2004 to 2020 Mazda 3 Forum and Mazdaspeed 3 Forums banner

Looking for new tires

2108 Views 10 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  kms1990
Hey everyone,

Well I've got 3 out of 4 factory tires on my car left and they're creepin up to 60,000 kms. I'm throwing the winters on tomorrow, then I want to take my stock wheels in for some new rubber.

I have no idea what to get as I haven't owned a car, or a nice car for many years. My last nice car was a 2001 GSR, and that was brand new, man I feel old haha.. Anyway, I replaced the stock rubber with falcon ziex I believe. It's been about 15 years... but what I do remember, they were wicked tires for what they were and the price. I think $125 a corner if I recall correctly. I do remember being able to take on/off ramps at ridiculous speeds, and sticking nicely.

Im thinking about going the same route, because I really liked them, but like I said I haven't paid attention to this kind of stuff in years. Anyone running the falcons? Or something similar?

Another idea I had, was to get a summer tire, and just use the winters in the cooler weather. If you live in the Vancouver area, and this is how you roll, what's your take on this? Too much rain for summer tires?

Cheers guys
1 - 2 of 11 Posts
Arathol, thanks for the input, I'll be sure to check those tires out. I'm running stock everything. With the 16s. I'm thinking about running a 225/60/16. I may drop it .5/.8 with Koni orange and put sway bars, in the future, it's just a thought right now.
whatever you do stay clear of the BFG comp 2 A/S the all season version of the summer tires recommended above are terrible. I had a very bad experience with them and recommend steering clear. Michelin pilot sport a/s 3s have done me very well through several sets on many cars, continental contipro contac are pretty good as well, even though that brand gets pushed around a lot.
look at tire rack tests and reviews they may help you decide, like I think I may go with the Khumo ecsta 4x II after reading reviews and looking at tire racks' tests of them they look like solid tires for a great price. here is the link to the test: Tire Test Results : Motion vs. Progress: Does New Equal Better in Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires? the khumo are grey colored bars on the chart, my current tires on the car when I bought the car are the red colored bars oddly enough, and it shows me exactly how bad these tires really are, as I hate them! lol. the khumo's reach Michelin pilot sport a/s3 levels on the numbers in these charts but cost half as much. take a look the Michelin is blue in this one Tire Test Results : Does the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ Have What It Takes to Be a Top Performer?
(these tests though against other tires at separate times are both done on same car (rwd bmw) that being said we have a fwd mazda with less power, do we need $160 each w speed rated tires? no but its nice to have them)

all the khumo and Michelin bars I would call within normal tolerances of each other, the only thing that really stood out to me was the stopping distance on the khumos was a little more than the Michelins but also take the price differences Michelin Pilot sport a/s 3+ w or y speed rating(readily available version on tire rack) $160.97 a tire utqg of 500 AA A warranty of 45,000 miles, Khumo ecsta 4x II w or y speed rated $84.48 a tire utqg of 420 AA A warranty of 40,000 miles keep in mind different companies utqg are slightly different but typically a 420 vs a 500 tire the 420 is softer, and more sticky but may not last as long as a 500 but with only a 5000 mile difference in warranty it tells me one of these companies under or over rates this slightly, which is not a big deal the AA A is a bigger deal as this is standard and each tire has to meet a minimum to get each rating the first AA is traction both have the top grade of AA on a scale of C-B-A-AA meaning they should both grip really well they also both get the highest marks for temperature of A on a scale of C-B-A meaning both should run cool when at speed, reducing the chance of heat related issues. (any tire even a c rated one is safe just usually for slower speeds, as its speed rating h,v,w,y etc goes up typically so does the grip rating and temp rating to handle the higher speeds)

this tells more about speed ratings and will help when looking so you know what h,v,w etc mean:Tire Tech Information - How to Read Speed Rating, Load Index & Service Descriptions

this tells about utqg ratings more:Tire Tech Information - Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) Standards

all good info to arm yourself with when buying tires. the tire tech section on tire rack has more info about tires than you may ever want or need to know but being a car nerd I read just about all of it.
See less See more
1 - 2 of 11 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top