I'm a medium driver. I think it was the soft tread compound that contributed to the wear, and on the wrong kind of car. A Maxima front end is heavy. But, boy did the A2's have outstanding traction. The previous Michelins MXV4's got 30K, and they aren't known the best wearing tires either. I've got some simple Continentals on it now, & they are pushing 30K.
I am still looking for tires for my '00 Accord EX. Costco has a great deal (for the next 3 weeks) on the Energy tires; but my gas station man is offering to install Harmony's on my car for $80.00 more. I know that the Harmony has a longer mileage rating, but can they be installed on my car, and how will they affect the handling? It is definitely tire time!
Since the takeover by Goodyear, the materials utilized have been cheapened up dramatically. Dunlops which were once a premium tire brands is nothing more than a secondary tire in the Goodyear scheme of things.
Expect to get only 40K at best on a set of Dunlops now.
If you want excellent all weather traction check out Nokian WR. Unfortunately Tirerack doesn't carry them but would be GREAT if they did HINT! Read some of the posts in the snow tires thread and regular tires thread just search for Nokian. These are industry rated for severe snow (mountain snowflake symbol) are excellent wet and dry. Everybody I know that tried them won't buy any other kind at this point. They come in your size and are H-speed rated. I run dedicated snows (because I had them already prior to WR) and use the WR's for my 3 season mainly because of how great they are in the wet. I left them on for the first couple snows this past winter and loved them. I had 5 people at work try my car in the unplowed parking lot as compared to their cars. They are all running WR's now also!
Here's a question for you guys while Connor's off to Montreal:
Just bought a used 2000 Lincoln Continental w/ stock chrome wheels from a dealer. Has brand new tires all the way around. Left front tire has a slow leak. Took it to the tire repair shop in case there was a nail or something in the tire. To them the tire looked fine but they noted that the chrome on the inside of the wheel was splintering off. They said that the slow leak was a result of the degrading chrome finish and that the other wheels could eventually develop the same problem.
Have any of you guys run into this sort of problem? If so, short of replacing all four wheels, is there anything I can do to the wheels? Such as having them rechromed or something? And would it be more expensive than a new set of wheels? As it is, right now I am having to go to a gas station every few days. The car is otherwise driving fine.
There is absolutely NO way that the chrome finish on those wheels has anything to do with sealing in the air!
I've seen factory chrome flake off, and true, you either have to replace the wheels or get them rechromed, but it has nothing to do with your slow leak.
It's really hard to detect a pinhole leak, try another shop. You could try looking for it yourself by spraying soapy water on the tread of the tire and looking for air bubbles.
I am shopping for 4 tires for a Dodge Stealth, tire size 245/45/17. I have pricing on Mankang, Falkens, Ventus, Sumitomo's, Kumho and Wanli's. Can anyone give me some feedback on the best all purpose tires for the money. I do not need the perfromance Z rated tires for my style of driving.
I have a 2002 BMW 530i with the sport package. The factory standard Continentals are at 17k and are probably not good for much past 20k. Anticipating a decision this year I choose to look at the Bridgestone RE750, Goodyear F1 GSD3 and the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 in the 235/45YR-17. Yesterday the shop that installs all of my tires told me that they have my next tire in the new (6/7/04 press release) Michelin XGT Z4. Outside of the Michelin web site I can't find any information on this up and coming re-release tire. Does anyone have anything they can share with me ?
I am shopping for 4 tires for a Dodge Stealth, tire size 245/45/17. I have pricing on Mankang, Falkens, Ventus, Sumitomo's, Kumho and Wanli's. Can anyone give me some feedback on the best all purpose tires for the money. I do not need the perfromance Z rated tires for my style of driving.
From what I have learned Michelin has redesigned the XGT and is reintroducing them to the US market this summer. Since my wife drives this car most of the time I don't need the summer maximum tire but do want the next level below which is why the RE750 appealed to me over the other choices.
I too had a slow leak (1/2 pound per day) that NTB could not find using tub of water and also ordinary soap solution. They told me the rim was probably the problem.
But, I found the leak myself by using a special soap solution that kids use to blow bubbles. I bought a large bottle of it at the supermarket. The hole that I found with this soap was incredibly small and could barely be seen. Look at the message I posted here on 4-21-04, Msg 3651. Good luck.
