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Comments
Ed
I thought the story would be dull, so I left it off.
Anyway, I made it to Sunday's AutoX as it wound down [totally beat from the VA trip]. Figured I hang with TeamIAC for dinner, since I've not seen most of them in a while. One of "the other board" guy, fellow SQC'er, asked if I could help him out with some measurements for skid plates and I agreed. Thought nothing of it. I've got measuring tape he could use.
Cutting to the chase. After dinner, we got the car jacked and he proceeded to remove Pebble's plastic cover. Still not thinking anything unusual until he whipped out the skid plate and started mounting it.
Then came the magic work, "it's yours".
So for, no ill effects. Do notice a slight reduction of road noise. Like I'd mentioned, didn't plan for it. Skid plate for Pebbles wasn't even on my list to get.
Don't know how much it will cost when it goes into production, but I do know it'll be available through AZP
-Dave
The price is right. I'll take 2! ;-)
-juice
Ed
-juice
Ed
I think he's going to market it under the name "RallyAmour".
-Dave
-Dave
-mike
Mark
-juice
-Dave
I 'spose I could dink around with the keys so the controller would hang too low to clunk so much.
Thanks!
Steve
-juice
Cheers Pat.
-juice
Quite reasonable.
-mike
Jon
Man, I nearly lost it. Haven't been so freaked in a car since ... since taking a ride with paisan or Hutch! LOL
I actually backed off the throttle and countersteered, avoiding a barrier on my left and some lane dividers on the right, but it was enough of a scare to push me to get all season tires instead of the summer tires I thought would do. Not any more.
The tires are not up the wear bars yet, but they're shot. They look old and feed hard, so I think I'll throw in the towel and buy tires now.
OK, so good timing, CR has a review this month. The top rated tire is the Falken Ziex ZE 512, and the price is competitive, $200 for the set.
Now: reality check. CR also says Stroh's in the Best Beer in America. Thoughts?
What do I want? Acceptable wet grip. The current tires are horrible, they hyrdoplane and lose lateral grip too easily, wet and dry. I want good lateral grip because this is a fun car.
I care little about noise and snow traction. The lesson today was never, ever, bypass the Subie in any kind of inclement weather. But I want acceptable wet grip just in case I get caught by surprise.
The Continental Touring CH95 is actually cheaper than the Falkens, but rated mid pack. The Dunlop SP Sport A2 was in the upper half but costs more. Tire Rack has a bargain basement Kumho tire, but I've heard mixed reviews, though CR didn't test that tire.
Thoughts?
This will be my anniversary present from my wife.
-juice
what about the SP5000s? Or the ContiExtremeContacts?
-Dave
People on epinions thought the Falkens went downhill rapidly in terms of handling.
The ContiExtremeContacts sound really good but don't have a hazard warranty. (I've actually used hazard warranties twice!)
One of the regular "Crew" members had a very bad experience with Dunlop Sport A2...
The Kumho 716 sounds interesting and are cheap enough to replace if I don't care for them, but the four handprint-sized patches of rubber are all we have controlling the car. Do I really want to trust inexpensive tires?
OTOH, I'm not ready to spend the outrageous bucks for the Michelin Pilot A/S.
Jim
SP5000s, excellent tires IMHO.
Sport A2s, used them several times, generally come in the sizes that the SP5000 doesn't. Great tire IMHO.
-mike
A good set of summer tires should handle wet traction, no? What size do you have on there now? Want to +1 'em?
-Brian
On Colin's (and a lot of nabisco) recommendation, I put these on my Rex.
Just go to Tire Rack and compare the numbers against any UHP tire. The wet grip is excellent (AA rated and patterned after their Indy rain tire) and they have a high treadwear rating.
-Dennis
In that case I recommend the Dunlop SP5000.
-c
"...Acceptable wet grip. The current tires are horrible, they hyrdoplane and lose lateral grip too easily, wet and dry. I want good lateral grip because this is a fun car.
I care little about noise and snow traction. The lesson today was never, ever, bypass the Subie in any kind of inclement weather. But I want acceptable wet grip just in case I get caught by surprise..."
-Dennis
Plus One? Nah. Ride would be too hard; the CD already skips all the time and I can't run more than 28psi in the tires as is.
That really limits my choices, there aren't any great performance tires in that size.
Colin: you think those AVS-Intermediates would be OK on a wet day? If they're still sold, that is.
