Summer Tires On - Marangoni Mythos
 

Finally got the summer tires put on today at the local Firestone. $63 for mount and balance, and I've had it up to 100 since and no wobble, so the balance was well-done.

I opted for Marangoni Mythos in 225 40 R18. They're a 92 extra load with a Y speed rating, and I got them for $357 shipped to my door from Tires easy.

Only driven a few miles on them, but so far my impressions are good.

They're a little noisy and transfer more road vibes to the car, but that's just a combination of the 40 sidewall (coming from a 45) and the harder summer tread. Had the same thing with my General Exclaim UHPs when I bought the car.

THey look good, and have a pretty aggressive tread design. But I don't like the 40 sidewall on the MS6...makes the wheels look a little small, IMHO.

However, I did take 3 turns at a good clip, and even though the release compound hasn't had time to wear off yet, these things stick pretty good. I'll wait another 50 miles to really beat them up, but during the first three moderately hard turns, I had NO tire squeal and NO back end slipping. So far, very grippy. WHich of course means they won't last long...but oh well. For $350, I can buy more. :)

Too soon to pass judgment on them, so after another 100 miles or so, I'll follow up the review. Pictures will follow shortly!

You know the 40 or45 are ratios of the width right.

Yep. But both were 225s, so the 40s are a little shorter.

So were they cheaper and that's why you went with them? It's going to throw your speedo off some I would imagine.

I was trying to find decent used summers, but nothing was coming up. These were cheap and got very good reviews from the M3 forum, SRT-4 forum (one guy disliked them...blew 4, but it was his setup doing it), and Acurazine forums. So I figure if they suck, oh well. They were cheap.

They're an Italian company that's relatively new to the states, so I'm hopeful. LOL. It was these or Nexens, and I decided to take a chance. Hopefully it pays off.

And my speedo was already off by 2mph. If it says 55, I'm going 53.

The difference between OEM 215/45-18 and 225/40-18 is well within acceptable size differences.

Yeah, I'm not really worried about it. I use my GPS for speed anyway.

i dont understand why people buy cheap tires ... one of the most important things for your car should be your tires. they connect you to the road. cheap tires just wear out fast and dont grip for shit. have fun

I don't understand why some people criticize without knowing their ass from third base. I already said they grip well, and I explained why they're cheap. Small company, trying to break in.

Hankooks were cheap once.
Sumitomos were cheap once.
Kumhos were cheap once.

I will have fun, and I'll do it without breaking the bank. Ask the M3 guys why they like them. Or the SRT_4 guys, who are douchebags, but nonetheless....

Sheesh, lighten up Sally.

He's not running Sunny brand. ;)

LOL

No Sunny
No Sunew
No "Yellow Sea" brand
No Nexen (though they were a close second)
No "DONG FENG" (literally East Wind in chinese)

I went with a brad that's a small company, NOT Chinese knockoffs, and had great reviews from some performance car forums.

The ride in this morning to work was a bit bumpier than I'm used to. These are very stiff sidewalls, and you feel EVERY bump.

Do you remember Fulda back in the 90's?

LOL No, I spent most of the 90s in Asia, without a car.

OK, so to give everyone a reference on how grippy these tires are so far, I took a turn this afternoon on the way home. Normally, I slide a little in this turn intentionally, just for fun. Tried to do it with these one, and not only did the car maintain its lane and not slide at all, but the force of the turn ripped my GPS loose and tossed it across the car to the passenger door.

So far, I LIKE these things!

Cheap does not mean they are trying to break in, it means they are copying someone elses design and not putting any of their own R&D into the product.

REAL companies who try to "break in", come out with quality products that they have put a lot of time and effort in to. The tires you bought are most likely garbage, don't expect them to hold up on a course or last more than ~15k miles.

When you buy car parts you really only have 3 options, with only 1 making any sense.

EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE + EXCELLENT QUALITY = HIGH PRICE
EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE + POOR QUALITY = LOW PRICE
POOR PERFORMANCE + EXCELLENT QUALITY = LOW PRICE

I don't like to see people make poor investments...it makes me sad.

