We’re slated to take our Festival Van (1995 Mazda MPV) on its first journey of the season this year. It needs a pair of tires, but I’ve never bought for a rarely-used vehicle before. We don’t take it out in the snow, and barely drive it during the summer. It’s got 150K on it, runs well (just had a mechanic look at it), but given its low use I don’t think excessive tread life is all that important.
I’ve always focused on handling, all-weather reliability, and lifespan for sedan tires. I have no idea what to look for in this case. I do know that we put the whole family in there, so I’m not looking to save a buck at the expense of emergency handling or having problems getting stuck in a rainstorm.
So—do I just pick out tires as I normally would (any recommendations in that direction)? Or do I look for ‘summer’ tires or something like that?
My opinion is that summer vs winter tires really only matter if (a) you’re putting them on a high-performance sports car, in which case the summer tires will help with handling and so forth or (b) you’re in a really really wintery area where you need snow tires.
For what you’ve described, I’d probably just get a standard all-purpose tire, and maybe only get a 20-40k tire instead of a 60-80k to save a little on price.
“Summer only”, in terms of tire talk, generally notes a higher performance compound and tread pattern that sacrifices rain, mud, snow, etc traction. I second buying cheap regular all-season tires for your intended use.
A little more info to add to what has already been said. Since the vehicle gets driven seldomly, you can do a few things to get the most out of the tires. Ideally, you would put the van on jack stands while it isn’t being driven, remove the wheels and air the tires up to their rated maximum pressure, then keep them out of the sun (and preferably somewhere with a constant temperature). This will prevent sun damage, dry rot, and flat spotting.
I am of the opinion that other than the highest-performance “summer” (dry conditions) tires for very high performance cars only driven in the best of conditions, and the best “snow” tires for vehicles driven in heavy snow and slush, all vehicles should be fitted with the best all-season tires the owner can afford. Period. If you live in an area prone to snow and ice, even a little, they should be at least M+S rated if not ice-rated (little snowflake icon).
Even the best summer has rain, and fall can come quickly and bring not only rain and quick freezes, but those nasty first rains that turn long-dry pavement into an oily snot slick. It’s just not worth it to me to save a few dollars buying high-mileage summer tires that will slide like greased ball bearings on anything but clean, dry pavement. I’ve had nothing but better-to-best AS tires on all my cars, sports models included, for decades, and I know how many times the extra grip saved me from trouble, often while other drivers were sliding around and skidding into each other.
Trade off a little ultimate mileage and a few bucks for decent AS tires. It’s a matter of pennies per mile at most.
I agree with what has already been said. For the type of vehicle, since it isn’t a performance sports vehicle, general purpose all weather tires are probably best.
I personally wouldn’t put the car on jacks or remove the tires if the vehicle is only sitting for a few months over the winter. You might get some slight flat spots but they’ll be very minor and will even out in less than a week of driving. If the vehicle was going to sit for longer than that then I would definitely consider getting the weight off of the tires.
I would use a battery tender to make sure that the battery doesn’t go dead, and I would probably add some fuel stabilizer to the tank before letting it sit. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t do anything special to it. It’s a good idea in the spring to open up the hood and take a good look around to make sure critters didn’t sneak in sometime over the winter and build a nest in the air intake or chew some wires or otherwise cause some problems.
One other thing to be conscious of is the load rating. Minivans take the same size tires as compact cars but are pretty heavy, so there’s a chance the cheaper tires you can get won’t be able to carry enough weight safely, especially if you’re going to have the thing loaded up to the gunnels travelling around.
You should look up the curb weight of your van and estimate the biggest load you’ll regularly carry with it and probably leave yourself 1,000lb buffer or so.
As with previous posts, I think all-season tires are the way to go for you. That said, I highly recommed the following brands and models, in order of preference:
a)Micheline Pilot Sport A/S 3 - Great price plus $70 off for set of four right now.
I often felt Michelines were a bit overpriced, but having had experience with many other brands I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that they really make an incredible road tire that is worth the extra cost. I have a set of ultra high performace all-seasons on one of my cars and I’m very impressed with their all around abilities. You don’t need/want the ultras/highs for your van, probably. But you might consider the Defender as a great cost effective alternative.
b) Continental Extreme Contact DWS - I have these on my other two cars. Excellent tire as well. Very compliant ride. Sticks and tracks like magic in the wet and light snow. My only issue with it is that it’s not as predictable under hard cornering as the others in my list. But you’ve got a minivan so I doubt you’ll be driving very aggressively.
c) Bridgestone Potenza RE970 - This was my last set of tires on one of my cars. I was going to buy it again for my weekend car but I went with the Michelines instead. Nothing wrong with this tire. Great all around performer and also excellent in the rain and slush. Side walls are properly stiff but you may find that makes the ride harsh. However, if you like that solid road feel with great handling, you can’t go wrong with these. Highly rated in side by side comparo tests by consumers and pros.
Ever since we got a second car, the van really has gone from ‘once in a while’ to once in a great while. Sheet goods from Lowes once or twice a year. We are taking in five festivals this year, but that’s about it. Once the snow hits, the battery comes out and into the garage to sit on a keep-alive charger.
