I just replaced the OE tire (Michelin XGT4) on my 2000 Chrysler Sebring JXI convertible with same size Bridgestone Potenza RE950.
My MPG has gone from 22 to 19 - is this more than I should have expected?
As an aside, I don't notice any difference between the two tires, but the Sebring doesn't let you feel the road all that much. Or maybe I am just numb. Frankly, 99% of my miles are at 80 mph on the freeway or 5 mph in my neighborhood, so not a lot of "driving" going on.
When I bought a Mazda MX6 in 1988, it had Firestone 710 (or 720 or something like that) which wore well and had terrific all season traction. When the first two wore out I put on 2 highly regarded Goodyear tires and I immediately noticed almost zero wet traction. Got rid of them well before they were half worn and went back to the OEM tires for the balance of the 99K miles I put on that car. THey were excellent; can't imagine any other tire being any better for that car.
zueslewis: re: the Yokohama Avid tires you recommended; did you mean to say the V4 style rather than the H4 style? I have the V4's on my current Mercedes and they are excellent all-around tires; excellent traction wet or dry and decent in less than 4" of snow too. Handling and wear are very good also. And they are quiet at all speeds even with almost 20K on them.
I'm going to replace a tire on mine. OEM stock is P215/45ZR17 Continental. What would the best one for replacement?, Thanks in advance for all input, i know nothing about tire, and what # stands for what....., .
I just bought 2 tires for my small trailer - 4.80 x 12. When I brought them home, installed them and spun them, one of the tires was out of round by about 3/16". If I spin any of the tires on my cars, they run out only 1/32" to 1/16", so it seems to me that 3/16" runout on such a small tire will be noticeable in the form of an out of balance contidion. Any thoughts from those who have knowledge in this area? Thanks.
Bias tires will have more runout than a comparable radial tire. Plus I'll bet the wheels aren't as round as an OE car wheel. Plus the wheels aren't likely to be center piloted.
When you put the wheel on, did the center of the wheel fit over a hub? Was the wheel loose before you tightened the lug nuts? If the answers are no / yes, then reposition the wheel before tightening, trying to center the wheel as best you can.
Besides, you're not planning on riding back there are you?
Speed ratings are a bit confusing to me. "V", "W" and "Z" ratings stand for ultra performance tires, while "H" ratings designate semi performance tires, while regular passenger car/touring tires carry an "S" or "T" speed rating. You'd think if a "Z" rated tire would be the most ultra performance tire designation, then you'd think an "H" rated tire would be for touring tires, and as the letter desination gets closer to Z, the performance rating of the tire would also increase. Why the confusing method of speed rating tires?
It used to be there were 3 speed ratings: S, H, & V. Slow, High, and very high.
But life has gotten more difficult!
H are honest to goodness high performance tires, but our concept of high performance has changed over time.
"Touring" is a terminology the marketing folks came up with to get people to pay high performance $$ for tires that only looked high performance. That also has changed and, at the moment, can mean anything from an S speed rating to a V, but basically an all season tire with some speed capability.
So why all the confusion?
Because the technical folks are the ones doing the speed ratings, and the sales folks are the ones deciding what gets produced.
Not really. If they have come out with a bunch of different speed designators, then they need to change the whole system. There's no way an "H" rated tire should carry a higher speed rating than an "S" or a "T" rated tire.
rated at a higher speed rating than an "S" or "T" rated tire. It has a stronger sidewall and the makeup to withstand higher temperatures.
Although there are as many tire ratings as there are letters in the alphabet, only 5-6 are generally sold regularly, with when restricted to Mom and Pop's Buick, only one or two ratings are sold.
2) Z is over 240 kph, but W and Y are both above 240.
Both of these situations exist because you can't undo a speed rating. I mean what does an H speed rated tire mean if they changed what H meant.
This is the problem we engineers have - grandfathering existing technology.
I'll give you another example: Why are tires sized with a mix of millimeters and inches? Because, inch sized wheels have been in existence a long time and you can't change that.
In the early 80's, Michelin tried to promote metric sized wheels - 365, 390, and 415. Did not get accepted, probably because there wasn't a very good reason to make this type of changeover.
