OK, so I'm not speaking from a wealth of experience, havent driven on many different types of tire sizes/brand/ratings... But, I recently purchased the Sumitomo HTR+ 235/45/17 from tirerack.com. I was up in Whistler, BC (Canada) and it was snowing like crazy. The tires performed very well in the snow. Haven't really had a chance to test them out on dry pavement, but so far I'm very impressed with them in the rain and snow. These are fairly inexpensive tires, and are rated very well all around. Hope this helps someone.

 

I have the Sumitomo HTR ZII and.. although they are rated as a summer tire and I didn't think they would work in the snow, they actually did very well. They are good in the rain too.. And I can't speak from experience really because I haven't driven on many types of tires, but they hold very well.. ( I constantly test them on big puddles of water, and they do good). Plus, you can say "I got the sumitomos, but they not run flat"

 

I have the HTR+, they are awesome for the price. Snow traction is good, not great, but good. Rain is also good. Dry traction is awesome, these have actually saved my life a few times. And yea I love to say "sumitomo tires too bad they ain't run-flat"

 

sorry for asking this but what's it mean to run flat?

 

run flat is a type of tire.. that will still be able to be driven on for a while when most tires would be flat

But that phrase is from the Big Tymers - Still Fly song.. he says "sumitomo tires and they gotta be run flat"

 

the HTR+'s will be my next set of tires

 

i have sumitomo's on my 20's and they were terrible in the snow, but then again, i might as well have wrapped my rims in rubber bands

 

 

 

be weary of warranty issues with them. See this thread here about my abysmal warranty issue with Sumitomo.

 

just ordered a swet for my new subzero's can't wait to get them!!!

 

did u guys get the HTR z or z II? cause they are two different ones...

 

I know,

I got the z II,

I forget the difference though...

Other than all season & the z 11 just summer..

 

Mine are just the straight HTR+. All season, as opposed to the 3-season HTR Z or Z II...

 

I guess I don't understand why Sumitomo is responsible when you flat spot one of their tires. It's not a design flaw. High performance tires typically use a softer compound of rubber to get good lateral grip. If you slammed your brakes and your car literally skidded for a fairly good distance, then the tire will flat spot, regardless of make, some worse than others. That's just the trade off when using high performance rubber. I would have never dreamed in a million years to hold the tire company responsible for something that happened outside the limitations of the tire. I would blame Nissan if anything for not making ABS standard on their "flagship" Maxima. If you run cheap brake pads, your brakes will also be very prone to locking up and inducing a skid. I went from OEM pads to the more expensive Bendix pads and my car stops much better, it's far more controllable braking wise, and rarely locks the brakes.

Two nights ago I was testing out the limits of braking adhesion of my Sumitomo HTR+. Keep in mind my 96 SE doesn't have ABS and the temps outside were a cold 32 degrees. I did 3 panic stops within 30 seconds of each other. The first stop was from 40-0. The car stopped on a dime without any brake shudder nor skidding. Then I did a 50-0 and the car did the same thing. Finally a did a 60-0 stop and brakes locked up for a slight second as if they were ABS and then the car came happily to a stop. What's this prove? It proves to me that I can pretty much slam my brakes 100% on dry surfaces with the HTR+ without a fear of skidding like I have had with other tires. Dare I say these tires have more grip than the awesome HTR Z summer-only tires I had on my K1s. This is the 4th set of Sumitomos I've owned (HTRZ II, HTR Z, HTR 200, HTR+) and I'm impressed, as usual.


Dave

 

It does not matter that you would not dream of holding Sumitomo responsible. You do not have to understand why it is that Sumitomo is responsible. I don't see how you fail to grasp that spirited driving would fall within the limitations of the tire. It is a HIGH PERFORMANCE TIRE. It is expected to perform at a high level. End of story. Sumitomo, who had the most to lose here, admitted it. Why? Because they had $h!++y lawyers write their warranties. They failed to exclude what they ment to exclude. They were bound by their warranty statement, and try as they might, they could not make my situation fall outside the scope of the warranty.

It is great that your tires work perfectly for you. I love the performance of the new Sumitomos. But the question here is whether they shoudl have replaced the 2 tires under the terms of the warranty. The real issue? Sumitomo eventually admitted in writing that something had to be wrong with those tires for them to flatspot like that. The result? 2 new tires and the old ones back to the lab for testing.

I hate to sound like such a jerk, but you rubbed me the wrong way. If that was not your intent, I am sorry for my sharp response.

 

No harm, no foul.

Spirited driving doesn't cause flat spotting. Slamming the brakes and skidding will cause flat spots. Any tire will flat spot if you skid for a long distance on a dry or mostly dry surface. Some tires do this worse than others due to their softer/harder rubber. High performance tires are definately more suseptible to flat spotting than some hard rubber 70K mile tire. If the tire didn't flat spot, it would be made out of rubber now would it? Simply put, you exceeded the traction of your tires thru braking power. When you're skidding, you have absolutely no control over the car. It's always better to pump the brakes when you're skidding.

It's beyond me why Sumitomo didn't label this a road hazard issue because you were avoiding a hazard. Even though Sumitimo admitted fault in their legal writing, I don't see how this is an issue with their tires. Flat spotting happens in all makes and brands.


Dave

 

No harm, no foul.

Spirited driving doesn't cause flat spotting. Slamming the brakes and skidding will cause flat spots. Any tire will flat spot if you skid for a long distance on a dry or mostly dry surface. Some tires do this worse than others due to their softer/harder rubber. High performance tires are definately more suseptible to flat spotting than some hard rubber 70K mile tire. If the tire didn't flat spot, it wouldn't be made out of rubber now would it? Simply put, you exceeded the traction of your tires thru braking power. When you're skidding, you have absolutely no control over the car. It's always better to pump the brakes when you're skidding.

It's beyond me why Sumitomo didn't label this a road hazard issue because you were avoiding a hazard. Even though Sumitimo admitted fault in their legal writing, I don't see how this is an issue with their tires. Flat spotting happens in all makes and brands.


Dave

 

They did first try to cite it as a road hazard, but sears' (and every other that I read) road hazard warranty specifically excluded my situation. Had sumitomo labelled it a "near miss" accident, they could probably have avoided liability and it would have been my (or my insurance company's) responsability. They neglegted to adopt that arguement.

The funny thing is that I, like you, have had some pretty serious stops on the newer tires with no problems. The tires have been incredible in all other respects. The sears guy that put them on saud that even HE thought that I may have gotten a bad pair, because the felt softer than the pair that were put on to replace them. They even felt softer than the other 2 tires in the original set.

 

Sumitomo (like most makes) recommends 500 miles of soft driving so that the molding agents to be released from the tire. Molding agents are typically very slick and do reduce traction. I don't know how many miles you had on your tires at the time of your flat spotting incident, but maybe they weren't broken-in completely and maybe your tires locked up because of the slick material I know for the first week I had my HTR+, I could "light them up" easily from a roll in 1st. Now after 800 miles and heat cycling, the tires are incredibly grippy and much quieter I might add. It's impossible for me to spin the tires from a roll now. They barely chirp 2nd either.


Dave