I’m kind of torn between the sensibility of putting the van up on blocks and the utter horror of having a van up on blocks. We’re about 300’ into the woods so the neighbours wouldn’t be able to see it, so that kind of ruins the effect.
But worth consideration: the need to replace tires is because of a flat spot, not a tread or puncture issue.
We’re down to the three mentioned by Quicksilver (we just put those Continentals on the Infiniti) and Yokohama Avids, Pirelli P4s–much of the choice will have to do with what’s in stock locally.
Given that my main (only?) concern is safety (i.e. general handling and emergency traction), that we never take the van over 65MPH, and that on a good day it handles like a new puppy that just learned the ‘roll over’ command, is there any way to distinguish between this subset of tires?
Summer tires perform better than all others in rain. If it’s always warm, they are the superior choice from a handling perspective, even if they do wear a bit faster. But I don’t think you’d lose anything by buying all-seasons.
Aside from putting the vehicle on blocks, you can either overinflate the tires to minimize the formation of flat spots, or you can buy a product that sits under your tires.
Thanks. Well, that’s an interesting dilemma. $250 for Flatstoppers or $260 for a pair of new tires. Or maybe $5.65 for gas and a piece of chalk to move the van once a month or so to make sure it’s not on the same spot. Given that we’re about to paint the side of it with chalkboard paint, we’ll have the excess chalk!
So the Contis’ are a known quantity to you. If you’re not loving them and feeling the need to put them on the minivan, I’d go with the inexpensive but highly rated Micheline Defenders. You will not be putting high duty demands on these tires so they should perform well and last. Consider +1 sizing them. If your stock tire size is 215/65/16, choose the 225/60/16. That gives you a slightly bigger contact patch while tire wall height (profile) will be about the same or just a little shorter. Bigger contact patch should slightly improve handling and the weight will be more distributed when standing for long periods of time. In winter storage, definitely get the wheels up off the ground.
There are sexier tread patterns than Micheline (some people care about that), but I would stay away from the Kumhos and the Yokohamas and the Pirellis. They make a better performance/summer/track tire but they are not as rugged and long lasting is the Michelines.
Like GreasyJack, I would check with the TireRack web site. They can probably make a recommendation for a 1995 Mazda MPV.
Personally, I select the best “rain” tire for the money. Your tires are your only contact point with the ground/road. If they slip or slide, you’re toast.
If you’re not looking for high speed tires or extra sticky, high traction tires, I assume you just want to get from point A to point B, and back, with as little trauma as possible. Most all-season tires will do that. Except when it rains. Hydroplaning can be just as exhilarating as black ice. Wheeeeee. :eek:
All of this raises the question, then: why do you keep the vehicle at all? Registration, taxes, maintenance, repair costs… just to use it less frequently than most of us fly?
Maybe rent a pickup once or twice a year instead, for likely the same or less net cost, and make all the troubles SEP.
The entire point of AS tires is that they handle the wet better than “summer” tires, and very few vehicles in any climate don’t drive in wet conditions at least sometimes. (Which can be more dangerous when they are infrequent and thus cause oily residue to rise out of the asphalt.)
I run Goodyear TripleTreds on two vehicles - an Odyssey and an AWD Subaru - and they simply don’t notice wet roads. I’m driving pretty normally, even around uphill corners and low spots, when others are sliding around like it’s a blizzard.
Yes, that’s what I intended to write and I’m glad you’re happy with your tire selections. Tires have many different ratings, load index, speed ratings, treadwear, traction, temperature, etc. The best rain tires are rated AA.
*Traction Grades
UTQG Traction Grades are based on the tire’s straight line wet coefficient of traction as the tire skids across the specified test surfaces. The UTQG traction test does not evaluate dry braking, dry cornering, wet cornering, or high speed hydroplaning resistance.
The Traction Grade is determined by installing properly inflated test tires on the instrumented axle of a “skid trailer.” The skid trailer is pulled behind a truck at a constant 40 mph over wet asphalt and wet concrete test surfaces. Its brakes are momentarily locked and the axle sensors measure the tire’s coefficient of friction (braking g forces) as it slides. Since this test evaluates a sliding tire at a constant 40 mph, it places more emphasis on the tire’s tread compound and less emphasis on its tread design.
In 1997, the UTQG Traction Grades were revised to provide a new category of AA for the highest performing tires in addition to the earlier A, B and C grades. Previously the A grade had been the highest available and was awarded to tires that offered wet coefficients of traction above 0.47 g on asphalt and 0.35 g on concrete. Today the grades and their traction coefficients are as follows:
Traction Grades - Asphalt g-Force - Concrete g-Force
AA - Above 0.54 - 0.41
A - Above 0.47 - 0.35
B - Above 0.38 - 0.26
C - Less Than 0.38 - 0.26
Unfortunately the immediate value of this change to tire buyers will be limited. Use of the AA grade will first be seen on new tires that are introduced after the standard was enacted and will then appear later on tires that have had the required wet traction all along, but were introduced when the single A was the highest available grade*.