Take the trucking industry, which adopted tubeless and radials at the same time. Use to be that a 10.00-20 was a standard size tubetype tire. Replaced by 11R22.5. And now there's the same sort of mix of mm and inches passenger tires have - but all for some pretty good reasons.
Capriracer, you were right in your speculation of the wheel roundness. It was out of round by about 3/32". I took the tires/wheels back to the Goodyear dealer because they forgot to balance them when they mounted the new tires. They took the out of round tire off the wheel and spun the wheel by itself, and I could see the out of round condition. But, they only have the capability to center the wheels on the center hole, so that may contribute to the apparent roundness problem. When they balanced that wheel, it took a 3 oz. weight. It looks like the weight goes almost half way around the rim! I have not towed the trailer with the new tires yet, so I guess that will be the true test to determine how smooth running the tires will be. Thanks for your help.
see if they'll cull that tire and give you a different one - a small tire like that requiring 3 oz of weight ain't right. It'll probably beat you down with vibration, too.
Are there other people on this board that have had some serious problems with their Dunlop SP Sport A2 tires? Mine became chopped and very noisy after about 12K miles. They were rotated every 6K miles, kept at the proper pressure, and the car was aligned just prior to installing them.
I thought these were great tires up until they started getting so loud. I noticed there are a lot of complaints about them on Tirerack.com also. Has anyone written a letter to Dunlop, or taken them to Dunlop/Goodyear dealer to find out what the problem is? I've had two mechanics inspect my car and they could not find any problems with the suspension.
Has anyone had experience with Liberator tires? I just bought a set for my 97 Ram 1500 4x4. I am told Michelin makes them, but I can't find any info, other than what the tire guy at Wal*Mart told me.
I had only good experience with them. What car ? What is original load index ? What tire size ?
Krzys
PS I read some comments on tirerack and biggest complaint is treadwear. When I understand people complaining about wear with <20000 miles it is hard to understand complaints with almost 30000. One person summed everything up nicely: "The treadwear rating is VERY misleading."
Any opinions on the 'new' Mich Harmony as a year-round all-season in snowbelt region? They say good snow and hydro taction with excellent treadwear. Yes, it is better to run dedicated winters, but...... Can this be Too Good To Be True ? Thx.
Krzys - I have them on an Oldsmobile Intrigue. Not sure about the load index, but the OE tires were Goodyear Eagle LS. The size is 225/60 R16.
I've got about 20K on them now, and they will probably need to be replaced in the next 5-10K miles. The tread life doesn't bother me as much as the noise from the chopped tires. Even though they were supposed to be a 50K mile tire, if I get 30K out of them I'll be happy. They were pretty cheap, after all.
20K and the tires are noisy because they are "chopped".
Let me guess - It's the rear tires and you didn't rotate them.
At 20K, almost all FWD cars (vans, too!) will start to show irregular wear on the rear tires. This will show up as noise or a vibration. How soon after 20K you experience these things depends on how sensitive you are, how sensitive your vehicle is, how bad the vehicle alignment is, how much inflation you used, and the list goes on.
due to camber of the rear suspension. Rotating them to the fronts can even this out a bit but not entirely. The fronts are eaten by the turning/accel loads and the rears get a bald stripe on the inside edge. Isn't FWD great?
Let me guess - It's the rear tires and you didn't rotate them.
Nope, they have been rotated 4 times by my dealership since I've had them (in 20K miles). As stated earlier, I had an alignment performed just prior to mounting the tires, and I keep my tire pressure set at the specs in the door jamb.
If they've actually been rotated every 5,000 miles, then there's another problem that's causing the tires to wear funny. I'd be looking very closely at alignment.
IMHO, vehicle alignment tolerances (not the specs, the acceptable range) is too wide by half. This is especially true of toe in. Modern radial tires do not like the toe to be more than 1/32" from nominal PER SIDE. (I believe that's about 0.16 degrees) Anymore than that and bad things start to happen.
As far as the alignment goes - I think it's best that your next alignment be a 4 wheel alignment and check with the shop to make sure they keep everything as close as possible to the nominal value. And nothing is to be more than 50% the range specified by the vehicle manufacturer.