Well, look them up and see who you think they're copying, then. I can't find a tire I think they're copying. Not like the Sunnews that are a copy of the Nexens that are a copy of something else.

I don't plan to take them on a track. I'm buying separate 17-inch rims and getting tires from a buddy for that. These are daily driven summer tires that won't see the track.

As for the 15K miles, that's about what I got out of my Eagle GTs, which were MUCH more expensive and not NEARLY as grippy on dry surfaces. I put a TOTAL of 8K miles a year on my car, and I have Dunlop Wintersport M3s for my snow tires, meaning these summers will see about 4000 miles a year. If I get two years out of them, I got my money's worth. Three years and I got more.

Try looking at it this way.

I spent over $700 (I think it was $760 OTD) for my Eagle GTs that I had on before this. I got a TOTAL of 15K miles/18 months out of them. That included a drive out to Utah and back, which is why the total is more than 8K a year.

I spent $550 for my used Wintersports and $350 for these, so $900 total. Plus $100 mounting/balancing. So far, I've gotten 6 months out of the winter tires and will probably get another season and a half or two seasons out of them, based on wear. If I get two summers out of the Marangonis, I will have gotten a MUCH better value than had I bought new all seasons again.

Here are what some other drivers of performance cars said about them:

From M3Forum.net:

From srtforum.net:

(Note: I disagree with how quiet he says they are...but that could also be car-dependent)

From tl.Acurazine.com:

From honestjohn.co.uk:

(I don't believe the Pirelli comment is accurate)

Review from pasmag.com: PASMAG | PERFORMANCE AUTO AND SOUND - Ultra High Performance Tire Review - Marangoni Mythos

I found two negative comments. One was from an SRT guy who said he blew four of them on the same axle in something like 6 months. His buddies suggested his setup was at fault, which he denied. And one guy on bimmerwerkz said they had no grip, and my personal experience so far says that is NOT true, at least on my car.

So far, I am happy with them. Had them up to 100 mph and felt none of the "floating" that the bimmerwerkz guy mentioned, and have cornered aggressively several times and had ZERO sliding. My ONLY concern at this point is treadwear, but that'll be low with ANY performance summer tire.

Harder Summer tread??? That along with very grippy and won't last long, please explain your reasoning...

guys lets leave this guy alone . all he's trying to do is give his review for a new set of tires and here we are bashing him. mind you i'll always think that you shouldn't cheap out on tires but to each their own and everyone has different priorities in life and thats that... so to the OP thanks for your review. end of story

Sorry, should have been clearer. It's still cold here in the mornings, so the summer compound stiffens and stays that way until mid-morning or so. Combine that with the stiffer sidewalls and the fact that it's a 40 instead of a 45, and it's a louder tire than I'm used to.

Thanks, man. It's all good, though. I expected some flak when I went with an unknown brand. I'll post a more detailed review once I've had them on for awhile.

And I can now confirm that these are TRUE summer tires. Do NOT ever use them on ice. SPrinklers formed some ice this morning and I lost ALLLLL grip. Weeeeeeeee....

Although normally I'd agree with this statement, price justification also comes into play. I for one cannot nearly afford a set of $1000 Pilot Sport PS2 or some similar 100 tread life, max performance tire, especially considering the fact that most of them will only last 10k miles on anything but the most timid grandma driving.

Let the guy try out a new tire. Even if they suck, at least it will help educate the rest of us when it comes time to buy ourselves new tires.

Like I said, if they suck, I only spent $350 on them. But so far, they don't suck. Except on ice. Then they suck. But they're supposed to. :D

i suck in rain, snow, sunshine, ice. oh shit wrong topic.... carry on nothing to see here

OK, got the 50 miles on the tires, so I went out and beat them up a little this evening. I learned several things.

1. VERY grippy tires. I took a right-hand turn at an intersection (turn lane, curving) at 65 mph. ZERO slide. ZERO squeal. Solid, solid grip.

2. The tires are MUCH quieter at-speed than they are in around-town driving. About 60 they start to smooth out and quiet down, and by 75, they're VERY quiet. I don't know why or how, but for slower, around-town driving, they're noisier.

