Replaced factory Tires? Review needed!
#31
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Houston, TX
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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
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
Last edited by silver04; 08-12-2005 at 09:38 PM.
#32
Originally Posted by silver04
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
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
#33
Originally Posted by rufus55
By the way, after upsizing the tires the unsprung weight feels like it's gone up noticeably. I don't know how much the stock tires weigh, but the new ones are 27 lbs, according to TireRack's site. Does anyone know how much the stock sport rims weigh? I think I'm going to go to a lighter, slightly wider rim in order to get some of the nimble feeling back. The car feels a lot more solid on the road than before, but it also feels heavy, kind of like walking with shoes that have a lot of mud caked on them. Has anyone else noticed this when going to wider tires, or is it just me?
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.
#34
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Houston, TX
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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
My car was dirty so I shined her all up for ya.
Link to my site:
http://users.ev1.net/~mre/tires/tires.htm
#35
#36
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
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.
Code:
EL42 | | M500 | | | | | | \___/ └-----┘
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
Last edited by doogie; 08-13-2005 at 03:03 PM.
#37
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Location: Houston, TX
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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
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
#38
Originally Posted by silver04
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
My car was dirty so I shined her all up for ya.
Link to my site:
http://users.ev1.net/~mre/tires/tires.htm
#40
#41
#42
Originally Posted by silver04
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.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=5
An additional review after the break in period would be awesome too.
#43
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Houston, TX
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Originally Posted by mikeee2
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?
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?
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
Last edited by silver04; 08-14-2005 at 02:27 PM.
#44
Originally Posted by silver04
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.
thanks
mike
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.
thanks
mike
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.
#45
Originally Posted by mikeee2
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?
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?