I have never had to buy a tire here in the US. This will be my first time buying a tire. Here are my questions.

Background:
I bought the maxima 99 SE brand new in Jan 1999. It has 39K miles and the OEM TOYOs still have some life left in em. But one of the tires has a nail in it right now. One had a nail about 18 months ago that was repaired and one is loosing air. The latter two could be the same tire.

I have read several tire posts. It seems that the best consensus on the tires is Bridgestone RE950 or Dunlop A2. Here is the comparison on tirerack:

** EDIT ** the darn session expired but my comparison was RE950, A2, Eagle RSA and Yokohama Avid V4. Comparing the numbers the last two just don't compare that well.

My question is which one is better with my driving style. Most people here did not even get 30K on the toyos and I have 39K and still counting. The RE950s are about $13 more expensive. I know that Dunlop is a good tire as it has a huge name back home in India. But on reading reviews on tirerack it seems that it does not have a good tread wear eventhough it is a 50K tire. The RE950 is a 40K tire. So which should I go with?

If anyone has a better suggestion please post too.

Thanks and please accept my apologies for the long post.

 

on a 16" rim, I would also consider the Sumitomo HTR+. I have them on my max now and like them a lot. If i had more money I would have the Dunlops, but I went w/ the HTR+s and have no complaints. They are cheaper than the Dunlops or the RE950s with similar performance.

 

I just put a new set of Dunlop A2's on the front of my 96 Max. They seem like a great tire. I got caught in the snow coming home to north Jersey from upstate NY on Monday. These tires were just awesome! I was very impressed in how well they worked in the snow. They fucntion great in the rain too.

 

How about the tread wear? Maybe they are just too new for you to identify tread wear but have you noticed them wearing any faster than your old tires?

 

I've got about 10K on my A2's and they look almost like new.

On the other hand, a salesman at my company, (2K Max) chews the A2's up pretty quick. I think he doesn't watch his tire pressure and that causes them to ware out much faster then expected.

You really can't go wrong with either tire, there both excellent.

 

My HTR+s are the same way. 15K w/ little visible wear.

On a side note, mine have also handled the NE snow pretty well this winter. Any misgivings I might have had about their "all-season" performance are quashed. I don't know one way or the other about the RE950s or the A2s, but I like the HTR+s so far!

 

i got the dunlop sp sport a2's. good tire for semi agressive everyday drivers.. havnt autox or anythign in them ..they hold themselves well in so cali dry weather..rain is pretty good too.i hear they are crap in snow though..i upp the pressure a lil bit to about 42 psi. u get a lil mushy feelign on hard turns when u do the recommended 33 or 35 psi.

 

are you needing an all-season tire or a performance tire?

 

All the tires mentioned above were all-season high performance tires. I live in NC and so I don't particularly care about snow performance as it only snows like once a year (except this year) and once or more it rains ice down here (again except this year).

Thanks for the opinions. Please keep em coming.

Max Noob: Running 42 PSI is kind of too high and would be a bumpy and rattly ride right?

phenryiv1: I cant find HTR+ on tirerack. I could find HTRZ are they same and if they are they are very badly rated for noise comfort.

 

The HTR+ is an ultra high performance all season. Search in size 225-50-16

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...turer=Sumitomo

That should be the link. I got the quote from tirerack abnd took it into ao sears store where they matched the price, but you can do that or order them directly.

Also, the 42 PSI is not rough at all. I ran the HTR+s @ 35 and it felt mushy. Some tires have thick sidewalls. To maintain sidewall rigidity in turns, they rely on a thick sidewall. Some lighter tires use a thinner sidewall but rely on air pressure to keep the tire rigid. This is how the HTR+ works and it feels fine.

 

I've had Dunlop SP Sport A2's on my 95SE 5speed since last summer.

They're far superior in all respects when compared to the Goodyear RSA's that were on the car when I bought it - at less than half the price.

I've got over 15,000 (fairly aggressive) miles on them and they look pretty close to new. We've had a fair amount of snow this winter and they've been just fine - never had any trouble moving from a stop on an icy hill.

