Please recommend me a great all season tire that good in snow for P225 / 65R17

nosey74

Member
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2016.5 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5L AWD
Hello. I've been searching online for a set of 4 all season tires for my 2016.5 Mazda CX-5 Sport AWD (P225 / 65R17) and I'm really stuck.

After reading hundreds of reviews online I just don't know what to believe anymore - analysis paralysis.

I'll try to include a screen capture of what I read over at Tire Rack and Consumer Reports - link is here https://imgur.com/a/Dp3F4


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I read that Continental TrueContact tires ranked very well overall but saw that the 17" are rated at 102T (118mph) whereas my factory Yokohama Geolandar tires are rated at 100H (130mph) - will that work?

Can you please offer some recommendations for all season tires that work well in snow (I don't want to buy snow tires and I don't want to change the wheel size)

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
I’d recommend General AltiMAX™ RT43 as it’s the lightest tire at 24.3 lbs for the size. The price is reasonable and is rated #3 now out of 43 Grand Touring all-season tires in Tire Rack. Go to TireRack.com to check the reviews and see if you like its winter condition performance as an all-season tire.

Continental CrossContact LX20 Tires on a 17" Rim
If you didn't have similar problems before the tire replacement, I believe you have a defected Firestone Destination LE2 tire. But if you'd like to change to other tires, here are partial lists of 225/65R17 tires in different categories for your comparison. Personally I believe T-rated Continental CrossContact™ LX20 Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season tire is fine and should be much better than O.E. Yokohama Geolandar G91A Light Truck Highway All-Season tire. But since the top speed for our CX-5 is 120 mph, I'd stay with at least H-rated tires as T-rated tires are designed for the top speed of 118 mph.

Light Truck Highway All-Season Tires:


Tire


Size


UTQG
Maximum
Inflation
Pressure


Tread
Depth


Tire
Weight


Warranty


Price*
Yokohama Geolandar G91AP225/65R17
100H
280 B A44 psi10/32"26 lbs.OEM - None$200.55
- TR
Michelin Defender LTX M/S225/65R17
102H
720 A A44 psi10.5/32"29 lbs.70,000 Miles
6 Years
$154.97
- TR
Firestone Destination LE2225/65R17
102H
520 A B44 psi12/32"28 lbs.60,000 Miles
5 Years
$125.45
- TR

Grand/Standard Touring All-Season Tires:


Tire


Size


UTQG
Maximum
Inflation
Pressure


Tread
Depth


Tire
Weight


Warranty


Price*
Continental TrueContact™225/65R17
102T
800 A B44 psi11/32"24.3 lbs.90,000 Miles
6 Years
$113.56
- TR
General AltiMAX™ RT43225/65R17
102H
700 A A51 psi11/32"24.3 lbs.65,000 Miles
6 Years
$100.25
- TR

Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season Tires:


Tire


Size


UTQG
Maximum
Inflation
Pressure


Tread
Depth


Tire
Weight


Warranty


Price*
Pirelli Scorpion Verde™
All Season Plus
225/65R17
102H
740 A A44 psi11/32"28 lbs.65,000 Miles$131.50
- TR
Continental CrossContact™
LX20
225/65R17
102T
740 A B57 psi12/32"27.7 lbs.70,000 Miles
6 Years
$122.45
- TR

XL = Extra Load
TR = TireRack.com

Performance Category Rank from TireRack.com:

Highway All-Season Tires:
Michelin Defender LTX M/S - #1 out of 32
Firestone Destination LE2 - #3 out of 32
Yokohama Geolandar G91A - #24 out of 32

Grand Touring All-Season Tires:
General AltiMAX™ RT43 - #5 out of 41

Standard Touring All-Season Tires:
Continental TrueContact™ - #1 out of 20

Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season Tires:
Pirelli Scorpion Verde™ All Season Plus - #2 out of 21
Continental CrossContact™ LX20 - #5 out of 21
 
Hi. Thanks for your response - greatly appreciated!

What kind of tires do you have on your CX-5? Are they 17" or did the 2016 GT AWD come with larger wheels?

Do you or anyone you know have the General AltiMAX RT43 tires and if so, what has been experience overall? I've never heard of them before. I was leaning towards the Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia but not sure after reading all the reviews.



Id recommend General AltiMAX RT43 as its the lightest tire at 24.3 lbs for the size. The price is reasonable and is rated #3 now out of 43 Grand Touring all-season tires in Tire Rack. Go to TireRack.com to check the reviews and see if you like its winter condition performance as an all-season tire.

Continental CrossContact LX20 Tires on a 17" Rim
 
Hi. Thanks for your response - greatly appreciated!

What kind of tires do you have on your CX-5? Do you or anyone you know have the General AltiMAX™ RT43 tires and if so, what has been experience overall? I've never heard of them before.