If I understand what "chopped" means, it is that each lug is worn so that the overall effect looks like a circular saw blade. That is what happened to all four Yokohama AVS db tires at 10-12K miles on my rear wheel drive MB and it included rotation at 5K. The dealer hinted it was an alignment problem and was able to give me credit towards the Yokohama Avid V4 tires. They have ~20K miles on them and have been rotated every 5K miles. And no alignment was done and these tires are wearing nice and even. Sometimes it is the tires and their suitability for a particlar car.
The wheels you helped me find for my '03 Accord LX Coupe looked great. Some barefoot, 16 yr old girl on a cell phone ran a stop sign and t-boned my passenger side at 35 MPH. I walked away bruised and sore with some lingering back pain but was very lucky. My car was driveable (somehow she hit me and missed both of the wheels) but it was totaled. I got another one (actually made about $1,200 on the deal) and the wheels look great.
What replacement tires would you recommend for my wife's 2002 CRV-EX? I believe they are 205/70/15 but will have to check. The OEM are Bridgestone Dueler HT's with about 33K on them. Tread is still good for 5-10K but I want something else before winter. All I need in Nashville is good all season tire with wet weather traction, handling, quiet and mileage being the order of importance. I was never satisfied with the wet weather traction of these tires from the beginning.
"The rule was challenged in a lawsuit brought by three non-profit consumer advocacy organizations. The auto safety advocates said the government _ under pressure from auto companies _ adopted a less safe standard than it should have."
it would open up the manufacturers for MORE liability, having to worry about someone suing them after the monitor didn't work perfectly, they overloaded their Explorer, then had a blowout.
I've seen the Corvette system - seems like just another "gee-whiz" option on a car that is exciting enough not to need a "gee-whiz" option.
I think at some point we should have a tire pressure monitoring system standard. I do feel that a higher tire safety standard should come first. Using the Explorer as an example shows that neither the automakers or the tiremakers should be let off easy. The point is a tire failure may affect more cars than the drivers of the failed tire.The only people I can see hurt are the people who sell parts do repairs and sell new cars to replaced totaled cars. OH, and the funeral lobby if they have one.
After getting hammered in my first ever red car it left me with bad kharma....I went with the graphite pearl (dark grey) and after a week or so I believe I like it better.
About the CRV tires. My local Goodyear guy thinks the Aquatread 3 sucks. I looked at those for my Accord before going with the Dunlop A2 Sports and he talked me out of them for sure. I have also heard great stuff about the Michelin Harmony but I just can't make myself pay Michelin prices unless they are far superior.
That leaves me looking at the Yokohama Avid T4's but I will look into the Aquatreads a little more before deciding.
You shouldn't avoid Michelin because they cost a little more. I've always had better service, rounder tires from Michelin and got more than the extra money's worth for what I wanted the tires to do. I'm impressed that Michelins are what GM puts onto the large platform cars when they have a vibration problem to fix. My XH4s only lasted 110 K on the LeSabre I traded (the new one has Michelin Symmetrys from the factory -- one of the reasons I let my wife talk me into buying it quickly last fall!!!). You paid a little extra for the Honda reputation for good serve or you felt that's the best car to do what you want. I'd pick the tires the same way; a little extra now may cost less in the long run and if it's the tire you want, it might be a better built tire.
Have a 2002 GMC 2500HD 2wd 4.1x with standard 16' tires. Looking to buy/tow a 5th wheel. Truckbed rails are 55" high from level ground, and I need to get the bed lower to accommodate the 5th whl clearance over the truckbed when towing.
Besides the speedometer and odometer changing with the smaller tires are there any other concerns/problems that I will occur? thanks, Steve
1) I don't think you can actually find 15" wheels that will fit. GM does that on purpose because of # 2 below. 2) As a general rule 15" will not carry as much load as a 16". And the last thing you want is overloaded tires. 3) I am wondering if the vehicle is even capable of hauling a fifth wheel. You need to check with GM on this. What you will need is the GVW and the tongue weight of the trailer you are considering.
TireRack lists them as "Grand Touring" type, while Kuhmo's own website lists them as more of a performance tire.
My car came with Bridgestone Turanza EL42's. I want something with more grip, but without sacrificing too much noise/comfort/wear.
The Kuhmo's are less than half the price of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's. I plan to commute to work and autocross with the same tires, so the price of the Michelins scares me off, since I'll be shredding them up at least once a month.
