Toyo Proxes S/T Tires

[ttrac]

I am looking to replace the conti's on my r/t awd and was wondering if anyone has tried the Toyo Proxes S/T 's or what your thoughts might be on them they come in 255/55 like the BFG KDW's.

[Magne300Csium]

I have had them on my wife's Mountaineer for about a year and they are really quiet and seem to be wearing really well.

I have had them on my 300C for about a month. They seem to make a little bit more noise, but look really good and ride really nicely. I have them in 255/45/20 on Zenetti Flow rims. I could have done 22's in the same wheel, but I cannot help but think that they would have produced a more harsh ride.

I have a small vibration I am trying to get out of the steering at about 60 MPH, but the set up seems to work well.

Here is a rear quarter picture the afternoon I got the tires and wheels.

[Magne300Csium]

Here is a larger picture.

[ttrac]

I have had them on my wife's Mountaineer for about a year and they are really quiet and seem to be wearing really well.

I have had them on my 300C for about a month. They seem to make a little bit more noise, but look really good and ride really nicely. I have them in 255/45/20 on Zenetti Flow rims. I could have done 22's in the same wheel, but I cannot help but think that they would have produced a more harsh ride.

I have a small vibration I am trying to get out of the steering at about 60 MPH, but the set up seems to work well.

Here is a rear quarter picture the afternoon I got the tires and wheels.

Hi Magne300Csium, Thanks for the reply you seem to be pleased with them so far, I think that I am going to give them a try it is a toss up between them and the BFG KDW's. They are a little more expensive that the BFG but they also have somewhat better reviews. I will keep you posted on what I decide. Thank You again for your input.

[Silver1]

I have the Toyo Proxes S/T's on my 05 RT AWD. I went with the 255/50-18 because I didn't want to increase the overall diameter. At indicated 75, I'm doing 74. They are quieter, handle better and look WAAAY better!
There is only 5/16" clearance on the inside but no sign of rubbing at all.

[zonian]

any pics silver1?

Paul

[E55 KEV]

Toyo's website list the 255/45/20 at 29.6" and our OEM tire height is 28.6". There is a new size available in the Proxes S/T - 255/40/20 - which is 28" tall.

[Silver1]

Here are some pics. If you want larger, uncropped or the front supension clearance, PM me with your email. Remember, this is an RT AWD...

[zonian]

Thanks for the pics...they look good. Those are 255-50-18's, right? Any idea if they'll fit '05 RT RWD stock rims without interference??

Paul

[LtlDad]

Thanks for the pics...they look good. Those are 255-50-18's, right? Any idea if they'll fit '05 RT RWD stock rims without interference??

Paul

I put 255/55/18 on my SXT (w/ RT Rims) and there are not any issues. I also have the Eibach Prokit, so with the lowering, still a non-issue.

[Silver1]

Those are 255-50-18's, right?

Yep! They are the Toyo Proxes S/T 255/50-18's.

[ttrac]

I ended up going with the Toyo Proxes S/T, 255/55-18, so far I am satisfied with them. The overall look is great and they seem to handle a lot better than the stock Conti's. The ride is a lot smoother and the dry traction is very good haven't had a chance to check on the wet handling yey but they are supposed to be good and I'm sure they will be. Thanks all for you input and help.

[hewinutah]

I know it's early, but has anyone had the Proxes S/T on snow? How did they do?

[shiltz]

was wondering about the snow handling on them as well, looking at them for when my continentals need to go which is soonish and I want something with a lot more dry grip but that's hopefully at least on par with the continentals in the snow.

[Magne300Csium]

To repeat an earlier post, I have the Toyo Proxes S/T on two cars, my 300C and a Mercury Mountaineer, AWD.

I had the Toyos on a mountain trip earlier this year and they worked well. I consider good snow traction the ability to stop well over the ability to get going. They worked nice and I look forward to our upcoming trip to get a better idea of their handling.

[shiltz]

Magne300Csium, how would you rate them for snow traction compaired to the stock continentals, assuming you got a chance to drive the 300 in the snow with them before putting the Toyo's on.

[Magne300Csium]

I don't know. Didn't have the conti's on in the snow. I can't expect that they were that good.

