Given
43%
while driving a
Mazda 2 1.5 sport
(185/55 R15) on
a combination of roads
for 10,563
spirited miles
Running the XL version of the T/A's but that doesn't change the fact that the compound used in these tires is garbage. road too hot? driving on mushy crap, cold? nice and stiff but hardly any grip, wet and cold? good luck, you'll need it.
the tires are a good grip range in the wet and dry, certainly better then XM2's i was on but the unpredictability of the compound you never know what the hell it's going to do, some days i can drift on these by pushing it hard round a corner, other days it does nothing but roll to an uncomfortable level. The side walls are softer then my bicycle tires, although the irony is you need to run low tires pressures to even get good contact patch or handling so you lose out on the "comfort" not that it was even there to begin with because its so damn soft all it does is cause crap handling. 1000kg car? yea na, handles like a boat with these.. it holds the power but that's about all it does. for the price its a ripoff, $800 for these useless rubber bands. might work better on a heavier car around 1400kg but at that point you would want a superior tire to prevent poor handling since you would need to modulate your tire pressures away form square to staggered. I did replace my rear shocks and handling improved but that just says the tires are so bad that it needs soft suspension to even function adequately, not what id expect from a tire this overpriced.
final verdict for me, id rather go with the lower grip astronomically better handling MX2, i mean they suck in the wet and don't always hold the power even though its only 83kw, but hell at least when i get in the car and set the PSI correctly it handles how it should with no random changes with temperature or moisture. hell if you are wondering how good the XM2's are, they aren't but they were built well, well enough that the Pilot Sport 5's are based off them.