thelastaspec

Hi everyone,

I finally need some new tires to replace the original Michelins
It rains about 4 inches per month where I live (Pacific Northwest).
The car is lowered I guess an inch or so on Tein SS coilovers.

My priority order: 1)Safety/wet weather 2)hydroplane resist 3)grip 4)cost/wear they are all basically the same

I live on an Island so called the tire places in town and have narrowed it down to some choices:

Michelin Primacy MXV4
Nitto Motivo
Nokian (one of their all season tires)
BFGoodrich GForce Super Sport

What would you recommend of these tires 215/50/R17 with a slight drop on coilovers?


Some pictures of the tire gap:






Cheers

Stephen00TL

I had the Goodyear eagle gt which I really liked for the reasons you listed. It was also rated decent for snow but I never get that in Florida. I would also recommend the Bridgestone re970. The Bridgestone tires are the best I have driven on, right now I have the re760 which is a summer tire. I would also go with a slightly wider tire maybe 225

thelastaspec

Thanks! Great idea on the 225's - one guy at the tire shop recommended I come in and take some measurements to see what extra width I can fit. Those bridgestones get really awesome reviews.

I also forgot to mention how we don't get so much snow, but do get slush and pooling water on highways often...

3.2TLc

Hey man, that's one awesome TL ! ....~W*O*W~....

It shows that you've taken excellent care of it. Compare the tread pattern of the Michelin vs. the Bridgestone tires.
Then consider the treadwear rating along with price difference. Lastly, if you've experienced good handling, service
and ride from your original Michelins......that's worth an extra point,IMO !

fsttyms1

Your rim really isnt designed to have a larger width tire. Its only a 6.5 wide wheel. Many have run a 225 though without issues. As for tires, i would look into the continental dws personally.

Stephen00TL

I try to not go by tread wear rating because the manufacture gets to determine that. I've had high tread wear rated tires last a lot less time then lower tread wear rated tires. What itry to use is tire rack and compare tires and also see what people have used on similar models.

thelastaspec

Thanks!!

So I made some more calls... basically due to availability the best deal would be either the Primacy or the Nitto Motivo...
What would you go with?
Do you agree that the Motivo offers almost the same wet weather performance as the Primacy but with better dry?

The shop suggested they try fitting a 225 and see if it fits or rubs anywhere... What could go wrong if I do chose I wider tire?

Stephen00TL

with that size the most you would have to do is trim the rear bumper taps but I doubt it. The Michelin tire is rated pretty high and I couldn't find anything on the nitto tire. If two are close in price I would probably go with the Michelin tire and they should also be able to get whatever tire you want. That's the way every shop in town where I live works.

fsttyms1

You wont have any issues fitting a 225.

bonknhead

If you can get them, I'd recommend Continental's Extremecontact DWS tires. I'm in the Portland area and they're great in the wet and have good dry performance as well, for an AS tire. I'm running 225/50-17s on stock TL-S wheels and I'm sitting on H&R Sport Springs. No clearance issues at all, no need to do any tab trimming. I think the tires are only ~4/10" taller than the stock 215/50-17s, and the specs for 225/50 tires cite that they're ok for rims between 6" and 8". A bonus is that they weigh only 22lbs!

00TL-P3.2

I've got Eagle GTs on my wife's Civic. Great tires.
Yokohama Avid ENVigor on my TL. Also good in the rain.

An aunt had one of the variants of the Eagle F1 tires on her IS300 & they were amazing in the wet and even better in the dry. 1,000 times better than the Potenzas that were on it from the factory.

AlanW

I had the V-rated Eagle GTs and thought they had fantasic wet grip. I didn't get a lot of miles out of them though, but I enjoy cornering kind of hard. They are a square shouldered tire and handle well, but tend to want to stay on track a split second longer when given steering input.

Now have a higher rated ultra-high performance All-Season Tire Rack classification W-rated tires in Kumho Ecsta 4Xs, but they don't seem to have quite as much wet grip, at least on take off.

thelastaspec

What do you think about running 245/40 on the aspec 17's?
The tire shop will order something else if it doesn't fit or rubs...
I tried on a 235 today and it cleared and fit fine...

fsttyms1

235 and 245 are considered to be too wide for the 6.5 wheel. While a 235 could be pulled off i for sure would NOT run a 245 on a 6.5 If you want a wider wheel, get a wider rim.

thelastaspec

235 is the max for 6.5 correct? So try the 235 and if it rubs go for the 225?

Stephen00TL

235 will probably be pushing it on a 6.5" wheel. I have a 7.5" wheel with a 235 width tire and it fills it up almost all the way. I would look for a 7 or 7.5" wide width wheel. I am 99.9% sure a 245 width tire will not fit on a 6.5" wheel it was barely going to fit on my 7.5" wheel but could fit.

thelastaspec

Well I guess Ill just play it safe and go for the 225 or 235...

The tire shop is into the car (they plastic covered all the leather) and they made it clear if I'm not happy that they will just get something different in for me.

I don't want to get rid of my 7 spoke a-spec rims...

Edward'TLS

Go to TireRack, select a tire, and go into it's "Specs" page. There you will find the factory recommended "Rim Width Range" information that tells you the narrowest and the widest rim widths that each respective tire size can be mounted on safely.

Using the DWS as an example, use the link below and click into the "Specs" page :

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....emeContact+DWS

thelastaspec

Thanks everyone for your help. Thanks Edward - I went to the manuf. site and got the chart...
http://www.nittotire.com/Tire/motivo#size

I am going to try 225/45/17s ...I guess that they are still wider than the rim allows for...

They don't mind taking extra time to get them on there (and he has the same tire on his car).

thegtguy

Hello Lastaspec! I just registered with Acurazine after reading a bunch of your posts. You have a sweet car there. I recently purchased a black A-Spec and was also wondering how many of these there are left out there
Cheers