From what I have learned Michelin has redesigned the XGT and is reintroducing them to the US market this summer. Since my wife drives this car most of the time I don't need the summer maximum tire but do want the next level below which is why the RE750 appealed to me over the other choices.
I had a small slow leak with my Buick Regal. The car have a tire pressure monitor - otherwise I probably would not know about the leak.
Firestone technician could not find the leak. He injected some glue into the tire. After the treatment the tire leaked something like 5 psi per month.
I added a "spare in the can" into the tire, and thought that the problem is over. However, the tire pressure alert came again about half year later. My wife was on highway, long trip, deep in night, bad weather. Fortunately, we always have a gauge and small compressor in the trunk. She get out of highway on the first exit, found what tire was underinflated, and added air.
I put another can of the sealant in the tire. Checked the pressure every month at first, than every 3 months. It leaked only 2-3 psi per year.
It is not uncommon for the alloy part of the wheel to leak have problems holding air. That's one of the reasons they clear coat them. Chroming works, too, to seal the pores.
Be sure to check the wheel for tiny leaks. When the wheel is immersed, they will appear like air bubbles clinging to the surface of the wheel that will eventually detach, to be replace by another small bubble.
I have had a set of Sumitomo SRX tires on my truck now for 30,000 miles and they have almost all of the original tread. And they are without a doubt the best riding and handling tires that I have ever had. They may be deceiving because they are cheap, but they are really, really good. I just wish I could get them in a 255/70R-16 for my new GMC Sierra to replace the cheap General AmeriStar tires that came on my factory alloy mags.
I just installed a set of thes in 225/45-17 on my Mazda 6. Let me just begin by saying that the dry and wet grip on these is unGodly!
They're summer performance tires, and should not be used once the temperature drops below around 40 Fahranheit. I kept my stock All Season wheels and tires, but will hate it when I switch back for the winter!
May I sneak in, once again, that these tires handle amazingly well? They have a softer sidewall than other exterme-performance tires, such as the Bridgestone Pole Position (S-03 etc), Michelin Pilot Sport (1, 2) etc. This gives them a much softer ride, which is very livable for the times (rare!) when you don't want/need to drive hard.
Pity tirerack doesn't carry this brand, though - most of the 'real car' performance series you see on Speed channel now use either T1-S or the (more extreme, track-only) RA-1 from Toyo.
The only other tire that comes close in comfort plus performance is the Goodyear F1 GS-D3. I might try those next.
Gentlemen (at the risk of assuming there are very few ladies interested in tires and wheels), thank you for your responses. The next time I wash the car, I'm going to try to pinpoint the leak.
I don't think the repair shop was necessarily lying to me since they don't sell wheels, nor did they try to. What they did do was put some of that extra black tar-like stuff on the inside surface of the rim. The leak slowed to the point where it drops to about 15-20 psi from 32 psi every 4-5 days, instead of every 1-2 days as it was before.
I like the "fix a flat" spare tire in a can idea since even if I don't find the leak, I hope the can will seal the tire up to the point where I'm not having to reinflate the tire so frequently.
In the meantime, since the tires are relatively new, I have no plans to change them right away. I'll just drive on 'em till they wear out and then look to see how the new set behave.
The pressures that the tire is leaking to is really low and repeated operation of the tire at that low of inflation pressure could lead to a tire failure. Get this taken care of ASAP.
Then be sensitive to any vibration that wasn't there before. This is the first sign of a tire separating and should be addressed very quickly.
Also, spray in tire sealants MAY work on the tread area, but aren't going to have an affect on the seal between the tire and the wheel.
I recall that GM had a sealant that could be sprayed or brushed on the rim that stopped porosity leaks. I believe this is a service manual description from a couple cars ago.
That would be the best thing to do. Unmount the tires. Coat with sealant. Dry. Remount. Rebalance.
Capri has it right. It's dangerous to have tires slowly dropping pressure. A low tire could be a significant handling change in an emergency situation.
How is the noise? Is there any? Can you update this board in the future on how the tires perform at 5k and 10k miles for such as wear factor and any increase in noise?