[shiltz]

ahh, ok. the stock continentals aren't really that bad in the snow, I drove in a blizzard with them and had no problems, mostly what i'm worried about is the added width since a narrower tire is better in snow and continentals are 225, if I get the toyo's i'll be getting 255's, though I did have 245's on my dakota R/T and that was fine in the snow, though those were actual snow tires not all season.

[MCaesar]

Pure snow tires will be so much better than all season tires it isn't even funny. You are talking about going from 8.85 inches wide to 10.03. That is a decent jump but not out of line. I think the tread pattern is more important than limiting width.

[hewinutah]

MCaesar:
Pure snow tires will be so much better than all season tires it isn't even funny.
I agree, but SLC is located in a valley which during a snow storm may get 4”-6”, and the plows kick in fairly quick. The mountains on the other had will get several feet of snow during the same storm.

As I understand it, snow tires will wear quickly on plowed / dry roads (90% of my driving during the winter). The other 10% would be when I go skiing; even then the canyon roads are plowed really well. So even then I would only need the snow tires 1-2 times a year. Heck if it's really going to dump in the mountains, I will take our 4x4 instead.

I'm looking for a good compromise. Utah is a dry state, (alcohol pun intended, and no we are not dry. Dam state liquor store charges an arm and a leg). If we didn’t get snow I would get some 3 season tires, but with snow I need something that can handle it, but for the most part I am more concerned with dry / wet performance.

All I know is the contis where marginal at best when they were new, and they are starting to hydroplane during heavy rains. BTW I only have 10,000 miles on them, and no I don’t do a lot of burn outs.

shiltz and MCaesar:
I agree a skinny tire will bite through the snow better then a wide. But the Magnum is a heavy sob. 4300lbs if I remember another post correctly, and it's got a near 50/50 weght distribution. I also agree that 225 to 255 is within reason, I'm just hoping that the tread pattern on the S/T can make up the diff.

I used to drive a 69 mustang year round in Michigan, talk about a$$ end light. I had some 245 all season Road Huggers and they did really well in the snow.

Sorry for the long post. :-)

[shiltz]

Pure snow tires will be so much better than all season tires it isn't even funny. You are talking about going from 8.85 inches wide to 10.03. That is a decent jump but not out of line. I think the tread pattern is more important than limiting width.
true pure snow tires will be better but I can't afford to spend $500 + $80ish mounting and balancingf or winter tires now and another $500 + $60-80ish for new summer tires in the spring and then $60-80ish twice a year for mounting and balancing swaping the tires twice a year or another $500 or so for a 2nd set of rims to perm mount the snow tires on, plus snow tires really aren't needed with the car imo, I had no problems with the stock all season continentals in a blizzard so just so long as the new tires I get are at least as good in the snow i'm good, i'm used to driving a high torque rear wheel drive pickup truck with no traction control or ESP in the winter so the magnum with all seasons tires is no problem.

[MattRobertson]

Wet performance on the Toyo Proxes is something I have been concerned about for awhile. I have had 255/45/20's on mine for a couple of months or so. I noticed in the few times they were in the wet that they seemed to spin really easily, and the ESP didn't kick in anywhere near as quickly as I would have expected it to when the Conti's were on: Coming out of a car wash, on dry pavement but wet tires, I could fishtail significantly right out of the gate, or wait until I straightened and then slip-slide in a straight line down the street for maybe 150 feet.

It rained yesterday evening pretty good. First of the year (yes, I know... oily roads). I took the car out to test my concerns. It was as if I was driving on grease. From a left turn lane I was able to spin the car so far out of whack that I had to lift. The one time I let the ESP save me instead of doing it myself, I was almost 45 degrees off center and I had to correct back in the other direction just as if I was driving a car without ESP at all.

ESP *does* kick in. With these tires on it just doesn't do so anywhere near as effectively, which is a big surprise. I asked about Toyos some time ago and I heard mostly raves except for one other post that said they had hydroplaning issues. From what I can see they perform extremely well when dry but lousy when wet.

[shiltz]

damn, guess the toyo's are out of the question then, if they are that bad in just wet weather they will be even worse in the snow.

[hewinutah]

Matt,

What tire preasure are you running?

Were you trying to break them loose when you made that left, or were you driving normal for wet weather? Was it blacktop or Concrete?

Not trying to pick a fight, just wondering.

