Stock tires review....

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Old 03-11-2006, 02:17 PM
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Stock tires review....

For those who say that the stock rubber is shit (not the shit) I will say that I can only agree.
Today is exactly a year since I bought my TL and since the temp got over 40 I decided that at 16,300 miles was about time I did the RF to RR and vise versa and the same on the driver side.
Took some Eagle 1 Rim cleaner ( has acid so be careful) and cleaned all the rims ... no dust or tar was able to hold on to the rim...this stuff is good.
Noticed that all my tires were at 25 lbs (cold) which made me go to the nearest "free air" station to fill the front to 35 lbs and rear to 32 as the manual says.
Took my baby for a 50 mile highway run to see if I would get any type of vibration and can say that even at 95 it didn't do anything that would make me run to the nearest tire store to get them balanced...
So yes I almost had a heart attack on the last snow storn here in MA but made it to work and back w/out a dent or damage to the car after sliding around a bit...
Last Father's Day I was given a note saying that I'm the owner of "whatever tire I want " from "any" web site or local tire store, but I think I will hold off and see what I can buy. Nitto's seem to be my favorite but I can say that they are not making any "all season" just "summer tires".
On that note and after searching this site for answers as to which rubber is best for "ALL" season.. I'm still lost since you guys say one thing and the Car and Driver review on tires says another......

C&d tire review

So I guess I will ask again ( for those who will say...repost..)
Which ALL SEASON tire would you buy if money was no object...ALLLL SEASON........

Nerci, Arigato, Gracias, Thanks
Old 03-11-2006, 02:34 PM
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The C&D review is not of all-season tires.

None of us have sampled all the tires and run rigorous tests so that you can buy some objectively determined "best" tire - we have our limited experience with the tires we bought and use under our driving conditions wherever it is we drive. YMMV.

For my money, the Michelin PS/AS is a great tire. It does everything well and nothing poorly. I'll buy them again.

Mike
Old 03-11-2006, 02:52 PM
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I've been pretty happy with the Bridgestone RE750's. I drive through a lot of rain during the winter and fairly hot weather during the summer. Havent been through too much snow so I can't comment on that. I would buy again, but I would also experiment with another brand that has been getting compliments from other members. My experience with the Bridgestone has been good. I drive down to Los Angeles a lot. Last year during their rain storms I still had the stock tires on the car and the car did not feel as stable as it should have. Since I put the Bridgestones on I have had no problems driving in the pouring rain, car feels pretty solid. It all might go to shit in the snow though
Old 03-11-2006, 03:30 PM
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Wink

Yesterday I went to my dealer to get an oil change and tire rotation. The manager who I've gotten to know well told me before I get my car inspected in June, I'll need new tires..they are all running lean (July 04..31K miles). I expected I would need tires soon based on what I've seen on this board regarding the EOM crap tires. So I spent 3 hours on the internet last night researching tires. After reviewing all the different reviews, I narrowed it down to the Avon's and the Continentals. I went to my tire dealer who is very well know in these parts and trusted. He told me he's not an Avon dealer, but didn't recommend the Continentals. He has a set of Pirellis M&S on his Porsche and he loves them. I told him I heard they get loud after a while, but he said he's had no problem with them. The reviews are good for the Pirellis, but not as good as the Avons. When I asked him about the Avons, he said he has never driven on them, but wishes he was an Avon dealer..he said it's a very good tire for the cost. So, I'm leaning towards the Avons. I'll purchase them on line thru Tirerack (which is a great site) and have my tire dealer put them on for $100. He has the Pirellis for a cost of $594 for everything. The Avons are $467, plus $100 for install..So it's pretty close in cost.
I haven't seen anything on this board about the Avons..does anyone out there have them? Tirerack has good reviews from other TL owners.
But it does seem no matter what tire you have, there are some people who think they are too loud, too harsh, etc. I guess it really gets subjective when it comes down to it.
Old 03-11-2006, 04:04 PM
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thanks for the responses guys, I'm taking notes...Avon??...this guy from work has them and says they're the s..it, aso a friend with a RSX says Hankook is good...BTW I'm going wider with the 245s...any objections??
Old 03-11-2006, 05:36 PM
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My dealer said stay away from Hankook..
Old 03-11-2006, 05:39 PM
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Originally Posted by GUMP
My dealer said stay away from Hankook..

