Tires

Checking tread depth is easy. Look for the wear bars to be flush with the tread.

ima-treadwear.jpg
 
If you search for tires on tirerack.com by entering your make, model, and trim, you will see that the Pirellis are recommended. I have found that Pirelli as tire brand make some excellent tires. I am running with their P-Zeros on my 3 and they are the best tires I've ever had.
 
Hello,

At what mileage did you replace your OEM tires on your CX-5? I*m currently at 15k miles, and am thinking about putting some Pirelli*s on. My tires still seem like they*re in OK condition, and was just wondering what type of mileage I could get out of these?

If you did replace them, what did you go with? What would you recommend?

Thanks all!

Check the sticker on any Pirelli tire. It clearly says, at the bottom of the sticker:

TO MAINTAIN VEHICLE DYNAMICS AND LOAD CARRYING CAPACITY, REPLACEMENT
TIRES MUST ALWAYS HAVE A LOAD INDEX AND SPEED RATING THAT EQUALS OR
EXCEEDS THAT OF THE ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT TIRES OF THE VEHICLE


I asked my COSTCO tire rep about this as I too was considering Pirelli's when my Toyo's wore out on my first CX-5. He suggested that this might be an issue at some tire dealers should a Pirelli fail on your vehicle, BUT, COSTCO offers their own in house warranty(not backed by Pirelli in this case) and they would totally warranty using an H rated tire on a V rated CX-5. If you are sold on the Pirelli you should check with your tire dealer on how/if they would warranty H rated Pirelli's on your CX-5.

In the end I went with the V rated Michelin Premier LTX in the OEM 225/55/19 size and absolutely loved them.
 
Last edited:
Was the load rating similar between the Pirellis and the OEMs? Those are most likely the most critical numbers.
A V-rated tire is capable of 149 MPH. Is the CX5 2.5 non-turbo capable of exceeding 130 MPH (H-rating)?
I believe 130 MPH is a sustained speed rating that has a safety factor, allowing brief bursts of speed beyond 130.
 
Was the load rating similar between the Pirellis and the OEMs? Those are most likely the most critical numbers.
A V-rated tire is capable of 149 MPH. Is the CX5 2.5 non-turbo capable of exceeding 130 MPH (H-rating)?
I believe 130 MPH is a sustained speed rating that has a safety factor, allowing brief bursts of speed beyond 130.

I believe the top speed of a CX-5 is 120 MPH.
 
As much as I hate the Altimax for mushy feeling their wet performance is good.
 
Was the load rating similar between the Pirellis and the OEMs? Those are most likely the most critical numbers.
A V-rated tire is capable of 149 MPH. Is the CX5 2.5 non-turbo capable of exceeding 130 MPH (H-rating)?
I believe 130 MPH is a sustained speed rating that has a safety factor, allowing brief bursts of speed beyond 130.
I believe the top speed of a CX-5 is 120 MPH.
Yes, the official top speed on CX-5 is 120 MPH. Mazda itself uses H-rated tires on 17" tires for lower trim CX-5's which have the same 120 MPH top speed. I see no reason why we can't use 19" H-rated tires on CX-5.
 
Exactly. For 225/65R17, 36~38 should be a more suitable tire pressure to General AltiMAX* RT43 than factory recommended tire pressure at 34 psi.

Can confirm. They felt very mushy at 34 PSI, but firmed up rather well at 36-37 PSI for me.

I get my Blizzak WS80s taken off Friday and the Altimax RT43's back on. I'm going to be sure to tell them to air up to 37 PSI. Felt good last year at that level.
 
As much as I hate the Altimax for mushy feeling their wet performance is good.

It's actually Great! Outperforms about anything out there, at any price...

Add a couple of pounds of air and watch the mushiness go away, and the wet performance will stay...
 
Was the load rating similar between the Pirellis and the OEMs? Those are most likely the most critical numbers.
A V-rated tire is capable of 149 MPH. Is the CX5 2.5 non-turbo capable of exceeding 130 MPH (H-rating)?
I believe 130 MPH is a sustained speed rating that has a safety factor, allowing brief bursts of speed beyond 130.

The OEM Toyo A36's in 225/55/19 are V rated while the Pirelli's are H rated, BUT, the H rated Pirelli's will work just fine IF your tire dealer confirms that they will honor the warranty if you have issues, as Pirelli won't honor the warranty according to their sticker.
 
The load rating for the two tires (Toyo and Pirelli) is the same (99 load index). Only the speed rating is different (H vs V). The General Altimax recommended by several also has a service description of 99H.
 
Tire Rack shows some that are the correct size for my CX-5 when I enter my vehicles information. I will go talk to a tire shop.

Tire Rack will ship those tires to the tire shop of your choice. There is a list on the Tire Rack site.
 
Can confirm. They felt very mushy at 34 PSI, but firmed up rather well at 36-37 PSI for me.

I get my Blizzak WS80s taken off Friday and the Altimax RT43's back on. I'm going to be sure to tell them to air up to 37 PSI. Felt good last year at that level.

Friday! But, as you know..it's the Rocky Mountains. :)
 
Back