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Post by erw38 on Feb 22, 2005 11:06:51 GMT -6
Any and all suggestions are appreciated. I went to Discount Tire this morning to get my tires rotated and the guy comes back saying that they won't rotate them because the belts are showing. Well, I went out there and the are showing somewhat.  So, what tire do you people think I should go with? He wanted to charge me $500 for 3 Michelin Mxg4 (I think thats the tires I have on there now). Can you say "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" **edit** I decided that ya'll would probably laugh at me for only needing 3 tires. I expect comments like, "You know a car has 4 tires, right?" The answer is that I bought one of the tires last year to replace a tire that blew on me (damn potholes). That tire was still good  |
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Post by Letitroll98 on Feb 22, 2005 12:13:29 GMT -6
I think you mean Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus which come in H and V speed ratings. They are offered at Tirerack for $143 ea. for the 235/60VR16 and $127 ea. for the 235/60HR16, the H rated is what I assume you are buying. MXV4's have about a zillion variations between Plus, A-Plus, S8, and regular, but the Plus are the ones offered in 235/60/16. If your shop is saying $500 with mounting and balancing it's about right if you consider you must add shipping to the Tirerack price.
They are ranked about middle of the road in the owner survey results for Grand Touring All-Season tires on the site (9 out of 15 tires; Score of 7.1 vs best tire in category score of 8.9). If you value a smooth and quiet ride they are OK, but a bit pricey.
I would recommend a four tire upgrade to BFGoodrich Traction T/A H which ranked 1st out of 17 tires in the High Performance All-Season category and is priced at $94 ea. You could get four better tires for the price of three of the Big M's. The one I like is Yokohama Avid V4S, but it's a V rated tire and will ride somewhat harsher and isn't as good in snow.
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Post by erw38 on Feb 22, 2005 12:20:51 GMT -6
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Post by Letitroll98 on Feb 22, 2005 12:41:56 GMT -6
I've heard good thinks about Falken, mostly from ricers, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't work on Auroras. The only reason I would shy away is that you have viable alternatives in name brands at the same price, especialy the BF Goodrich, and it's rated #1 at Tirerack.com. However it wasn't long ago that Yokos were an off brand as well.
I take it this is not your local guy and just a web site. See what your guy can do as far as price when you pick out what you want, sometimes when you add in shipping, mounting, balancing, it can be cheaper or the same if you buy local (sometimes not, my last was from Tirerack who were way cheaper even with everything thrown in).
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Post by erw38 on Feb 22, 2005 13:34:45 GMT -6
I never realized that picking out tires was such a hard decision! Do you like these? For the price they lok like a good tire, but am wondering if anyone here has any first hand knowledge about them. |
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Post by erw38 on Feb 22, 2005 14:17:34 GMT -6
Next question is:
If I go with the Kumho's, should I buy them online or not? The price online (with the Road Hazard) +plus the mounting and balancing is roughly the same as the price from the Discount Tire right (without road hazard) down the road from me. The road hazard there is about $35 a tire. Should I stick with no road hazard? Keep in mind that this is texas where the roads (for the most part) are flat.
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LM
Aurora Newbie
Posts: 16 
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Post by LM on Feb 22, 2005 23:07:00 GMT -6
I have had these tires since last spring, about 10k miles. They have been excellent even with my harder driving style.
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Post by JimW on Feb 23, 2005 8:29:44 GMT -6
I bought BF Goodrich for my 17's, and am excited about installing em, I have Traction T/A's on my previous Bonneville and they were great.
I heard the road noise from the Kumhos are quite loud, you'll be happier with the BFG I think.
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Post by Letitroll98 on Feb 23, 2005 9:18:32 GMT -6
I haven't had these Kumhos but I had a set (Excta STX?) on my 4x4 truck and loved the way they ride and drive. You give up treadwear with almost all Kumhos, but they are a great bargain tire.
Tires are really not all that hard for Aurora stock wheel fitments because of the limited choices. Figuring you want All Season for sure, go with Touring (soft, quiet ride) or Performance (faster turn in, noisier). Speed rating is easy, H for non-autobahn, V for autobahn option cars. Treadwear is that "320" or "480" number before the letters "A" or "AA" which are traction and load ratings, all from Federal DOT specs. 300 is average, 500 is excellent. "A" is good, "AA" is excellent, "B" is barely average.
Then go to Tirerack.com and read the "reviews" from actual owners, "tests" which testers compare tires, and "survey" which has owner rank them. This will give a pretty good idea of how the tire will perform on your car. When you get a great result from all sectors like the BFGoodrich Traction T/A H rated or the Yokohama Avid V4S for V rated and the price is good, why look further?