......................and the reason???........ .............like my father in law would say.....stay away from Japanese prodcuts...( he fought them in Pearl Harbor...)

Old 03-11-2006, 07:51 PM
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HEK --

Tire geek here. I wasn't always that way, but I spent months reading TireRack and other websites trying to decide what to replace those freakin' EL42's with. And it was FUN!! Did I say I was a geek?

So here's my take....

I run Pirelli P-Zero Nero in stock size. Love 'em, but there's not been much snow this year in MD to test 'em on. The little we had wasn't a problem, and the reviews on TireRack indicate that the Zeros are fine in moderate snow. They are extremely quiet, very grippy and surprisingly comfortable. After 15K or so, they are getting a little bit louder, but not disturbing yet. I expect to get about 25K out of them.

You might get more than "moderate" snow in Westfield, eh? The Avon Tech M550 A/S is another inexpensive and very good tire, according to its reviews on TireRack. I ALMOST went with these, but settled on the Zeros. The Avons by repuation are even more comfy than the zeros, equally quiet & smooth, but a bit less grippy.

The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S is a very good all-season performance tire, but is way more pricey (Michelin is like that) than other choices. But money is no object, right?

Other good choices, IMHO, for someone facing snow on a regular basis for several months:

1. Get other opinions on the Conti Extreme Contact. Again, I'm thinking about the Massachusetts snow here. They may not be the top all-season in any category, but are good tires. A few folks on here have run them, and I've not read here anything bad about them from actual users.

2. Kuhmo Ecsta ASX. Another inexpensive all-season performance tire getting good reviews here and on TireRack.

3. Toyo Proxes 4. Harder to find detailed reviews on, but a very nice performance tire with good all-season characteristics. Not available on TireRack; they don't sell Toyo. Not certain myself about its snow performance. Many folks on this forum use these are are quite happy. My own third choice.

Here's a link to rankings on TireRack for Ultra-High Performance All-Seasons. Click on any tire to read specs, reviews, tests, etc on it. Take your time, and have some fun with it. You can get similar charts for other categories of tires, too.

Oh, and Hankook is Korean, as is Kuhmo. All the choices I mention are foreign. Toyo is Japanese, Pirelli of course is Italian, Avon is British -- distributed in USA by Cooper, and I think Continental is German.
Old 03-11-2006, 08:04 PM
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Yes, the Michellens are a great tire..but very expensive. For the hell of it, I asked my dealer how much he wanted...$283 per tire..holy shit! I think I'm settled on the Avons..
Old 03-12-2006, 07:41 AM
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Originally Posted by richrath
HEK --

Tire geek here. I wasn't always that way, but I spent months reading TireRack and other websites trying to decide what to replace those freakin' EL42's with. And it was FUN!! Did I say I was a geek?

So here's my take....

I run Pirelli P-Zero Nero in stock size. Love 'em, but there's not been much snow this year in MD to test 'em on. The little we had wasn't a problem, and the reviews on TireRack indicate that the Zeros are fine in moderate snow. They are extremely quiet, very grippy and surprisingly comfortable. After 15K or so, they are getting a little bit louder, but not disturbing yet. I expect to get about 25K out of them.

You might get more than "moderate" snow in Westfield, eh? The Avon Tech M550 A/S is another inexpensive and very good tire, according to its reviews on TireRack. I ALMOST went with these, but settled on the Zeros. The Avons by repuation are even more comfy than the zeros, equally quiet & smooth, but a bit less grippy.

The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S is a very good all-season performance tire, but is way more pricey (Michelin is like that) than other choices. But money is no object, right?

