Rotary Nut

Any problem running the above referenced size? I am planning on getting some Sumitomo HTR+ Ultra high performance All season radials for my 8 so I do not have to swap tires every year. They have a treadwear rating of 360, AA, A.

I ran these on my '02 Passat W8 and they were a great tire. Very quiet and smooth running with great grip.

The speedometer diference is only .6 mph as they are running at 59.4 mph compared to 60mph indicated. I think this is a null issue.

Tire Rack has them listed for $114+shipping.

racerdave

Yeah, I'm curious too now that you mention it... any clearance problems with 245s?

Rotary Nut

The tires' total tread width only increases by 3/4 of an inch so I dont think that rubbing would be that much of an issue.

MrWigggles

I think 235 is about as big as you want to go without getting the "fat tire" look on your stock 8" wheels.

Of coarse the problem with 235 is that 235/45 is too tall and 235/40 is too short of a tire.

I might consider the 235/45 Continental 2 it is 793 rotations per mile versus 804 for the RE040 that comes with the car. That is a little over 1% change in diameter, would only raise the car by less than .2 inches, would also help the speedometer misreading (the car reads 61-62 when it is only going 60), and would help to hill the wheel wells a little better too with the slightly extra width.

I will probably go that route when I finally need new tires.

-Mr. Wigggles

Rotary Nut

The 225's already place the shoulder of the tire inside of the bead. Meaning the distance between the inner and outer bead is greater than the width of the shoulder of the tire. So an increase of just 3/4 of an inch would place the shoulder right under the bead and also offer better protection against curbage!

Gord96BRG

Will you be running them in winter conditions? If so - they'll be better than the OEM summer tires on cold dry pavement, but they will not be very good on snow. Again, better than the summers, but nowhere near the capability of real winter tires. All-seasons are a compromise in winter, but going much wider like that makes it worse - you'd get better winter performance from a 225 width rather than a 245. Of course, all-seasons are a compromise in summer as well, but I'm sure you're aware of that. I just wanted to point out that these won't be very good in winter.

Regards,
Gordon

Mitch Strickler

Now that the RX8 is here, why don't tire makers respond to the obvious market for all-season tires that fit the stock wheels? Tens of millions of RX8 owners live in the moderate climate belt, where you don't need heavy-duty winter tires but can't get along with the hot-weather-only 040s. Many of us, IMO, would prefer not to pay for an extra set of wheels, plus either a second set of sensors or transfer costs each season, or remounting tires on the stock wheels every season. Mazda has already messed up by not seeing that an all-season option was available this year, so we have had to commit to one of the more expensive solutions. Still, the tires will wear out one day -- pretty soon, according to the 040 wear rating -- and it would be nice to have an all-season choice then. Those who bought 17" wheels may not care, but many of us using the stock wheels, as well as future 8 owners, will.

Rotary Nut

Exactly my point. I ran these same tires on my Passat W8 and that was pushing 270HP on a 4000lb chassis with AWD and they handled great in the snow and on the dry pavement. I ran them for over a year and barely showed signs of wear.

That is why I am going with these. I too do not want to go thru the added hassle of needing a second set of wheels/TP sensors or having to go thru the problem of having tires mounted and worrying about some minimum wage punk screwing up the rims or possibly damaging the TP sensors. I would rather deal with the compromises that present themselves. I do not race or autocross so running tires such as these is not an issue with me. Snow on the streets rarely last more than a few days. and is never more than a few inches deep.

All I need is a little piece of mind that if it gets a bit slick out here I won't have to go running home to change tire/rims and that I have a set of tires that will be able to handle it.

MrWigggles

I have had no problems with the RE040's in the rain. In the snow I'm guessing that they stink.

A summer tire with a 220 or so wear rating might not have the optimal thread pattern for rain, but its 220 (ie. usually softer) rating versus say a 400 or so for an all-season tire, will overcome most if not all of the thread patterns defciencies.

To me the trade off between a harder all-season tire versus a softer summer tire is tread-life versus dry traction performance. The rain performance is often a wash.

Regardless, I too don't understand why there isn't an all-season tire for this car for those who want it.

-Mr. Wigggles

jdaled

While we do get some moderate snows here, the snow removal is decent, and I rarely need to travel beyond city streets or local highways, so I opted for the ultra high performance all-season route with Continental's ContiExtremes in the 245/40 ZR18 size. The were just mounted Friday, and Saturday we got some snow (only about 1"). The car did great, even with the wider tires.

The ContiExtremes are definitely much grippier in cold weather (even dry cold) than the RE040s, of course. Initially the felt a little soft, but that was at the 32psi the tire shop put in them. I like to run my tires a little higher on psi, and once I got them up to 40psi (where I had the RE040s) I no longer noticed any extra softness in cornering, but they do seem to absorb bumps a little better. No problems with rubbing at that size either, as others have posted. One other unexpected benefit, although totally aesthetic, these tires at this size look outstanding on the 8. I'll hafta take some pics & post em' soon, but they just look like the rims were made for them. The rims and tire shoulders line up with no "fat tire" look at all.