Well, I did look further and your Falken Zeix ZE-512's sure got rave reviews. Again mostly ricers, some BMW's, but they really liked 'em. So another good choice.
As for local or online purchase, I like local because you have that personal touch, like if you need a rebalancing in a couple weeks maybe he'll get you in quick or do a no charge etc. Give the guy the chance to get your business. Tell him your online price and ask if he can get closer to it including the road hazard. Explain that you want to buy from him but $140.00 in road hazard is too much to eat. I did this with a really nice fella and he couldn't get close so I bought online from Tirerack. I did have to wait a short week for the tires and all morning at an unfamiliar shop to get them mounted despite having an appointment. The guy was nice and all, but had put one of his regular customers in front of me. No biggy for me, but you must understand this before buying online.
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scottydl
Super Moderator 
There's nothin' like an American V-8...
Posts: 7,373
Staff Member
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Post by scottydl on Feb 23, 2005 12:30:29 GMT -6
I love the Bridgestone Turanza's that I have on my Aurora, but they ain't exactly cheap. I got a good deal at a local shop, because my neighbor works at a Bridgestone/Firestone plant and could give me his employee discount. For online vs. local, I agree with Letitroll... mention (nicely) to the local folks what kind of prices you are seeing online, and see if they will give you any price consideration to gain your business. I'd recommend road hazard if reasonably priced, because even flat Texas roads can have nails, tacks, and glass shards left behind.  $35/tire seems VERY high tho; that's almost half the price of the tire! To come out even, you'd have to have several tire repair/replacements done over the life of the tires... which probably isn't all that likely. |
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Post by erw38 on Feb 23, 2005 13:21:23 GMT -6
Thanks for all the opinions and insight. I really appreciate everyone's help with this.
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Post by erw38 on Feb 23, 2005 22:53:01 GMT -6
I ended up getting the Kumho 716's from a local place. I had them ordered and I get them installed tomorrow. Will let you guy's know how they work out. Thank's again. |
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Post by stevensolds on Feb 23, 2005 23:20:21 GMT -6
i got bf goodrich T/As on as well. they stick to the road really well and they handle a lot better than my Eagle GT's.
Jim and Erw do you have the V-rated tires on since you have autobahn or do you go ZR or a little more cheapo? ;D
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Post by erw38 on Feb 23, 2005 23:59:21 GMT -6
Jim and Erw do you have the V-rated tires on since you have autobahn or do you go ZR or a little more cheapo? ;D Well, being the cheapskate that I am, I went the less expensive route. I got the H rater Michelin's on there now and the Kumho's that get put on tomorrow are H rated as well. I don't ever plan to go 140mph (or more) so the Z rating is not that important to me. They call me cheapskate...cheapskate....cheapskate, thriftier then the Martha Stewart... (sung to the tune of Flipper). ;D |
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Post by JimW on Feb 24, 2005 9:49:04 GMT -6
Don't worry about H-rated, my 255's are H rated, you'll never safely get to drive +130 mph anyway, and even on a drag strip (1/4mile) you'll never hit anywhere near Autobahn limiter.
You'll be happy with H-rated. Good luck Elan, let us know what you get.
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scottydl
Super Moderator
There's nothin' like an American V-8...
Posts: 7,373
Staff Member
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Post by scottydl on Feb 24, 2005 10:16:12 GMT -6
They call me cheapskate...cheapskate....cheapskate, thriftier then the Martha Stewart... (sung to the tune of Flipper). ;D I thought that was *MY* theme song!  Hehe, I'm with you on the "as cheap as possible" route. My Turanza's are H-rated and I think the fastest I've gone is 90-95 for a few minutes when my wife was in labor. |
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Post by Letitroll98 on Feb 24, 2005 11:18:56 GMT -6
A good choice in the Touring tire category. Quoting Tirerack, "Kumho's HP4 716 is a Grand Touring All-Season tire with a somewhat sporty nature, almost straddling the line between the Grand Touring All-Season and High Performance All-Season tire categories." You'll notice that they rank high with 8+ ratings across the board from owner surveys. If you read their owner reviews they all say "a little bit noisier, a little bit less handling, a lot less price". The test results listed them above Sumitomas and right with the Bridgestones and Goodyears. If you're going the cheapskate route ( my handle on the audio sites is theultimatecheapskate) you really can't do better. Good choice and best of luck with them.
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Post by erw38 on Feb 24, 2005 16:14:26 GMT -6
I just came back from the tire shopw with some new shoes on my Aurora. She seems to like her new shoes. I've only driven 5 miles on them, but so far so good. I got all 4 Kumho for $348.01 (I got them to give me $20 off). They were going to align the car for $39.99 (again $20 off), but their alignment machine blew up (started smoking). So they told me that I can call Monday so that we can set up another appointment. All in all I am happy with them. That is subject to change as the miles traveled grow, so I will up date this at a later date. Thanks again for all your help.
