tires?

dannyxcarr

Member
:
2003 Protege5
tires have never been a very strong area of knowledge for me. i cannot however find a tire with any decent reviews in a 195/50/16, so i was thinking a 205/50/16. going to cause any problems?
 
where have you checked for reviews? Tirerack.com does a pretty good job providing reviews. Look on there, there's a ton of tire choices at 195/50/16- just depends on what your price range is and what kind of tire you need.
 
checked tirerack... the only thing affordable that got decent reviews was the stock dunlops, and i really don't care for them.
 
definitely need all seasons. i like the bfg force sport and super sport. that's why i was wondering if going to a 205 would cause any issues.
 
definitely need all seasons. i like the bfg force sport and super sport. that's why i was wondering if going to a 205 would cause any issues.

205 45 would work.
Which BFG G-Force sport is a now, it's not all season.
The BFG G-Force Super Sport A/S has decent reviews.

Depending on the price range though, in the stock tire size the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S is amazing. Check those out.
 
I ended up with Goodyear Eagle GT in 205/60/16:

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=2&item=412011

$110 at Sam's Club but I could swear I paid less. I can't find the receipt. Good all around tire so far for Chicagoland. It is not a performance snow tire, so go slow. Pretty good in the rain. Had them about a year.

That's a whole lot bigger then the size that's supposed to be on there...

Your speedo is off by a good 5mph...not a good thing. Messes with your ABS too on most cars idk about the p5 though.
 
That's a whole lot bigger then the size that's supposed to be on there...

Your speedo is off by a good 5mph...not a good thing. Messes with your ABS too on most cars idk about the p5 though.

Maybe he meant 205/50???

To the OP, yes 205/50 will work fine and you can also fit 205/45 on the stock wheels. These two sizes will give you many more choices to choose from.
 
definitely need all seasons. i like the bfg force sport and super sport. that's why i was wondering if going to a 205 would cause any issues.

The Kumho ASX is a great tire for the money. Way better than the horrible Dunlops. Mine lasted for about 27,000 miles before I went with Kumho SPTs during the summer and Blizzak LM25s (195/55/15 on steelies) for winter. Certainly not as long lasting as you might hope, but that's a reflection of how hard you can drive them, as well their initial price.
 
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I'm running the Falken 912's right now, and they are pretty great for a cheap A/S tire. They have stiff sidewalls, so turn-in is great, they are quiet, grip is near summer levels, and seem to be wearing pretty well, given my bat-out-of-hell driving. I highly recommend FAlken, this is my 5th set of them, though 2 sets were summer. Once the 912's are toast, I'm in for the 452's.

$79 delivered!

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/d...c=18110&counter=1&ar=50&rd=16&sw=false&cs=205

And the PZero Nero M+S are consistantly scored well, but I'm not sure they're woth the extra coin over the 912's:

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/d...c=41982&counter=1&ar=50&rd=16&sw=false&cs=205

And, BTW, discouttiredirect is the cheapest I've found. EVery time I need tire, I shop around, but no one beats the prices, which include shipping.
 
The Falken Ziex ZE-912 SHOULD NOT BE USED IN SNOW!!!! They have very little grip and are extremely dangerous in anything more than 0.5" of snow/sleet/ice. I've had them on two cars and will never drive in the snow with them again. But, they are a performance bargain and have excellent grip in the dry and performed well in the wet until they were about 2/3 worn. I got 25,000mi out of mine.

I'm running Proxes 4 now--very good grip in the dry and decent in the wet, a bit noisy, weaker sidewall than I'd like, not sure about longevity or snow performance.

They UHP tires available in the stock Protege 195/50/R16 size tend to be summer-only tires, despite their "all-season" branding.

If you plan to drive in snow/ice/sleet, definitely get a set of snow tires. Generally, you can find a barely used set cheaply on craigslist.

If you can only get one set of tires and will drive in snow/ice/sleet, I'd get the Continental ContiExtremeContact--average performance but excellent in the snow (according to Consumer Reports).
 
Proxes 4: soft sidewalls and fast wear are the two main complaints. I wouldn't buy them over 912's or ast's or pzero's.
 
at this point the only thing that could be worse than what i've got would be slicks... i just bought the car in june, and i thought the tires were in pretty good shape until i pulled the wheels off to do my brakes. the reviews i found on the proxes were FAR better than the reviews i read on the falkens... i looked into the falkens because i sears is running a buy 3 get the 4th free and that definitely fits in to my price range. i kept reading that the sidewalls on the falkens were too soft.
 
I assure you the 912's are not too soft, they are very stiff. The previous falken 512's were very soft, the 912's fixed that. The proxes4 are also very soft, as are all toyo's, I would avoid. The only reason not to buy the 912's is the lack of snow performance. In that case the contiextremecontact would be the tire to buy, no doubt.
 
Also, the Continental ContiExtremeContacts have very low rolling resistance (figure +1mpg) and excellent longevity (both according to Consumer Reports).
 
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