Had Toyo Proxes on an 97 Maxima SE and thought they were pretty decent for OEM tire. Kept them till worn and they were always quiet. I have seen some messages on the Maxima board in past years that some folks did not like the Toyo on the Max. There were two different tread designs of Toyo used - one for SE and another for the other models.
We will want to consider replacement tires for an 04 Acura TL and summer tires would be preferable over all-season. Used Dunlop snow tires mounted on extra set of rims last winter on the TL.
trying to buy tires for a car being given to my son. he is moving to another part of our state. looked at walmart as they have a store in his new city for road hazard and flat fixing any idea what tire the goodyear viva compares to????? its a wal mart only tire..
I have a 1998 Chevy Blazer (4dr 4x4). I currently have 235/70R15 Bridgestone Deuler H/L's on it. They have approx 35K miles and need replacing. I paid about $100/tire for these on tirerack.com and am disappointed with the treadlife they gave me. (I must admit that I did not rotate them at all. They are worn evenly nonetheless.)
I almost never use the truck for towing or off-roading and was thinking about getting passenger tires instead of light-truck tires this time. The tires am am interested in are BFGoodrich Premier 235/75R15's. I have not seen these tires elsewhere (I think they may be sold only at CostCo, which is where I saw them.). Does anyone else have any experience with this particular tire? They have a load rating of 105 which is actually more than the tires I currently have on the truck. The guys at the tire place also tell me that replacing the 70's with 75's is okay (using the same rims), is this true?
My understanding of the difference between light truck and passenger tires is mostly the sidewall strength. Passenger tires are about $40 or $50 cheaper PER TIRE, and they come with a treadlife guarantee.
Can anyone please tell me if this is an unsafe thing to do?
When a tire starts separating the beginning vibrations are very small and gradually get bigger. As time and miles go on, the vibration gets larger and the rate of change becomes more rapid. Of course, just before the tread comes off, the vibration is quite large and appears to come on quite suddenly. What is actually happening is that when the tread goes from being a hoop to 2 flaps, that transition is quite sudden and results in quite a vibration (you are running over the flapping ends) and that's what most people experience and remember.
However, in the early stages, it's going to feel exactly like an out of balance tire.
I buy discounts free replacement warranty all the time. They replaced all four times once for me cause one came apart and I was not very comfortable with the other three after that. A friend of mine had to have a tire replaced on his van due to a defect. The tire model was no longer available so the replacement looked different. He commented that he did not like the difference so they replaced all with the same new tire. In both cases, the cost was limited to buying another free replacement warranty.
Do the tires installed on the car affect the readings on an alignment rack? Can I go to the dealership with my cupped tires and get a four-wheel alignment before I replace them? I think I've asked this before, but can't remember the answer. Thanks again.
can significantly affect alignment settings, especially if edge wear is prominent - it seriously affects the angles of camber, and can affect toe settings.
If you set up your alignment on a set of well-worn tires with weird wear patterns, then mount new tires, it won't be long before the new set adopts the old set's wear patterns.
The best thing is to have the vehicle aligned right after installing new tires.
Thanks. To be more specific, I am replacing the two rear tires on my Altima, which are badly cupped. Since the fronts have worn evenly, I'll hold off on the alignment until the new rears are installed.
I'd look closely at your rear struts - as they age and don't hold the tire so tightly in contact, cupping can easily result - also, bad front toe settings can cause weird rear tire wear patterns.
Should I be considering replacing my tires? We have Michelin LTX M/S P245/70R16 on our 98 Trooper. 60,000 miles and 3 years on the tires. They seem to be doing well, but I don't know if I should be thinking about new tires as we approach winter. I don't want to use tires with substandard grip during the slippery winter here in Michigan. All 4 tires have between 6/32 and 8/32" tread remaining. Visually, there seems to be 'plenty' of tread remaining. Is this too soon to be considering new tires?
Also, our spare is the OEM spare. Never been used, but it is now at least 6 years old. Same size as the other tires, but it's a Bridgestone Dueler 684. Should it be replaced due to age?
