@#%ing tires!!!

[MX793]

Sorry for the rant, but I really need to blow off some steam.  With snow coming (actually, it's already here but it's been really light thus far), I've been intently trying to find an affordable set of tires since mine have over 30K miles on them and simply will not cut it for an Upstate winter.  With each passing day, the weather has been getting colder and the urgency to get new tires on the car has been increasing.  This has proven to be way more work and frustration than it's worth.  In all honesty, I think it would be easier to just buy a new car than get a set of tires.  The problem is compound.

1)  My working hours during the week are such that I am gone from 6:30 AM until at least 6:00 PM (lately it hasn't been uncommon for me to get home at 7:00 PM or later).  I try to get out early on Fridays (I'm scheduled to be done by noon), but I rarely get home before 4:00.  Most local tire shops (all of them excluding chain stores like Pep Boys) are only open 8:00 to 5:00 during the week and some are open until noon Saturday.  This leaves me a very small time window to get anything done.

2)  My car came with an oddball size (205/50R17).  There's not a big selection in this size and tires that are offered in this size are typically pricy (the OEM tires are over $180 a piece, and they aren't anything to write home about).  Further, none of the local tire dealers in the area even stock tires in that size.  I could arrange to have tires ordered, but I want to get them on ASAP and don't want to wait a week for tires to come in since we may well have a snowstorm in the next couple of days.  I want to get them on now.

3)  Ordinarily, a difficult to find size wouldn't discourage me too much, as I would just get a different size with a comparable overall diameter.  At a casual glance, this wouldn't seem to difficult as a 215/50, 215/45 or 225/45 would all provide minimal speedometer error (none for the 225/45) and are much more common sizes.  The problem?  My car has 6.5 inch wide rims, which means I can't use a 215/45 or 225/45 (both require a minimum rim width of 7 inches).  Since 205/50s are expensive and next to impossible to find without special order, that means I'm effectively limited to one size.  Honestly, Mazda, would it have been that hard to put rims that were a half inch wider on the car?  Would have saved me a lot of grief...

4)  It has proven very difficult to even get ahold of a set of 215/50s.  Even though every place carries tires in that size, I can't seem to find a complete set in any of the models I'm interested in.  For the past 4 weeks now I've been visiting tire shops in an effort to get some tires on that day (or weekend) and asking about tire models of interest in the size I'm looking for and they either don't have any, or don't have a complete set of 4.  Several times now I've been told "We only have two, but we'll be getting a tire shipment in early next week" and then I show up the next weekend (which is the earliest I can get there) to inquire again and they still don't have a complete set of the tires I was interested in.   

[Raghavan]

Can you buy cheap steelies that are 7" wide and just put on a set of 225/45?

[MX793]

Can you buy cheap steelies that are 7" wide and just put on a set of 225/45?

If I were getting snow tires, that's probably what I'd do.  In light of the fact that I plan to get a new car sometime next year, I'm just going to replace the all-seasons.  I don't want to dump several hundred bucks into snow tires, then several hundred more for a new set of summer or all-seasons come spring only to get rid of the car by next fall.

[VTEC_Inside]

Are there any Mazda forums you could maybe get another set of OEM tires off of?

People used to sell OEM rubber off the RSX on ClubRSX pretty frequently and cheaply.

[The Pirate]

This Mazda owner feels your pain.

[the Teuton]

My WRX rims are the exact same width.  Consequently, as has been documented by others as well, I'm running 225/50R16s on them and they work like a charm.

I don't see how this promotes such a problem.

[MX793]

My WRX rims are the exact same width.  Consequently, as has been documented by others as well, I'm running 225/50R16s on them and they work like a charm.

I don't see how this promotes such a problem.

Same rim width, but a different diameter and, more importantly, aspect ratio.  As aspect ratio goes down, required rim width goes up.  A 225/50R16 will fit on a 6.5" wide rim (recommended rim width range for that size is 6"-8").  A 225/45R17, which is the size that I'd have to use, calls for a 7"-8.5" wide rim due to the shorter sidewalls.  Sure, you might be able to physically make the 225/45 fit, but it's not recommended and I'd rather not chance it given that I drive 100 miles a day.