3. Wet grip is very good as well, and I was able to corner at high speeds with almost no adjustment in speed.

4. Cold weather = no bueno. They stiffen right up and traction on dry surfaces start to suffer below 40 degrees or so. They also have ZERO traction on ice.

So far, my ONLY concern is treadwear, which I think will suck. But at $350 for four, so what?

where are the pictures?

Car's a disgusting, dirty mess right now. Wash tomorrow, so pics tomorrow night. Sorry...vanity = weakness. :)

OK, the turn was 90-degrees, but I took it at 65 without a problem. Here it is:

http://i55.tinypic.com/m980n5.jpg

And here are the tires. More pics after I wash the beast.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2howohw.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/5ue8p3.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/mkvepg.jpg

Congrats on getting tires that you like for that price!

Now that I've washed her up, here's how the tires look.

http://i56.tinypic.com/j9lbpf.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/zvpo48.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2vrybgn.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2q0rdqb.jpg

stealth you look sexy in that reflection
:kiss:

I put a pair of Marangoni's on my Evo VIII a few years ago..don't remember the type, not Mythos, but were their UHP summer model at the time. The Evo was pushing 400HP which the tires handled quite well but I scalded them down to the wear bars in 5-6K miles. Ran 41psi to stiffen the sidewalls which didn't have the rigidity of other performance brands.

LOL Next time I'll wear my thong, just for you.

These sidewalls are quite stiff, and I believe Firestone inflated them to 38PSI. I am a little concerned about treadwear, but since my winters go back on in...6-7 months, not too big a deal.

Well, I finally got these tires to break loose and let me slide JUST a little. Maybe an inch of slide. I took a right turn/merge at a high rate of speed, and accelerated through it. Probably about 55-60 I started to slide a bit. Still no squeal.

However, the temp at the time was 44-degrees F, so it was a little cool for summer tires to hold as well as designed.

OK, had these on for a few hundred miles now, and here are my impressions:

DRY GRIP: Excellent. At least as good as my Exclaim UHPs that came on the car when I bought it, probably a little better. I have yet to make these things squeal, even with the toughest cornering. I have been able to break the back end lose a couple of times, but I have to be seriously powering through the turn to make that happen. And even then, it was JUST the back end fishtailing a bit. I have yet to make the car slide sideways on dry roads with these tires. Freaking awesome grip.

WET GRIP: Excellent. We've had wet roads with small puddles the last few days (today was finally sunny!), and I can honestly say, in most situations, I don't have to lower my speed to corner on wet roads with these tires. Obviously, there is some degradation from dry grip, but comparing these to the Exclaims and the Eagle GTs I replaced them with, they are MUCH better on wet roads. I haven't had a chance to test them on large or deep standing water yet, and since I have a CAI and don't want to hydrolock, that may never happen lol. But on wet roads, these things are very good.

COLD/SNOW GRIP: TERRIBLE. Do not use this tire as an all-season. In colder weather, below about 45 degrees, it loses significant amounts of grip, and on ice/snow it is WORTHLESS. It's supposed to be -- it's a true summer tire -- but we had a cold snap with some ice/snow, and it was like ice skating on this tire.

NOISE/RIDE: Average. At low speeds, this is a NOISY tire. The road noise in the cabin is louder than any other tire I've used. However, the faster you go, the quieter the tire seems to get. At around 60 mph, it's pretty decent (on the MS6, anyway). Still, if you're looking for a quiet tire, this is NOT it. The vibes and ride are so-so. It transfers a LOT of bump shock to the cabin, and compared even to my 40 aspect Exclaim UHPs, it's a harsher ride. I'll take that for the performance, however.

TREADWEAR: Unknown. So far, they look like they're holding up OK, but with only about 500 miles on them, it's hard to tell. I think I'll get at least two summers out of them...about 8k-10k miles. That seems terrible, but considering I paid $350 shipped to my door, and another $70 to mount and balance, I'm not worried about it.