I'll obviously have to wait for Spring to test the warm weather dry traction, but I'm hoping that the wider tire will help to compensate for the difference between all-season and summer only. So far, though, I'm thoroughly pleased with the switch, and I'm actually happier with these tires than with the stock. I don't feel like there's been any compromise at all.

Also, I traded in the RE040s, and got about $40 per tire for 'em, so when all was said and done, I paid around $800+, with a free lifetime road hazzard coverage, rotation, and balancing. That's much less than what I would have paid up front for a new set of rims and winter tires (especially if I'd included the monitors), and in the long run, even better since I won't have to swap back and forth.

Sorry for the long rambly message, but there's my 2c.

Rotary Nut

Yes please post some pics especialy of the sidewall profile. I will be buying a set within the next 2-3 weeks in the same size. I am itching to see what this size will look like when mounted on the stock wheel. Thanks for taking the plunge.

NAVILESRX8

iTrader: (1)

My 8 only has 500 miles, and though it is very premature to think about a replacement set of tires, I will be buying those Sumitomos when I replace my current set. All seasons are beter than these summer only RE040's.

syntrix

That's the size I'm running on the second set of stock rims.

No rubbing problems, even at about an inch lower on jic coilovers.

I'm running falken GR Betas.

syntrix

Careful with that statement. The stock 225 Bridgestone 040's are narrower than other tires of the same "dimensions"!

Gord96BRG

Better how? They will have poorer traction and cornering grip in summer, whether in dry or wet conditions. They will have poorer traction and cornering grip in winter than winter tires, which is what performs best in winter conditions. They might last longer... but in any performance terms, they're much worse than a high performance summer and performance winter tire combination. Yeah, they cost less than keeping two sets of wheels and tires - if I wanted to cheap out and live with less than optimal tire performance, I wouldn't have bought a $30K US performance car to start with.

Regards,
Gordon

Rotary Nut

The way I see it is that "optimal tire performance means it will be able to perform in all our real world evironments, i.e. all seasons! Have you driven in the Sumitomo's. Probably not well I have. I drove them here in VA for well over a year. They are a very good tire. I think that if one wants to enjoy thier car year round then it should have year round tires.

So no one is "cheaping out" from what I have seen and read that the 040 are crappy in very wet conditions so what happens if you are driving on a nice spring day and encounter a sudden down pour and your tires start to slip? You will wish that you had the all seasons on!

Try explaining to the police or the judge for that matter that the reason you slid into the back of the other driver was that the tires on your car could not handle what was thrown at them.

syntrix

LoL, that's the most unresponsible post i've seen in a long time!

Know your tires, get what works for you, but know the limits of those tires! Any given tire can be the best at any given situation, but do you have the right tires for your expected situation?


That's the million dollar question!

Gord96BRG

For what it's worth - what you read in this regard is wrong. A high performance summer tire (unless it's a DOT racing tire like a Kumho or Hoosier) has better wet performance than an all-season tire. Tire Rack testing has proved this also. There are NO conditions above freezing temperatures where a high performance all-season tire offers better performance than a high-performance summer tire, dry or wet. In your sudden downpour scenario, I'd bet big bucks that the RE-040 would provide significantly better wet grip than your Sumitomos. Remember, also, that rain performance with respect to preventing hydroplaning works exactly the way snow performance works - narrower is better. The wider tire floats easier. Your wide all-seasons would hydroplane sooner and have less grip than the OEM RE-040s.

Further - let's say you're driving along one nice winter day and a sudden winter storm hits, first freezing rain, then 3 inches of snow. What happens with your too-wide, less grippy all-season tires? You will wish that you had real winter tires on! (But not really , that's serious)

Regards,
Gordon

jdaled

Here ya go Rotary Nut, pics in this thread.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=15099

RX8on19s

THe perfect tire size is 245/35/19 in the front & 275/30/19 in the rear

Rotary Nut

Yeah if you wanty to spend the money for 19 inch wheels. The whole pioint of the thread was staying with the stock 18" wheels and getting a tire that can be used all year round.

Rotary Nut

jdaled

They look just right! I hope to be ordering my tires within the next two weeks. Hopefully the snow will hold out!

Again thanks for the pics they sold me on the size I had settled on. You are right they do not give it the fat tire look and do looke like the rims were designed for them! How do they ride so far?

Gord96BRG

Perfect for... what? Certainly not handling, as the balance will be screwed up with the mismatched sizes. You'll have serious understeer under most conditions, where with same size tires front and rear the car will have near neutral handling.

Regards,
Gordon

rx8cited

Won't running the stock tires at 40 psi cold instead of 32 psi cold (as suggested by the RX-8 owner's manual) cause the tires to wear unevenly ???

In this case overinflation, would cause them to wear in the center of the tread much more than on the outsides, right ????

rx8cited

KTM-316

with the stock tires I don't have any problems in rainy conditions. but I do respect anyone who want to get their specific tires. so they don't have to go through all the hassles of changing it.