OEM size tire replacement thoughts

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‘16 CX-9 GT
Starting this thread to share thoughts/experiences with replacement tires as our stock ones wear out on 16+ models.

I recently replaced the oem Falkens on my wifes 16 GT. I went with Michelin Premier LTX in the oem 20 size & V speed rating. The Falkens seemed fine for the first year and a half then got exceptionally loud. I also noticed a rotational bump, bump, bump sound that came from the cupped tires (no alignment...my bad). They did just fine in the NH snow those two seasons, but I found myself hydroplaning hard at 33k miles this fall. Time for new shoes.

I initially planned to do winter tires, but procrastinated until late Dec. I understand the clear benefits of winter tires and will prob. do 18 pirelli scorpion winters next year. I
figured we made it through a good part of this winter and fresh rubber with good tire rack snow ratings would be okay this year. So I bought the Michelin Premier LTX at a local NTB (another horror story for another time all together...).

Pretty happy with the Michelins so far. Outstanding in heavy rain, a little snow & very quiet. One thing Ive noticed is that our avg mpg dropped from 22/24 to 19. Seems like a huge drop. I need to recheck psi tomorrow to rule that out. The GPS shows me at 82mph when the car says Im doing 80. It was dead on accurate before. If that has something to do with it Im not smart enough to do that math. Thoughts?
 
Every tire design is a compromise. We can assume that Mazda designed tires, made by Falken, to give great fuel mileage, smooth, quiet ride (at least for a while), and decent traction. The excellent Premier LTX is designed for great traction, fairly long tread life, and is likely heavier as well as having new, deep, squirmy tread. Both the weight and the tread squirm hurt gas mileage.

My current two favorite tires for great traction are the Premier LTX and the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady. If I was willing to trade some traction to get longer tread life, I'd consider the Michelin Defender.
 
Starting this thread to share thoughts/experiences with replacement tires as our stock ones wear out on *16+ models.

I recently replaced the oem Falkens on my wife*s *16 GT. I went with Michelin Premier LTX in the oem 20* size & *V* speed rating. The Falkens seemed fine for the first year and a half then got exceptionally loud. I also noticed a rotational *bump, bump, bump* sound that came from the cupped tires (no alignment...my bad). They did just fine in the NH snow those two seasons, but I found myself hydroplaning hard at 33k miles this fall. Time for new shoes.

I initially planned to do winter tires, but procrastinated until late Dec. I understand the clear benefits of winter tires and will prob. do 18* pirelli scorpion winters next year. I
figured we made it through a good part of this winter and fresh rubber with good tire rack snow ratings would be okay this year. So I bought the Michelin Premier LTX at a local NTB (another horror story for another time all together...).

Pretty happy with the Michelins so far. Outstanding in heavy rain, a little snow & very quiet. One thing I*ve noticed is that our avg mpg dropped from 22/24 to 19. Seems like a huge drop. I need to recheck psi tomorrow to rule that out. The GPS shows me at 82mph when the car says I*m doing 80. It was dead on accurate before. If that has something to do with it I*m not smart enough to do that math. Thoughts?

OEM 20", not 19"??
 
Every tire design is a compromise. We can assume that Mazda designed tires, made by Falken, to give great fuel mileage, smooth, quiet ride (at least for a while), and decent traction. The excellent Premier LTX is designed for great traction, fairly long tread life, and is likely heavier as well as having new, deep, squirmy tread. Both the weight and the tread squirm hurt gas mileage.

My current two favorite tires for great traction are the Premier LTX and the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady. If I was willing to trade some traction to get longer tread life, I'd consider the Michelin Defender.

Funny, the WeatherReady was my 2nd choice. In the end, I wanted an 8 month tire that still kept the CX-9 feeling like the fun to drive vehicle we landed on after lots of competitor test drives. Im looking forward to getting a dedicated set of winter take offs for next year.
 
I just tested the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza Plus 20" in about 2 inches of snow. The first test went very well, I received great traction going up an incline in front of my house, the OEM Bridgestone Ecopia's had a massive fail with a similar test. Fortunately, we don't get the massive snow storms like in the North and West, in the DC Metro area, therefore for the most part dedicated snow tires are not required.

Peace and blessings,

Azeke
 
I went most recently with Nitto NT421Q for my 20 inchers. They don't track as well as the older model NT850's, and the NT850 were a bit quieter too. Pretty happy with the 421q's though all in all.
 
Starting this thread to share thoughts/experiences with replacement tires as our stock ones wear out on *16+ models.

I recently replaced the oem Falkens on my wife*s *16 GT. I went with Michelin Premier LTX in the oem 20* size & *V* speed rating. The Falkens seemed fine for the first year and a half then got exceptionally loud. I also noticed a rotational *bump, bump, bump* sound that came from the cupped tires (no alignment...my bad). They did just fine in the NH snow those two seasons, but I found myself hydroplaning hard at 33k miles this fall. Time for new shoes.

I initially planned to do winter tires, but procrastinated until late Dec. I understand the clear benefits of winter tires and will prob. do 18* pirelli scorpion winters next year. I
figured we made it through a good part of this winter and fresh rubber with good tire rack snow ratings would be okay this year. So I bought the Michelin Premier LTX at a local NTB (another horror story for another time all together...).

Pretty happy with the Michelins so far. Outstanding in heavy rain, a little snow & very quiet. One thing I*ve noticed is that our avg mpg dropped from 22/24 to 19. Seems like a huge drop. I need to recheck psi tomorrow to rule that out. The GPS shows me at 82mph when the car says I*m doing 80. It was dead on accurate before. If that has something to do with it I*m not smart enough to do that math. Thoughts?

Same thing happened to me with the Faulknen. The rotational bump began between 13-16 mph. We did alignment and tire balancing. Nothing. Ended up replacing the tires with 24k with Bridgestone Duelers Alenza
 
Misalignment won't cause a bump. If the rears aren't in alignment with the fronts, so-called thrust alignment, the rears might cup. Cupping is caused by the tire bouncing on the pavement. Defective dampers...shocks or struts...or imbalance will cause the bounce and the cupping. Or low quality tires with thin or low quality rubber compounds may cup more readily. Evidently the Toyo's effective life span is somewhere in the 30k range.
 
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