Other good choices, IMHO, for someone facing snow on a regular basis for several months:

1. Get other opinions on the Conti Extreme Contact. Again, I'm thinking about the Massachusetts snow here. They may not be the top all-season in any category, but are good tires. A few folks on here have run them, and I've not read here anything bad about them from actual users.

2. Kuhmo Ecsta ASX. Another inexpensive all-season performance tire getting good reviews here and on TireRack.

3. Toyo Proxes 4. Harder to find detailed reviews on, but a very nice performance tire with good all-season characteristics. Not available on TireRack; they don't sell Toyo. Not certain myself about its snow performance. Many folks on this forum use these are are quite happy. My own third choice.

Here's a link to rankings on TireRack for Ultra-High Performance All-Seasons. Click on any tire to read specs, reviews, tests, etc on it. Take your time, and have some fun with it. You can get similar charts for other categories of tires, too.

Oh, and Hankook is Korean, as is Kuhmo. All the choices I mention are foreign. Toyo is Japanese, Pirelli of course is Italian, Avon is British -- distributed in USA by Cooper, and I think Continental is German.
richrath, thanks for the detailed response, I guess being a GEEK is a good thing, but I'm also doing some research myself and like you said the Avons seem to be the best but I should have stated (and I allways forget ) is that I'm looking for this pattern....


Since on my RSX-S and 2000 Si I had them and no matter is it was snow or rain but the direction of the pattern of these tires gave me no worrries about hydroplaining and they made the car look sportier...
Old 03-17-2006, 05:30 PM
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I just put the Toyo Proxes 4 on my "04 TL, replacing the very bad Bridgestones Touranzas that came on the car!!! Oh Yes!! they were past the wear bars at 17000 miles. Of course, after I shelled out the money, I found out that Acura (since January) has had a tire update replacing them at their cost. The Bridgestones were the worst tires I have ever owned, and should never ever have been put on a car sold in NE. They were down right dangerous on wet roads, developed flat spots and vibration after sitting, and of course bad longevity. On the other hand the Proxes 4, so far, is the best I have had on wet pavement, fair in snow, no vibration and, great handling and cornering. They have a great looking agressive thread design with a very wide stance.

NHRoadStar.
Old 03-20-2006, 10:24 AM
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Detailed reviews of Toyo Proxes 4 and many other tires can be found at 1010 Tires . I personally have them and love them; however, I do not drive in the snow. Additionally, if I remember correctly, they were not highly rated for driving in the snow.
Old 04-02-2006, 05:40 PM
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It has been a while since I posted but I'm still searching and it has come down to these 4:
Kumho ECSTA SPT


BF Goodrich G Force TA


Dunlop SP Sport 5000


Hankook Ventus HR II




we will see which one I can get from Discount Tire or locally from one of the local tire stores...wish me luck......
Old 04-02-2006, 06:21 PM
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Hankook come std. equipment on many Kia's (need I say more).
Old 04-02-2006, 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by HiTEC
Hankook come std. equipment on many Kia's (need I say more).

...uhm is that a bad thing or did they get a better deal then we did with the Turanzas??..... , personally I wouldn't go out and buy a Turanza even if someone told me that was standard equipment on Acuras...
Old 04-02-2006, 07:10 PM
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I had the Dunlop Sport 5000s on my 2G TL and they are very durable, stick in any situation, and were reasonably priced the last time I looked. I didn't buy them this time around for my 18's because they don't come in the size I was looking for.

Falken ZE 512 ZIEX are excellent, I've owned two sets and still have them on my stock wheels for next winter's use. They are also cheap, I purchased them for around $90 a tire.

