Background: '08 Fit Sport, 33k.

My front tires are not far from the wear bars, and I was getting ready for a trip to northern Ohio, where snow is common, or at least rain, this time of year.

I was rotating my rear tires to the front when I noticed a nail in my driver's side rear tire. It had lost a bit of air, very slow leak (TPMS hasn't indicated in over a week, when I first pumped it up). Trouble is, that tire already had 2 patches/plugs in it. Can it take a 3rd? The nail is in tread, not a sidewall.

If I have to get a new one, I might as well get 4, because of replacing in pairs and the heavily worn front ones. I've noticed that tires in the stock size of 195/55-15 are far more expensive than say slightly different sizes, like 195/60-15 or others. Can you all recommend a tire size and brand?

I'm an MPG guy, not a ride-to-the-limit-of-traction guy. But not MPG at all costs - it's more an overall savings thing. So if say Eagle GT tires are $30-$35 less in the 60 aspect ratio than in the 55, should I not go for those? Or should I get something in the 185 width to best match diameter?

Thanks for your thoughts.
cspan

 

either stick with the 195/55/15 OEM tires size, or if you want better mileage, go with 185/60/15 (since your goign with a smaller width, the middle number number needs to be larger since it is based on a percentage of the width)

also, get your tires from tirerack.com. their customer service is great and you can get the road hazard warrenty. filing a warrenty claim is very easy and well worth the money if you get flats often (which it seems you do).

as far as a brand and model tire, i cant be of much help since i usually look for a performance tire...but stick to the major manufacturers. goodyear, dunlop, falken, etc.

 

OK, I got my tires from tirerack.com. At first, I ordered in the 185/60-15 size, but then they called me and cautioned me that a) that size was "winter fitment" - whatever that means, and b) if I took those tires to a local place to get put on, I might get turned away. These were the yokohama avid touring-s tires.

I needed tires quick and didn't want to deal with all this uncertainty, so I had them cancel the order and set about getting a set in the 195/55-15.

Since I'm a sedate driver (I only got the sport model for the cruise control and mp3 input), I didn't feel a need for V-rated tires. But at the time I ordered, there were very few choices in H-rated - I think 3, and none of them seemed very good. I ended up looking at a lot of reviews and deciding to try the General Exclaim UHP. I came pretty close to the Eagle GT and the Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum, though.

These Exclaim tires - my shop guys thought I had made a mistake, since the tread is "so aggressive." They suggested they might be a little loud because of that - but my old stock tires were so bad, these are nearly silent in comparison. One thing that was strange is that they inflated them to about 45 PSI, noting that 51 was the max cold pressure. The Fit manual says to use 32 PSI. I ended up lowering it to 35 for now, though I bet if they had them at 35 I'd lower to 32. Shouldn't I set the PSI per the Honda manual, or is it more a function of the tire? Thanks for any thoughts.