+1 on the General Altimax RT43
 
I still have the Yokahamas on mine. It actually came with 19 inch Toyos which are sitting in my garage for sale wheels included. I found some 17 inch CX-5 take offs on ebay and drove off the dealer lot with them on my car. I'm actually thinking of putting 18 inch wheels from a Mazda 3 on there but that's another story! :)
I've read about the Generals on both tirerack and consumer reports.
 
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I have identical tire size to you. I am planning on Toyo Celsius. It and the WRG3 from Nokian are the only tires that meet your criteria, as I understand it.

I have currently LX20's and they only have 0.3" left of tread, and they still did pretty darn well in the last ice/snow (about 4") we had, even on the curves. The braking and turning is where they fail to inspire me.
 
Thanks for the information - will look into these tires - only knew of all season tires but never heard of all weather tires until your recommendation.

I have identical tire size to you. I am planning on Toyo Celsius. It and the WRG3 from Nokian are the only tires that meet your criteria, as I understand it.

I have currently LX20's and they only have 0.3" left of tread, and they still did pretty darn well in the last ice/snow (about 4") we had, even on the curves. The braking and turning is where they fail to inspire me.
 
Hi. Thanks! I see there isn't too much information on these new tires. What is your experience with them?

They are new at tire rack. You might want to look and see if there are any reviews on them yet or use Google to see if there are any reviews elsewhere. From looking at tire racks own testing the Vredestein appears to be better than the Goodyear. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=231 The nice thing about the Generals are that they seem to be a commonly available and popular brand of tire at least the Altimax RT43

https://jet.com/product/General-Alt...Touring-tire/7260e9b1c66c4997b42b6988f03ce534
 
Just curious if anyone out there actually has the General Altimax RT43 or Toyo Celsius CUV tires on their CX-5 and what their experience has been.

Would it be that bad if I put on General Altimax RT43 T instead of H?
 
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Would it be that bad if I put on General Altimax RT43 T instead of H?

Would it be bad? No. Would I do it? No way. Several reasons.

On tirerack.com the price difference between a "T" and an "H" is only $1.00 per tire.

The UTQG rating on a "T" is 700AB while on the "H" it is 700AA. That means the "H" has a better temperature rating.

The "H" is a better tire. See this link for what I base that statement on. http://www.barrystiretech.com/speedratings.html

Finally, depending on where you get your tires and who mounts them, some shops won't do it, others will. I'd go with the "H" and avoid the hassle.
 
Our cars have H rated tires in 17 inch and V rated in 19 inch. If I used 18 inch wheels which speed rating would I go by?
 
Our cars have H rated tires in 17 inch and V rated in 19 inch. If I used 18 inch wheels which speed rating would I go by?
The maximum rated speed on CX-5 is 120 mph. Id suggest to get at least H rated、130-mph tires (T is 118 mph). For 18 wheels Id get 225/60R18 100H General AltiMAX RT43 with 28.6" overall diameter and 726 revs. per mile which is very close to OEs 28.5"/729 on 17 and 28.8/721 on 19 tires.)
 
Hi. Thanks for your response - greatly appreciated!

What kind of tires do you have on your CX-5? Are they 17" or did the 2016 GT AWD come with larger wheels?

Do you or anyone you know have the General AltiMAX RT43 tires and if so, what has been experience overall? I've never heard of them before. I was leaning towards the Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia but not sure after reading all the reviews.
My 2016 CX-5 GT AWD comes with 225/55R19 tires.

Akron, Ohio based General Tire was founded in 1915 and its tire and rubber division was sold to Germany's Continental in 1987, and is now known as Continental Tire North America, Inc. Thats why some new General tires are having similar specs with Continental tires.

And just to clarify, for 225/65R17 on General AltiMAX RT43 there's only 102H available now even at TireRack.com. Some of the talks here on T rated are out of date. 225/65R17 102T RT43 actually is a completely different tire from H rated and has the same specs as Continental TrueContact 225/65R17 102T. The maximum inflation pressures between 51 psi on H rated and 44 psi on T rated is a clear indication that T rated RT43 is an older design, hence its discontinued.


General Tire logo used in the 1960s through the 1990s:


Oldgeneraltirelogo.jpg



Current:
M-GeneralTirecontest-1.jpg
 
After looking at everything, I'm probably going to go with the Celsius. This is due to a combo of snow, treadlife, noise, and dry performance.
 
Hummm ????? Must have more agressive all weather drivers in the EU than here.
Tests across the pond rate them overall near or last out of 10 tires tested a couple times.
The Flotation speed (Hydroplaning MPH) of about 40 mph scares me more than the long stopping distance, etc.

After looking at everything, I'm probably going to go with the Celsius. This is due to a combo of snow, treadlife, noise, and dry performance.
 
After looking at everything, I'm probably going to go with the Celsius. This is due to a combo of snow, treadlife, noise, and dry performance.

Honestly have to say I haven't been too impressed by what I've been reading about the all-weather tires. At best they seem like they are better in snow than all-seasons, but that's about it. Not too impressed by the rest of their performance stats.
 
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