There are a couple of right hand turns I make on a regular basis the I can fishtale with the right throttle and because the nature of the surface. It's been this way with my Mag since i got it.


damn, guess the toyo's are out of the question then, if they are that bad in just wet weather they will be even worse in the snow.

I don't know if i can agree with you on that shiltz. Temperture can make a big diffrence on how a tire performs and with snow:
How deep
How Wet
Temperture etc

I'm hoping that someone on the East cost can chime in soon. Better yet here in UT :)

[shiltz]

I don't know if i can agree with you on that shiltz. Temperture can make a big diffrence on how a tire performs and with snow:
How deep
How Wet
Temperture etc

I'm hoping that someone on the East cost can chime in soon. Better yet here in UT :)

well the colder it is the worse your traction is since the rubber is harder and not as sticky, so no matter what the temp is if it was just raining it was warming and thus better traction than if it was snowing, not to mention the added fact of their being snow/ice on the road which is much slicker than just a wet road.

[MattRobertson]

> What tire preasure are you running?

hmmm. Well I'll be. 39 lbs. That came from the factory, so to speak. These tires came with the wheels, force-balanced and filled with nitrogen. I just dropped the pressure to 36 all around.

>Were you trying to break them loose when you made that left, or were you driving normal for wet weather?

Both. When driving away normally, even slowly, I noticed they were breaking free a little. When I went all woogedy I was doing it on purpose with generous throttle... which SHOULD have been reigned in by the ESP system... and it was, but nowhere near as promptly and forcibly as with the Conti's.

>Was it blacktop or Concrete?

Blacktop. I know it was a slick surface. Its just that there is no way ESP would have let me go this far with the stock 18's. I tested those last winter -- here in CA we had record rains; driving down the road you'd see animals paddling by the other way two-by-two -- so I thought I knew what to expect.

> Not trying to pick a fight, just wondering.

Kumbaya :-)

Temp, by the way, was low 70's or hi 60's. Thunderstorm weather (which blew up one of my UPS's that night).

[MattRobertson]

Well it rained again today. The tires at 36 definitely stuck more, but not acceptable yet (36 was a pressure decided upon with 18's after a lot of tests and threads here found that pressure kicked up the mileage by a measurable bit on the highway).

So I dropped them to 32 and they may be fine now. I may go to 30 but I'm concerned about wearing on the edges if I go that far down. I couldn't really get stoopid on the roads I was on going in to work, but I'm no longer spinning the wheels under the mildest acceleration or sliding under the mildest of lateral g's.

This points up the importance of a)paying freakin attention. Once the tires went on they worked great and I never took the obvious step of checking pressure and b)overinflation can do a hell of a lot more than just give you a rougher ride and make the tires wear faster.

[hewinutah]

Matt, Thanks for the update! :grin:

[Meister]

Well it rained again today. The tires at 36 definitely stuck more, but not acceptable yet (36 was a pressure decided upon with 18's after a lot of tests and threads here found that pressure kicked up the mileage by a measurable bit on the highway)...

So I dropped them to 32 and they may be fine now. I may go to 30 but I'm concerned about wearing on the edges if I go that far down.

I'd suggest not going below 32 psi Matt. Primary reason is hydroplaning - once you hit a puddle of standing water deeper than the depth of your tread you WILL, *guaranteed*, hydroplane if you're travelling faster than hydroplane speed. The higher your tire pressure, the higher your hydroplane speed. At 36 psi, for example, hydroplane speed is 54mph, while at at 25 psi hydroplane speed is 45 mph.

Once you exceed hydroplane speed for the lowest inflated tire on your car, with that tire in standing water deeper than tread depth, that tire will no longer be in contact with the roadway, whether you're running slicks or new rain tires. Strange, at first blush, but true. ;)

[hewinutah]

Matt,

Well I pulled the trigger and got the Proxes s/t in 255/55-18. So far I am happy with them. When I got home I checked the preasure and found all the tires set to 41 psi +! So I let them get cold and lowered them to 35.

I has been raining here and about mid 50's. I was out and needed to take a left at a light and I was first in line. So i goosed it a little and it did start to break loose, but they held more then the conti's ever would have and I was pushing it.

Dry performance is great! I took a local interchange ramp much faster then I could have with the conti's, no squel etc. I think I could have gone faster, but the kids were in the car.

I'm still debating on siping the tires.