At any rate, managed to find some 215/50s at a local tire shop.  Fuzion (made by Bridgestone) HRi.  Not my first choice, but the price was pretty good (less than $100 a piece mounted and balanced) and the tread pattern looks like it would do OK in the snow.  Considering that the OEM tires are generally considered piss poor in rain or snow and these are ranked higher on Tire Rack, I think they'll do OK.

[the Teuton]

Report back on the HRis.  I was looking at a set to put on my WRX wheels or maybe the summer ZRi models.  I'd like to see how they really are, although a friend of mine says they squeal a lot.

[r0tor]

i almost got f'd last weekend when we got an unexpected snowstorm and i still have my summer tires on... fortunately the snow only made the roads slushy, and even that was pretty wild with my current tires

...snow tires going on this weekend

[280Z Turbo]

i almost got f'd last weekend when we got an unexpected snowstorm and i still have my summer tires on... fortunately the snow only made the roads slushy, and even that was pretty wild with my current tires

...snow tires going on this weekend

It's okay.

13B's don't have any torque anyway.

[r0tor]

you wouldn't have guessed it though... i light up the tires in reverse parking at work without trying!  LOL

[S204STi]

Just drove 600mi round trip, the majority of that time either in a snow storm or driving over the remains of it.  My snows rocked it like it was 1999.  (Dunlop Wintersport 3D). 

[S204STi]

MX, are you hesitant to order any tires from Tire Rack?  I used to have a bad opinion of them, but lately I've had great luck.  8 tires in the last year, none of them with any defects.  Worth a shot anyway, if they have something you think you'd like more than the Fuzions.

[MX793]

MX, are you hesitant to order any tires from Tire Rack?  I used to have a bad opinion of them, but lately I've had great luck.  8 tires in the last year, none of them with any defects.  Worth a shot anyway, if they have something you think you'd like more than the Fuzions.

I was hesitant to order tires because I didn't want to wait with snow just around the corner.  Had I known it would have taken me several weeks to find a local shop with tires, I would have ordered some from the get go.

The Fuzions have already been bought and are on the car.  Can't really give any feedback on them yet because I haven't driven much with them and there were some screw-ups made on the part of the shop that installed them.  The tire shop experience is a whole other story.

[Northlands]

My brother owns a Mazda 3 and ran into this issue while looking for tires. Any winter tire that was half decent was either scarce or really quite pricey.

[Pancor]

^  In his case I'd buy some 15" steelies with 19565R15 snows.  Probably not much more than just tires in the 20550R17 size. 

And while 20550R17 may not be the most popular size as of yet, calling it "difficult to find" really means you're going to the wrong damned shop!  I have examples from Continental, Pirelli, Michelin, Goodyear, Yokohama, Nankang and Dunlop and Hankook in stock at the moment.  GM, Mazda, Porsche, BMW and Chrysler all use this size, and you do see it once in a while on aftermarket wheels as well. 

[MX793]

^  In his case I'd buy some 15" steelies with 19565R15 snows.  Probably not much more than just tires in the 20550R17 size. 

And while 20550R17 may not be the most popular size as of yet, calling it "difficult to find" really means you're going to the wrong damned shop!  I have examples from Continental, Pirelli, Michelin, Goodyear, Yokohama, Nankang and Dunlop and Hankook in stock at the moment.  GM, Mazda, Porsche, BMW and Chrysler all use this size, and you do see it once in a while on aftermarket wheels as well. 

I'm not sure 15" wheels would even fit over the brakes (11.8" front rotors, 11" rear).  If they did, it would be pretty damn tight against the calipers.

As far as difficult to find, I called or visited over half a dozen shops/dealers in my area that, between them, sold most major brands and some of the off brands and not a single one carried 205/50R17s in stock because there is no demand for them.  That's not to say they couldn't get them in, but they'd have to be special ordered.

And, as has been noted by myself and others who have shopped for this size, the offerings in this size tend to be pricy.