It's a 2002 2.5S model with 45,000 miles on it. It was a former rental car, and came with the cupped tires when I bought it. I replaced two of them and had it realigned, but it's been a while (about 20k miles). The other two are now closer to wearing out (and the cupping noise is becoming irritating), hence the replacement. The tire shop where I last had it aligned didn't touch the settings that weren't out of spec, whereas most alignment shops would try to center everything up to the ideal. Since I have to take the car in to the dealer for some bodywork, I'm going to have them align it on their Hunter rack. Anyway, I'll look at the struts just to be safe. Thanks for your help!
You've got your logic backwards. Alignment affects tire wear, but tires that are worn unevenly will not screw up the alignment of a car. (though the unevenly worn tires can cause tracking issues, once new tires are put on, that tracking issues caused by the old tires should go away) Misalignments can cause uneven tire wear, but uneven worn tires will not result in throwing an aligned car into misaligned condition. Aligments are "hard" adjustments of the suspension geometry, which uneven worn tires will not affect.
Thus you can go ahead and get a wheel alignment first, then slightly later on buy the new tires. You will not have to get another alignment, unless you hit a large pothole or the period of time was long between when you got the alignment and when you buy the new tires.
not realize that I've been Hunter and Bear instructor certified for 12 years.
"Aligments are "hard" adjustments of the suspension geometry, which uneven worn tires will not affect."
Sorry, not correct - alignment measurements AND corrections are made with tires flat on the rack, thereby being affected by tire wear. Unevenly worn tires, as they sit on the rack, affects the camber angle of the front wheels (and rear wheels, whether or not rear camber is adjustable).
"You will not have to get another alignment, unless you hit a large pothole or the period of time was long between when you got the alignment and when you buy the new tires"
Not really - while toe settings can radically affect tire wear patterns, so can camber settings - camber settings are measured both with the tires flat on a surface and at full droop.
I stand corrected, though it would seem to me that measurements and corrections should be referenced off the wheel hub, not using the tire tread as it sits on the alignment rack. I guess I jumped to conclusions about how I thought alignment machines worked, not how they are actually done. (just the engineer in me)
Makes me wonder how many alignments are done badly on a car with a bent rim! This also explains why I had recurring problems when I had repeated alignments done long ago on a car that had a worn wheel bearing (no other symptoms of failure except for uneven tire wear until someone finally properly diagnosed the wheel bearing problem). The operator must have checked and realigned a loose wheel based on how it sat on the alignment rack, rather that checking play between the wheel and the spindle.
I have two problems related to your point - first, a bent wheel, or a bent control arm, can wreak havoc on getting a setting right.
Secondly, most machines have an "acceptable range" that, to me, isn't acceptable. AR can be as much as 1/2" in or out on toe, and up to a full degree of camber - how is that acceptable?
The only way to do a good alignment is to use great tires, have no suspension issues, and get the settings close right down to the penny.
"Acceptable range" will cost you quite a few miles on tires, if a guy does a halfway job, and that happens more times than not.
It takes about 10 extra minutes to get a perfect alignment, but that 10 minutes is rarely spent.
how can a customer find a quiet tire - if that is most important to you? Is there a tread design that adds to quietness? like: 1--a continuous center rib?
2 -- any side rib charecteristics that help quietness? sipes facing forward/ bachwards? straight to the side? people who sell tires when asked always say yes this brand x is quiet, but it has to vary.
There are three issues - the tire, the road surface, and the vehicle. The tire and the road interact and the vehicle transmits.
The macrotexture of the pavement interacts with the tread pattern - sometimes in positive ways, sometimes negative. The problem is that there are many different macrotextures so it is difficult to create a design that works everywhere.
The vehicle then transmits these noises - sometimes through the glass, but mostly thorough all the flat sheet metal surfaces that can vibrate in sympathy to noises and a bit of strategically placed sound insulation does wonders.
The problem with trying to describe what tire characteristics generate noise is that these all also improve snow and wet traction. So you've got a trade off. Those characteristics are small elements, siping (especially siping that doesn't vent to a groove), and elements where the corners are not well supported (like grooves that create acute angles as opposed obtuse angles.
But there are a couple of other things that also can help reduce noise.
Alignment: 2 problems - misalignment can cause irregular wear patterns, which generates noise, and it can cause the tire to be dragged slightly sideways, which also generates noise. Toe in is extremely critical! In spec is not good enough!
