Well got the tires mounted today and just got back from a little test/burn-in run.
For my initial impression the tires are great. And yes I know they are new, and comparing them to my OLD tires is a waste...blah blah blah.
Anyways....
First thing I noticed is the noise. It's about half of what my RSA's were and I'm very happy about that.
Second thing I noticed is that the tires have great traction. I have a little 360 turn-about near my house I have fun with, and the tires held up perfectly.
Third thing I noticed is that tires just look good. I know there's no performance gain from it, but it just adds a little flair to it.
Fourth, but not last, is they ride very comfortably.

So....from reading I was a little skeptical about the 235 on the rim, but others had no issues. From the looks the tires seem to fit perfectly and there is no buldge. Rufus55 is right that the rim could about wider, about .5 inch, but i'm not complaing. The lip is out about a half inch or so and not causing any issues.
I have noticed the sidewalls are a little soft, not terribly bad. From driving around and hitting my little turn-about I just had to correct my timing for the turn in to compensate. As soon as I got my line, the tires stuck to the ground. I did feel a slight sluggish feeling that most will recieve, but that's usually inherit with increasing the width.

Overall the tire was a great purchase. I usually drive about 1500 miles a month, so it won't be long until I can have a 1000 mile review and see how wear goes.

And for the pictures, unfortunately they didn't allow me in the shop while they did it, plus there was a NICE looking girl in the waiting room that caught my attention as well..Sorry But I will take the pics of the tires tomorrow on the car and I wanted to pull my spare out anyways (fullsize) to compare. So you will have pics.

Other than that, expect to hear another review in a 1000 miles.

thanks
mike

 

As soon as I saw your post...I was like...yeahhhhhhh pictures! Oh man...we need to wait 1 whole day now. Take pics at every angle please.

 

This is exactly why I'm passing on the 235/50R17s. The 235s have a nearly 1" wider contact patch. This would be great if the rims were 17X8, but they're not. They're 17X7. By adding significantly wider tires without widening the rim, the tire's response to turn will be delayed and overall handling may be worse because there's more tire to roll around on the narrow rim.

The tire weight shouldn't be an issue because it looks like you haven't added much weight if any. What you have done though is increase drag quite a bit and that might be why you're feeling the road and more unsprung weight.

Your plan of adding wider rims is perfect. The handling issue will be addressed.

 

Here they are.....I might be able to take more but it's too damn hot outside.

My car was dirty so I shined her all up for ya.

Link to my site:
http://users.ev1.net/~mre/tires/tires.htm

 

You gotta get your money's worth SOMEHOW.

 

Silver, those look great and I'm glad to hear you're impressed so far. I just ordered the Firestone wide ovals in the same size, they were $123 a piece so I figured - what the hey, I'll try them. I'll also add a review when I've got them on.

One thing you can see from that pic of the side-by-side EL42 vs M500, is that the tire isn't really significantly wider, but the contact patch is. the Turanza's don't have the square edge that the Avons have so you lose an inch or so of contact patch there.


To the earlier poster - yes, the car will feel like it's got muddy feet, but that's because you now have more traction Always a good thing in my book and nothing that 260 horses can't overcome.

Thanks for the pics and review silver. Glad you found some tires that look nice, perform well, and didn't completely blow your wallet out of the water.

Jase

 

Just came back from some more driving.....all i can say is I'm still impressed.
If I were autocrossing the car all the time or possibly taking EVERY turn hard, I might worry about the wider width or the sluggish feeling. But so far the tires haven't given me any issues. I drive about 60 miles a day in traffic for work, so the weekends allow me to open up the car. So I will definitely be enjoying it now.

Good luck with the wide ovals. I haven't seen alot of people on this forum with them, so your review will be needed. From reading the reviews on them they seem like a good tire.

So....anyone else want to contribute.

Thanks
mike

 

These are the pictures I've been waiting for!!! Thank you sir! Yes, the tires line up much better with the fender. I guess the 235 sticks out a bit more. It looks better from the side since it has the little edges/grooves on the side of the tires whereas the Turanzas are plain and bald. As for the width, it didn't seem as wide on the picture especially when the two tires go side by side. Thoe are RSA's or EL42's? But then it's really hard to tell by just viewing it since one has a more oval shape. Overall...thanks dude! Just a matter of time when I'll dump my EL42's.

 

HAHAHAHAHA ... where are the other 3 tires?

 

Silver04,

Aside from them balancing and installing the 4 tires, did you also had to do a wheel alignment. Also, the tire pressure system, there are no wires to reconnect right? Just snap the tires out and put in the 4 new ones right?

 

Hopefully they're in a big ever-burning field of old tires somewhere where all the evil tires go when they have no more use in the physical world. Tire hell.

MAN that thought makes me very happy.

 

The 'less responsive' feeling you're noticing - which may seem like soft sidewalls - may just be the fact that you're going from very little tread to a lot:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=5

An additional review after the break in period would be awesome too.

 

No alignment needed, actually I don't think I've really eve done an alignment for tires. Maybe rims and tires, but don't think it's needed.
They just pulled off the old ones, popped the new ones on, balanced and i was off.
I was able to take a look at the TP sensors. They are blue little boxes about the size of a matchbox, attached to the stem. They're tucked away enough so the tire machines don't touch them.


Doogie, I remember going from 225's to 245's fronts on my old mustang GT. also the rears went from 225's to 295's. I do remember having the same affect, so yes, the increase in contact patch will do it. But the avon's are little soft int he sidewall when I handled the tire, but WAY better than the RSA's, which I also hope are in tire hell.

thanks
mike

 

Silver04,

So TP sensors are attached to the rims but it doesn't have any wires/cables connecting back to the car? How does the car sense when it's low on air?

The reason I asked about alignment is in the past everytime I get 4 new tires they ask me about alignment but I've never done it and it's always fine and pulls straight when driving.

 

The TP sensore transmit their signals to the car, no need for wires. You know, they make phones without wires now too.