OTHER CONS: The only handling aspect of this tire I'm not sold on right now comes when powering through tight turns, and I'm not sure it's the tire and not just my fat pig of a car needing a suspension. When really hitting a turn hard, as you power through, the outside front tire seems to plow a little, as if going flat or almost rolling up on its side. It's not severe, and it hasn't caused me to change driving habits yet, but it is noticeable, and can be disconcerting.

I'm also not in love with the look of the tire, but I'm used to the rim protectors on my Eagle GTs, and it's obvious that these tires lack that. The rims (and I HATE stock MS6 rims) stick out more.

OVERALL: I bought these to be pure summer tires, and as such, I think right now they are performing beautifully. Not like Star SPecs or Direzzas, etc, but probably a little better than the Exclaim UHPs I had on when I got the car. Dry grip is EXCELLENT, wet grip is EXCELLENT, but noise and ride are not the greatest. That's OK -- those aren't important to me.

If they last two summers, I'll probably buy them again.

FINALLY made these tires scream today. Took a sharp right turn at a VERY high speed, on water, trying to scare the pants off my son's GF. She'd told him I'm a crazy driver, so I decided to give her a solid reference point for "crazy." It worked -- she left claw marks in my rear arm rests.

Anyway, car slid across a lane and the tires screamed so loud it scared me a bit. So with a coating of water AND high speed, you can make these squeal, but it takes quite an effort.

OK, another update. I have about 1000 miles on these tires now, and their lateral grip is still excellent. I can still corner like a mofo on these things. Wet grip remains excellent as well.

What I've found, though, is that they're not the best tires for launching. I've managed to get some rear wheel hop when launching the MS6, which has never happened before, not even on my Wintersport M3s. So either adding Italian tires provides +30HP, or these things aren't very good drag tires. I've also hopped the fronts, but they were on paint so that doesn't really count.

So if you're looking for road course tires, these are great, but if you're running the quarter -- pick up something else.

I put my Wintersport M3s back on last weekend, and I can now do an end of summer review of these Marangoni summer tires.

-----------------------

DRY GRIP: Very good, but not excellent. The lateral grip on these is outstanding. I can take turn after turn after turn, even with the current tread wear on them, and it's hard to make them squeal or let got unless I really try. However, as the tires wore down, the straight-line grip deteriorated rapidly to the point that when I finally got them off, launching was just about impossible. Even a feathered launch resulted in so much rear wheel hop that it sounded like the car was going to break itself in half. I even hopped the front wheels once or twice. So if drag racing is your thing, these are NOT the tires for you. If you like the twisties -- great tire. Now that I have my Wintersports back on, I can launch again without the wheel hop.

WET GRIP: Still Excellent. Even on wet roads, the lateral grip on these tires is very good, and hydroplaning was minimal. I feel confident beating up wet roads with these, though I avoided most puddles because of my CAI, so I don't know how they'd do on larger, deeper stuff.

COLD/SNOW GRIP: TERRIBLE. Do not use this tire as an all-season. In colder weather, below about 45 degrees, it loses significant amounts of grip, and on ice/snow it is WORTHLESS. If you use these in the snow, you will die.

NOISE/RIDE: Average. At low speeds, this is a NOISY tire. The road noise in the cabin is louder than any other tire I've used. However, the faster you go, the quieter the tire seems to get. At around 60 mph, it's pretty decent (on the MS6, anyway). Still, if you're looking for a quiet tire, this is NOT it. I did have these on the car when I drove to Utah and back, and had the car up over 120 a couple of times. The tires did fine at high speeds.

TREADWEAR: With 6000 miles on them, I am about halfway through the tread, maybe a little less. I expect to get one more summer out of them, and considering the low prices I paid, that's pretty damn good.

OVERALL: If you're looking for a tire that's good in the twisties and rain, but you don't do a lot of straight-line launching, these tires are great. If you are a drag racer, find something else. If you're looking for an all-season, find something else. But for $357 to my door, they were well worth the money as a pure summer tire. Will I buy them again? I don't know. Depends completely on my financial situation at the time. I'd like to get something that launches better AND holds the turns well, so I'd prefer to get something else, but we will see.