 

The reason I could not find it was because I was searching the OEM size and a +ZERO size which is 225-55-16.

So, if I get a 225-50-16 tire do they have to recaliberate the speedometer? The reviews on this HTR+ are by far the best between 950, A2 and HTR+

Thanks

 

Go with the HTR+'s, i've had them for 6500 miles so far and they still look brand new. They are the best tire for the buck from all of the searches that i did before purchasing them. Tirerack customers love them and i don't have any complaints at all. Snow, rain and dry surfaces are childs play with these tires. Better yet, first look at what tire rack said about them performance wiseand then look at the price of them compared to the other tires on the comparo and then look at what the customers who have bought them at see how they feel about their Sumitomo's. There are a variety of car owners on there who have posted their opinions and that should pretty much sum it up. I was skeptical myself before I bought them, but so far I am estatic about my investment.

 

OEM size is really a 215-55-16, so the 225-55-16 was not correct to begin with.

BUT, either way, you do not need to recalibrate the speedo. Mine is about 1-2 MPH fast @ 70 MPH, which means that I am going 68-69 when the speedo reads 70. This has actually SAVED me from tickets because I always forget that I am actually going a little bit slower than indicated. In reality, the difference is less than 5%. In the long run, I think that these tires are the best investment I have made on the max. I recommend buying them from a sears with a price match- this way you can return them to sears if you have a problem down the road. If you order from tirerack you have to ship them back if you have any issues. I love my HTR+, and they have great grip and wear. If you have $ to burn and like the big name companies, you cannot go wrong w/ the A2s, but sumitomo is a subsidiary of Goodyear, so they are really backed by the big boys. They are Goodyear's effort to get into the "tuner" market.

 

I thought that the A2s were $83 or $83 on Tirerack and the HTR+s were $91. Was I looking at the wrong A2s? I don't have the extra $$ by the way.

 

Now that i look, the HTR+ have gone up in price. I paid a lot less than $91 for them. Also, the prices of the HTR+ and the Dunlop A2s are now the same- $91 each. At this point, it just comes down to personal choice. When I bought the Sumis I paid under $300 out the door.

 

Hmmm. That's so unfair. I am looking at about $450 and you got it in $300. Ah well. That's called life I guess.

Thanks for all the info. I will wait for some more people to post. At present I have put fix-a-flat thingy in the tire which is leaking air. Will drag on for about 2 more weeks coz I don't have the time for getting the new tires these few days and neither do I have the money. But soon I will have to get it done.

 

I live in Charlotte and have Dunlops on 2 cars. IMO Dunlop makes the best price performance tire! We had about 7 inches of snow this winter and neither car had any problems. I'd go with the Dunlop Sport A2s, you won't be disapointed.

 

7 inches...that's not SNOW...thats a DUSTING!!!!

J/K.

 

I live in Charlotte too. Where are you Karguy? I live in Pineville. We got about 10 inches. And phenryiv1, down here 3 inches shuts down the city. So it is called snow here not dusting!!! LOL.

 

I know, I was just joking. 3 of my roommates in college were from charlotte. I lived in NC for 4 years during college. I just like to give you southern boys a hard time about snow.

Do they still plow parking lots with riding lawnmowers?

 

I live in south Charlotte, a few blocks off Sardis North. Confuscious says "One man's dusting is another man's blizzard".

 

I haven't seen one of those I did see 'em use a Bobcat to plough the parking lot at work. that was a fun sight to watch.

Karguy,
I am in Pineville.

 

Also means your adding miles onto your car that you haven't really driven.

Dunlop is also jointed with Goodyear along with Kelly Springfield.

 

I went to sears a few months back looking for the HTR+, and they quoted me at $625 mounted/balanced/alignment for 4 tires

something im missing here?

 

Hey what size tires do the you guys run? i drive a prelude and i trade wheels with this guy and the tires are 225/50/16s and they are dunlop sp sport A2s. im trying to sell them if anyone wants em.

 

how much are u looking for ? pm me