need tire advice

[Rocketv8]

;D hello everyone...i was wondering...i am going to need new tires very soon and i'm not sure which kind to go with. Right now i am using stock 235/60s goodyear integrity which i think are S or H rated... i cant help but wonder if the ride could be better with a better tire, like a touring tire or maybe even a V rated tire ( i have the Autobahn option) can someone give advice on the best tire brand and rating that will give me the best possible ride. Is there a big difference if i use a V rated tire ( other than shorter tread life) I am thinking about Continental Touring H rated...any input is appreciated

[erw38]

A V rated tire is going to do nothing for you unless you plan to go 130mph. It will however lighten your pockets. An H rated tire is a good "in between" tire. It will give you the benifits of speed while not causing your wallet to lighten in tremendous amounts (as compared to the V rated tire). In my personal opinion the Yokohama Avid H4S tires are a more viable option. I say this because I am not a huge fan of Continental tires.

[Letitroll98]

Oh contrare erw38! A V rated tire will make a MAJOR difference in everyday driving over an H or S rated tire. With the caveat that you must compare the same tire, moving from H to V (for example) will stiffen up the ride significantly, as well as stiffen up the handling. A trade off for sure if a soft ride is important to you.

Another ride handling mod is +one, in which you go one (or two, then it's called +two, duh) inch larger wheel/tire diameter while using a shorter sidewall to give the same overall height. This has the same effect of stiffer ride and handling, so a setup like Javidog's with 20" tires and a V rated tire truly transforms the feel of one's Aurori. (Aurora classics have a 27.1" overall height)

Then we really muck it up with tire construction, or "type, i.e. "Touring" "Performance" "Sport" "All Season Performance" et al. Conceivably a V rated touring tire may ride and handle more softly than an H rated ultra high performance tire. Now add in that you can't test drive ANY of these suckers! Yo pays yo money and takes yo chances.

Which is why I second Elan's recommendation of the Yokohama Avid H4S. I have never owned a Yoko, but hear universal good things about them. I'll be looking at the 4VS iteration when I replace because I want the crisper handling for my Autobahn, but RockerV8 implied ride was most important so the H rating sounds solid. Michelin Pilots are a safe bet, but expensive. Falcon and Kuhmo are great bargains, but you sacrifice some tread wear. Conti's are generaly a very tame tire, a safe choice for Mercedes etc., but no excitment.

I could go one, but I think the primers at www.tirerack.com/ do it better. Even if you don't buy there, great info. I had a great experience buying tires there and would definately purchase from them again. Best of luck.



PS. I too have Goodyear Integritys. How the h**l do you wear these things down??!!?? These lousy tires last forever. If I loved 'em they'd be down to the belts by now!

[erw38]

I stand corrected.

All praise Letitroll98, the Tire (and spark plug) God !!!!!!

[Rocketv8]

thanks guys....i never realized tire purchasing could be so confusing....dont plan to drive 140 MPH, so i guess i dont need the V rateds...i will check into your suggestions this weekend

[scottydl]

And here's another thread where many of us discussed tires at great length... if you want some more confusing reading:

aurorah.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=Zoom&action=display&thread=1092119471

I still have no complaints whatsoever with my Bridgestone Turanza LS-H's ... put on my Aurora within 2 weeks after I bought it. A great ride all around, and rated highly for wet and snowy conditions... I'll put them to the test this winter season and report back.

[Rocketv8]

hey letitroll.....thanks so much for the link to tirerack.com!!!!! i checked it out today and it was a big help, with all the specs and reviews on all the tire brands and types....i think i have made the decision on which tires are best for my type of driving and i am going to go with the Continental Touring tires, probably the H speed rating...thanks again

[Letitroll98]

Thanks so much for your kind comments and glad I could be of some small assistance. You guys are too nice.

Tommorrow we can discuss Quantum chromodynamics with it's relationship to M-Theory and treadwear ratings. Make sure to study up on the Standard Model and your Super Partner preditions tonite. There will be a test afterwards.

[Rocketv8]

HUH ??

[JimW]

LOL! Rocket you just passed the test

[stevensolds]

jim, plz check your pms.

[Letitroll98]

Rocketv8 said:

HUH ??

Well Rocket, you implied that you wanted to dive into tire theory, so I guess we’d have to start at the beginning…

Ok I was just teasing. There won’t be a test. But the topic is at the heart of the matter (scientific pun intended, but no one except physicist get it). In a couple of words, Einstein described the wave-particle duality of a photon in 1905, which started quantum theory. This was combined with the Heisenburg Uncertainty principal, “The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa” to create Quantum Mechanics. This gave way to Quantum Chromodynamics when even smaller particles (quarks, etc.) were discovered in high-energy particle accelerators in the early sixties. This is where the “Standard Model” I spoke of came from, a chart of all particles of matter and energy and their interrelationships. The electro-magnetic bonds of these particles are the exact thing that hold your tires together and determines the tread wear life.

But we have a problem with this in that Quantum theories did not describe gravity. And of course we all know we need gravity to keep our beautiful Aurori on the road. And it affects tread wear as well, more gravity, more tread wear. Thus in the seventies new “string” theories tried to meld Quantum with General Relativity (which does describe gravity quite nicely). This met with way too much success in that physicists developed 5-7 viable string theories. Later still, these came to all be viewed as variations of a new theory, namely M-Theory (or Membrane Theory) in which the whole universe can be viewed as riding around on a four (or greater) dimensional membrane.

If all this works out to be correct some day, we should be able to describe the initial conditions of the universe. Knowing this would theoretically allow us to completely predict all future conditions. One of these would be how tires ride and handle before we have to blindly spend our life savings on rubber rings that are with us for years and determine how much we enjoy our cars!

Better living though science.

[Isnibs]

"All physical theories... ought to lend themselves to so simple a description that even a child could understand them."

-- Albert Einstein