This is the turn where you turn off Canal Rd to get on Clara Barton Pkwy. It's a double-hairpin, left, then right, uphill and off camber. Pretty fun turn.
But...I wasn't even going fast, in the dry I'm going at least 10mph faster.
-juice
I still have AVS-i on the front now, and Yokohama ES100s on the back. the ES100 is a whole lot more tire in any condition. they're kinda noisy though.
-Colin
Those cheap Kumho actually had 7 thumbs-up reviews on Epinions. Still not sure I'd spring for those, though.
I may just get the Falkens. Even if grip is only at its best for 12k miles, that's 2 years or so with my Miata, since it's not my primary car. By then who knows, I might have sold it.
-juice
Speaking of Bridgestone, the RE950 is also available in that size.
I don't know anything about those Falken tires.
Ed
I don't have much to complain about with my new Forester XT w/PP, but I did see a couple of things that Subaru should try to address. Since I don't track this board, pardon me if I bring up old topics.
1) Include a light on the friggin' vanity mirror!
2) The huge sunroof precludes there is nowhere to put a center-of-the-vehicle dome light. When I enter and exit my vehicle at night, no light comes on at all when the doors are open! Why did Subaru not move the inner vehicle light to the front of the roof where it has the map lights? Other cars with sunroofs have this option. What's the problem?
--dcdouglas
Jim
then that Miata I saw in my nabe wasn't wearing stock shoes. ;-)
-Dave
-juice
How about a plus-zero: 195/55R16? I think the SP5000 come in that size.
If you can, go with the SP5000s. I have them on my Forester. My wife has the Sport A2s on her Jetta. The SP5000s are a better performing tire.
Ken
Depending what tracks you are doing the eibach and AGX should be fine. If you do enough track days that the eibach/agx setup isn't enough, then you are gonna want something you can wad up w/o worrying about it.
-mike
Just to irk me, Discount Tire Direct raised the price on the Falkens. I called and they would not honor the price I still had showing on my screen at home! Out of principal alone I'm boycotting them, and I would have been a repeat buyer!
OK, good direct comparison, and the recommendation seems universal. Lemme see if they sell that size.
-juice
-c
I'm considering getting a better, more expensive tire anyway.
Remember our Legacy purchase, how the rebate increased the weekend before we bought it? That was a sign, the planets all aligned.
This was my sign to pass on that tire.
-juice
PS Supersticious? Me? Knock on wood...
OK, another option, the local Sears has these on sale: Goodyear Eagle GT-HR.
Are those the infamous "Scatorbacks" that are awful in the wet?
They'll prolly cost slightly more than the Falken. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and go with those...
-a frustrated juice
So it's actually a better deal than ordering from Tire Rack.
What about BFGoodrich Touring T/A H tires? Come to think of it, my wife had those on her 626. They were decent, nothing to write home about. Better in bad weather than the Bridgestones they replaced.
Those come out to about what the Falkens would cost, but with the road hazard warranty.
Another option is the Michelin Pilot XGT H4 tire. It's pricey but they have a $60 instant rebate. Are they worth the extra cost? I might go for these...that little contact patch is all that connects me to the road.
I'm going to check out some reviews on both these tires...
-juice
But the inevitable happened - I cut one this week. Now I have to get the new one shaved to match, or buy a full set of four and waste three very expensive tires with plenty of life left in them.
Long-term Subie maintenance costs creeping up... :-(
Ed
If we want to get technical, all four tires should be properly balanced for optimal performance on any car.
Besides, your experience is actually a vote in favor of me going to Costco - for the free road hazard warranty.
Leaning towards the Michelins, now. Reviews' only negatives were cost (not an issue, especially with the rebate) and longevity (again, not very high on my list of priorities).
Any experience with the Pilots? Do you get a better tire when you pay more for Michelins?
-juice
My Michelins are Pilot Sport A/S. Not familiar with the Pilot XGT H4.
Ed
I don't get hung up on principle. how can you expect superior service when you're shopping only for the lowest price?
-Colin
The Michelins will end up costing more, but I guess I'll get that superior service I've been wanting all along! ;-)
Tell you what, though, I saw the Falken Azenis, and those look schweeeee-eet. They're a Miata.net favorite for autocross, but they are a summer tire. OK in wet, though. Very tempting...
-juice
oops wrong board.
But seriously, I run them for auto-x and they're great for that. I dunno about using them for the street since they're fairly loud, but they sure are sticky. 5th place in STS out of 26 cars 2 weeks ago, the top finishing Soob in class.