[zyron]

i can't seem to find any information regarding the expected life of the 17" sport low-profile tires that come on the mazda3 S.

i went to a lexus dealer a while back and checked out the IS300... i noticed that there was a sticker on every model that read, "attention- the tires on this vehicle will last substantially less than 15,000 miles under normal driving conditions."

ever since, i have been paranoid about getting a car with low-profile, sporty tires. are all low-profile tires subject to low life? i drive more than 20,000 mi / yr and i don't want to have to replace my tires twice a year.

i'm confused. =/
merry x-mas everyone!

 

[mz6zoomzoom]

Well, the 17" Michelins on my MZ6 will certainly last longer than 20k miles (at 10k I'm thinking I should rotate them... I haven't yet). No idea about the Goodyear RS-A's though.

(And I beat the hell out of my car)

 

[vaBooM]

Well, the 17" Michelins on my MZ6 will certainly last longer than 20k miles (at 10k I'm thinking I should rotate them... I haven't yet). No idea about the Goodyear RS-A's though.

(And I beat the hell out of my car)

The Michelins rock! The RSAs... eh... they sucked ass on my Eclipse GSX.

 

[Bombadil]

Most low-profile, high-performance tires will get less mileage. For one reason, most people drive more aggressively on them.

The RS-A's score lower than most on longevity, but if you rotate them, you should get 25,000-30,000 miles from them.

Many stock tires are specially made for new cars and are not built to wear. It isn't usual to only get 15,000 miles from stock tires. As far as I know, the OEM Goodyear Eagle RS-A is the same as their replacement RS-A, that is, I don't think they make a lower grade RS-A for new cars (which is done on some tires).

 

[mz6zoomzoom]

Yeah the RS-A's aren't sports slicks or anything.

 

[zyron]

is there anything that will be both low-profile and longer life? something in the range of 40k+ mi?

and what about the costs? if the 30k mi tires cost 150$ each, i don't want to end up spending 600$ on tires every year. can anyone make suggestions on what tires to buy as replacements when the stock ones wear out? something with a mileage warranty perhaps?

 

[Bombadil]

Some people do report getting 50,000+ miles from the RS-A. I read one report where someone said they got 92,000 miles from a set! Others have gotten much less. So you have a shot at getting well over 30K. The tires don't have a great track record, but depending upon how you drive and if your set develops any belt or tread problems.

 

[Slalom]

is there anything that will be both low-profile and longer life? something in the range of 40k+ mi?

and what about the costs? if the 30k mi tires cost 150$ each, i don't want to end up spending 600$ on tires every year. can anyone make suggestions on what tires to buy as replacements when the stock ones wear out? something with a mileage warranty perhaps?

do some review reading on tirerack.com to see what kind of mileage people have gotten out of their tires... 80% of tread life depends on the type of driver that you are and the type of driving that you do... mostly highway driving? then much longer tread life... squeal around ever city corner? terrible tread life... the other factor is obviously a tires treadwear rating, try and find this muber for the tires you are considering and that will give you an apples to apples baseline comparison between tires.
Goodyear RS-A = 260
Pirellii P7000 on my jetta = 320
Yok A520s i used to have on my jetta = 180

the A520s were super sticky but obviously the wear was quicker, i never did get to run them right down to see how many kms i could get out of them as i sold them and the rims they were on...

 

[D]

I picked up a set of Falken 512's today for snow/wet/dry weather... They supposedly get 70,000 km's which is 45,000mi. That should be pretty good for a few years at least. They are pretty good in the rain and snow but I have yet to try them on dry pavement.

 

[Absinthe]

How much you got them for?

 

[Loaded3]

I had 40,000 trouble free miles on my Yokohama Parada's before I sold them, had plenty of tread left, and they were even more low profile than the 3's tires... They were 205/40/17... so i'm sure the 3's tires will be just fine...

 

[factrzero]

Tread life

I drive super slow. I'll probably only see 50, 000kms out of mine if I'm lucky.

