It's a bit of a turkey shoot trying to decide what tires to buy for my 8 and where to buy them. I did my research and weighed all the variables. I met with one of the guys on this forum, neat guy, gave me lots of advice as I'm a new owner. His 8 is nothing short of awesome, absolutely beautiful it is, anyway he suggested looking at tires from the U.S. which made sense but my paperwork would prevent me from crossing the border at this time.
A high performance tire that came highly rated was " General Exclaim UHP " I checked with a dealer here in town and he would order them in for me and the total out the door price was $997.09
He said these tires ( according to customers who have bought them ) have had excellent feedback, great quality tire at a very reasonable price, quiet ride, excellent mileage, handle superb on dry, good handling on wet pavement, no good for cold temps snow and ice.
I'm not saying they are as good as the Michelin's I was quoted $1500.00 out the door for those tires at Costco but $ 500.00 ,,,,,,,???

 

Quality tires are expensive, cheap tires are cheap. Michelin P2's are an amazing tire and expensive but you can get them cheaper then that. I have never heard of the tires you mentioned. Any reason why your looking for something other then the OEM tire? There is a special at Tire rack atm for them... $500 + shipping + tax USD. Tirerack takes care of taxes so you don't have to worry about customs etc.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=245WR8RE040MZ

thewird

 

The General Exclaim UHP does not have "superb" dry handling. It's basically a summer tire for people who daily drive their car at a leisurely pace and just want some cheap tires to hold them over until lease turn-in. It is an inferior tire compared to the factory RX-8 tires.

 

Appreciate your reply, of course it is a mixed bag when it comes to tires, one guy says this brand is great another says they are crap,,,,,,,that's it in a nutshell.
Regardless of whether I'm buying a big screen TV, a set of tires, a Mazda RX8 or spending any sizeable amount I always look for reviews from owners. So check out the feedback from individuals who have purchased those OEM Bridgestone Potenza tires,,,,,,pretty lousy tire according to the opinions posted. Subsequently if I wish to put new tires on my RX8 I should be looking for rubber other than OEM if the original tires on the car from Mazda are rated as poorly as the ones mentioned above,,,,,,,that only makes sense to me.
Now with that being said I have no doubt that there will be responses to what I have just stated saying that the Bridgestone Potenza is an awesome tire but again when it comes to opinions the tire I was actually interested in had a much higher rating and feedback from owners than the Bridgestone ! Like I said it's a bloody turkey shoot,,,,,,have a good day.

 

I can't offer an opinion on the General Exclaim UHP tire, perhaps you can from experience so I shall presume you have had ( or have ) this particular tire that you know for a fact not to have " superb " dry handling and that they are a cheap, inferior tire.
And they are an inferior tire compared to what ? the Bridgestone Potenza tire that Mazda used as the OEM, seems a bit strange indeed that the OEM tire has a poor rating from most of the individuals that have or have had them on their cars. Some of the quotes regarding this tire are right there on Tire Rack's website under tire reviews and it certainly appears to be a poor choice for Mazda ( just my opinion ).
From a personal point under no circumstances whatsoever would I ever drive on a set of Bridgestone tires,,,,,,never again. I was involved in a serious accident with my truck when one of the Bridgestone 8 ply tires completely came apart at 85 kph. I had bought these tires new and they only had 4800 kilometers on them. Bridgestone fought my claim of course, it would have been much to their advantage to have settled, it was proven that they sold me a defective product and they paid,,,,,,boy did they ever !

 

If you want to get quality with resonable price in my opinion you can't beat khumho tires.When the yokohama advans on my evo wore out"in less than 10000 miles"I tried a set of khumho's.Very good tires,have them on my honda crv too.Reasonably priced and high quality for tires made in china.

 

Last year we put about 4 sets of BFGoodrich KDW 245/40/18's on members cars, and all of them seemed to love the tire. It can be used for some track use as well, without self destructing and has a good life span and wet dry performance. This years pricing will be about $229.00 per tire or $1140.00 mounted installed including all taxes.

 

I just got the Toyo T1R's on my car and they are highly recommended here.
Got them from Thread Depot they were on sale here a while ago
Thread Depot Site
I got 245/40/18's all the way around and I like it plus they look sexy.

 

get some cheap Chinese tires, they guarantee an exiting drive. Or you can look at the Canadian tire brand if they make 18".

I think Al is right on with the KDW II it is a good tire for the price but they are a little noisy if you care about that kind of thing.

Toyo is a brand that offers good value.