Ok, had a blowout lastnight on the turnpike on my way home......the center of the tire completely seperated from both sidewalls (pic to follow). they were 205/45/16........my car is not slammed at all....im wanting a more aggressive looking tire....would 215/50/16 work out? i only ask tire questions on here, because i don't know about tires as much as you guys do, i daily drive my car, so i usually look at Performance all season tires for this time of year. any suggestions?

 

I would do 215/45/16. If memory serves me correctly, that should put the wheel 0.7% on the larger side compared to the stock wheels.

 

What width wheels do you have?

 

wheels are 16x7 BBS wheels. also, i already know that spare should go on the rear of the vehicle. was on the side of the interstate...too many cars and semi's going by to want to mess with swapping rims from front to back at that moment. got home, and ofcourse one of the lugnuts snapped off on the rear wheel. stud is still intact, but now there is a stub nut on the rear. trying to source the special lugnut remover socket today.

 

The 215/45/16 will indeed work best. I would call a tire shop about the lug and get it all done at once.

 

for stock height or not slam height, 215/45/16 works great
btw, how long did that burn out last before the tire was destoryed...??

 

Both 205/45-16 and 215/45-16 will work just fine. Not 215/50-16, which is too big in diameter.

Both 205/45-16 and 215/45-16 are within 1 percent of the outer diameter of the stock size (195/55-15). Most tires come in one size or the other, not both. So decide what kind of tire you want, and get whichever size it comes in.

Some quick recommendations:

If you need something to drive in snow in the winter as well as in moderate to warm temperatures the rest of the year, you'll need all-season tires. One of the best, and affordably priced, is the Kumho Ecsta ASX, which comes in 205/45-16. Should last 30-50K miles.

If you don't drive in snow, but you care about value (how much you pay and how long they last), get the Yokohama S.drive, which comes in 205/45-16. Should last 20-40K miles.

If you don't drive in snow, and you care only about grip and handling, get the Kumho Ecsta XS, which comes in 215/45-16. Should last 15K miles, maybe 20K. The Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 in 205/45-16 is another good choice, and it's better than the XS in rain, but it's also significantly more expensive than the XS.

 

Not sure what you mean, no burnout involved. was doing about 70mph on the turnpike headed home from the Oklahoma vs Tulsa game. was about time for new tires anyhow

 

No love for the Azenis RT615? I am thinking about these in the 215-45-16 trim next year for street duties.

 

Incidentally, when a tire comes apart like the one above, there is usually a direct cause. Maybe that one was rubbing on the suspension (due to improper size, wheel offset, etc), maybe there was inadequate pressure (due to a puncture, leaky valve stem, etc), it could possibly have been a manufacturing defect, etc.

I had one that looked just like that. I had a blowout and it took me a little while to pull over, and I think the tread coming apart from the sidewalls was the result of the wheel rolling on the inside of the tire with no pressure. That was on a tire on which I had been having problems with a leaky valve stem, so I assume that caused too little pressure at the time of the blowout.

Did you notice a nail/screw/object stuck in the tread, that could have caused the tire to be flat/underinflated?

Nope. They were the best a few years ago, but the competing tires that have come out since then (a) are stickier, (b) last longer (15K miles vs 10-12K), and (c) the Kumho XS (and, in 195/55-15 for 15" wheels, the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec) are the same price. So as long as you can get the XS or Star Spec instead, that makes it a no-brainer. The RE-11 (and also Toyo R1R and Yokohama Advan Neova AD08) are also stickier, but more expensive.

I assume Falken is working on a replacement for the RT-615, now that it's no longer competitive. I bet we see one within the next 12 months. I have no inside information on that, it's just conjecture on my part.

 

I had ran the RT215 before with great success. Of course, they are not the 615 but i have heard nothing but praise about the predecessor. You are the 1st i have heard to dislike the latter model azenis. My friend, whom have used the XS, RT215, and the RS2 has vowed not to buy another set of XS cause they simply sucked. He is now using RS2s because he said he loved the wet traction. It's unfortunate that the star spec doesn't come in a 16 inch trim that works with the ITR. I would love to try that tire. Must do more research before buying tires now....

 

Let me help you out with that. While Azenis 615's are pretty much outdated compared to the rest of the tires in that class.
The ones you want to focus on are: Bridgestone RE11, Dunlop Direzza Star Spec Z1, Kumho XS.

Cant go wrong with any of them.

 

he either can't drive or your making this up just to type. the XS is a very fast tire which i have personally ran against the bfg kd and with better times. the KD is also a tire that was more or less right on par with the 615 in the dry. i'm not sure why wet weather matters unless you're racing somewhere that does wet track duty. the star spec by design should be better than the xs in the wet, but then again, why are we concerned about the wet?

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I guess i will look for the XS when it's time to shop for tires seeing they are available in the 215-45-16 trim, quite affordable @ $95 a tire from tire rack.

 

i totally read your first post wrong...my bad
i must be too sleepy when i read it

anyway, if u must use all season tires, ASX is good for what it is
summer tires, XS and star spec are nice fore performance and price

 

I have been very pleased with ASX's especially wqith the price of them.

 

Keep in mind, I'm not saying the RT-615 is bad, only that there are tires out there now that are better (for performance and treadlife), and two of them are no more expensive.

The R-S2 (Z212) is not as sticky as the RT-615, but lasts longer, similar to the other sticky tires (i.e. 15K maybe 20K). Hankook recently released its replacement, the R-S3 (Z222), but I have not ridden on them or read any reports about them. I can only guess that it's competitive with the other brands; like Falken, I'm sure Hankook wants to keep up with the competition too.

 

the RS3 is also a utqg 140 and available in 225 45 15. with a treadwear that light i would be shocked if they did more than 12-15k street miles. i'm also curious if more sizes are coming and how they rate against the other proven winners like the ad08, xs, star, bridge 11 etc..

 

Treadwear ratings are notoriously inaccurate at predicting treadlife. For example, the Falken Azenis RT-615 has a rating of 200, but its 10-12K treadlife is what you would expect from a rating of 100, since it doesn't last as long as many tires rated 140.