Comments
tireguy Apr 24, 2000 7:51am
capriracer Jan 31, 2003 7:48pm
Steve, Host
My MPG has gone from 22 to 19 - is this more than I should have expected?
As an aside, I don't notice any difference between the two tires, but the Sebring doesn't let you feel the road all that much. Or maybe I am just numb. Frankly, 99% of my miles are at 80 mph on the freeway or 5 mph in my neighborhood, so not a lot of "driving" going on.
Hope this helps.
zueslewis: re: the Yokohama Avid tires you recommended; did you mean to say the V4 style rather than the H4 style? I have the V4's on my current Mercedes and they are excellent all-around tires; excellent traction wet or dry and decent in less than 4" of snow too. Handling and wear are very good also. And they are quiet at all speeds even with almost 20K on them.
RE92s come either way, depends on the application.
They're ok for now. Given a choice I probably wouldn't get them. I'll be switching when I upgrade to 17's.
Give us some parameters (driving style, mileage you drive, anything else you'd consider important) and perhaps we can make a few suggestions.
Like everything in life, tires have their strengths and weaknesses so some info from you can help narrow down the choices.
When you put the wheel on, did the center of the wheel fit over a hub? Was the wheel loose before you tightened the lug nuts? If the answers are no / yes, then reposition the wheel before tightening, trying to center the wheel as best you can.
Besides, you're not planning on riding back there are you?
Hope this helps.
But life has gotten more difficult!
H are honest to goodness high performance tires, but our concept of high performance has changed over time.
"Touring" is a terminology the marketing folks came up with to get people to pay high performance $$ for tires that only looked high performance. That also has changed and, at the moment, can mean anything from an S speed rating to a V, but basically an all season tire with some speed capability.
So why all the confusion?
Because the technical folks are the ones doing the speed ratings, and the sales folks are the ones deciding what gets produced.
Hope this helps.
I may have driven that first tank of gas faster than usual
and I do notice the difference between my OE Michelins and my new Potenzas - I have found myself going about 10 mph faster than usual
and I do notice the difference between my OE Michelins and my new Potenzas - I have found myself going about 10 mph faster than usual
Less rolling resistance, perhaps?
vgrinshpun "Toyota Sienna 2004+" Jul 29, 2003 1:20pm
Steve, Host
Although there are as many tire ratings as there are letters in the alphabet, only 5-6 are generally sold regularly, with when restricted to Mom and Pop's Buick, only one or two ratings are sold.
I think I misunderstood your question.
Try this web page:
http://www.tireguides.com/tip2.html
It is a list of speed ratings in order.
You'll notice 2 unusual things:
1) H is not where you would expect it to be
2) Z is over 240 kph, but W and Y are both above 240.
Both of these situations exist because you can't undo a speed rating. I mean what does an H speed rated tire mean if they changed what H meant.
This is the problem we engineers have - grandfathering existing technology.
I'll give you another example: Why are tires sized with a mix of millimeters and inches?
Because, inch sized wheels have been in existence a long time and you can't change that.
In the early 80's, Michelin tried to promote metric sized wheels - 365, 390, and 415. Did not get accepted, probably because there wasn't a very good reason to make this type of changeover.
Take the trucking industry, which adopted tubeless and radials at the same time. Use to be that a 10.00-20 was a standard size tubetype tire. Replaced by 11R22.5. And now there's the same sort of mix of mm and inches passenger tires have - but all for some pretty good reasons.
Hope this helps.
If the wheels are centered by the lug nuts and not the centerhole, then the balance will be off, due to being balnced using the centerhole.
Quite frankly, I don't think this is a very big issue for a trailer.
Hope this helps.
I thought these were great tires up until they started getting so loud. I noticed there are a lot of complaints about them on Tirerack.com also. Has anyone written a letter to Dunlop, or taken them to Dunlop/Goodyear dealer to find out what the problem is? I've had two mechanics inspect my car and they could not find any problems with the suspension.
link
That'll probably confirm that Michelin made them. I think all the tire companies make private label tires for different brands; Wal-Mart, Costco, etc.
Steve, Host
What car ?
What is original load index ?
What tire size ?