I am now running Kumho Ecsta ASX on my RonJon wheels and they seem pretty competent, but then again, I've got less than 200 miles on them so it's too early to comment intelligently. I bought them based on the folks on this site--it was between them and the Toyo Proxes 4 and I went for the one with better treadlife.
Old 04-02-2006, 07:16 PM
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One more choice...damn

Fakens Ziex ZE-512

Old 04-02-2006, 07:25 PM
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Originally Posted by neuronbob
I had the Dunlop Sport 5000s on my 2G TL and they are very durable, stick in any situation, and were reasonably priced the last time I looked. I didn't buy them this time around for my 18's because they don't come in the size I was looking for.

Falken ZE 512 ZIEX are excellent, I've owned two sets and still have them on my stock wheels for next winter's use. They are also cheap, I purchased them for around $90 a tire.

I am now running Kumho Ecsta ASX on my RonJon wheels and they seem pretty competent, but then again, I've got less than 200 miles on them so it's too early to comment intelligently. I bought them based on the folks on this site--it was between them and the Toyo Proxes 4 and I went for the one with better treadlife.
I had Dunlops in the past but noticed that they seemed to develop small cracks along the sidewalls...hope they've improved since....but before this Saturday I'm doing some local shopping to see if the match the Internet prices...I think I've depleted my sources of imformation and have narrowed down my choices....

Thanks guys for your ......all is good
Old 04-05-2006, 08:37 PM
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So I decided on the P-Zero Nero M+S.....




Again thanks to all for your valuable input, it was an interesting experience since after all the research I found that for the look of having the "directional" tire I was going to have to settle for a noisy ride so after all the tire is meant to be the shoes of the car and who wants a "squeaky" shoes...not I...
Old 04-05-2006, 08:45 PM
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I had Hankook Ventus HR II in 16" size on my Civic EX few years ago. The worse tire ever! Very loud and no traction in rain or snow - I do not thinkg the Ventus HR II is all-season tire at all
Old 04-06-2006, 06:40 AM
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Another soon-to-be-satisfied Zero Runner!!
Old 04-06-2006, 07:46 AM
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Originally Posted by HEK
So I decided on the P-Zero Nero M+S.....




Again thanks to all for your valuable input, it was an interesting experience since after all the research I found that for the look of having the "directional" tire I was going to have to settle for a noisy ride so after all the tire is meant to be the shoes of the car and who wants a "squeaky" shoes...not I...

HEK,

Are there any Merchant's tires in MA? I just picked up the Michelin Pilot A/Ss for under $200 installed. They will beat any price by 10% so I took the costco price of the michelins $205 installed and the beat it by 10%! They also carried the P-zeros and would match any price on those as well.

Good luck.

The michelins are awesome!
Old 04-06-2006, 09:13 AM
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Originally Posted by richrath
Another soon-to-be-satisfied Zero Runner!!
I hope so...

Originally Posted by Chingrin
HEK,

Are there any Merchant's tires in MA? I just picked up the Michelin Pilot A/Ss for under $200 installed. They will beat any price by 10% so I took the costco price of the michelins $205 installed and the beat it by 10%! They also carried the P-zeros and would match any price on those as well.

Good luck.

The michelins are awesome!
Chingrin, there are no Merchant tires in MA, but I was able to get a local store Town Fair to beat the price of the ones I bought online, the catch was that I have to pay taxes on these plus the balance/ install/ valves comes up to $100 or $24/ tires.... right....so I ended buying them online and at $147 ea no shipping and handling fees, no tax and I found a place that will put them on for $43 all 4....
Old 04-14-2006, 09:35 PM
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So after a week of waiting patiently I was at this little hole in the wall tire store in Granby CT, I watched two guys work on my car and can say that I saw them with a little difficulty mount the tires on my stock rims, according to one of them it was due to the stiff sidewall... , anyway all four where marked for the proper installation to the rim and done deal.

Now on the way home I wanted to take the highway but it would have been the "long" way and decided that I would test them tomorrow on the freeway.
Initial impression, I felt like I was riding on snow tires with studs, noisy to say the least and the steering just felt different...

I asked the kid to put 35 PSI in the front and 32 PSI on the back which I may check tomorrow when they're cold and may just put 35 PSI all the way around....

Pics to follow......
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