Sumitomo HTR A/S P02

[CincyDavid]

Ordered a set for a 2014 Honda Accord LX that one of the kids drives. My only prior experience with this brand was a set that I bought about 10 years ago for an old Jaguar XJ6 beater I was driving. They were LOUD on the highway, hummed like snow tires, but wore like iron and had really good traction.

The factory Firestone Affinity tires are just about kaput with 41xxx miles on them, not impressed with that either.

 

[SatinSilver]

I had horrible luck with the Firestone Affinities on the 99 Accord that I bought at the Firestone store. They were rated for 60k miles and only went 30k with them before they had major issues. The Honda dealer thought some of the belts had broken in them. Went in for a warranty pro-rate which came out to more than I paid for them. I said forget it and put some Kelly tires on which were pretty good. Wore pretty well, nice traction and cheap. About $300 installed.

Sumitomos have been around and have a decent rep. How much were they, where did you get them, size???

 

[Nick1994]

If your only prior experience with Sumitomo tires was horrible, why would you order another set when there's countless other good options out there?

 

[CincyDavid]

They weren't horrible, just loud. To be fair, these were DIRT cheap on tirerack.com...$66 a piece for 205-65-16 plus shipping. The mechanic at work can mount & balance them for a case of Bud Light. I don't really care if these are noisy too, the daughter needs traction more than she needs a quiet highway ride.

 

[SatinSilver]

I was looking at some of these that are made by Sumitomo:

https://cleveland.craigslist.org/wtd/6129481085.html

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I believe that this tire is the cheapest all season available on TireRack in my OEM size, it has pretty good consumer reviews (although with well under 1,000,000 total miles, which says the ratings will probably only drop with time), and it's V-rated to boot.
I was tempted by these, but didn't know much about the brand and ended up getting the Goodyear Eagle Sports AS for quite a bit more money. The GY is only slightly higher in the consumer ratings, and TireRack actually liked the Sumitomo tire better...said the GY had poor wet traction, which I haven't noticed. Both the consumers and TR knock the Sumitomo for road noise.
I am very happy with the Goodyears, but almost everything sounds pretty good about those HTRs at a really good price.

 

[SatinSilver]

The Kelly tires I bought for the Accord were pretty noisy that I bought. But I knew that going in. The sales rep at the tire store told me he had them on his car and liked them but they were a little noisy. Everything else about them was fine.

 

[CKN]

The tires the OP is looking at is a relatively new tire. Comparing to something a few years ago MIGHT NOT be apples to apples.


And they do get decent reviews on Tirerack.

 

[Vuflanovsky]

I had the HTR A/S P01 ( previous version ) for about 30K miles and they were noticeably noisy as they wore down. Apparently ( by commentary and reviews ), this newer tire suffers in a similar fashion although I have no experience with it or know anyone who has them.

I will say that I found the P01s to be a decent tire performance-wise and I thought they were also a decent value considering their low cost. They seemed to be a relatively "tough" tire in relation to potholes and road hazards and these days that can mean a lot and might even be thought as part of the value equation if the roads you drive on are bad enough. These new tires ( also from Thailand if I'm not mistaken ) probably don't fall far from that same tree.

 

[Crispysea]

My wife's used Grand Caravan had four bald tires, and she needed new ones. My local shop gave me a good deal on these. The reviews were good, so I tried them. It rides like a new van! They're really quiet, and handling is great, even in heavy rain.

 

[Andrew1972]

My experience with brand also was garbage tires I replaced early on a model called SXRION. Awful!

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: Vuflanovsky
I had the HTR A/S P01 ( previous version ) for about 30K miles and they were noticeably noisy as they wore down.

I had the same experience with the P01's on my old Elantra. They also had a pesky vibration that even a Road Force balance couldn't fix.

 

[cheech279]

You can't paint Sumitomo with a broad brush and say all of its tires are below average. It is a giant tire maker in Japan and for awhile it was the maker of all Dunlop branded tires before selling off the brand. I have 21K miles on a set of Sumitomo Tour Plus LXT 245-65-17 that are smooth, quiet and are wearing well.

Across different brands every model tire is different, and most tire makers make a few duds. And as always, you get what you pay for.

 

[cheech279]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
My experience with brand also was garbage tires I replaced early on a model called SXRION. Awful!


Did you ever hear of Srixon golf? Like Bridgestone, Sumitomo Rubber Industries makes tires and golf balls.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I have the Falken Ziex ZE950, which is the same tire except for slightly different siping. Sumitomo is the parent company of Falken. They've been on the car for about 5k and they are doing great. You will be happy with them

My tire size is 205/65-15, and the speed rating on my set is W

 

[ET16]

I have a recent set of these. I agree that they are a little loud, but they are very good overall.

 

[copcarguy]

I just installed a set of these in 215/65R16 on my '07 Caravan this spring. They're H rated, and handle great in all conditions. The van is much more stable and I actually like them better than the Altimax RT43's they replaced.