I know most on here don't have stock wheels and therefore don't have normal size tires, but if anyone does have stock wheels I'd appreciate some help.

Went to the garage today to get my oil changed and my tires rotated. Dude there said that my tires were wearing unevenly because of misalignment. They looked fine to me. Apparently it's not the tread that's wearing but the tire is losing it's shape. He said that the tire isn't true anymore because of the misalingment. He said that it would cause rough ride (which I have noticed a bit of) and a noise from the tire most afflicted (which I've noticed a bit of).

It's not an urgent thing; the tire isn't going to explode tomorrow or anything, but he told me that the only way to get rid of the roughness was align the wheels and put new tires on. Also he said that these wouldn't last as long as normal (which is obvious).

So my question is: what tires have the best balance of reliabililty and affordability. What tires for the 2.5TL offer the best value and where can I get them? Also, I don't want a bubble on my wheel, and although I'm not exactly looking for low profile tires, something that's thinner would be good.

 

i have aftermarket wheels but anyway, it sounds like your alignment is out of wack therefore leading to bad "shape" of the tire. i think i know what your talking about. you said your tread is fine but out of shape? its actually the tread thats wearing out. if its unaligned, its probably worn out on the inner side of the tires or the outside part. is that right?

 

Yeah, the inside alignment of one of my rear tires was out of whack, got that fixed and rotated the tires. It fixed it for me. If the tires have worn too much unevenly, it might be too far gone and you'll need new tires to fix these ride/noise problems.

 

Yeah, the inside of the tire seems worn. Frankly though I looked at the inside tread and it only looked slightly more worn than the rest of the tread.

He said something about a 'flat spot' and that makes sense considering the sound it makes as it turns.

Is that repairable? Or does that require new tires?

 

I replaced my worn out and lumpy stock size Bridgestone Potenzas with a new set of Kumho KH-11s. They are 205/60R15 with a V speed rating. My local tire dealer ordered a set and they were about $280 mounted and balanced. I went ahead and did a four wheel alignment. So far, I am very pleased with the ride and the excellent handling. The price was great too. I'm using the stock 98 TL 2.5 rims.

Enjoy,

Tim Wisner

 

I have a 97 2.5tl w/stock rims. As soon as I got the car I visit
with my local acura dealer for recalls, and found that my car
had a cuple of recalls. They can tell by the VIN number on your
car. One of those recalls deals with a front end problem which
involves replacing a ball joint free of charge and withit you get
a free alignement. My next step was to get rid of some bad ruber on my car (Uniroyal-Tigerpaw) and taking advantage of
a special at Firestone I got Bridgestone Turanzas (4) for
about 300 bucks. So-far so-good, at least they give you a
very smooth ride
Good luck.