Well, this is a story, lol. About a month ago, I took my car to a local dealership, and I believe that they took my car for a little joy ride. When I got the car back, I had a cut in the sidewall of my back passenger side tire that didn't go all the way through. It looked as if it had hit a curb. Since I wasn't 100% sure they did it and I am real cool with them, I didn't say anything.

Yesterday, I just cruising to the dealership to get my oil changed, lol, and my tires sounded louder than usual. Later, I heard a flapping noise and I knew it was the tire. Got a flat bed truck to tow it.

But the interesting part was the tire. When you blowout a tire, you always think that your rims are messed up too. Well, the Toyos must have a system to prevent this from happening. The tire was separated from the inside of the rim, with most of the tire under the outside of the rim. Me and the tow truck guy thought the inside of the rim was on the ground. To both of our surprise, the Proxes left the inside sidewall attached to the rim, so the car was actually riding on that bit of rubber preventing any damage to my rims!!!

Anyway, since I can't get another tire in til next week, I put my ol' stock 17s on there. Since I have been riding on 19s for so long, I forgot how the 17s felt. There is a little bit less bounce with the 17s, and of course, they do ride a little better. Now the car feels more stable mid-corner with the 19s and wider tires. The car has more of a tipping over feeling with the 17s cause they have more sidewall flex. Judging the difference in the feel of driving both, I am happy I got my 19s cause I like how they feel in the corners better. Hope this helps someone still undecided, to each is own, but this is what I feel.

I was kinda lucky that the tire blew on a straight stretch, instead of when I was hanging curves like I like to do. The Toyos held up well beyond my expectations (while damaged a little), so I have to send a shot out for them.

 

I just put my 19" LE37T + Toyo combo to rest for the winter and put the stock 17" + Blizzak LM22 combo on to get ready for the bad weather. I took the car out for some testing to see what the LM22's are like. First impression was that the ride is smoother but the cornering is just not as good of course as the larger Toyo tires. The 17s are so much easier to break loose as well, again the difference between a 235 and 275 rear tire plays a part there, but man I can simply touch the gas and light up the tires. It still amazes me how much lighter the LE37T + Toyo combo is than the stock setup. I have not weighed each tire but there has to be 15-20lbs difference in each wheel/tire combo.