Sumitomo 315-35-17 HTR Z III

[danc30]

Sumitomo HTRz III's are an awesome tire, outperforming many of the top dogs according to the research already done. See the info below from Kerry on FFR Forum. I want these tires in 315-35-17 size.

After I read Kerry's information, I sent an e-mail to Sumitomo and they replied today. Looks like they are not going to offer it unless "demand increases". Maybe if all of us send them an e-mail, it will do the job. Maybe we should post over on CC.


E-mail question:
When will you be offering the HTR-Z-III in 315-35-ZR17 size? A lot of people on the Cobra websites are wanting them in this outstanding tire.

Answer:
Dear Sir,
Sorry to report but the 315/35R17 will only be made in the HTR Z design. If in the future the demand increases on this size they may consider production in the HTR ZIII design, but not right now.










This was posted on the FFR site. I hope you don't mind, Kerry. It is a very detailed posting that I know a lot of Cobra owners will benefit from:


I think most of us would agree that as a FFR Forum Sponsor, Tire Rack offers excellent tires at very reasonable prices with a high level of service.

What I appreciate most about them is the in depth testing that they conduct to try and help sort out the myriad of tire choices on the market. I rely on their ratings heavily when looking for a specific tire to provide specific handling qualities.

When choosing tires for the FFR, many accept older tire technology to try and maintain the correct “look” for their cars. Such as the 15” wheel purists and those favoring wide 315 section rears mounted on deep dish 10.5 rims for the muscular look.

In my case, I have been researching the best value in a high performance street tire that offers maximum dry performance, with excellent lateral grip and straight line/braking grip as well as safe wet road performance . If that can be achieved with acceptable tire wear and low initial cost…so much the better.

Early in 2007 Tire Rack conducted an evaluation of 23 ”Max Performance Summer Tires” where they ranked :

Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position #1
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 #2
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 #3

Details here:

Consumer Survey Results By Category

It is noteworthy that in the Car and Driver Tire test conducted in Dec. 2005 the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 had ranked #1, The Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 had ranked 4th, and an earlier version of the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position ( The standard RE050A) had placed 9th.

The Sumitomo HTR Z and HTR Z II tires popular with FFR builders were not tested by Tire Rack among the Max Performance Tires, as their performance levels were not judged good enough to be rated in this tire category. They were, however, rated in a similar test of the lower performance “Ultra Performance Summer Tire” category where the HTR II ranked 13th and the standard HTR ranked 26th in a field of 44 tires, reported here:

Consumer Survey Results By Category


In the summer of 2007 Sumitomo introduced their very first “Max Performance Tire”, the Sumitomo HTR Z III… referred to as the “3 series” or “category 3” HTR Z. Since this tire was introduced after the 2007 Max Performance tire test, Tire Rack elected in July 2007 to test the new series 3 Sumitomo against three tires from the earlier test to see how well the Sumitomo compared with some of the best tires in this category.

These tires included the #1 rated Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position.

What surprised everyone is that the Sumitomo HTR Z III outperformed them all…!
The Sumitomo performed better than the #1 tire from the previous 2007 Max Performance tests!

Detailed results are here:
Tire Testing Search III&tirePageLocQty=

and here:
Tire Testing Search III&tirePageLocQty=

What makes these results so stunning is that the Sumitomo HTR Z III tires are approximately 1/3 to ½ the cost of the other tires it is being compared against. For example, a 275/40ZR17 HTR Z III is currently $115 from Sumitomo compared to $292 for the same tire from Yokohama. Or a 245/45ZR17 from Sumitomo is $103 compared to the same size tire from Continental for $213.

The downside is that the selection of Sumitomo sizes remain limited at present. For example here is only one aspect ratio in 245, 255 and 275 17” tires and no tire section width larger than a 275. But…Sumitomo does approve use of a 275/40ZR17 tire for mounting on up to a 11” wide rim. So those with 17 x 10.5 rims now running 315 tires can safely mount a 275.

With tire cost only slightly higher for the HTR Z III than the older technology and lower performing HTR Z tires, the new 3 series is a VERY cost effective alternative that will perform head to head with tires costing more than $300 each.

The high power to weight ratio and high performance handing capabilities of the FFR design begs for matching high performance tires. The New Sumitomo HTR Z III tire, by all reports, provides a cost effective, high performance tire that better matches the performance of our cars than many of the tires currently being run.

Just my $.02…

Kerry