Sumitomo HTR ZR

Sumitomo HTR ZR

by Liv | Published on October 27th, 2008, 2:52 pm | Sports

Just ordered my tires off of Tire Rack. Ordered a pair of Sumitomo HTR ZRs. Nothing says family car like tires rated in excess of 186 MPH...

It's not so much that I'll even use half the speed rating of the tires, but I just bought them to watch the face of my mechanic as he mounts them on my Ford Taurus. I just like the sound of "Ultra High Speed Tires".... makes the car sound like a space shuttle or something...

Tires for my car are (according to several companies around town) only made by one company in the world -- Bridgestone. So when it comes time to buy new tires (around every 60-70k miles) I have to order the damn things. I wish the company would offer them in white wall. I think it'd be so "Back to the Future"-ish to zip around the area in my Jetsons car, with white walls... :twisted:

If you think you can fit wider tires you could go from 165/65R-14 tires to 175/60R14 which are more common and might give you better handling at a slightly worse fuel consumption

The rule is increase width by 10 mm, decrease aspect ratio by 5 to keep the same overall diameter - talk to your tire dealer.

A Person wrote:If you think you can fit wider tires you could go from 165/65R-14 tires to 175/60R14 which are more common and might give you better handling at a slightly worse fuel consumption

The rule is increase width by 10 mm, decrease aspect ratio by 5 to keep the same overall diameter - talk to your tire dealer.

We're talking about SFI, right on the insight?

Wow... they use tiny tires on that thing...

I always liked the 185x60x14s, but don't know on the insight...

My favorite tire size in the world is 175x50x13... they're just the coolest tires in the world if you have a 1300lb Festiva you want to lower.

That was directed at SFI, the Insight has skinny tires at 38 psi to mimimise rolling resistance. Slightly fatter tires would increase rolling resistance slightly, but the Insight has been criticised for its handling due to the bicycle tires factory installed so fatter tires might be an improvement

A Person wrote:That was directed at SFI, the Insight has skinny tires at 38 psi to mimimise rolling resistance. Slightly fatter tires would increase rolling resistance slightly, but the Insight has been criticised for its handling due to the bicycle tires factory installed so fatter tires might be an improvement

I know nothing about tires and handling. I've never had a problem with the handling on my car, however. But I do loves the 55-65 mpg I get with what I have. :lol:

Yeah, I'm not sure I'd want to ride in the car doing 60MPH and coming into a corner and not realizing it.... 165mm of tread isn't a heck of alot....

I had a set of 225x60, for an older Taurus I had and that darn thing was amazing in the corners... I'm going a little less aggressive on this set...

As I mentioned earlier.... I've ordered some tires. I've been suspecting "separation" of the tread for some time as for the last few months It's been bumpty-bumpty everywhere I go. Now it's bone jarring.... I kept hunting for what the problem was but never found the problem (not a lot of wheel well clearance on the car), and wrote it off as maybe just a really bad balance.... Nope.... Saw a glimpse of this, and within minutes, tore the tire off the car for it's virgin spare.

I COULD HAVE DIED!!!!....

Technically this wouldn't be the first blow-out in a Taurus I had.... It's something about these cars... If you look real close you can see the tire is actually contorted.... The tread actually swerves left on the rim...

If I can just manage a few days on the spare while the new tires are fed-ex'd in, I'll be okay. I did just get back from CVS and the bump is gone with the spare on...

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:
A Person wrote:That was directed at SFI, the Insight has skinny tires at 38 psi to mimimise rolling resistance. Slightly fatter tires would increase rolling resistance slightly, but the Insight has been criticised for its handling due to the bicycle tires factory installed so fatter tires might be an improvement

I know nothing about tires and handling. I've never had a problem with the handling on my car, however. But I do loves the 55-65 mpg I get with what I have.

Just a suggestions, I doubt it would make much difference to the fuel consumption but you could likely save quite a bit over having to special order an unusual size.

A Person wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:
A Person wrote:That was directed at SFI, the Insight has skinny tires at 38 psi to mimimise rolling resistance. Slightly fatter tires would increase rolling resistance slightly, but the Insight has been criticised for its handling due to the bicycle tires factory installed so fatter tires might be an improvement

I know nothing about tires and handling. I've never had a problem with the handling on my car, however. But I do loves the 55-65 mpg I get with what I have.

Just a suggestions, I doubt it would make much difference to the fuel consumption but you could likely save quite a bit over having to special order an unusual size.

Don't waste your time with it Aperson, this is a road I have traveled with SFI before. :lol:

At a steady 50 mph apparently October 27th, 2008, 8:34 pm

At a steady 50 mph apparently

A Person wrote:Just a suggestions, I doubt it would make much difference to the fuel consumption but you could likely save quite a bit over having to special order an unusual size.

Now this is a surprising idea. Would other tire sixes fit my rims, or would I need to buy new ones?

A Person wrote:At a steady 50 mph apparently

The highest speed I recall seeing on my readout has been 85 or so. However, my favorite route between home and work has a 45 mph speed limit...

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:Now this is a surprising idea. Would other tire sixes fit my rims, or would I need to buy new ones?

