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Tires
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Like we've been saying - for ANY SUV consider the Michelin LTX M/S. They are simply the best for mostly-road driving. They drive smooth and go forever.
I couldn't stand those Firestone Wilderness tires that came on my Explorer, and after only 16,000 miles bought the Michlelin LTS M/S. My tire store did me OK by allowing me a $40 per tire trade-in for my barely used Firestones. Love the LTX M/S since I first used them on an earlier Explorer.
Oh when you get them replaced-watch the people who do it like a hawk-I told a national tire chain-80 foot pounds of torque and then put them on at over 120#. You can warp those rotors if you are not careful.
Bruce
My son has a 1988 BroncoII XLT and he is looking to put wider tires on it. He is currently running 205x75Rx15s. He is not interested in any body work or lift kits, but is interested in maybe running 30x9.50x15s. Hope this is right. He and I have been to 4 stores and gotten 4 different answers as to whether they will fit or not. NTB says yes, Merchants (Northern VA area) says nothing larger than 235x75Rx15, and Costco says nothing larger than 225x75Rx15. He has stock rims and does not want to purchase rims. Any help you could give would be appreciated.
The Dunlop D60 A2 is a good tire for the money. Scratch that, GREAT tire for the money. I have a set on my wife's Mustang and they are serving their purpose well. The reviews on TireRack are dead-on with this tire.
Spending more you can get better tires of course.
-Colin
Sometimes (on other trucks) you can compensate for the width problem by lowering the inflation pressure, concentrating the wear more on the shoulders, but that won't solve the problem. Even a 235/75R15 is borderline for a 6" rim, but it would be acceptable. Unless the truck is a complete beater and you really don't care, I wouldn't go with the 30s. The 235/75R15 is the biggest tire I would install. You can tell what size your stock rims are by checking the placard on the driver's door. It will read something like 205/75R15 on 15 x 6 rim. If you go with something aggressive like the BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO, the 235s will look SHARP on your Bronc. Trust me.
As I'm sure you know, these tires are not made for the highway. If you plan on installing these on your everyday driver, unless you live in the outback of Australia, they won't last.
the wheels? Do 4 tires get rotated or 5?
I have a Chrysler 300M. Does Chrysler have any recommendations about tire rotation?
Appreciate any help,
Dan
So simply the answer to your question is yes, you should have your tires rebalanced when they are rotated.
As for how to rotate them, front to back is usually best.
I just noticed that the dealer mounted one tire backward on the left rear(last September). I have driven with it like that for 5,000mi. Is the tire now damaged beyond repair? Does it need replacement?
Ever since these wheels and tires have been on my car I have been unable to get them to hold a balance. Within the first month of having them on my car I had them in the shop 4 times once to have three of the wheels replaced and all of the rubber replaced.
As of today I still have a slight vibration in all four wheels.
Bottom line is that after my husband spends that much money for wheels and tires they should be perfect.
Anyone out there have any thoughts on this problem?
It's tough to comment on the actual performance of the General since the tread pattern varies to widely from size to size. The 185/70R14 is the worst, with a nearly continuous tread pattern which tries to emulate the Mich X-One (unsuccessfully), and the 205/65R15 seems to be the most tolerable. 90% of General tires develop undulations in the sidewall (inward bumps) as a result of natural break-in. I can't tell you how many customers have come back over the years trying to get an adjustment on their "defective" Generals. It's normal; it's where the seams meet, but in the better tires, it isn't so pronounced. The "cheap" Michelin Sam's stocks to compare with the General is the X-Radial, nearly identical to the XH4, which you will find in most tire dealerships. This is an outstanding 80K mile tire with great traction from full-depth sipes, a casing which evenly distributes the load (and has a much wider contact patch), and a boatload of other features. Many actually prefer it to the top of the line X-Radial Plus/X-One.
Bottom line: the price makes the G4S attrative to the kinds of people who don't even know how many cylinders their engine has, or whether their car is front or rear-wheel-drive. I wouldn't mount them on my car if someone gave them to me; if I bought a car with them on, I'd tear them off the same day.
wear with General HP400 high performance tires? I
only have 19K miles and they are worn out. Toyota
says that this is typical on the Camry V6s.
