First post here, just had a question for you fellow Mazda owners.

http://www.amazon.com/Hankook-Ventus...9555729&sr=1-5

Tire Reviews - Discount Tire Direct

Found these listed while searching for new tires for my car. Anyone have any experience with them? Will they fit on my OEM 17" rims? My car lists size as: P205/50R17 88V

They look cool and cost isn't too bad. Free shipping from both Amazon Prime and Discount Tire Direct help make these work for me financially. I really like the winter performance reviews given my location in Northwestern New Jersey.

Thanks,
-DA

 

Right off the bat I'd say their load limit of 88V is a bit low; other than that they should fit your car perfectly well.

 

Apologies. That's my vehicle's rating.

The actual tire rating of the Ventus V2 is: P205/50R17 93VR XL

 

That should work perfectly well.

FWIW, I just put a set of 205/50 R17 Yokohama AVID ENVigors on my Mazda3 and cannot believe how quiet the car is to drive now. The Yokos replaced a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/Ss (which were about as noisy as the OEM Goodyear Eagle RSAs) which lasted 48,000 miles. If you're not wedded to the Hankooks, I cannot recommend the Yokohamas enough.

 

I read good reviews about ENVigors, but I am looking for a lower cost solution. From what I read, these new Hankooks appear to be a great deal... the big plus being the winter performance.

Is Hankook a good tire brand in general? This is my first time buying them.

 

While I've never run Hankooks, I've heard generally decent things about them.

As for the tires you're looking at being a lower cost solution, the $19 (they're $118 over at TireRack.com) per tire difference between them and the Yokohamas may or may not prove to be lower cost in the long run. I say that because while the Hankooks have a treadwear rating of 500, the Yokohamas has a rating of 560; all else being equal (which it rarely is), the Hankooks should work out to be about ten percent less expensive for any given number of miles by the time they're needing to be replaced. Said another way, the Yokohamas should last about 12% longer than the Hankooks, and that extra tread life will at least partially offset their extra cost.