Thought I'd share.... I had the Avon Tech M550 A/S tires (215/55-17) installed on Friday (8/12). The stock Goodyear GS-Ds had 23,000 on them and had maybe another 2000 to 3000 miles left in them. After the 2nd puncture in one month, it was time to buy new tires. Kelly Infiniti in Danvers, MA did a nice job mounting and road force balancing the Avons. Anyway, my first impression is that the Avons exceded my expectations. Very nice road feel, comparable ride to the Goodyears. I do not want to push them too much until they break in a little. I drove a couple hundred miles through the downpours that came through New England on Sunday night, very impressive wet handling. The VCD never kicked in even at stop light launches and no hydroplaning through puddles. I'll try to remember to update this post in a few thousand miles, when I really start to test the tires.

 

Thanks for the info. I was looking at those tires for my next set. Good to know that they work well.

 

shads-

How are the tires? Have you put enough miles on them to warrant another review? I am in the same situation in NH. I have an 05 6MT, with the 18" Turanza Er33's. I have 21K on them since Feb, and know they will be horrible. I am torn between buying a set of wheels and winter tires from Tire Rack for about $1000, or just buying these Avon A/S 550's. I probably wont keep the car for more than 3yrs since Im putting almost 30K on it a year.

THe Avon's are so cheap and get great reviews, but I'd like to hear from someone up here just how they are. It sounds liek you are in MA somewhere, thus will hit the same storms as me.


I hope to make it through Nov. before having to buy a set and thus will pretty much wear out the current tires. I commute from Manchester NH to Framingham every day...so I do need somethign decent.


Thanks

Mike

 

What Avon summer tire size can fit on the OEM 18" rims? I live in Florida and no longer have to deal with the BS of winter (only a Hurricane or two). I have 30k and will soon burn through the second set of rears and first set of front Michelin Pilots. They get noisy when they are almost worn out. I think a 245/40/18 will fit the front but the two sizes listed on tirerack for the rears are 255/35/18 or 265/35/18. Anyone know which will fit?

 

More info if interested...

http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthre...umber=68011699

sysadlight- I have about 4000 miles on them now. They just get better with age. The Avon 550s are not the performance summer Goodyears that came off the car but they are very close. Max off ramp speeds are about 5 mph slower than with the Goodyears (big deal huh?). The wet traction outweighs any concern about performance. Ok, now don't slam me but I got the car up to 130 on 495 this weekend (long stretch, no traffic) for a few seconds, very smooth and very stable. As for winter, I am not at all concerned about snow traction since I have a 4x4 truck as my winter vehicle. A coworker has a 6MT coupe as his only car. He did the winter tire/wheel combo from tirerack last year. He had no problems in the snow. You could always sell the rims to get back some money when you sell the car.

ps Manchester to Framingham ???? ****, I thought my 35 miles each way to work was bad.