Since Toyota puts two different tires on the
Camry V6, General HP400 which gets 20k miles and the Dunlop SP4000 which gets 40K miles, shouldn't
Toyota put new Dunlop tires on my car at 1/2 the
cost? Since the Dunlop tires are superior, Toyota should stop using the General tires.
Now for the bad news: New car warranties don't cover consumable items (tires, clutches, brake pads), regardless of how quickly they may wear out. Tire mileage warranties never apply to original, factory-installed tires. You'll get no love from Continental-General. You're no more their customer than you are Bosch's customer; you're Toyota's customer. And luckily for them the substandard component is not covered by their warranty.
We all go through this at one time or another. I'm currently driving a 99 Jetta which came with the Michelin MXV4s. They're a 40K mile tire and they're shot after 16K miles. I rotated the tires every 5K miles (3x) and constantly checked the pressure. The tires wore evenly across down to nothing. I sell the tires every day and they last twice as long for most of my customers, so I know it's not the tires, it's my taking 30 mph on/off ramps at 70 mph, etc. driving habits which brought their early demise. I beat the heck out of the car, anyway, since it's leased--so don't judge the MXV4s on my personal account. Had I purchased the tires from a dealer, ill driving habits aside, I would be eligible for a pro-rata refund on the 24K more miles I was supposed to get. Since the tires are O.E., I, like you, am S.O.L.
Yes, Toyota should stop using General Tires, but Conti-Gen has mastered the art of persuading major corporate patrons with their slick, serpent tongue. Millions of cars, both foreign and domestic, are born wearing a fresh set of Generals every year. Major retailers like Wal-Mart back up warranties as high as 100,000 miles (General Ameri Tour) on CG's junk tires. It's ridiculous. I don't know if the powers that may be really know nothing about what comprises a good tire or if they just don't care. I'm suspicious of both, but tend toward the latter.
Now go buy some Michelins, or Dunlops, if you don't want to spend the money. BFGoodriches are good for the money, too. Wherever you go--Sears, K-Mart, Sam's Club--this time you'll be protected by a mileage warranty.
Oh, and make sure you stick with the H rating. S or T tires which much higher mileage warranties won't actually last as long as they're supposed to on your Camry, and they certainly won't handle right. Shop in the 40K mi range (Michelin MXV4, Dunlop SP4000, BF Goodrich Touring T/A HR4, Bridgestone Potenza RE730). Though by no means the "budget" tires, Michelins are of uncompromised quality which is without comparison. The T/As have a hefty following as well.
'Bout time I hit the sack. That's enough tire talk for one night. Oh man, I have to get up and sell tires in four hours.
That is what happened to me...
My brake job was 10k miles old and the rotors were new at that time. There was NO sign of warpage before i had this done...
95 escort 63k.
I replaced the rotors this weekend(i know they could have been turned, but haven't had the best of luck with turned rotors) and hand torqued the wheels myself....
Thanks for the rant,
lee
While they have worked well, my car has nearly 24,000 miles on it and I plan to replace the tires with something better at 30,000 miles.
One criteria though: I will NOT change tire sizes. The tire size is 185/65R14.
Having checked out Tire Rack's web page (and checked on a couple of Internet newsgroups), I can safely rule out Yokohama's Avid H4 and T4 series (too many people complained they have marginal grip in both wet AND dry).
So far, the following tires might be of interest to me:
Continental CH95
Pirelli P6000 Sport Veloce
Bridgestone RE910 and RE92
I'd get the P6000 Sport Veloce, but I have to wonder about the ride quality, durability and whether it'll work on a front-wheel drive car like mine.
Bruce
Thanks for the advice! Fortunately, here in the Bay Area Bridgestone tires are available from several outlets.
Question is: are the Bridgestone RE92's better than the original Firestone FR680's that came with the car? Especially now that Bridgestone owns Firestone.
Short answer to RE92 better than FR860 ? YESSS!
