I strongly urge you NOT to get the Kumho Ecsta ASX. I bought these as the second set on my Mazda, and three of them failed. When I say failed, I mean after 10-15k, the inner corners were wearing quickly. I had the alignment checked and it was right on. Not long after, I was doing 70 in traffic on I-69 and the left front tire blew out. The inner corner of the tire just separated and the tire was toast.

Discount Tire (great chain) replaced that tire under warranty, and maybe a month later my daughter was driving on a local street and the right front tire failed in just the same way. I took it back to Discount Tire, and they agreed to replace all the tires and give me an upgraded (more expensive) tire for just the warranty cost of $10 ea.

Since then, I have been riding on the Yokohama YK520, and I am completely satisfied with them. They are quiet, have good grip and turn-in, decent in snow (Indiana), and are just overall an excellent tire.

Regards,

Matt

 

my stock tires are absolute trash. I have the 2007 mazda3 touring with the 17inchers and the goodyears that came have almost no tread and the car is only 15k miles old....any suggestions for tires that will run a long time? i dont care about them being good in snow or anything

 

I have had good luck with sumitomo HTRZ II on a couple of cars.

 

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After the Bad-Year's, anything is an improvement... even a set of 4 temporary spares would be an improvement over those overpriced, over hyped POS.

 

Is it me or is that true for most bad year tires???....

 

I see you are holding your Emotions back again Richard

 

But of course!! I never let my emotions get in the way of my opinion of something. I just thought you wanted to see me say Bad-Year's again.
Based on my experiences w/GY tires, and their companies customer service over the last 15yrs, you can have 'em.

 

Are they all season or summers?? How do you like to 225/45/17 over the stock size??
Can I run those on my stock rims without having speedo and rubbing problems?
Do you notice a much better ride handling wise and do you notice amuch stifferride with the lower profile 45 series?

 

ASX's are all-season rated.
Not recommended. 215 is the largest most shops will attempt on a 6.5" wheel. I went to a 7" for the 225's.
No rubbing and 225/45's are the recommended Plus Zero size for a 205/50, better than either a 215/50, or a 215/45. Speedo error is negligible w/a -0.26 mpherror @ 65mph. Difference in circumference is -0.4%. Revs/mile difference is only +0.41%.
Your third question is much harder to answer. Same car, 2 different sets of wheels, 3 different sets of tires, 3 different tires sizes. The best I can do: The 215/50 Falkens I was running were a vast improvement over the RSA's. They were 10mm wider, but lighter than the RSA's by roughly +/-2lbs each (<20 lbs ea,) but were a little crude as far as ride is concerned. I ran them on the stock rims which weigh in @ 19.4-19.6 lbs ea.I usually ran tire pressures of 38F/31R in these.
The 225/45's are the ASX's and I'm running them on Kosei Racing light-weight's, K1-TS(13.7-14.1 lbs. ea depending on who you talk to.) The Kumho's weigh in at 22-23lbs ea, or are a little heavier, but the sidewall is a bit softer and the tire feels a bit more civil. I run 40F/32R in these.

Apples and oranges. Due to all the different circumstances I've encountered, or brought on myself,one tire can't truly be compared to the others, except to say that the car feels much better under normal driving conditions than it didwhen I bought it.
Also keep in mind that by increasing the width, the tire patch also changes, so the 225's are not liable to be as good a bad weather tire on this car than an equivalent ASX in a 205 size would be.

 

thanks for all the info.
I didn't think about the wider tire in bad weather thingy...
For me I think it would make more sence to stick with the stock size and
just up grade them in the fall from the stock bad-years.
Then again how much worse would 215/45's be in the snow than the stock 205/50.
And in good weather driving is the 215's going to give me a noticable better ride then the 205??