July is TIRE month for our family. The CX-9 needs the stock Bridgestoen Dueller H/L 400s replaced, and my Speed6 needs the General Exclaim UHPs replaced BADLY.

So we've shopped ALL the hell around, researched on Tirerack.com thoroughly, and here's what we've decided:

The CX-9 will get a set of Michelin Lattitude Tour HPs from COSTCO for a grand total of $655 out the door. The 9 was already pretty dang good in snow, and handled water pretty well, but the tires were holding it back especially on snow/ice. Turns out the Lattitudes should be one heck of an upgrade. The Duellers get only FAIR ratings from Tirerack in hydroplane resistance and light snow, with POOR ratings on snow and ice. Conversely, the Lattitudes scored EXCELLENT in Hydroplane resistance, light snow, and ice, and GOOD in deep snow.

Duellers
Lattitudes

For the Speed6, I am going from the Exclaim UHPs, which are rated EXCELLENT at hydroplane resistance, and UNRATED in snow and ice (Tirerack recommends not even using them below 40-deg), to Goodyear Eagle GTs for $714 out the door from Discount Tire. I found the Exclaims to be OK in the snow. Not as bad as Tirerack made them out to be, but still not as good as the Kumho ASXs that I had on my old 6S. The Eagle GTs are also rated EXCELLENT at hydroplane resistance, but are also rated EXCELLENT on light snow and ICE, and GOOD in deep snow.

Exclaim UHPs
Eagle GTs

In a couple of years, the wife has agreed to start upgrading to separate winter and summer wheel-tire setups, but for now, UHP all-seasons are going to have to get us through, so at least we'll be using good ones.

I'm actually excited about tires...that's pretty sad.

Oh, and our Jeep was purchased sporting a set of Goodyear Integrity A/S tires. How do THEY rate? THey rate GOOD for Hydroplane resistance and FAIR for ice, light snow, and deep snow. I guess I'll take the MS6 on snowy days.

I had a similar version of those Duellers on my VUE when I bought it new. People on the VUE forums call them the "Donuts of Death". The particular Duellers that came on VUE would dry out quickly leaving them extremely hard which makes for poor dry traction and even worse wet traction- several accidents in the wet were blamed on the Duellers.

I have the Exclaims on my Protege. They've been OK. Wouldn't buy them again though. Their dry grip is really good. If you push them to their limit, you and everyone around you will know because they will scream like they are being stabbed with a dull rusty knife. Wet traction has been good. I've done 75 mph through a down pour in Missouri with them and never hydroplaned. I've driven with them twice in snow and I would choose being stabbed with that dull and rusty knife before driving with them in snow again- the steering wheel ceases as the authority in direction changes and instead takes a roll as a tool of suggestion. And I've found they seem to wear REALLY fast. I haven't done any actual "performance" driving with them such as autox or track, but a couple quick on/off ramps and corners here and there and I'll probably just barely get through this summer on them (their second summer total). Tire Rack is right on their below 40 degree recommendation. I've driven on them a couple times in temps below 32 degrees in the dry and they really suck- under moderately hard braking I would be flirting with brake lock up and taking corners fast.... better hope that extra lane isn't occupied as they really give it up and push wide.

I found the Exclaims to be, as you said, very good on dry surfaces and very good at not hydroplaning. Decent turning on wet. In the snow...well, I got through on them, but AWD was a major factor in that, I think. I only slid a few times, but then again I didn't try anything more than very conservative driving exactly because I had these tires on. The two or so times I went out and have fun on them, they did decently enough that I didn't get stuck. Almost, but not quite.

Part of my problem with my Exclaims on snow is that I have them in a 215 wide where the stock tire is only 195. Combine wide tires with a relatively lightweight car and it's really no wonder my snow traction sucked.

I had a set of General Exclaim UHP's on my car for a while and they are terrible in the snow, probably why they aren't rated. Even though they say all-season even the slightest amount of snow will have you sliding all over the place. A MS6 might be different since it's AWD, but with FWD they aren't too great. They are awesome in warm weather though.

MazdaTom wrote:Part of my problem with my Exclaims on snow is that I have them in a 215 wide where the stock tire is only 195. Combine wide tires with a relatively lightweight car and it's really no wonder my snow traction sucked.

I have the 225s, but my car weighs 3600 pounds, so that probably helps a bit.

zoomzoom6 wrote:I had a set of General Exclaim UHP's on my car for a while and they are terrible in the snow, probably why they aren't rated. Even though they say all-season even the slightest amount of snow will have you sliding all over the place. A MS6 might be different since it's AWD, but with FWD they aren't too great. They are awesome in warm weather though.

Well, in that case, I should be ROCKING in the Eagle GTs, at least when winter rolls in. If I was OK on the Exclaims, the Eagle GTs should make winter a piece of cake.

Stealth01 wrote:Well, in that case, I should be ROCKING in the Eagle GTs, at least when winter rolls in. If I was OK on the Exclaims, the Eagle GTs should make winter a piece of cake.

I've heard really good things about the Eagle GT's. I have the GoodYear Eagle F1 A/S (not to be confused with the Eagle F1) on my car at the moment. They are pretty decent year round tires.

"Donuts of Death" - LOL

how many miles on the cx-9, that your replacing tires already.. I know the factory tires mazda ships are... well.. lets just say way less than desired.. but geezz...

turbo99jetta wrote:how many miles on the cx-9, that your replacing tires already.. I know the factory tires mazda ships are... well.. lets just say way less than desired.. but geezz...

18K. And we're starting to have some reliability problems with the vehicle too. Frustrating as hell with one year left on the warranty.