Mazda5 Tires: Issues & Replacement Recommendations

M

MD5

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06 Carbon Gray Touring 5
I bought some General Exclaim 215/50/17s from www.tires-easy.com and had them installed today.

I figured I'd post some pics to show fitment just in case someone else was wanting to go with this size.

IMHO, this is the size that should have come on the car. I forgot to look at the tach to compare before/after rpms at 70mph, but I think they should be pretty close. The tire is about 1cm taller diameter than the stock one.

Back to the online tire purchase. I ordered these and recieved them in 6 days. Discount Tire wanted $598 installed, but by buying them online, I saved $146. The tires shipped to my door was $383, and it cost me $69 at Discount Tire to have them mounted and balanced (this was after a screw up on their part, it was originally $92 to have them mounted/balanced, but he gave me $23 back).

Anyway, here are some pics of the install:

Matt
 

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Two more pics:
 

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At 75mph, the rpms used to hang at 3,600. Now they are at 3,500 even.


Not much of a difference, but there is one.
 
I like it! Looks good!

This is what I was planning to do once my stock tires wear out.

What tire pressure are you trying? I know stock is 34psi.

Do you notice any difference in the ride/handling?

Keep Zooming!
 
I haven't checked pressure yet. I'll probably do it tomorrow. I think max is 40, I'll probably run 35 and check it to see if I need to adjust it.


I don't know if the handling is not as precise, or it's a figment of my imagination, but it seems not as tight. The ride is smoother though.

I'll have to give it a few days to make an educated opinion.

Matt
 
nice. i always thought that the 205/50's looked a bit small. it looks like i'll be upsizing ours when the time comes.
 
afticarab said:
Check out this site it allows you to compare tire sizes and their affect on speedo readings.
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
Click to expand...

I saw that calc posted in another thread, but there's nothing like checking real world numbers.

That shows that my speedo should be slow just a tad, but not enough to get me into any trouble.

Matt
 
The MZ5 looks nice. Being silly here, but there is no scrapping when the MZ5 is fully loaded, right?

Thanks for sharing the photos!
 
Matt,

Lotsa siping. Are they louder than stock tires?

Is that your house in the background? Who put those wooden shutters up??
 
coolmazda5 said:
The MZ5 looks nice. Being silly here, but there is no scrapping when the MZ5 is fully loaded, right?

Thanks for sharing the photos!
Click to expand...


The most "loaded" I've had it is me, the wife, 2 kids (about 95 lbs each) and a bag of hockey gear. I don't think I'm anywhere close to scraping.
 
monsta said:
Matt,

Lotsa siping. Are they louder than stock tires?

Is that your house in the background? Who put those wooden shutters up??
Click to expand...


Not any louder that the stock Toyos. Actually that's the house across the street. My house faces west, and it's easier to take pics with the sun behind me.

The shutters were put up when the house was built. My neighborhood has First Texas, Legacy, and some other builder that I can't remember. My house is a Legacy, and I would reccommend staying away from them.
 
MD5 said:
The most "loaded" I've had it is me, the wife, 2 kids (about 95 lbs each) and a bag of hockey gear. I don't think I'm anywhere close to scraping.
Click to expand...

Sounds reasonable. I'll keep the details for the next tire swap. The OEM ones (tires and install) seems to be very pricy

Thanks!

(drive)
 
MD5 said:
I bought some General Exclaim 215/50/17s from www.tires-easy.com and had them installed today.

I figured I'd post some pics to show fitment just in case someone else was wanting to go with this size.

IMHO, this is the size that should have come on the car. I forgot to look at the tach to compare before/after rpms at 70mph, but I think they should be pretty close. The tire is about 1cm taller diameter than the stock one.

Back to the online tire purchase. I ordered these and recieved them in 6 days. Discount Tire wanted $598 installed, but by buying them online, I saved $146. The tires shipped to my door was $383, and it cost me $69 at Discount Tire to have them mounted and balanced (this was after a screw up on their part, it was originally $92 to have them mounted/balanced, but he gave me $23 back).

