Beware: Sumitomo HTR+
10-06-2004, 08:20 PM
#1
Bandwagon Lover
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,023
Beware: Sumitomo HTR+
Bought a set last year. Definately thought they were great tires. Awesome handling and wet/dry traction. Great price of $114/ea for 235-40-18's.
Since then, I have put around 25k of highway driving on them (FWIW, I had 44k on my RE92's when I replaced them). After the first 3 weeks, I had a blowout. No problem as TireRack sent me a replacement. After the first 15k miles, I started to notice less traction. Nothing major, they simply did not hold as well nor were they quite as good when driving through the rain. At 20k they became very sensitive to "leaving the line". If the road was wet, they would spin very easily. Any semi-aggressive driving from a stop would induce wheel spin. At 23k, simply turning left/right from a stop in a non-aggressive manner would induce spin as would leaving a stop or light where there was yellow or white paint strips on the road. Wet driving was not fun at all, altho it was still better than the RE92's. At 25k (today), I had another blow while negotiating pre-rush hour traffic at 80mph.
The tread on the tires looks fine. Sure, at 25k, I only have 1/4 tread left, but the "uh-oh" bars are not even showing yet. On other tires I have owned I would have gotten at least another 8-10k out of them before replacement. It almost seems the HTR's have a tread compound that changes as you put miles on them.
In 23 years of driving, I have only had 3 flat tires. The first was due to road debris causing a side-wall puncture over 10 years ago (Goodyear Gatorbacks). The last two were within the last 11 months while using the HTR+'s.
I have since ordered a set of Yokohama AVS DB S2's. Hopefully these will be better tires than the Sumitomo's.
Since then, I have put around 25k of highway driving on them (FWIW, I had 44k on my RE92's when I replaced them). After the first 3 weeks, I had a blowout. No problem as TireRack sent me a replacement. After the first 15k miles, I started to notice less traction. Nothing major, they simply did not hold as well nor were they quite as good when driving through the rain. At 20k they became very sensitive to "leaving the line". If the road was wet, they would spin very easily. Any semi-aggressive driving from a stop would induce wheel spin. At 23k, simply turning left/right from a stop in a non-aggressive manner would induce spin as would leaving a stop or light where there was yellow or white paint strips on the road. Wet driving was not fun at all, altho it was still better than the RE92's. At 25k (today), I had another blow while negotiating pre-rush hour traffic at 80mph.
The tread on the tires looks fine. Sure, at 25k, I only have 1/4 tread left, but the "uh-oh" bars are not even showing yet. On other tires I have owned I would have gotten at least another 8-10k out of them before replacement. It almost seems the HTR's have a tread compound that changes as you put miles on them.
In 23 years of driving, I have only had 3 flat tires. The first was due to road debris causing a side-wall puncture over 10 years ago (Goodyear Gatorbacks). The last two were within the last 11 months while using the HTR+'s.
I have since ordered a set of Yokohama AVS DB S2's. Hopefully these will be better tires than the Sumitomo's.
10-07-2004, 06:56 AM
#3
Member who somehow became The President of The SE-L Club
iTrader: (19)
Join Date: Jun 2001
Posts: 16,033
I've been running the HTR's for two years, they have just over 20K miles on them. The tread ware has been excellent, my traction has stayed the same since day one. They ride super smooth and quiet. I don't get wheel spin, nor do I lose traction on tight turns at high speeds. Wet traction is awsome, they even tracked well through last years snow.
10-07-2004, 07:49 AM
#4
Bandwagon Lover
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,023
Originally Posted by njmaxseltd
I've been running the HTR's for two years, they have just over 20K miles on them. The tread ware has been excellent, my traction has stayed the same since day one. They ride super smooth and quiet. I don't get wheel spin, nor do I lose traction on tight turns at high speeds. Wet traction is awsome, they even tracked well through last years snow.
10-07-2004, 12:40 PM
#5
i got sumitomo htr(225/50/16) on stock rims.. within 7 months the front driver side tire has a bubble in the U (sUmitomo) and the front right one has an unexplainable slow leak. i hate these tires and have been doing constant burnouts recently just to punish these pieces of $h*t!!!!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post