, it wouldn't be wrong for someone to reply "ultra bright 3000 give you the best shine but only protects for 1 week". Should I then shout "I DIDN'T ASK ABOUT HOW LONG IT LASTS, JUST SHINE"
 
Another reason why there's so little addressing his only concern - so few of us are going to buy (therefore able to recommend) a tire based on cushiness alone. I'm sure there's some nice spongy $98 Walmart tires, but none of us have them.
Yup. I tried to make that point earlier. Typical Mazda owners are not going to put cushiness at the top of the want list when buying that second set. This is still the "Vroom! Vroom!" marque even if Mazda dropped that to cast a wider consumer net. Sportiness and handling is a typical Mazda buyer priority. OEM tires are selected to complement the sporty character of the vehicles, particularly for the test drive. Upgrade to 19" rims and you accentuate that character.

This viewpoint is especially the case here where you have a high percentage of participants who are "car guys" or gals.

In reviewing the 2020 CX-5, Consumer Reports characterized the 19" as having a somewhat harsher ride than the 17". Maybe that's all that needs to be said--switch to the 17" rims with the Yoko Geolandar G91s that came on my 2020. They might wear like cr*p, time will tell for me, and not handle quite as well but who cares, right? It's still a pretty sporty car with 17" but who cares about that either, right?
 
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I recently bought a set of the GR 906 Ironman Tires for my 2015 Mazda CX-5 Touring. It surprisingly offered a comfortable and stable ride even through wet road conditions. The road noise was very minimal and it has excellent traction. Also, it's more affordable than its counterparts.
 
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