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Comments
My life? Millions and millions of course. As I said, I'd rather replace and be safe. But I'm not 20 years old and invulnerable. Hence my question: Would driving a tire flat damage the sidewall to the point it is unsafe?
I need backup to convince my son that even though he plans on living forever, it pays to be safe.
Of course if you were asking that because you want to sell me life insurance I understand.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Wet traction was pretty much gone, so I just had it done now. Was going to wait until November (pre-snow) until I drove it in the rain last weekend. Not good.
Put on Yokohama Avid TRZ. Thankfully there are finally some other choices in the weird size Honda used. $91 a piece from Tire Rack.
1st impressions: Nice ride, and amazing to have bite and grip again. Went around an off ramp, and they just held the road, no slide and no squeal. Seem to be quiet. Haven't put too many miles on yet, so will see how they do.
Only problem is I don't think they balanced them right (or there is a defect, but hopefully not!) There is a bit of a shake in the wheel at highway speeds that wasn't there before. Now I just have to find time to take it back.
Also had the alignment done (1st time checked, my bad!), and it was out on 3 wheels, so that might account for the rounded fronts.
So much nicer to have new, safe tires. Not impressed by the life of the Michelins, and wet traction disappears fast.
I have 16K on the MXV4s on my Accord, and the tread looks like new, but those babys are already sliding all over the place in the rain.
There was a woman at the tire place with a V6 Accord getting hers replaced, at lower miles, well before the tread wore out because the wet traction (or lack of same) was scaring her so much!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
These Harmony's are great tires, & are wearing very little considering the amount of driving my wife, & I do...They're great tires for wet, & snowy conditions (lots of rain these past few weeks here in WI - no problems as I cruise on by those driving 50mph - I'm going 70mph on the freeway).
Sorry to babble on, but getting to the point I wouldn't worry about the speed rating as long as you're replacing your OEM with a quality product such as the Michelin Harmony's :shades:
Wear looks to be spectacular so far. Speed ratings? I'll never drive over 80 in these so it doesn't make any difference.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
On a side note - I'll never buy anything from Bridgestone/Firestone...That mess with the Ford Explorers, & "passing the buck" by Bridgestone/Firestone onto Ford still gets me ticked off :mad:
Krzys
I've got Eagle RS-A's on the Civic and will buy another brand when they wear out. I really like the new Toyo Versados but expect they will be somewhat pricey in the 205/55/16 size I need. And the Toyo dealers down here in the Ft. Lauderdale area are few and far between, there's like only two within 20 or so miles. Her Mazda came with Toyo's as the oem tires as a matter of fact. I'd bet the Mazda dealer sells them also. Will check when the time comes actually. Bet they'd take my $ to put tires on a Honda.
The Sandman
The tire store dude was high on them, but he ended up recommending the Yokos too.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
You say X-ones were great winter tire and quiet. You say the Harmony is also great. I am considering X-Ones for Ody. Could you expound more on the differences you have noted so far between X-One and Harmony. Thank you.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Thanks
(BTW I constantly checked the tire pressure and inflated the tires when necessary. I also changed the oil during the trip, but now wish I had also rotated the tires.)
Anyway, now I'm in the process of ordering two Yokohama AK540 tires.
My question is do the new tires get placed on the front axle? I am asking this question because I have read that new tires should be placed on the rear axle, but if I do this then the front tires will not be rotated for another 5K miles.
Thanks for any feedback.
Gideon.
Most important though, get a 4 wheel alignmnet. That looks to be the reason your rear tires were shot (they wore funny), probably out of toe in the back.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Thanks for the quick response. I am getting a wheel alignment when I have the tires mounted, and will make sure to request that I want a 4 wheel alignment.
Gideon
I was looking for two sets of tires (winter and summer) for my car, both sets were to be special orders,
because most, if not all tires in shops are All-season type. I visited several shops (shown in random
order): BJ's, SEARS, NTB, Town Fair Tire, Sullivan's Tire, Fairstone, SAM's and one shop with
name I do not remember in Braintree, Avon and Norwell.
Also, some very little, but good experience with ChryslerJeep dealership in Randolph.
The winner is NTB in Avon. Overall-very good. Reasonable prices, knowledgeable stuff, no long wating time.
Although every place tried sell tires they have in stock(some harder, than others), NTB guys understand,
that if you are looking for particular type, which they do not have in stock, it is reasonable to place special
order to satisfy the customer.
I dropped extra set of rims for winter tires, when tires arrived NTB mounted and balanced them at
convenient for them time, so I would not wait extra time unnecessary. Some small (?) details.
For example, in order to pull off rims, you need to remove plastic caps, which covers bolts and use special
small extra piece in order to remove one of them. I forgot to tell NTB guys about it and give them proper
pieces of equipment. Guess what? They do not need it, not only they know how it should be done
correctly, they have those pieces in shop. Simple? Read below my experience with another shop.
Also NTB workers were able to answer my questions and explain. They checked (for free) alignment of
my car and it came out a little bit out of the line, so it was fixed before I started drive new tires. BTW they
have discount for alignment time to time.
Their collection of items they pulled off the tires is interesting, as well as example, what might(will) happen to
your tires if alignment is off. They'll give you print outs of alignment of your car before and after
(with red and green marks).
ChryslerJeep in Randolph. Overall-very good. Just would like to thank you, guys. I came for an inspection,
they put front license plate on my car for free and did everything quickly. The only negative (which I am
not sure their fault at all)-dark mark(grease?) inside (front right pillar ?) It looks like when they put inspection sticker, they touched it. But again, I am not sure it's their fault.
