As I approach 30k miles it has come to my attention that the stock potenzas aren't going to make it much further. with that being said, i have started looking around for tires and thought about staying with the oem size. but reading here, i've seen people go with many different sizes. my question is, "what size tires are you using and what is your opinion of them?"

 

I could tell you, but that would take all the fun out of performing a search on your own ...

 

I am looking for an answer to the same question, mmats. Just to give you an idea of what I've found so far...
Within the realm of 18" wheels (the stock size), many seem to be getting the 245/40R18 tires, which are a little wider than the stock tire.

I have read one comment, though, that indicated that there's a reason Mazda put the 225/45R18 on there, and switching to the wider tire may not help with handling... so that's something to think about.

However, as I shopped for tires, it started to make sense that there's only 20mm difference between a 225 and a 245 (I'm pretty sure those are in mm), so there shouldn't be a big difference. Just an opinion, and since I've not yet purchased new tires, take it with a few grains of salt...