CX-9 Tire Replacement Suggestion

[mask]

Gentlemen,

(For UAE residents),

Need to share my experience to all Mazda CX-9 GT owners, which I've gone through during replacing my cars tire of size 245/50R20 (OEM Tire - Bridgestone Dueler-400)

in September 2011.

I searched a lot, read reviews and finally filtered two tires;

1) Yokohama Prada Spec-X (But available only in a bit large size i.e 255/50R20).

2) Pirelli Scorpion STR (245/50R20).

Then searched for the prices contact lot of sellers/tire shops and finally the best rate i got from a shop in Sharjah i.e

Al-Nouf Tires ( Mr. Ahmed Fani - call at 065303584, Coordinates @25.306579, 55.389458)

Address: Dubai-Sharjah Road - Al nahda street - Sahara Center – Lots of Tire shops (opposite to Day to Day discount shop) and behind that shops you can find

Al nouf tire warehouse. (You can call while you reach nearby and will guide you to reach there)

The prices I've got;

1) Yokohama Prada Spec-X (255/50R20, Made in Japan, 2011) - Price: 750 AED

2) Pirelli – Scorpion STR (245/50R20, Made in China, 2011) - Price: 600 AED

And its better to share the price of other compatible as well;

3) Bridgestone – Dueler 400 (245/50R20, Made in Japan, 2010) - Price:1100 AED

4) Continental Contact (255/50R20, 2010) - Price: 1300 AED

I bought YOKOHAMA PRADA SPEC-X (25/50R20) (Warranty does not be effected due to size difference as I talked with Service Manager of Mazda Galadari - Abu Dhabi).

So, my suggestion would be to buy the tires and get it fitted with your trusted tire fitter as Al-Nouf tires only sell tires not fit tires, but you can get

the tires fitted also from any tire shop (adjacent to that al nouf warehouse), which I did, I got my tire fitted from nearby shop but they didnt balance

the wheels well, so I've to do it from my trusted shop and it went fine - Now going extremly fine - SATISFIED.

Warning:

1) As the new tires are bit large then original tires i.e. 255/50R20, so keep your car speed a little bit low to avoid traffic fines (In my case 140 is the max

speed in Abu Dhabi to avoid fines, I drive my CX-9 at 139 Km/hr which is equivalent to 140 km/hr actually due to tire size difference)

2) These are my personal experience that I shared, please ensure at your part as well.

[baby]

Thanks Man

[saayer]

useful info. my 2011 CX9 GT has done 34,000 km. i was wondering what is the right time to change the tyres? 40K or earlier? 40K for me would take another 2 months but if its 35K then i will be ready in this month.

also, can you provide some sources of your research. it naturally sounds a bit off when someone recommends a cheaper tyre still saying that its better. thanks for your help again.

[mask]

Car driven 20000+ km after installing Yokohama Prada SpecX - Going fine and smooth. Good tyre.

[mask]

Update:

Finally I've changed my Yokohama Prada Spec-X after driving 68000 km. They work perfect even at that condition I was having some margin from the wear bar. Again, I tried to get the same but I was unable to get them this time.

This time I don't want to spend much, so I surveyed and get a good price on the phone for Goodyear Eagle RS-A (245/50R20, 102H, OEM size, Date of manufacture- June 2013, Made in USA) i.e. AED-600 each with fitting from National Tires Shop - Mussafah Abu Dhabi (Coordinates: 24.37501,54.51346)

When I reached they tried to mislead me as follows;

1) he initially removed my tire without finalizing the tire price,

2) quoted more price then given on the phone,

3) he tried to install 2012 (old) tires but i intervened,

4) he tried to charge more price for 2013 tire,

And finally after a long debate they agreed to give 2013 tires at the same price i.e. 600 AED each.

This isn't the end, when I praise Yokohama Prada Spec-X performance; he (young & smart lad) tried his level best to disregard this tire but I debated with him then he says you don't know more than he does..... fair enough.

Any how their price, equipment and service is good but be watchful as they may try to dodge if you are not having good knowledge of what you are buying.

Result;

The moment I drove my car, after tire replacement, I felt I've done a mistake as these tires have much less grip then Yokohama - Bigggg difference.

YOKOHAMA PRADA SPEC-X is best for CX-9 (As per my experience so far).