205/50/17 or 215/50/17 for Mazda5

[pandus13]

the current Toyos (probably original/OEM?) are at 6/32 all around. 24k+ miles on them also.
slow leak on front passenger tire...
have a 2k+ miles trip coming in 3 weeks.

what would be a good deal? effects of the plus size?
could the current tires make it safely trough the trip? (rain season probably coming... they kind of spin at starting and wife is not lead-footed...)
this is a family car/vehicle/mini-minivan.
Thanks and happy motoring

 

[KitaCam]

Cooper CS5 Grand Touring or Ultra Touring on sale @ Discount Tire on Ebay

 

[stephen9666]

I would probably stick to the OE size unless it really limits your choices in tires.

I think you can stack the $100 off ebay deal on DTD with the Cooper $60 rebate.

I don't have the CS5 Ultra Touring, but I've been mighty pleased so far with my CS5 Grand Touring.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666
I would probably stick to the OE size unless it really limits your choices in tires.


Agreed.

Also second the Cooper CS5's. I have the Grand touring on my Buick and they eat up the wet weather and snow. Great traction and quiet ride.

 

[fdcg27]

These tires still have plenty of tread remaining.
The tire with a slow leak has something in it.
You could have that removed and repaired and run these tires through next fall and replace them for the next winter.
A 10 mm differece in section width is nothing, only about 3/8"
As long as you buy tires of adequate load capacity for the vehicle, you could use either 195 or 205 section width tires without issue.
We have a similar tire size on the Forester and we liked the OEM Yokohama Geolanders but prefer the Pure Contacts we replaced them with.
Either is a rather pricey tire.
If you want something a little cheaper to buy, the General RT43 and the Cooper mentioned above would both be good choices.
We've had Cooper as well as General tires of other models and have found them to be very good in actual use.
Michelins may have been nice in our use and while you do get what you pay for you also pay for more than you get.

 

[147_Grain]

I'd be more concerned about the slight decrease in torque / power if using a slightly taller tire. MPG will go down if you do a lot of city driving, but might go up for mostly freeway driving.

 

[thr_wedge]

I almost always go with a plus zero and the widest tire that will fit on the rim. Unless these are really getting squirrelly I don't think I'd replace Them but I would have the one with the slow leak checked out.

 

[GMFan]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
the current Toyos (probably original/OEM?) are at 6/32 all around. 24k+ miles on them also.
slow leak on front passenger tire...
have a 2k+ miles trip coming in 3 weeks.

what would be a good deal? effects of the plus size?
could the current tires make it safely trough the trip? (rain season probably coming... they kind of spin at starting and wife is not lead-footed...)
this is a family car/vehicle/mini-minivan.
Thanks and happy motoring


6/32 should still be good in the rain...snow is a different story. I think rain performance usually begins to really suffer once you hit 4/32.

I like to begin looking for replacement all season tires around 4/32 and replace at 3/32 however I do use dedicated snow tires so I don't worry about snow performance on all seasons.

 

[3for3]

I had a 2008 Mazda5. I considered putting 215/50's when I replaced the oem tires. I talked to a Mazda technician who advised me to stay with 205/50. He said he heard feedback from other customers that their Mazda5's felt noticeably slower when accelerating from a stop, and during passing situations with 215/50's.

 

[pandus13]

update:
went with the cooper zeon RS3-A. (they didn't have my size in CS5)
will see how they behave today in snow.
Thanks for all the time to post and deals found.

P.S. we're now a cooper family: cs5 on the yaris, zeon rs3-A on the mazda, had cs4's on the elantra...