Rotation: Rotating tires from position to position minimizes the wear that is specific to that wheel position. This is a key point to preventing irregular wear from progressing past the minimal point. Keep your tires in the same postion for tens of thousand of miles and the wear pattern is pretty much there to stay - the noise, too!
Inflation pressure: Increasing your inflation pressure stiffens the tire and aside from minimizing wear (and the development of irregular wear) it also changes the vibrational characteristics to the better.
assume alignment road surface pressure are all the same. You are in a tire store what do you look for on a tire with your eyes that will make it quiet. I understand small pieces are noiser. The rest i had trouble visualizing like: "and elements where the corners are not well supported (like grooves that create acute angles as opposed obtuse angles." anybody got a pix of that???? some tires are hard to evaluate -gy eagle GT2 has lots of trapped / closed sipes Firestone affinity LH30 (dealer says is quiet) has a LOT of small elements - should be noisy? GY Regatta 2 looks quiet - big pieces, open sipes??????
how much difference can a tire really make to MPG? Say you went from a OEM 195 with minimal traction (so low rolling resistance) to a 215 aggressive tread high-performance tire (ie, much grippier, so higher rolling resistance assumedly)?
On a mid size car (say a Camry), can the tires make a difference of 2 MPG city/highway?
Comments
Thanks!
Expect to get only 40K at best on a set of Dunlops now.
Here's the "international" site http://www.nokian.com/passengercars_product_en?product=610503&- ;amp- ;amp- ;name=NOKIAN+WR#
And this is the "North America" which has dealer links on it http://www.nokiantires.com/newsite/tires.cfm
what caused that- was dunlop having problems? who owned them before?
goodyear is having accounting problems, stock price problems and owes big bucks to the employees funds.
i am staying clear of goodyear.
Just bought a used 2000 Lincoln Continental w/ stock chrome wheels from a dealer. Has brand new tires all the way around. Left front tire has a slow leak. Took it to the tire repair shop in case there was a nail or something in the tire. To them the tire looked fine but they noted that the chrome on the inside of the wheel was splintering off. They said that the slow leak was a result of the degrading chrome finish and that the other wheels could eventually develop the same problem.
Have any of you guys run into this sort of problem? If so, short of replacing all four wheels, is there anything I can do to the wheels? Such as having them rechromed or something? And would it be more expensive than a new set of wheels? As it is, right now I am having to go to a gas station every few days. The car is otherwise driving fine.
There is absolutely NO way that the chrome finish on those wheels has anything to do with sealing in the air!
I've seen factory chrome flake off, and true, you either have to replace the wheels or get them rechromed, but it has nothing to do with your slow leak.
Thx.
Are you looking for all-season or summer only tires, because XGT Z4 sounds like all-season.
regards,
kyfdx
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same roads and weather
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But, I found the leak myself by using a special soap solution that kids use to blow bubbles. I bought a large bottle of it at the supermarket. The hole that I found with this soap was incredibly small and could barely be seen. Look at the message I posted here on 4-21-04, Msg 3651. Good luck.
or
if its the rim, take tire off and paint it let dry reinstall tire
Firestone technician could not find the leak. He injected some glue into the tire. After the treatment the tire leaked something like 5 psi per month.
I added a "spare in the can" into the tire, and thought that the problem is over. However, the tire pressure alert came again about half year later. My wife was on highway, long trip, deep in night, bad weather. Fortunately, we always have a gauge and small compressor in the trunk. She get out of highway on the first exit, found what tire was underinflated, and added air.
I put another can of the sealant in the tire. Checked the pressure every month at first, than every 3 months. It leaked only 2-3 psi per year.
Replaced the tires recently, after they wore out.
1) To take advantage of an advance in technology
2) Molds wear out and would need to be replaced anyway.
3) Marketing folks like to have new things to sell
4) Customers are impressed with "New and Improved"
Hope this helps.
It is not uncommon for the alloy part of the wheel to leak have problems holding air. That's one of the reasons they clear coat them. Chroming works, too, to seal the pores.
Be sure to check the wheel for tiny leaks. When the wheel is immersed, they will appear like air bubbles clinging to the surface of the wheel that will eventually detach, to be replace by another small bubble.