Yes, the rim diameter is the same, and you can usually change the width +/- 10mm without changing rims. But you'll have to check with a good tire store and speak with someone who knows his stuff.

The 165/65 is the width of the tire and the aspect ratio - if you increase the width, you should reduce the aspect ratio to keep the outside diameter the same.

165 is the width of the tire from the sidewall to sidewall in mm
65 is the ratio of the distance from the rim to the tread and the width of the tire i.e. the height is 65%of the width

10 mm is less than half an inch - which isn't much but gets you to a more common tire size.

A Person wrote:check with a good tire store and speak with someone who knows his stuff.

Dunno about where you're at... but I've found this is generally a difficult thing in America....

Some of it comes with growing up having a parent who worked in the business for 20 years... Usually they look at me like an idiot when I take in a "Plus 1" or "Plus 2" application.... they start freaking out, reading door labels... One time I even broke out the math on the installer, asking him to take 205 and multiply by 60 then divide by 25.4... Litterally, he started to stutter and shake...

Anywho... back to the Honda Insight thing... It appears you have plenty of wheel clearance as this guy/gal upgraded to 195x50x15:

Just got some new wheels for my insight, and thought I would post some pics for anyone interested. I went with a 15" wheel, and some 195/50 R15 Falken tires. The overall diameter of the tire is virtually unchanged, but the new tire is 1.2 inches wider than stock. I hated the stock potenzas. They were predictably unpredictable on wet roads, and would break loose without warning. I've driven about 800 miles since having the new tires/wheels installed my previous average MPG was 61.8, and so far I am averaging 60 MPG. There is a noticable difference on the freeway. I find that I have to work considerably harder to maintain speed when conditions are less than ideal at 75, but for the most part 65 is not a problem. The car feels glued to the road with the new tires, and best of all I don't have to turn my radio up as loud when I'm on the highway because they are much quieter.

So I'd say a 185x60x14 would make a nice upgrade.... Though you'd have to do the math on the diameter... Plus I know you can get then in a high speed rating.

Next time I have money to spare on this sort of thing... nah. I'd rather spend extra cash on vacations.

Width seldom is a problem - if you go one size you are only going 5mm wider on each side. I think you might find it cheaper to buy a more common size as there is more competition and they might come on special.

A Person wrote:Width seldom is a problem - if you go one size you are only going 5mm wider on each side. I think you might find it cheaper to buy a more common size as there is more competition and they might come on special.

I buy tires about once every 3 to 4 years. The difference in prices would only be like $10-$12 per year for a complete set, I expect. The real problem from my point of view is waiting for the order to be filled; last time it was a week.

Of course, I'll have to change if Bridgestone ever discontinues the blasted things. :whistle:

Liv wrote:Technically this wouldn't be the first blow-out in a Taurus I had...

I've had a tire blow-out only once in my life. It was on the Interstate, in a 1977 Gremlin. At 60+ mph... that's one freakish scary thing to have happen.

I've only ever had one blowout, when I was a student and to save money I bought recapped tires. Shortly afterwards i was driving at 80mph when the car started juddering badly. I pulled over and go out but I couldn't see anything - while I was looking a rear tire exploded and a 10" split appeared on the seam. I stopped being cheap on tires after that - and if a tire goes out of balance I investigate immediately.

Well my blow out was on I-40 out in Arizona driving back to California doing about 80 MPH.... God I hated breaking down out there.... and you do all the time.... Especially when the air temperature is 125F degrees... changing a tire on the concrete is just miserable....

Eeee, you were lucky. I used to dream of changing a tire when it's 125 degrees. I had to change a tire at -30 in 2' snow when your hands freeze on the lug wrench...

I thought of you while walking to the store in 40f weather today blowing right through me face on.... Made me think.... "This is nothing compared to Canada...." but then I thought... "Beats the heck out of heat exaustion in Arizona...."

Here, let me show you where we broke down one time....
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=i-40+california&sll=38.318158,-122.712436&sspn=0.016633,0.038624&g=Water+Rd,+Cotati,+Sonoma,+California+94931&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=34.846375,-114.969263&spn=0.002175,0.004828&z=18&iwloc=addr

(Zoom out from that.... holy moly.)

It's called Water Road.... And while it looks like something is there... it's just some transformers.... on the other side of the overpass.... and unlike it's name... there is no water on water road.... We happened to blow a head gasket on our Dodge Daytona right there.... and at first we thought we were lucky because in California they put solar powered "call boxes" on the side of freeways, ours.... didn't work....

Eventually some family came to take a squirt.... and let us use their cell phone.... I called my parents who were back in Bullhead.... about 1 hour away... and we layed out in the middle of the desert with no water, no food, no car...

What an experience....

Got em today... and had them mounted...

Nice smooth ride... I've got to get a couple more when I can.... but for now I've got the ghetto slant.... Lowers the front about 1" (Yes I know it needs a car wash)

Lower that front end about 2 inches and your wheels will actually fit the wheel well.

I have to buy low profile tires for my car. I got some about 5 months ago...Yokohama's actually, from Tire Rack. And yes, Tire Rack is awesome. Delivered right to the installer and everything!