Gator5000e

Given I am leasing the RL, I hate to buy a new set of wheels without being assured someone will buy the stock wheels. Given that, I am looking for replacement tires for the stock wheels (my forum search only revealed new recommended tires for 18" wheels). Does anyone have any comments on any of these recommended by TireRack? Thanks.

Tires for 2005 Acura RL Stock Wheels

Size: 245/50-17

Michelin Pilot HX MXM4
Grand Touring All-Season)
Price: $203

Bridgestone Potenza RE050
Max Performance Summer
Price: $245

Pirelli PZero System Asimmetrico
Max Performance Summer
Price: $247

ck37

there are many topics on this, but i can understand on how it can be confusing. The general consensous is the Michellin Pilot Sport A/S 245/50/17 is the tire to upgrade too. They are supposed to give a quieter ride, better traction and a better all around all season tire. Tire Rack has the best price on them for about 208.00 I believe. Retail is usually around 245.00

vp911

As ck37 said, the Pilot Sport A/S. I upgraded to these tires and rcvd $540 credit for the original tires from the factory. I paid $220/tire mounted and balanced. I can say they are a huge improvement in every way. I highly reccomend them. These tires are also reccomended highly over on the 3G TL forums.

AcuraRLBlue

I changed to the Pilot Sport A/S too and got some credit for the OEM tires.

DCD

I don't have them (but I did on our last car), hands down the best all season performance tire...Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. It does rival some pure "summer" performance tires.

hendjaz

"I paid $220/tire mounted and balanced. "

Pretty much same price at Costco ($219) installed, balanced for the Pilot Sport A/S in case you have one of their stores nearby. They don't do trades on tires though so you would have to otherwise sell or retain the OEM tires.

Gator5000e

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the info.

Bitium

first of all you should be looking at 245/45 instead of 245/50. the 45's are a lot more common giving you a lot more choices. You really won't be able to tell the different between the two, if you is you do the 45 will just be very slighly wider and shoter and not it will not chance anything on your car chrasteristics like speedo etc.

Like always I will recommend P Zero Nero M+S, not just because they are absolutly awesome in rain, dry, snow, noise and price. Did I mention they are asymetric, meaning you can rotated them all around, unlike the Pilot Sport A/S that you can only rotated back to front and about $100 difference.

The nero are quiet and give you and excellent luxury feeling, but at the same time feel very attached to the road, and just as quiet as you can get them. Awesome awesome tires, I think hondamore got them on his RL and he loves those tires too.

good luck buy smart.

hondamore

If the size works for you, the PZeroNeroM&S are just a wonderful tire. They are quieter than any tire I've owned and I haven't come close to finding their limit as far as grip goes. These tires (the 245/45/18's)SHOULD HAVE BEEN the OEM tires for the RL - it is a totally different driving experience.

hendjaz

"first of all you should be looking at 245/45 instead of 245/50"

Bitium, I will show my ignorance here but by going to the 245/45 size tire that means that new wheels will be needed since the stock wheels are 245/50, correct? Or will a 45 size tire fit on the stock 50 wheel? I really want the P zero nero but haven't pulled the trigger yet because of my perception (mistaken?) that I will have to get new 18" wheels, which raises a whole new set of questions about whether to go to that size and what wheel to get. Would be much simpler if the P zero nero could properly fit the stock wheel. Thanks for your insights.

DCD

Hend...the "50" and "45" are the profile (height) of the tire wall. And you should have no problem running a 45 series tire. The only issue would be that you are shrinking the profile of the entire wheel/tire...but since it is such a small variation...going from 50 to 45...that it should not affect your speedometer accuracy all that much (you may be off by less than a half MPH...nothing to worry about).

vp911

Hendjaz - They should fit fine. It will affect your speedo by 2.2mph. "When your speedo reads 60mph you are actually travelling at 57.8 mph."

