We all know that it is important to find the right tires for each utility. It’s like finding the right shoes, you will need different shoes if you go to the gym or if you go climb a mountain. Tires are a really important part of a car but what tires are the best when it comes to the Mazdaspeed 6?
I personally run the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo (k110) in 235/40/18, as a Max Performance tire I really loved them. In my opinion this is really one of the best “bang for the bucks” out there but it’s been quite some times now that this tire is on the market and Hankook released a new version of it called the Evo2 (k120) in 2014. I don’t know this one yet but I’m sure it will be even better than this predecessor. I bought my first set in 2011 and change only my rear tires in 2015 (because of camber wear) so I think a set is good for almost 40000km in street use and sometimes hard cornering.
For my next set I will buy something more sticky since I’m not daily driving my car anymore and will drag race it more often. I’m about to buy the Toyo Proxes R1R in 255/35/18. It is an Extreme Performance tire much stickier than the Evo but also most easily worn.
For my tires, I always buy from they have a team of super qualified technician that are at your service 24/7. They even call you to be sure that you order the good size for your vehicle. You can also refer to the UTQG* chart to see which tires you would like to buy depend on your usage (daily drive, week-end warrior or track only).
*UTQG stands for Uniform Tire Quality Grading, it’s a rating system originated in the US as a way to help consumers make more informed tire-buying decisions. Tire manufacturers give their own tires a grade for treadwear, traction, and temperature. Together, these numbers make up a tire’s UTQG rating—a three-digit number plus two letters. For example, 000 A A.
Treadwear (the durability rating): The treadwear grade is designed to give you a picture of the durability or life you can expect from your tire. What you need to know about the treadwear grade is that the higher the treadwear number, the longer it’ll take the tread to wear down. Higher is better.
Traction (the safety rating): A traction grade tells you how well your tire can stop in wet conditions. The highest traction grade is AA, followed by A, B, and C. Tires with an ‘AA’ traction rating should stop at a much shorter distance than a tire with a ‘C’ rating.
Temperature (the heat resistance rating):
Tires are always up against the stress of heat than can build up driving at high speeds and/or in warm weather. If a tire gets too hot, blowouts can result.
The temperature rating, tells you how well a tire is able to resist heat build-up. That heat resistance is graded with an A, B, or C, with ‘A’ being the highest and ‘C’ being the lowest.
I would recommend, to stay in these specs 215/45/18 or 225/40/18 because less than the 215 or more than the 225 will not fit correctly on the OEM wheels or in the fender. Here are the tires that I think are the best.
Street Tires
The street or passenger tires are split into different categories. In general it’s a tire with medium-high grip on dry or wet roads. They can be noisy but most of the time they are really quiet. Here are the categories Gran Touring, High, Ultra High, Max and Extreme Performance. For the Mazdaspeed 6 with OEM specs tires, we can found a lot of models.
Ultra High Performance (215/45/18 & 225/40/18)
BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp-2
Bridgestone Potenza Re760 Sport
Max Performance (215/45/18 & 225/40/18)
Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2
Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 (k120)
Extreme Performance (215/45/18 & 225/40/18)
Hankook Ventus R-S3 (Version 2)
Track Tires
The track tires are split into different categories. In general this is a tire with high grip on dry or sometimes wet roads. It can be noisy and is not allowed on public road.
Racetrack & Autocross (225/40/18 Only)
