Tire Speed Ratings

[wetcat007]

I was talking to a guy at the tire section in costco who said that I should really have V rated tires on my car, 01 Mazda Protege es, I was looking at H rated tires that'll do better all season with my car according to many customer reviews on tirerack, but he said I'm going to need V.

Anyways when I look at the tire speed ratings, H=130MPH max, and V=149MPH max, now my mazda protege can not touch either of those speeds or come close so is there any possible reason for a V rated tire?

 

[acemcmac]

Take it from a mustang v6 owner. Anything with 4 wheels can get to 150 if the hill is steep enough.

I would never buy anything less than V rated tires....

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Take it from a mustang v6 owner. Anything with 4 wheels can get to 150 if the hill is steep enough.

I would never buy anything less than V rated tires....

lol im sure it can down a very steep hill, point is I'm not going to drive it like that

 

[Apex]

The real issue is there are few really good H rated tires compared with V rated. It's not the speed rating itself that tends to make the difference.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: wetcat007

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Take it from a mustang v6 owner. Anything with 4 wheels can get to 150 if the hill is steep enough.

I would never buy anything less than V rated tires....

lol im sure it can down a very steep hill, point is I'm not going to drive it like that

Tires are the best single performance upgrade you can make for the money in any car. The difference between crappy tires and good tires can be night and day.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

How you drive your car should dictate the tires you choose.

If you are not accelerating through every corner and tossing it around in the twisties of some back hwy. H rated or S rated are fine.

H/V rated have more to do with the handling charceristics of the tire than the straight line speed rating. V is a stickier tire and a softer compund that causes it to wear faster but grips the road better.

Few people drive 100+ mph for distance. 100mph bursts on S/T/H rated tires are fine, sustained high speed is not so good.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
How you drive your car should dictate the tires you choose.

If you are not accelerating through every corner and tossing it around in the twisties of some back hwy. H rated or S rated are fine.

H/V rated have more to do with the handling charceristics of the tire than the straight line speed rating. V is a stickier tire and a softer compund that causes it to wear faster but grips the road better.

Few people drive 100+ mph for distance. 100mph bursts on S/T/H rated tires are fine, sustained high speed is not so good.

I used a tank of gas in under 2 hours once without going under 100

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: wetcat007

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Take it from a mustang v6 owner. Anything with 4 wheels can get to 150 if the hill is steep enough.

I would never buy anything less than V rated tires....

lol im sure it can down a very steep hill, point is I'm not going to drive it like that

Tires are the best single performance upgrade you can make for the money in any car. The difference between crappy tires and good tires can be night and day.

The ones that I have now are V rated, and slip and slide rated for the winter. lol
Tires

I was looking at those tires, got some good ratings from people who own the same car, and looks to be an allaround good tire.

 

[Ktulu]

nvm

 

[ultimatebob]

Bah.. I have H rated tires on my Audi A4, and they work just fine. Don't believe the hype.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
I was talking to a guy at the tire section in costco who said that I should really have V rated tires on my car, 01 Mazda Protege es, I was looking at H rated tires that'll do better all season with my car according to many customer reviews on tirerack, but he said I'm going to need V.

Anyways when I look at the tire speed ratings, H=130MPH max, and V=149MPH max, now my mazda protege can not touch either of those speeds or come close so is there any possible reason for a V rated tire?

Get the H. You'll never be in a situation where you will need to go faster than 130 in your Protege, if it will even go that fast. Worry about the 3 T's more than speed rating.

 

[wetcat007]

One more questions, if I buy them from tirerack what's the best place to get tires installed at?

 

[EngenZerO]

at least the guy didn't try to push z-rated tires, hehe

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
One more questions, if I buy them from tirerack what's the best place to get tires installed at?

TireRack will give you a list of instllers in your area.

Another option is Discount Tire Direct and have them mounted at Americas Tire Co.

Bought from both places, happy with both!

 

[fallensight]

You should be using whatever came with the car. If it came with stock tires of V keep with a V. You can go up to better ratings, but dropping to lower ones is definatly not recomended. They do come with those tires for a reason. Auto makers are not in the habit of giving upgrades as stock that they dont need. If you dont know what it came with, I'm sure there is a way though mazda, or its fan sites, to find out what they should have.