Toyo Proxes

[Goldfish_GR]

As you may know, Mazda2 comes with 16'' alloy wheels, wearing Toyo proxes tyres. These tyres under the greek circumstances (not so good quality of tarmac) are terrible. I was unable to brake efficiently in cases of emergency and lots of times I felt like the car was ready to "fly".

Therefore I decided to scrap the stock tyres and buy a new set of Michelin Exalto.

TERRIBLE difference.. The car became more steady, under any circumstances, more predictable and less bumpy! It seems that the profile of the Michelin tyres is much less hard than the one of the Toyos...

Sorry about Mazda that launched a quite expensive small car, with such poor tyres in Europe.

[MazdaMatt]

by the way lateral grip of Toyos it's very good on a good tarmac.

I'm sure that exalto are way better (globally) than Toyo...no discussion on it.

[majki]

For summer I have Hankook K105 Ventus Prime 195/45 R16 84V, good on dry and wet too, on highway little bit noisy, in turnings have great grip.

for winter I have Pirelli 190 SnowSport 185/55 R15, was in Alps in Austria and maximally satisfied.

[Mr M]

Hi Goldfish, I also dumped the Toyo's and fitted 17" Michellin Exalto 205/17/40's

And yes they are much better.

[808MP5]

i've tried 3 different brands of 215/35/ZR19 tires

Toyo Proxy 4 = most expensive, stickiest, doesn't last, ok in rain
Dunlop SP Sports = ok in rain, not as sticky, lasted a little longer, cheapest(got them for wholesale)
Federal SS555 = (scary)terrible in rain, stickier than the dunlops, lasts the longest so far, cheap

as for any tire, i think what matters the most is the road conditions, material used to pave the roads, and driver... each tire itself my exceed the other in certain areas but lack in others

BTW.... those Mazda2's are very cool

[majki]

MR M: You have allowed 17" wheels on Mazda2? In CZ Rep. is 16" allowed max.

[Goldfish_GR]

What do you mean that they are not allowed?

[Mr M]

Thanks 808MP5, the Mazda 2's are really very cool (2thumbs)

Hi majki, I also do not understand - Here in South Africa we do not have restrictions on wheel sizes.

I had 195/16/45 wheels and tires and now I have 205/17/40 - The wheel now has a bigger diameter but the tyre has a smaller diameter so the total diameter is basically the same.

[MazdaMatt]

I think that here in EU (at least in Italy) is not possible to mount 17'' wheels on a Mazda2 and manteining the car street legal......laws here are very restrictive.....

[coolmazda5]

OEM Toyo Proxes A18 = (yupnope)

I know, I know, late reply, but I just changed the ones on my 06 for Yokohama AVIDs and there is a sea of difference (change was done @ 20k miles, around 32k kms). On top of having a bad grip on rain and snow, they started becoming very noisy at around 15k miles, even with its periodical, recommended rotation and PSIs well kept.

The 08 still has them, but they are still in good shape, so I'll get the most out of them before ditching them (ugh)

[Skullman]

Thanks 808MP5, the Mazda 2's are really very cool (2thumbs)

Hi majki, I also do not understand - Here in South Africa we do not have restrictions on wheel sizes.

I had 195/16/45 wheels and tires and now I have 205/17/40 - The wheel now has a bigger diameter but the tyre has a smaller diameter so the total diameter is basically the same.

Here in CZ you need to use rims allowed in technical certification of car. This is checked regulary (one in two/four years) in special stations. Generaly its not a problem to have different rims as long as you change them when going for check (because you don't need to show complete technical certification to police when stopped on street). For example I will have my check in winter and I have allowed rims for winter, so I'm fine as long as I don't cause traffic accident ;).

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Therefor my question goes for your 17" ;) - what is ET? (For 16" there is 6,5Jx16 ET50, for 15" there is 6Jx15 ET45 and I guess your 17" are 7Jx17 ET??). Does it fit and will it fit even with lowered suspension?

[milomiloz]

Have anyone tried 215/17/40?
Current I'm using 205/17/40 and they are great, but I want to change for a bigger diameter tires~