Pulled the Blo-tenzas off my Max today in favor of Cooper Lifeliner SLEs. I wanted to stay stock, because that's just the way I roll, you mod-crazed &*$%#s

Anyway, back to white bread...

I couldn't find much in 225/50 17s, all season. Michelins were like $1,000, believe it or not, and I didn't want to hear what Firestone/Bridgestone had to offer. Passed on Falkens cause I just don't know enough about them. I do know that Cooper makes some racing tires, and the guy who sold 'em to me is local, not a chain like NTB or Discount.

I paid $500 out the door on these Coopers, ran them up to 90 on the way home and got ZERO road noise. They have good grip and they're all season. I'll know more the first time it rains heavy/snows.

I took some grief when I first asked about Coopers, like they're made for station wagons or something. But they have an aggressive tread pattern and a nice profile. I suppose they just need some kind of cool, ambiguous name, like POTENZA to make them cool.

Out.

 

I did very much the same thing this weekend.

After driving 80 miles in pouring rain and only being able to do 40 mph comfortably, I bought some sumitomo HTR+ tires, 235 45 17 from SEARS for $555.xx installed. That was on day 3 of the 10 inch rainfall we had here in KS.

Much much better tire, zero road noise, corners great, much smoother over bumps (I have maxspeeds), and in general a much better tire.

 

Definately let us know how these work out for you in rain and snow. I've heard lots of comments about Michelin Pilot Sport A/S, but this is the first Cooper. I'd like to hear more when there is more to hear.

 

I have some cooper off-brands. Mastercraft Avenger LSR. $450 out the door. Much better than the potenzas. But then again I think slicks would fair a little better than brand new potenzas.

 

I think a set of racing slicks are better than the potenza!

Mastercraft is a line that is owned by Cooper and the tire you have is pretty much the same tire as the SLE tourings with a slightly diff tread. People don't realize that Cooper makes most private brands sold at NTB, Sears, ETC.

We now have over 14k on the SLE tourings that were installed last November. I own the first set installed by an org member and the first set sold in Ohio. They are awesome in snow (open tread prevents packing) and sweet in rain. This year has been unusual that here in Central Ohio we are almost double our rainfall and last Feb we received 15" in one night which is more than the entire yearly average. Anyway... I hope they work as good for you as they have for us. Totally changed the way our 2k drives and handles in all types of weather.

Travis

 

I have the Mastercraft LSR and took afew miles to like them but they're pretty decent in heavy rain not quite as good as some of the Bridgestone with that uni-t tech but are good tire for $. My.02

 

I got a set of Dunlop SP Sport A2's put on over the weekend. 215/55/16. So far I like them, and they seem to have fairly good wet traction. Dry handling seems good also. Took some turns pretty quickly with no squealing or protesting.

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S are supposed to be fricken SWEET but damn are those things expensive! I could darn near get two sets of Dunlops for one set of Michelins.

 

I had Cooper Lifeliner SLE's installed on my 2K2 Max back in February after I had 2 of my BLOWTENZA's blow out on me. I have about 15K on them now and they are wonderful to drive with in the snow.

I second the

Kevin

 

Got the Continental Contiextreme's. 235/45/17's. Absolutely love them. Check out the reviews on tire rack. $520 out the door.

 

ZOGG: That is a sweet ride. How far is that chopped?

 

You can't compare racing slicks to potenzas...it's too high of a class.

The worthy competitors of the potenzas are donuts from dunkin donuts or tires from those hotwheel cars.

 

Doh.. too much credit given to the potenza..... sorry

 

I'm at a choice between the Kuhmo Supra's and the Mastercraft Avengers. I can get both from my dealership for just over $100 a tire.

I like the statements a couple have made regarding the Mastercraft and snow. So...that just might be my swaying point.

 

Where do you find the MasterCrafts? I've got to replace my Pretendzas but I don't want to dump 1k on rubber.

 

Go to www.coopertire.com and check out their dealer locator. Cooper/Mastercraft is big in the south. All of their tires are made in the USA (plants in Findlay Ohio, Tupelo Miss, Texarkana Arkansas, Albany Ga .. I know I am forgetting several others)

Hope that helps!

Travis

 

That's photochopped. THose are the wheels I'm going to get, but I've yet to mess with suspension, or wheels.

The tread pattern is very wide, I"m sure the mastercrafts will do well in the snow. The only problem I've had is that with the wide tread the tires tend to pick up little rocks a lot. I hear click,click,click,click,click as I go down the road. For $100 they're like a sore pecker though.

 

As I was getting my max the other day I noticed that my coworkers Honda Insight has Bridgestone Ho'tenzas RE92 tires...What gives!?! So we have the same tire model as a 3cylinder car!!

 

Yup, a couple of weeks ago I went up to sacramento and upon return to fresno (where i now live temporarly for my job assignment in visalia) found there was a half inch long tear along the sidewall of the front passenger blowtenzas....

I was going down to irvine for labor day weekend and so saturday morning, I drove to america's tire and got a set of 4 kuhmo ecsta supra 712's in 235/45R17 size and ditched the blowtenzas with 20k miles before heading south.

I've noticed more road noise and more bumps from putting the non-oem 225's but I wanted more availability in terms of brands so I changed. Handling and grip improved especially when launching at standstill.

One gripe I have was they marred and nicked my factory 6-spokes...
Last time I'll be getting tires from them.