Hope this helps.
I see michelin mvx4 ( I think) tires on some of them.
They're summer performance tires, and should not be used once the temperature drops below around 40 Fahranheit. I kept my stock All Season wheels and tires, but will hate it when I switch back for the winter!
May I sneak in, once again, that these tires handle amazingly well? They have a softer sidewall than other exterme-performance tires, such as the Bridgestone Pole Position (S-03 etc), Michelin Pilot Sport (1, 2) etc. This gives them a much softer ride, which is very livable for the times (rare!) when you don't want/need to drive hard.
Pity tirerack doesn't carry this brand, though - most of the 'real car' performance series you see on Speed channel now use either T1-S or the (more extreme, track-only) RA-1 from Toyo.
The only other tire that comes close in comfort plus performance is the Goodyear F1 GS-D3. I might try those next.
I don't think the repair shop was necessarily lying to me since they don't sell wheels, nor did they try to. What they did do was put some of that extra black tar-like stuff on the inside surface of the rim. The leak slowed to the point where it drops to about 15-20 psi from 32 psi every 4-5 days, instead of every 1-2 days as it was before.
I like the "fix a flat" spare tire in a can idea since even if I don't find the leak, I hope the can will seal the tire up to the point where I'm not having to reinflate the tire so frequently.
In the meantime, since the tires are relatively new, I have no plans to change them right away. I'll just drive on 'em till they wear out and then look to see how the new set behave.
I'll let you guys know how things turn out.
The pressures that the tire is leaking to is really low and repeated operation of the tire at that low of inflation pressure could lead to a tire failure. Get this taken care of ASAP.
Then be sensitive to any vibration that wasn't there before. This is the first sign of a tire separating and should be addressed very quickly.
Also, spray in tire sealants MAY work on the tread area, but aren't going to have an affect on the seal between the tire and the wheel.
Hope this helps.
Get
sprayed or brushed on the rim that stopped porosity leaks. I believe this is a service manual description from a couple cars ago.
That would be the best thing to do. Unmount the tires. Coat with sealant. Dry. Remount. Rebalance.
Capri has it right. It's dangerous to have tires slowly dropping pressure. A low tire could be a significant handling change in an emergency situation.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
How is the noise? Is there any? Can you update this board in the future on how the tires perform at 5k and 10k miles for such as wear factor and any increase in noise?
Had Toyo Proxes on an 97 Maxima SE and thought they were pretty decent for OEM tire. Kept them till worn and they were always quiet. I have seen some messages on the Maxima board in past years that some folks did not like the Toyo on the Max. There were two different tread designs of Toyo used - one for SE and another for the other models.
We will want to consider replacement tires for an 04 Acura TL and summer tires would be preferable over all-season. Used Dunlop snow tires mounted on extra set of rims last winter on the TL.
he is moving to another part of our state.
looked at walmart as they have a store in his new city for road hazard and flat fixing
any idea what tire the goodyear viva compares to????? its a wal mart only tire..
I almost never use the truck for towing or off-roading and was thinking about getting passenger tires instead of light-truck tires this time. The tires am am interested in are BFGoodrich Premier 235/75R15's. I have not seen these tires elsewhere (I think they may be sold only at CostCo, which is where I saw them.). Does anyone else have any experience with this particular tire? They have a load rating of 105 which is actually more than the tires I currently have on the truck. The guys at the tire place also tell me that replacing the 70's with 75's is okay (using the same rims), is this true?
My understanding of the difference between light truck and passenger tires is mostly the sidewall strength. Passenger tires are about $40 or $50 cheaper PER TIRE, and they come with a treadlife guarantee.
Can anyone please tell me if this is an unsafe thing to do?
I assume this sort of vibration would be more sudden and severe than an out-of-balance vibration. Would it?
However, in the early stages, it's going to feel exactly like an out of balance tire.
Hope this helps.
Desertrat
If you set up your alignment on a set of well-worn tires with weird wear patterns, then mount new tires, it won't be long before the new set adopts the old set's wear patterns.
The best thing is to have the vehicle aligned right after installing new tires.
