Summer tires! Recommendations/Discussion

You need a 2254018 otherwise you will not have the same over all diameter which will cause a void on any drivetrain warranty u have

Yeah definitley go down %5 on the sidewall, didn’t notice that. That will do a few things, most of them good :wink:

Alot of people on the mazda forums say 225/40 feels good on the speed6. I think some have had rubbing issues with 225/45? It’s so close to begin with.

edit, get the ball joints you won’t regret it. But that could void parts of your warranty too.

I run 225/40 18s on mine. Very stiff. You save $34 per tire if you stick with the Azenis on vulcantire.com

star spec ftw

I put Yokohama S-Drive on my M last summer. So far I love them, quiet, ride nice, sticky dry, sticky wet, we’ll see how long tread wear is on them. Since they are a summer only tire, they don’t like cold temperatures.

Dunlops hands down.

Hankook Ventus S1 evo -These seem okay, sticky and cheap on closeout
(Max Performance Summer)
Size: 225/45ZR18
Serv. Desc: 95Y
Load Range XL
UTQG: 280 AA A Orig. Price: $105.00 Closeout
Estimated Availability: In Stock

General Exclaim UHP - I use these on my DD, pretty decent grip, great in the wet.
(Ultra High Performance Summer)
SPECIAL OFFER: Buy four and get a $50 Visa Gift Card by mail.
Size: 225/45ZR18
Serv. Desc: 91W
UTQG: 380 A A
Price: $109.00 (each)
Estimated Availability: In Stock

The 225/45/18 is the better choice to keep the tire diameter correct. It has also been proven on the MS6 to correct the slight incorrect speedo with the stock tire size (GPS proven)

215/45/18 = 650.70mm (Stock)
225/40/18= 637.20mm
225/45/18= 659.70
235/40/18= 645.20mm

It also doesn’t matter to me about the warranty because I’m at 44k miles. Only a few more miles left to go.

I will definitely look into vulcantire.com since I’ve never heard of it :tup:

Also, $105/$109 a tire sounds like a great idea to me! Thanks Andy! :slight_smile:

Great post with lots of tire choices. Hopefully somoene searching later can use the comments and suggestions :slight_smile:

I ended up going with the General Exclaim UHP. It was rated #4 for the tire class it was in on TireRack and cost less than $500 shipped. Plus, Andy is a good friend of mine and if he is running them as well as suggesting them, they’ve gotta be pretty decent! :tup:

camber doesnt cause uneven tire wear it’s toe

for the cost i don’t think You’ll find anything better than the Hankook Ventus R-S2 tires. I think They’re 120 each or so

http://www.tpub.com/content/constructionmisc/TM-9-2610-200-14/css/TM-9-2610-200-14_53.htm

See the “Excessive Camber” diagram. This is what happens on the MS6

http://www.tpub.com/content/constructionmisc/TM-9-2610-200-14/img/TM-9-2610-200-14_53_1.jpg

Excessive camber will wear tires as now you are not spreading weight evenly across the tires.

oh so this only happens on the ms6 and not every other car in the world i get it…

so maybe only on hondas you can hve -2* camber and as long as your toe is fine you dont get uneven wear… interesting?

My sarcastic meter just blew up. There are many different types of tire wear, relax. I was stating a fact about the MS6… sigh let me explain…

The camber is a known problem on the MS6. Hence why there are aftermarket upper ball joints to replace the OEM ones which have no camber adjustment. The mazdaspeed 6 is extremely heavy and on hard cornering the camber should have been factory set to negative. It is actually 0 or POSITIVE on the car which causes extreme tire wear on the fronts and we have to live with it since there is no camber adjustment. The suspension dips down and the camber becomes even more positive and the tire is riding on its outer edge on the inside tire of the turn.

On hard cornering if the camber is too far in (positive or at 0) the tire will lean over the edge and wear unevenly. With negative camber the tire is leaning in towards the car, so when you take a fast turn the suspension compresses and the tire camber actually hedges towards square. With a 0 camber on the MS6 when you corner, the camber goes positive and the tire is leaning heavily on the outer edge of the tire during a corner, causing extreme amounts of pressure to the edge causing faster wear. Setting a camber to -1.5 or -2 will allow less overall wear on the tire during all driving.

It happens on all cars… including hondas. Don’t get your panties in a bunch :slight_smile: I also plan on going -1.5 or -2 camber on my MS6 once the ball joints allow me to adjust it! It will actually HELP my tires survive…

Toe in and Toe out are also causes of tire wear. You will notice this type of wear across the entire tread. It creates a “feather” across the treads as the tire is actually pointing in towards the middle of the car or out towards the curb. The tire never actually rotates with the direction of the car, causing the entire contact patch to have cross-friction, pulling the tire to one side or another. This is why you will notice the feathering along the same edge of the treads as the are stretching in that direction and pulling apart.

And, I’m not surprised…
deebo: Date of Birth: November 26, 1990 (18)
Clean Baldy: Date of Birth: November 25, 1980 (28)

Do you heel toe your automatic Acura while cornering? I miss doing that in my Honda when I was 18…

Im looking for new tires for my car this summer im up in the air with these 3

Falken Ziex ZE-912 -225/50R-15 91V BLK

Kumho Ecsta AST -225/50R-15 91H BSW

Falken Ziex ZE-512 -225/50R-15 91V B

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/searchTiresBySize.do?ar=50&rd=15&cs=225

or 205/50 15 Dunlop Direzza

get the kumho’s

Jeff is right, when you corner hard in the ms6, only about 25% of the front outer tire (the outer tread blocks) carries most of the weight. Towne mazda tried all kinds of toe adjustments for my ms6, none of which helped. I opened up a BBB complaint, and even withheld payment for a month and got a lawyer friend involved.

In the end there was nothing anyone could do, except the dealer ate the cost of the 2nd set of tires.

Those ball joints cure all, they put the tire more evenly in contact with the road, which helps understeer and lengthens tire life. And at about $200 for the parts and another couple hundo for alignment and installation, they’re a great investment.

Be careful though with the 225/45’s and those ball joints. I mean wear the size you want, but with those wheels shoved in there as tight as they are, then bigger tires in width and diameter, and -1 to -2 deg of camber, it might be really close.

yep. but it’s 5speed.
Either way what you are stating is specific to your car, not every car. i was stating a fact to about 95% of cars. When people tell you to get a camber kit to fix your treadwear issues they are idiots. Considering 240s w/ -4* camber and hondas with -2* camber are fine with tire wear, who knows. I’m sorry that your car does that

Anyways, i believe i recommended you a good tire in your other thread, i cant find it. What is your general “budget” you wish to stay in

i’ve heard lots of good things about the yoko s-drives, which is the tire that technically replaced the ES100 tire, which itself is a very good tire.

you can get the sdrives from dtt for 160/tire and the es100’s you can get from tirerack for 165$ a tire