Bruce
I almost wanted the Pirelli P6000 Sport Veloce at P185/65HR14 size, but since people say that Pirelli tires tend to start to go bad after 10K miles and my concerns about the unusual tread pattern of the P6000 SV (it appears the tires will be quite noisy), I'll stick with the RE92 instead.
Somebody only got something like 25K out of Michelin MXV4's. I got 72K and they had at least another 10K on them-replaced due to road damage. The MXV4's are really crappy tires though-lousy wet/snow traction, loud and squeal on corners. The wet/snow traction almost caused me to crash. Have X-One's on my accord now-fantastic tire-much better than MXV4's. Would not put on MXV4's if they were free.
Guns don't kill people; people kill people. The same holds for brake rotors. The ubiquitous Ingersoll Rand 231XP has five forward torque settings. A skilled "jerk" can manipulate the trigger within these settings to get your lugs easily within the range specified by the vehicle's manufacturer.
A tire shop is the fast food joint of the automotive industry. In an effort to perform efficiently and quickly, things get tossed, slid, dropped, stepped on... An impact tool is about as durable as power tools come. An audible-click torque wrench is a delicate, precision tool--yet subject to the same conditions. Which would you rather depend on, a technician who uses his impact tool as an extension of his hand, or a thoughtless lackey listening for the click that tells him he's reached 85 foot pounds on a torque wrench which has been dropped, kicked, rested on a high setting and a year overdue on recalibration? Do you really think that torque wrench gets turned down to 20#, put back in its blow-molded case after every use and recalibrated every six months?
When someone walks into my shop and says they have a torque wrench in their truck and they're going to be watching to see that it's used, I say they can have the best seat in the house, since they're perfectly welcome to tote my 4-way out into the parking lot, bring their wheels to me one at a time, then reinstall them at whatever torque they please, with their pretty, sharply-manicured fingers and their shiny new torque wrench they just spent $69.99 on at Sears for fear I might not know how to do my job. Because if you think I'm going to waste my time torquing 16 to 32 lugs by hand while I have the luxury of working in a garage equipped with a beautiful twin-pump Champion feeding five purring 231's, I won't be enjoying your patronage today.
If you've had your rotors waffled by some goof at the local gas station, you need to take your business elsewhere. But I'd advise you to never insult a professional by demanding that he torque your lugs by hand. It's never a good idea to piss off the guy to whom you've just handed your keys. Oh, and if he's not offended by your proposition, it's because he doesn't take pride in his methods, probably has no clue regarding anything, and will surely screw up your vehicle in one way or another.
Besides, if you're that paranoid, you should just bring your wheels (less the vehicle) to the shop to get new tires. A lot of people do this, and since it makes our task easier, we might even label you a "special customer", and balance your wheels to absolute perfection.
But it's so much easier to find a good mechanic, talk to him, get a feel for his grasp on reality, and trust him. What's next, the home root canal?
You see, I was chasing down a vibration and thought that the problem was out of balance wheels. I do take car of my car, with a set of winter wheels and tires and a set of summers. I also like to do the work my self. I just put the summers on and the vibration appeared. (That same pride in workmanship that you mentioned.) So I took my car to the local tire dealer that specialized in Yokohama tires and wanted them balanced and put back on the car with the proper torque, no impact wrench. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask for a specific torque and hand torquing. Heck, I'd even PAY for it. I'm not adverse to paying for quality workmanship, but just because I know what I want, does not put me in the @$$hole category.
Well, it turns out that I (yes I) probably warped the rotors and when I went to change them a few days later, it was a job to get the lug nuts off. Now I don't think that they would get that tight in a matter of a few days.
Furthermore, I believe many wheel manufacturers recommend AGAINST the use of an impact wrench on their wheels.
I work in a service industry as well, computers, and I make recommendations all of the time. But, I also listen to the customer. If the customer wants something, and it is NOT detrimental to either his equipment or my corporate image, we bend over backwards to accomodate him. I have refused to do work bec
And that is what I expect from those who provide service for me and my family.