Now, negative, so-so or no experience:
Sullivan's Tire: no negative, nor positive. So-so.
Firestone: It was one of the first places I visited, because Firestone has one of winter tires I was considering.
Overpriced, they tried push tires I was not interested in. I ended up with tire rotation with them. Remember
plastic caps I mentioned above? They moved my car into shop and 5 minutes later I realized I did not give
them those two small pieces, they needed. I went inside and noticed guy was looking for them in the trunk
of my car. I asked him "do you need two pieces?' he said"no, just one, to unscrew bolts". I asked him how
he removed plastic caps.
The answer was "With screw driver". I looked at rims. Every area around bolts had 2 scratches.
Alloy wheels... Do not get me wrong, I "polished" curbs couple times with them (parked too close, well,
negative distance between rim and curb, let's put it this way:-))... But if you are mechanic, do not you
understand it is not the way it should be done? Would you drill a hole in a hood to open it? I glad he did
not try unscrew those bolts with hammer. Although they offered discount on tires, I left.
For some reason, Sullivan's Tire, place with no name and Firestone had no customers at the time I visited them.
SAM's: All-season tires only, but they recommended other shops, including winner-NTB. Thank you, SAM's guy.
BJ's: All-season tires only, they tried look for winter's, but "winter" pages in their book has been removed.
Town Fair Tire: might be a good place, but again, tried push their stock items, which I was not interested in.
Busy, but have time to explain and show what they have. Overpriced a little bit.
Sears: waited in line for about 10 minutes, no assistance, everybody busy, left. No experience.
Place I do not remember name of: I was told their boss do not like special orders, they tried push tires they
had in stock. Left.
So, once again NTB in Avon and ChryslerJeep in Randolph, thanks. Good job.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
link title
I don't buy anything at costco. And the local quality store put the tires where I stated they go after suggesting they put them on the rear. However that doesn't mesh with the tires I had and safety in driving for my case.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
A little edification here. If the original commenter lives in a non-snow region then his experience may vary. As I said I had Michelin X-Ones with more than half tire tread and I added Michelin Harmony (great tire, which IIRC Tirerack didn't think much of when I read their reviews, probably because it wasn't a "performance" tire) to the car. I live in an area where we get snow. I wanted the better-gripping tires on the front in case we got a rare, but occasional heavy snow. If you can't control the front wheels moving at reasonable speed, it doesn't make any difference what the rears are doing. Sliding in a turn and hitting the curb because the lesser-gripping tires are on front makes no sense.
In the spring it was time to rotate the wheels and they went to the rear. I had the X-Ones on the front during the summer and replaced them the next fall when I had another crisp, edgy set of biting tires on the front for the winter snows.
More on the Tire Rack author about hydroplaning is that the rears have the path cleared for them when the front tires attempt, successfully or unsuccessfully to displace the water as they pass through/over it. The rears, you recall, had 60% depth and are able to handle water. That of course would vary if you're driving a little car with less weight on the rear. The rears are driving through a cleared area much like you see when you follow a car in a rain.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Stop by and check out today's Alternate Route and share your weirdest flat tire story.
I read the article in question, and it does not seem to have much to do with any particular bias or preference to a type of tire. Rather, it seemed to be a simple examination of the science and actuality of what happens to a car in low traction situations. Overall, I've found the Tirerack (and Consumer Reports, and Car & Driver) to offer me something that I don't have the opportunity to do - drive a lot of different rubber on the same car over a short period. I understand the biases toward "performance" in each sampler - what Consumer Reports places value on is different from Car & Driver, etc, etc.
Sliding in a turn and hitting the curb because the lesser-gripping tires are on front makes no sense.
When you say that hitting a curb makes no sense, I would agree... the point of the article is that the slide will happen anyway, however for most drivers under most conditions it is easier to control a sliding front end than it is to control a sliding rear end. So in the scenario you suggest, the sliding front might result in going straight ahead, the sliding rear could result in a spinout.
Your specific situation is a wild card for me - you have mixed tires on the car, and whether the vehicle is front, rear or all wheel drive would probably have some impact.
I have LeSabres front wheel drive. The best way to replace tires is all four. But I had intentionally worn two much more than the others but kept them even by rotating correctly and frequently (do it myself in the driveway). I have 4 Symmetrys that have worn beautifully and will probably replace all four even though they have 40% tread depth left before snow season.
>When you say that hitting a curb makes no sense, I would agree...
Slushy snow that has been driven on and sometimes has salt in it is the worse for traction when turning. A good tread bite makes all the difference in the world. I want the front wheels to have that tread bite in the circumstance I'm describing.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
the problem with putting high tread on the front and low tread on the rear again doesn't matter when traveling in a straight line. the problem occurs at hiway speeds while cornering. this many times happens near the apex and with out warning. and your right it causes a spinning action with the result of sending the car backwards into oncoming traffic. if your car won't steer from the front you need 4 tires not 2
Repeat. The new tires always go to the rear. For safety.
BH
With all due respect:
I sometimes run a demonstration unit where we take a car, put new tires on the front / worn turns on the rear, and drive the vehicle in a large circle. Part of the circle has water running across it
If the water depth is right and the vehicle speed is right, the vehicle will spin out every time. This doesn't happen when the tires are reversed. At worst the vehicle goes straight and once the vehicle leaves the wet area, the driver can safely drive back onto the course.
This has been demonstrated with all new tires / all worn tires/ RWD / FWD and the only combination that consistently spins the car out is new tires on the front / worn tires on the rear.
This has been demonstrated for 100's of people (they drive the cars)
If I were to put you in the car, I'd make you a believer, too!