Anyway, here are some pics of the install:

Matt
Click to expand...

Whenever you go with a wider tire, you should also go with a lower aspect ratio to keep your sidewall and total tire circumference the same. You mph will read slower than your actually traveling now, and mileage will be less than actually traveled. If you went with 215/45/17 you would have been very close to the stock tire circumference. I checked TireRack and they have a lot of Ultra High Performance All season tires available in this size for our 5's. I really loved the Kumho Ecsta ASX on our Maxima. Great year round ultra high performance tire, under $100 per tire. I didn't see you specific tire on tire rack but I imagine, with its name, its only a touring tire, and not performance oriented. Should provide you with a good ride, but not the same level of performance as the Toyos.
 
ChadSpeed said:
Whenever you go with a wider tire, you should also go with a lower aspect ratio to keep your sidewall and total tire circumference the same. You mph will read slower than your actually traveling now, and mileage will be less than actually traveled. If you went with 215/45/17 you would have been very close to the stock tire circumference. I checked TireRack and they have a lot of Ultra High Performance All season tires available in this size for our 5's. I really loved the Kumho Ecsta ASX on our Maxima. Great year round ultra high performance tire, under $100 per tire. I didn't see you specific tire on tire rack but I imagine, with its name, its only a touring tire, and not performance oriented. Should provide you with a good ride, but not the same level of performance as the Toyos.
Click to expand...


Here's what I found:

205/50 215/50 215/45
Sidewall 4.0 4.2 3.8
Radius 12.5 12.7 12.3
Diameter 25.1 25.5 24.6
Circumfrence 78.8 80.0 77.3
Revs/Mile 804 792 819
Speedo at 60mph 60 60.9 58.9

So, the 215/45 is a tad smaller than stock, and I'd rather be a tad larger than smaller.

I'm happy with the size, I get fewer revs per mile, I'm down 100 rpm at 75mph, and I have a little more sidewall which means a softer ride.

Matt
 
Down 100 RPM @ 75MPH?

No doubt you are running fewer RPM for a given actual speed, but your speedometer and tachometer readings will not reflect this change; the speedometer reading is taken directly from the output shaft RPM, which is fixed in relation to engine speed for a given gear. Changing tires will not change the relative readings of your speedo and tach.

The change you've made will manifest itself in a somewhat lower speedo reading. Watch out for those troopers!

Happy Motoring!
 
$chocker said:
No doubt you are running fewer RPM for a given actual speed, but your speedometer and tachometer readings will not reflect this change; the speedometer reading is taken directly from the output shaft RPM, which is fixed in relation to engine speed for a given gear. Changing tires will not change the relative readings of your speedo and tach.

The change you've made will manifest itself in a somewhat lower speedo reading. Watch out for those troopers!

Happy Motoring!
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.... I wonder why my Tach/Speedo are out of synch then. I was turning 3,600 RPM at 75mph before the tire change, and now it sets right on 3,500 rpm at 75 mph.

LEOs around here aren't concerned about the 1-2mph difference. If you are doing 9+ over, then you might attract attention. 15-20 over and you'll definately be asked for your autograph.
 
$chocker said:
No doubt you are running fewer RPM for a given actual speed, but your speedometer and tachometer readings will not reflect this change; the speedometer reading is taken directly from the output shaft RPM, which is fixed in relation to engine speed for a given gear. Changing tires will not change the relative readings of your speedo and tach.

The change you've made will manifest itself in a somewhat lower speedo reading. Watch out for those troopers!

Happy Motoring!
Click to expand...

OK, I just checked my speedo on the way home.

Indicated speed 70 - Radar hunts between 69/70, but spends more time at 69
Indicated speed 75 - Radar hunts between 74/75, but spends more time at 74
Indicated speed 80 - Radar hunts bewteen 79/80, but spends more time at 79

That's close enough for government work. I don't think you can get much closer than that to true speed. I just wished I'd checked the speedo before the tire swap.

By the way, I also checked 30, 40, and 50 mph all with the exact same results. The radar was from one mph slower to exactly the speed indicated.
 
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