Krzys
PS I read some comments on tirerack and biggest complaint is treadwear. When I understand people complaining about wear with <20000 miles it is hard to understand complaints with almost 30000.
One person summed everything up nicely: "The treadwear rating is VERY misleading."
Yes, it is better to run dedicated winters, but......
Can this be Too Good To Be True ?
Thx.
I've got about 20K on them now, and they will probably need to be replaced in the next 5-10K miles. The tread life doesn't bother me as much as the noise from the chopped tires. Even though they were supposed to be a 50K mile tire, if I get 30K out of them I'll be happy. They were pretty cheap, after all.
Let me guess - It's the rear tires and you didn't rotate them.
At 20K, almost all FWD cars (vans, too!) will start to show irregular wear on the rear tires. This will show up as noise or a vibration. How soon after 20K you experience these things depends on how sensitive you are, how sensitive your vehicle is, how bad the vehicle alignment is, how much inflation you used, and the list goes on.
Hope this helps.
Krzys
Nope, they have been rotated 4 times by my dealership since I've had them (in 20K miles). As stated earlier, I had an alignment performed just prior to mounting the tires, and I keep my tire pressure set at the specs in the door jamb.
IMHO, vehicle alignment tolerances (not the specs, the acceptable range) is too wide by half. This is especially true of toe in. Modern radial tires do not like the toe to be more than 1/32" from nominal PER SIDE. (I believe that's about 0.16 degrees) Anymore than that and bad things start to happen.
As far as the alignment goes - I think it's best that your next alignment be a 4 wheel alignment and check with the shop to make sure they keep everything as close as possible to the nominal value. And nothing is to be more than 50% the range specified by the vehicle manufacturer.
What replacement tires would you recommend for my wife's 2002 CRV-EX? I believe they are 205/70/15 but will have to check. The OEM are Bridgestone Dueler HT's with about 33K on them. Tread is still good for 5-10K but I want something else before winter. All I need in Nashville is good all season tire with wet weather traction, handling, quiet and mileage being the order of importance. I was never satisfied with the wet weather traction of these tires from the beginning.
Thanks.
On the CRV deal, I recommend several - the Bridgestones are OK but seem to get choppy easier than most and make some noise.
My favorites for this application, in order:
Goodyear Aquatred 3, Yokohama Avid T4, Dunlop D65 Touring, Dunlop SP40 A/S, Pirelli Scorpion, Michelin Symmetry.
Newsday
"The rule was challenged in a lawsuit brought by three non-profit consumer advocacy organizations. The auto safety advocates said the government _ under pressure from auto companies _ adopted a less safe standard than it should have."
Steve, Host
I've seen the Corvette system - seems like just another "gee-whiz" option on a car that is exciting enough not to need a "gee-whiz" option.
Steve, Host
About the CRV tires. My local Goodyear guy thinks the Aquatread 3 sucks. I looked at those for my Accord before going with the Dunlop A2 Sports and he talked me out of them for sure. I have also heard great stuff about the Michelin Harmony but I just can't make myself pay Michelin prices unless they are far superior.
That leaves me looking at the Yokohama Avid T4's but I will look into the Aquatreads a little more before deciding.
Great color choice, by the way - I love that color.
Krzys
You paid a little extra for the Honda reputation for good serve or you felt that's the best car to do what you want. I'd pick the tires the same way; a little extra now may cost less in the long run and if it's the tire you want, it might be a better built tire.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Besides the speedometer and odometer changing with the smaller tires are there any other concerns/problems that I will occur? thanks, Steve
1) I don't think you can actually find 15" wheels that will fit. GM does that on purpose because of # 2 below.
2) As a general rule 15" will not carry as much load as a 16". And the last thing you want is overloaded tires.
3) I am wondering if the vehicle is even capable of hauling a fifth wheel. You need to check with GM on this. What you will need is the GVW and the tongue weight of the trailer you are considering.
Hope this helps.
TireRack lists them as "Grand Touring" type, while Kuhmo's own website lists them as more of a performance tire.
My car came with Bridgestone Turanza EL42's. I want something with more grip, but without sacrificing too much noise/comfort/wear.
The Kuhmo's are less than half the price of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's. I plan to commute to work and autocross with the same tires, so the price of the Michelins scares me off, since I'll be shredding them up at least once a month.