Comments on: Sumitomo HTR Z III Tire Reviews

By: RandyAnna

RandyAnna — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:49:41 +0000

On a recent out of town trip and traveling alone, my rear Sumitomo tire blew and shredded to bits. It had been checked with appropriate air pressure and looked brand new. Thankfully, a nice person came to my aide and I purchased a new tire in the next town. Then, 3 weeks later, on a road trip with my husband, the other rear Sumitomo tire blew and shredded to bits. This time the blow out did extensive damage to that side of my Honda Oldyssey. We will have to have an entire new bumper cover and the new decorative raised strip on the sliding door. There are also dents above the wheel and damaged paint. Needless, to say, I will not be purchasing any more Sumitomo tires. The financial and emotional stress these deficient tires caused are not worth the discount we may have received. It really is true, you get what you pay for.

By: RandyAnna

RandyAnna — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:37:37 +0000

I do not recommend these tires.

By: Jerryjohn

Jerryjohn — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 04:25:47 +0000

Put 4 Sumitomo HTR z3 ‘s on my 1999 Porsche 911 and they are BETTER tires than the Pirelli P Zero’s they replaced. They handle and stop just as well as the Pirelli’s, have almost no perceptable wear after 5,000 miles, are MUCH quieter, and they cost about 1/3 of what Pirelli’s go for. Talk about Win Win. I would highly recommend the HTR Z III tire. Very solid performer.

By: Christian King

Christian King — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:25:52 +0000

Just have to say that these are the best tyres I have used. They grip fantastically, very quiet, very long lasting. First tyre in ages that I said put the same back on.. after they did over 50,000kms. Maybe not the best wet weather tyre I have used, but not far from it.

By: Joe Trent

Joe Trent — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:23:48 +0000

I’m sorry to hear about the tires wearing out in 5 thousand miles, but I would love to see the alignment specs of your car printed out. Tires just don’t go bald in 5,000 miles without the toe angle of the alignment being off about an inch or more. If you had a shop just “look” at it, but not put it on an alignment rack, this needs to be done because it really sounds like the rear axle alignment is out of whack big time.

By: Karen McClanahan

Karen McClanahan — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:21:48 +0000

I purchased 4 tires back in March. Put them on a Mits Eclipse. They have exactly 5,045 miles on them. The back tires look like racing slicks. My son had a blow out while driving. I have contacted the dealer who will not warrant or take any steps to resolve this issue. I have now turned the matter over to my Attorney. I had the auto completely checked out to make sure there was not a problem with it and it came back fine. I had to replace the tires yesterday and am very irrated. I will not let this matter rest until I receive some type of reimbursement.

By: Joe Trent

Joe Trent — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:38:25 +0000

That’s pretty bizarre. Sidewall failures usually don’t happen without having help. Like a piece of metal or some other object that gets picked up on the road. Notice it was a rear tire, usually the front tire runs over and pitches the object into the rear.

When I was tire buster most of the flat repairs I did were in the rear because of this.

Another scenario is: Usually there is a belt or tread separation first and the car wobbles so bad that it get’s looked at before the dreaded blowout ever occurs. But that doesn’t sound like what happened here.

Thank you for your comment Carl, I will do more investigation about Sumitomo’s and see if there are any other reports similar to yours and I will report them on this page if I find any.

By: Carl Newman

Carl Newman — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:30:31 +0000

I bought a used 2006 MB S500 with these tires installed front and back. On my first out-of-town trip (6/13/10) Atlanta to Tampa the left rear (265/40 – 18) blewout 450 miles into the trip at 75 mph on a 95 degree day. There was no sign of any puncture in the tire and it had 5/32 of tread left. The sidewall did have a hole big enough to put my thumb through. I had aired all tires to 34 psi for the trip so it wasn’t low or leaking previously. I haven’t had a blowout in over 30 years and this appears to be a defective tire. Even though it was 2/3 worn out it still shouldn’t have blownout. I would think twice before putting these on my car again.