Cheers,
TB
Anyway, lets finish that thought in the next to last paragraph. I have refused to work on customer equipment because the customers request was harmful to his equipment, or puts our firm at risk if what he wants is damaging. I can usually explain that to either my boss or the customer. However, hand torquing lug nuts probably does not put either the customer or the tire store at risk, it is merely inconvenient.
And like I said, since I charge by the hour and special requests take longer, I'd pay for the quality job done right.
Cheers,
TB
I strive to provide outstanding customer service, because I want my customers to be impressed with the treatment and workmanship they receive. I want them to be customers for life and tell their friends. But this isn't an issue of providing better service. I will not damage your rotors with an impact tool. I personally drive a 99 New Jetta with disc brakes at every corner. I use the impact tool on my lug(bolts) every time I rotate the tires, and my rotors are still glassy-smooth like the day I drove it home from the dealer. Of the tens of thousands of lugs I have tightened, I have never had a customer complain about damaged rotors.
When a customer tells me he feels he will receive better service if I lay down my pneumatic devices and do it the hard way because he, who has never used an impact tool, but heard they are evil, doesn't want his rotors damaged, the connection has been lost. We are no longer on the same wavelength.
I can see how consumers such as yourself feel you are only protecting yourselves from fools with power tools, but as I stated previously, it can be very insulting to a competent technician. The only way to completely avoid the risk of having your rotors damaged or insulting a professional is to take those wheels in yourself and leave the torquing to the one person in this world you can trust completely. No, not your old fraternity brothers--yourself.
I know the difference between an T2 connection and a 28.8 modem. I know how to add binary numbers and write a javascript program using Notepad and a code book. I know how a semi-conductor works. But if I hired you to fully network my facility, do you think I'd memorize an article in "Byte" magazine so I could be over your shoulder telling you how I want it done? Do you think I'd give you implicit directions to do it the way they did it a generation ago? No, I wouldn't. I'd respect your professional judgement and let you do your job the way you see fit. That's all I ever ask.
My shop is at the Sam's Club in Easton, Pa. Feel free to drop by anytime.
Chris
I'm not saying every tire guy is incompetent, but it only takes one to ruin your day.
I also notice you did not address the issue that the wheels were obviously torqued much higher than 62# in my case. If the shop could not do what I asked, they could tell me where to get off. I would rather have that be the case instead of a (probably) willful or careless disregard of what the customer wanted.
There are many sides to this, and we each have but one of the many.
Cheers,
TB
Considering yours are down to the wear bars at 15K, do you have a heavy foot on the gas? If you are looking for razor sharp handling then a high performance tire should be considered. But the Michelins tireguy suggested would be well matched to the GP.
What does this mean to you? When this device hits the garages of every major tire chain across the country, the most crucial task of tire mounting (when done incorrectly) will be virtually idiot-proof. Your wheels will be torqued to plus or minus five pounds, and you'll be given a copy of the torque readout, listing values for each lug of each wheel.
They still have a few minor details to work out, but my guess is you'll see this system being integrated in the next few years, with it being the standard by the end of the decade.
Regarding your 62# overtorque problem, in a laboratory environment, with finely lubricated, nearly frictionless fasteners, it would take little more than 62# to break a lug tightened to 62#. In the real world, however, you have to factor in friction created by corrosion, stretched threads, thermally induced expansion and contraction (from brake heat), etc. To loosen a lug will take considerably more torque than originally fastened it.
Just out of curiosity, have you spent a time getting pissed with the blokes in London or is "cheers" something you just picked up along the way, stateside?
Chris
1) the customer is always right (although not too many businesses run this way anymore). if he wants them torqued by hand, then that's the way it should be done. not the "fastest way". but the "customer wants it that way". you know that your impact wrench isn't going to damage his wheels. he doesn't know that. if you took the time to explain to him what you just explained to us, it's possible that not only they will drop their torque wrench desire, but will come back to you again because you've shown you know what you are doing.
2) if you think for one minute that the non-educated who have read 1 article in byte magazine DON'T try to tell us how to do our jobs, you are sadly mistaken
-Chris