Also, our spare is the OEM spare. Never been used, but it is now at least 6 years old. Same size as the other tires, but it's a Bridgestone Dueler 684. Should it be replaced due to age?
Thus you can go ahead and get a wheel alignment first, then slightly later on buy the new tires. You will not have to get another alignment, unless you hit a large pothole or the period of time was long between when you got the alignment and when you buy the new tires.
"Aligments are "hard" adjustments of the suspension geometry, which uneven worn tires will not affect."
Sorry, not correct - alignment measurements AND corrections are made with tires flat on the rack, thereby being affected by tire wear. Unevenly worn tires, as they sit on the rack, affects the camber angle of the front wheels (and rear wheels, whether or not rear camber is adjustable).
"You will not have to get another alignment, unless you hit a large pothole or the period of time was long between when you got the alignment and when you buy the new tires"
Not really - while toe settings can radically affect tire wear patterns, so can camber settings - camber settings are measured both with the tires flat on a surface and at full droop.
Makes me wonder how many alignments are done badly on a car with a bent rim! This also explains why I had recurring problems when I had repeated alignments done long ago on a car that had a worn wheel bearing (no other symptoms of failure except for uneven tire wear until someone finally properly diagnosed the wheel bearing problem). The operator must have checked and realigned a loose wheel based on how it sat on the alignment rack, rather that checking play between the wheel and the spindle.
Secondly, most machines have an "acceptable range" that, to me, isn't acceptable. AR can be as much as 1/2" in or out on toe, and up to a full degree of camber - how is that acceptable?
The only way to do a good alignment is to use great tires, have no suspension issues, and get the settings close right down to the penny.
"Acceptable range" will cost you quite a few miles on tires, if a guy does a halfway job, and that happens more times than not.
It takes about 10 extra minutes to get a perfect alignment, but that 10 minutes is rarely spent.
205/55/16 ????
Can I drop from H to T or U for longer treadlife???
Thanks,
Is there a tread design that adds to quietness? like:
1--a continuous center rib?
2 -- any side rib charecteristics that help quietness? sipes facing forward/ bachwards? straight to the side?
people who sell tires when asked always say yes this brand x is quiet, but it has to vary.
There are three issues - the tire, the road surface, and the vehicle. The tire and the road interact and the vehicle transmits.
The macrotexture of the pavement interacts with the tread pattern - sometimes in positive ways, sometimes negative. The problem is that there are many different macrotextures so it is difficult to create a design that works everywhere.
The vehicle then transmits these noises - sometimes through the glass, but mostly thorough all the flat sheet metal surfaces that can vibrate in sympathy to noises and a bit of strategically placed sound insulation does wonders.
The problem with trying to describe what tire characteristics generate noise is that these all also improve snow and wet traction. So you've got a trade off. Those characteristics are small elements, siping (especially siping that doesn't vent to a groove), and elements where the corners are not well supported (like grooves that create acute angles as opposed obtuse angles.
But there are a couple of other things that also can help reduce noise.
Alignment: 2 problems - misalignment can cause irregular wear patterns, which generates noise, and it can cause the tire to be dragged slightly sideways, which also generates noise. Toe in is extremely critical! In spec is not good enough!
Rotation: Rotating tires from position to position minimizes the wear that is specific to that wheel position. This is a key point to preventing irregular wear from progressing past the minimal point. Keep your tires in the same postion for tens of thousand of miles and the wear pattern is pretty much there to stay - the noise, too!
Inflation pressure: Increasing your inflation pressure stiffens the tire and aside from minimizing wear (and the development of irregular wear) it also changes the vibrational characteristics to the better.
Hope this helps.
You are in a tire store
what do you look for on a tire with your eyes that will make it quiet.
I understand small pieces are noiser.
The rest i had trouble visualizing like:
"and elements where the corners are not well supported (like grooves that create acute angles as opposed obtuse angles." anybody got a pix of that????
some tires are hard to evaluate
-gy eagle GT2 has lots of trapped / closed sipes
Firestone affinity LH30 (dealer says is quiet) has a LOT of small elements - should be noisy?
GY Regatta 2 looks quiet - big pieces, open sipes??????
On a mid size car (say a Camry), can the tires make a difference of 2 MPG city/highway?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.