Elan
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Post by JimW on Feb 24, 2005 18:13:40 GMT -6
Good job man! I like Kumho, you'll hear more road noise, but thats ok Enjoy em! |
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Post by BlackButy on Mar 2, 2005 23:21:54 GMT -6
After searching long and hard, I finally scored on 4 new 245/50/17 BF Goodrich Comp T/A's. Only H rated, but for $78 per tire, I could not pass them up. Big difference pricewise in the 17" tire than the 16". Get the new tires and my Christmas gift "Rims" installed Friday. I'll get pics up as soon as I can. Can't wait!!
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Post by stevensolds on Mar 3, 2005 6:20:33 GMT -6
Yeah...you should like the T/AS i think i spent $90 a tire  but i only got the fronts on since the backs were still OK. I had Eagle GT's on when i got it and they were OK but the way i drove skinned the tires too quick also what rims did you get??? Chrome, 17"? oh and are u getting exhausto nt he car |
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Post by Letitroll98 on Mar 3, 2005 7:19:57 GMT -6
After searching long and hard, I finally scored on 4 new 245/50/17 BF Goodrich Comp T/A's. This is a great tire, but you do know you have one size too small. 245/50/17 is 26.6" in diameter and the stock fitment for Auroras Classics is 27", which would be a 255/50/17. The difference is under 2 mph on you speedo (fast), don't know if it hurts the tranny in any way. www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp |
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Post by JimW on Mar 3, 2005 11:24:57 GMT -6
Maintaining stock tire height is critical...hopefully the .4" difference wont impact you to badly.
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Post by BlackButy on Mar 3, 2005 11:41:29 GMT -6
I know a guy that has a STS....same tranny as ours and he put low pros on that measure 25.3. He's been running it for over a year now...........
Anyway......I'll get pics up as soon as I get them installed. I got the tips welded on too by the way!
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Post by JimW on Mar 3, 2005 14:42:35 GMT -6
Thats pretty irresponsible in my opinion to run tires well below stock ride height. He is killing his tranny....what a waste of an STS.
Either way, lets see the mods.
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Post by Custom88 on Mar 3, 2005 14:49:36 GMT -6
Thats pretty irresponsible in my opinion to run tires well below stock ride height. He is killing his tranny....what a waste of an STS. Either way, lets see the mods. how exactly is this going to hurt the transmission? Sure the tire will be moving slightly faster resulting in a speedometer that reads faster than you're actually going and engine RPM's will be up slightly, but it shouldn't hurt anything drivetrain wise. Now, if he put some huge rims on it like 20" with low profile tires that will cause damage, but not to the transmission, it'll damage suspension components from the extra strain. The biggest factor to good ride and suspension is your tires. Without the extra rubber a normal tire would provide, the low profile tires cause excess wear on all the other suspension components. |
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Post by JimW on Mar 3, 2005 18:17:14 GMT -6
When I was buying my 17" rims, I had a chat with the service manager at the local dealership. He explained to me how each tire has a rolling length that is programmed into the car. The transmission is geared to this rolling length. If you decrease the the diameter of the tire you decrease the linear rolling distance and that apparently adversely affects everything the cars powertrain was designed for.
That being said, I have not directly experienced any malfunctioning transmission because most people when upgrading tires or rims usually maintain OE tire heights. 20" rim owners are forced to go low pro to accomdate the rims. Then there are owners that cheap out...the want low profile tires, but don't have the rims to complete the package.
It was "suggested" that I dont monkey with the rolling length, and I pass on that advice.
However, 2000+ GM cars with "Tech2"..(Bob you have corrected me many times on what Tech2 is) you can reprogram things like rolling distances.
If the STS in question is post 2000 model year then I bet the rolling distance has been adjusted.
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Post by BlackButy on Mar 3, 2005 18:40:37 GMT -6
The difference between my tires and the stock ones are about 5-10 revolutions more per mile.........I dont think it will hurt..... By the way the STS is a 94.......
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So, what tire do you people think I should go with? He wanted to charge me $500 for 3 Michelin Mxg4 (I think thats the tires I have on there now). Can you say "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 
$35/tire seems VERY high tho; that's almost half the price of the tire! To come out even, you'd have to have several tire repair/replacements done over the life of the tires... which probably isn't all that likely.
Hehe, I'm with you on the "as cheap as possible" route. My Turanza's are H-rated and I think the fastest I've gone is 90-95 for a few minutes when my wife was in labor. 
but i only got the fronts on since the backs were still OK. 