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

You need java installed to use that tool, but you can see how much your speedo will be affected by the tire size change.

hendjaz

Thanks to vp911 and DCD for the quick help on this. I also found a handy calculator at discounttire.com and found as you indicated the 45 size will be a bit smaller in side wall height, circumference and diameter with a resulting difference of 2.4 mph at 65 mph (speedo will show about 62.6 mph). Would not that difference also "fool" the RL computer in other categories such as gas mileage calculation, navigation distance calculations etc. so that other data computed might be affected too?

gbriank

Well, I gave up on the 17's and am having the 18's mounted right now (Pzero Neros). I'm not quite sure how to get the pics up on the board, but i'll have a few to share by this afternoon.

vp911

If you PM me I will give you my email addr and you can email me the pics, I will put them up on the server and post them here for you.

hendjaz

"I gave up on the 17's and am having the 18's mounted right now (Pzero Neros)"

gbriank, did you go with the Acrua oem 18" wheels or find different ones, and which ones if different? Also, are the pzero neros the summer or M/S tire? I could understand going either way in Dallas.

I am leaning towards the 18" again too but hesitant to pull the trigger for fear Acura will come out with new wheel alternatives with the 06 model.

gbriank

OEM Chrome 18" rims. Went with the Pzero Neros M&S (Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires). Rated better than the Pilot Sort A/S (better turn in the slalom, braking, etc...) and were $37 per tire cheaper.

In Dallas, our winters are very mild but I intend to travel north this winter (Chicago) and don't intend to change tires/wheels before doing so (would have to with a summer tire).

I love the look of the current 18" (look just like the A-Spec rims from my TL, sadly there are different offsets between the RL and TL rims....sux!). If you wanna wait, it isn't gonna hurt....not like the RL rims are flying off the shelves! Both Las Vegas Acura and Curry Acura have deals on rims and tires. Just check EBay.....

DCD

You know, that's a good point. Since this car is so tech heavy, it very well may. I guess the only way to know is by trying.

DCD

Gbri...you probably already know this but (and I got this from a family member that works for R&D at Honda), the 18" ASPEC wheel is an 8-step paint process. They use a variation of paints and clears to achive the chrome-look. This is another reason that under different lighting, the wheels take on different hues. At night and under floresent lighting they can appear anthricte in color. My point to all this is that the finish will not be as durable as chrome...but with the proper care, it will not scratch like chrome (unless you curb rash them). Treat the wheels like your paint...no wheel cleaner...and wax from time to time. They should stay perfect for years.
(Gator...sorry to bogart your thread with 18" wheel info)

Gator5000e

No you didn't, DCD! It's all related. Thanks for all the great info, everyone.

Bitium

If you want a perfet match, 245/50 17"s to 245/45 18"'s that would be the best match only off by 0.1%; tire inflation would affect your car charateristics more than the tires.

245/45 will properly fit your stock wheels.

BTW I wouldn't trust this calculator http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Because when you change the aspect ratio 50 to 45 it only increases or decreases your side wall. When in fact changing the aspect ratio will also increase your tire width. In that site they don't ask you for the rim width which will affect the calculations.

In my calculations this is what I get.


---------------------width----------TSW--------ESW----------OSW-------TR----------TD
mm 245/50 17" 122.50-----122.50------61.250-------30.625-----261.84----523.68
inch 245/50 17"---4.82---------4.8---------2.4-------------1.2--------9.7--------19.4

mm 245/45 17" 134.75------110.25-----55.125--------27.562----257.24----514.487
inch 245/45 17"---5.31---------4.3---------2.2-------------1.1--------9.6---------19.2


TR = OSW + 1/2 rims size = total radius (distance from center of circle to any point on it.
TD = ESW + rim size = total diameter (the longest distance from one end of a circle to the other)

mm / 25.4 = Inches

width = is the actual contact with the ground
TSW = the total amount of the two side walls front and back
ESW = The amount of height of each side wall.
OSW = The amount of one side wall the bottom or top.

To me the most important to me is the TR if the TR like this example are off by such minimal amount of .1 inch or 4.6mm, I could bet anything that there will be no difference on your speedo or anything. Is less difference than having a low inflated tire or a older tire. So you are very safe if you put 245/45 17"

I hope this helps. sorry about the dashes but this forum compresses the spaces.

g6civcx

You are correct. The actual tyre size is determined by how it's mounted on the wheeel. It can go up or down slightly from the indicated size depending upon the size of the wheel.