How do I fix that? Winter tires P195 65R 15's with regular serviceable rims and I'm good to go for longer treadwear on my Goodyear's.

RS-A's are acceptible tires. They'll be fine for guys that drive like they're over 85 like me. If you're going to be racing around, probably not. In any event, maybe winter tires are what'll help you. It's cheaper to get those smaller with rims than to get just new 17" tires.

 

[factrzero]

Hmm

OH wait,

Southern California. Snow probably isn't a big factor. Sorry!

 

[Black7]

The stock tires should last quite awhile. Keep in mind they ain't no ultra high performance tire - the point being that the higher the performance, the stickier the tire which usually equates to soft rubber and no tread life.

I'm not aware of a tire on the market that will give you both exceptional wear and handling - and I mean exceptional. I have Avon ZZ 1's on my RX-7 and they are extremely soft and have no treadlife warranty (similar to a snow tire and for the same reasons), but do they ever stick to the road and the handling is amazing. These GoodYears are hard as a rock and should stand up well if tread wear is what is important to you.

 

[LeeLee]

Tire life is one of my main worries with the Mazda3. I have a "spirited" driving style but log most of my miles on the highway. I seem to be able to get whatever the factory warranted mileage is out of a set of tires. Tire life should rarely be compared between two different set of circumstances, so I don't think it's useful to become worried about a few reports of shockingly short wear mileage. What I pay more attention to is what people say about a tire relative to what they've owned before. Towards this end, the GoodYear RS-A is on the lower half of the spectrum. With a treadlife rating of 260, I expect to get 30K to 35K out of these tires before they are used up. That's about 2 years worth of driving in my book. I arrived on this figure based on the fact that I got 50K out of a set of Dunlop SP Sport A2 tires that carry a treadwear indicator of 420.

In terms of replacement tires for the Mazda3, it appears that most of the low-cost replacements are not that much better in terms of wear than the RS-A. In fact, the RS-A is the cheapest all-season tire available in this size according to Tire Rack.

Salvation seem to be in moving up to a 215 wide tire. Specifically, I am looking at the Continental ContiExtremeContact in 215/50/17, at $91 per tire. This tire has a section width of 8.9" on a 7" rim, which should go down to about 8.7" on the 6.5" stock rim. It also has a 25.5" diameter, which is only marginally taller than the stock tire diameter of 25.4". Along with a load index of 90, speed index W, traction AA, temperature, A, wear index 400, and very favorable ratings on TireRack, it appears to be a good lower-cost replacement for the stock RS-A.

 

[D]

My Falkens were $167 each Canadian. But I got Kal Tire to accept my Goodyears as a trade and got $75 credit per tire. All other places were quoting me $40 for trade ins because goodyears suck, OEM tires are worse than after market, and they were used.

 

[maldini]

What is the rating for the 16" Toyos stock tires?

 

[maldini]

I guess the Toyos stock tires would be better than the RS-A.

 

[MA1Nevent1]

i can't seem to find any information regarding the expected life of the 17" sport low-profile tires that come on the mazda3 S.

i went to a lexus dealer a while back and checked out the IS300... i noticed that there was a sticker on every model that read, "attention- the tires on this vehicle will last substantially less than 15,000 miles under normal driving conditions."

ever since, i have been paranoid about getting a car with low-profile, sporty tires. are all low-profile tires subject to low life? i drive more than 20,000 mi / yr and i don't want to have to replace my tires twice a year.

i'm confused. =/
merry x-mas everyone!

They should last about 30,000 considerin you don't do like burnouts and shit every chance you get. The letter on the tires tells you about tread ware but usually stock tires don't last long

 

[mica3speedy]

I'm at just about 17k with the rs-a's. I rotate them every 5k miles. They look like they will last me another 5-10k miles, with a mixture of winter/street/sprinted driving conditions. My fiance's tc has tires that have a wear rating of 160, I wonder how long those will last :dunno: .