Protege5 replacement tires!
 

So my factory Dunlops were bald at 40000 KM and I wanted to replace them without buying new rims. I know a bunch of people here liked the Dunlops (195/50/16) that came with the Protege5 but I have thought from day one that they were pieces of crap! They squeal on hard cornering, hydroplane when its wet and their winter performance was also pretty bad.

Not to mention the lowest price i could find on them was $180 (canadian) new!

So I went with the Toyo Proxes TPT for $160 (canadian) and have to say that i wish the car had come with these to begin with!

They do not squeal on dry pavement under hard corning, are great on wet roads and, so far, outperform the Dunlops on snow and ice. I know they aren't winter tires but my plan isn't to get winter tires.

So yeah... I wish my Protege5 had these tires from day 1 because I think I would have enjoyed the car much more. The Dunlops wore out unreasonably fast and were unsafe after 30000KM

They went down that quickly? Ouch!

Sorry to thread jack...... did you ever find some fog lights?

KB:cool:

well that one guy said he'd get back to me but still hasn't.. i ahve his email so i guess i will send him another one cuz i do want one foglight!

After 2 sets of Dunlop SP Sport 5000M, results of ~5000 miles on Toyo Proxes TPT:

2002 MP5 - 195/50/16

Dry acceleration - Slight improvement
Dry braking - Moderate improvement (non ABS)
Dry Conering - Slight limit improvement, more predictable, more controllable in induced slide, no squeal
Dry Cruising - Slightly less road noise, tend to follow dips/waves in pavement

Wet acceleration - Marginal improvement
Wet braking - Moderate improvemet (non ABS)
Wet cornering - Slight improvement
Wet cruising - Extensive improvement (5000M's would hydroplane at 50+, TPT's at 90+)

Snow acceleration - Moderate deterioration
Snow braking - Slight improvement (non ABS)
Snow cornering - About equal
Snow cruising - About equal

Overall, I would recommend these tires above the 5000M for an all season performance tire. The 5000M handled the dry and snow fairly well, but they were simply scary in the rain. The white knuckle driving is gone with the TPT. My biggest fear was snow with the TPT, but with a handful of snowfalls thus far in SE Michigan (< 5 in. at a time) they have proven acceptable. I would not compare the TPT's performance to a true 3 season/snow tire combo as I have run on my Probe's in the past, but they have faired well as a performance all season tire.

I know a few people who use Kumho 711's for summer and like them. Thay are cheap too, around $100 per tire.

I want some new tires, since the stock ones suck in rainy weather (which we have alot of in New Orleans). It never snows here, maybe once every 10 yrs (if we are lucky).

Anyone recommend some good tires with good handling and rain performance?

I am getting rid of the Dunlops also, moving to Maryland where it rains/snows 30-40% of the time, I am deciding between the toyos mentioned above or the Falken all season tires.

i run the toyo fz-4s on my stock 16s and the toyo t1-s on my 17s... the t1-s tires are the best IMO for racing in the dry or wet and are great in the corners!!