I just had four brand new Sumitomo HTR+ 235/45/17 tires install on my car. I was wondering what was the best tire pressure to use for the best handling with these tires? When the installers install them they aired them up to 40psi and the car handled like shit. I dropped the tire pressure to 32psi and it is much better, but the handling to still not every good. The handling was better with the factory tire!

Any thoughts or help would be welcomed!

Matthew

 

i have the same tires and size (for my winter setup), for some reason i had an uneven wear when they were 36 psi and the wear was over-inflated i dunno why, so i left them at 28 to even them out. but it only happend at both front tires. the back ones were the same pressure but they were still good. it may be an isolated problem. but IMO keep them at 32 and watch out for uneven threadwear

 

I run mine about 34 psi cold all four.

I think these tires are a night & day difference from the OEM MXM4 Michelins. Much stickier and (so far) awesome in the rain. No squealing, slipping, or bad road noise. I've not run them in the snow yet, but have only heard good reviews.

They are all season tires and not ultra-high performance summer tires, so I'm not expecting more from the tire then it's designed for, but so far I'm very happy.

 

I just had them installed a couple of days ago. Maybe they will get better after I put some more miles on them. Until then I will most likely keep them at 32psi.

Thanks for the heads up about the uneven wear problem. I will keep an eye out for that.

Matthew

 

I agree with you on them being much sticker, awesome in the rain, no slipping, and no more bad road noise. But on the squealing I would disagree, because they squeal for me, just not as loud as the factory tire!

Overall they are alot better then the factory tires, just the handling is not as good as I thought it would be.

Matthew

 

I have the 235/45/17 sumis on stock 01 CLS rims and I too had the same question. I ended up calling the Sumitomo customer support and asked the same question and they said...for SPECIFICALLY the 235/45/17 HTR+...........the high cold setting should NOT be more than 51PSI....and the LOW cold setting should NOT be lower than 36. I currently have mine @ 40.

 

Generally 70% of max pressure is considered low.

 

I've got the 215/50/17 size on my CL-S. I'm getting more wear on the middle of the tire than the outside..but only on the fronts. THis is running 32psi.

I don't know why it's wearing like that w/ that low of a PSI. I would think that higher pressure would result in that type of wear

anyway, the rears are wearing perfect. time to rotate the tires.

 

Maybe a quick call to SUMITOMO tomorrow morning can help answer your question. Just simply give them the make and size of your tire and ask for the "low" cold pressure.

 

Re-evaluate after 500 miles or so. Most brand-spankin' new tires still have crap on them from the manufacturing process. You have to break them in for a few miles (maybe 250-500) before they work like they should.

Edgalang - that's an interesting point. Maybe I'll try gassing the tires up a bit and see what it's like. I always thought the 'proper' tire pressure is more a product of the car and suspension then the tire itself. I think the stock Michelin tires also have a max cold pressure of 51 psi.

 

I have the exact same problem. I was running 32psi as well and the middle tread blocks on the front were pretty well worn after about 7K. Just rotated and the rears still have the chalk marks between the treads and show virtually no wear. Other than that, I have loved these tires. Best deal for the $$ IMO.

 

so 3 people with the same problem interesting, i wonder y

 

Did they ask what type of car you have? I would think a cars weight & weight distribution would affect the pressure required.

The wearing in the middle is probably from putting a wide tire on the stock rim. But chikai's problem with the stock size does not fit...

BTW, where is everyone buying these? I need tires very soon. Was considering tire rack..

 

Bought mine at tirerack with my new rims.

 

Just received my set of Sumi's in stock 2003 CL-S sizing. Having them put on on friday at PAA. I'm thinking that the front weight of the car is the culprit here. Thats the real reason why a really decent tire like the stock Mich's are not a good "match" for our CL-S . , but on lighter more 'everyday' cars they are quite good

 

does any one mind saying how much it was to have it installed and balanced and stuff on the stock rims. I am thinkig of buying them, tiretrack has them for $92, but I am curious how much it will cost me to have them installed once I get them in.

 

Tirerack mounted & balanced them for 'free' when I bought the rims too.

I recall that my dealer said he charges $18/wheel for mount & balance. I would guess that the range in $10 - $20 per wheel.

 

How did Tirerack do the mounting? Do they have a shop somewhere? I thought there were just an online store.

 

TireRack has a few warehouses throughout the country. The closest to me is in Delaware, one state away, hence my quick delivery after order.

They will mount tires on wheels that you order from them. Mine came nicely done with the balancing weights hidden on the inner surface of the wheel (nothing on the outer rim). They were shipped UPS without a problem. The rims arrived without a scratch or blemish on them. I paid about $300/wheel and about $100/tire (? $106 I think for the 235/45-17). This was my first 'upgrade' and was well worth the money spent.

If you order tires only you have to get it mounted locally. TireRack has a list of recommended places on line. Just enter your zip code. Each mounting shop also gets reviewed by the consumers.

 

Whatever the cost to mount and balance the Sumitomos is well worth it since they are so reasonably priced tires.. 4 Sumitomo 215/50-17 from Tirerack delivered in TWO DAYS.... $337 TOTAL !!!

 

I bought mine at NTB. For four tires, mounting, balancing, road hazard, and wheel alignment I paid $642.

I almost have 250 miles on my new tires and they ride a little bit better everyday. I think I'm going to air them up to 36psi and see if that makes them any better.

Matthew

 

After driving on 235/45/17 on the stock rim for awhile I wouldn't recommend anyone put them on the stock rim!!!! I'm having VERY BIG BALANCE PROBLEMS with these tire. I would recommend not going bigger than 225/45/17 on the stock rim. I'm now looking at having to buy aftermarket rims for my new tires!

Matthew

 

This is the first report I've seen on balance issues concerning 235/45/17's on the stock 17x7 rims. Most comments have been assw alignment ... might want to have the balance re-checked, since this appears to be an isolated report.

 

I had a wheel alignment done at the same time that I had the new tires installed. I had it back at the same shop. They rebalanced the tires and checked the alignment again. The alignment is fine, but the tires were off balance. After leaving the tire place. I started having problems again. These tires have a balance problem on the stock rim.

Maybe there is something that other people have done to stop this problem. If that is the case can someone tell me what it is???

Matthew

 

outside chance that the balance machine is itself out of balance? hate to see you invest in new rims and have the same problem. Anyway, yeah - wait for others to input.

 

I've heard there were balancing issues as well with the 235/45/17 sized HTR+ on OEM rims. That's why I stuck with the 215/50/17.

So this may not be an isolated case.

 

How does the size of a tire have to do with it's balance? Maybe the tire or the wheel was already (significantly) out of round...

 

I have had the Sumitomo HTR+ 235 45 17 for about 15k miles on the stock rims and have been very happy. Some quick thoughts: I run mine at 40psi, this seems to give me the best handling/quickness/response. It sounds like one or more of your tires might be bad - it happens. One thing though, judging by the number of balance weights on my wheels, make sure the shop is top notch!