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Looking for good tire choice thread

volveaux

New member
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Location
Near Dallas, TX
Can someone please point me to a thread discussing what choice of tires people like? I'm mounting some Hydras on my 1985 245 wagon. It looks like I've read lots of folks choose the 205/55/16 tire size.

That size seems fine for me - but darn if I can't select a manufacturer. Perhaps this will help - here is what I want:

I want it to look good on the car. I really like this look in the picture below. Actually - that is exactly what my car looks like (minus the Hydras). When I add my Hydras - that will be a duplicate of my car.

1 - it's not a performance car. Sure, I'd like it to handle nicely and not beat me up on the occasional road trips.
2- it needs to handle heat and hot roads. It gets over 100F in the summer here.
3- noise is important
4- tread wear is pretty important.
5- price is important.


I'm thinking Kumho, Yokohama or maybe Toyo? How about I say I'm looking for a tire that looks like these, that's a good, all around choice.

Thanks!
Jamie

482662661_2210d9a70f_o.jpg
 
Isn't this the standard tyre for the 940 Turbo wagon? Since it is about 25" in diameter it should give you a fairly accurate speedo reading. I'm very pleased with Sumitomo HTR H4s but I've only tried them in the 195/60/15 size.
 
I was reading the ratings on different tires at TireRack.com. I selected a few of the better rated tires and clicked to view all ratings - starting with the lowest.

Reading through these makes me think I am going to put on one of these tires and after 10 feet the rubber is going to fly off all 4 tires simultaneously!

It's scary what people write.

If all the people who left bad comments at Tire Rack are all out on the road at this moment - sliding, swerving, crashing, smashing, hydroplaning, etc -- I'm staying home!

It wasn't the cell phones or makeup or distracted driving -- it's all because of bad tires!!!!

LOL

jeez.
 
bfg traction t/a's are really nice tires ... last a long long time and do pretty good for traction

I have those on my 1987 740. Good tires, standard 14" all season is what I have.

I think at this point, my main requirement is 205/55/16. I'll see if they make that size.

What I am leaning towards doing is probably trying out a cheaper tire and then if I don't like it, upgrade. I drive about 1/2 mile to work everyday and 1/2 mile home. I make 200 mile trips to Dallas maybe every other weekend and one or two 900 mile road trips a year.



Thanks,
Jamie
 
they do ... around $111 a tire but it should last for a good good long time

i picked up a new pair of those tires in 215/60/16 for my wagon along w/ some dunlops for the fronts(were all less than 5k miles old off a lexus so i got them all for free) and while the dunlops are smooth on the sides and near the end of thier life in the center the BFG's still look brand f'in new. even ran the bfg's on the rear of my car and they hooked up just as good as the 225/50/16 kuhmo's i had on there .... the next set of tires i buy for my car will prob be bfg tires just because i really want to see how they react in a performance app with a lower profile as we used to run them on old muscle cars and loved the crap out of them
 
i have known a few people locally with general tires and while they might be cheap you get what you pay for from many companys

for a cheap tire i might recommened the kuhmo SPT
 
i have known a few people locally with general tires and while they might be cheap you get what you pay for from many companys

for a cheap tire i might recommened the kuhmo SPT

Thanks for the feedback. I haven't made a final decision yet - I'll make the purchase next month. The Kumhos are next in line. I am still VERY open to suggestions.

jamie
 
well i do remember hearing about a few running general tires and they could spin the 205/60/15's with thier n/a 240 wagon so ... they must not of been that great

back in socal the local cheapo tire guy who i had mount and balance tires for me used to sell a bunch of them. bud picked up a set of 265's for his nova and he burned those into the ground @ part throttle. i had a pair of 275's on the rear of a 72' le mans i owned for a few months and if keeping the revs under 2500 rpm i could spin them to no end(455cu engine but still)
 
I am not a fan of BFG tires. They tend to crack prematurely, which is not cool. If you're only driving half a mile most of the time, I bet you're going to have these tires for a loooooong time. I wouldn't trust BFGs for a long time.

Those General Exclaim UHP tires are actually very, very nice tires(unlike most of their others), and I will be getting them most likely on my car when I get around to getting some new tires. But by then there may be something else out there that interests me more. I was recently comparing all the tires in the UHP's category for my own needs, and the Kumho SPT was the only competitor I was interested in looking at.

That being said, I think both of those tires are more aggressive than you require......?

Some good, cheaper brands to look through that I'd trust:
Yokohama
Kuhmo
Avon
And I hear Fuzions are pretty decent.

Something H-rated will be more comfortable than something with a higher speed rating most of the time. Do a search through tires in the size you want with the selection of High Performance Summer, and/or Grand Touring Summer. Actually, I just did that and the only thing I see that's decently priced is the Kumho Ecsta KH11... So never mind that. Might as well step up to the General Exclaim UHP. Looks like it'll last longer than the Kumho SPT while being maybe a bit quieter/smoother as well. It's less aggressive.
 
well i do remember hearing about a few running general tires and they could spin the 205/60/15's with thier n/a 240 wagon so ... they must not of been that great

back in socal the local cheapo tire guy who i had mount and balance tires for me used to sell a bunch of them. bud picked up a set of 265's for his nova and he burned those into the ground @ part throttle. i had a pair of 275's on the rear of a 72' le mans i owned for a few months and if keeping the revs under 2500 rpm i could spin them to no end(455cu engine but still)
General tires have always sucked for performance, they were never intended for performance.

They just recently came out with these Exclaim UHP tires, which ARE designed with performance in mind. Do some searching on tirerack about them Mike, they look VERY nice... I'll probably be getting them unless there's something similar out but newer when I get around to buying tires. Which is probably going to be around a year from now.
 
I was reading the ratings on different tires at TireRack.com. I selected a few of the better rated tires and clicked to view all ratings - starting with the lowest.

Even though the US DOT specifies a comparison standard of 100 for tire wear, it is open to interpretation. So the only time a comparison is very accurate is when you compare within a manufacturer's lineup.
A Yoko 200 will always wear twice as long as a Yoko 100, but a Yoko 200 might not last twice as long as a Goodyear 100, or maybe it will last 2.5 times longer.

FYI.
 
Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

Well, this is all helping, because mainly I need to improve the look of the car. I think the Hydras with 205/55/16 will give it a sport look.

Ya'll are right, I will not be out sport driving this car over the hills and hugging curves. I just want the look of these profile tires, with as soft a ride possible, as little noise as possible, and be safe for general purpose driving.

I maybe could go up to something like a 205/60 - I just want to move towards a sporty look with as little sacrifice in ride and noise quality as practical.

The $70-80 price range is also very attractive.

jb
 
General tires have always sucked for performance, they were never intended for performance.

They just recently came out with these Exclaim UHP tires, which ARE designed with performance in mind. Do some searching on tirerack about them Mike, they look VERY nice... I'll probably be getting them unless there's something similar out but newer when I get around to buying tires. Which is probably going to be around a year from now.

look nice? eh ... we used to run thier 'performance tire' back then and it sucked

and if even thier normal street tire in 205-60-15 size is spinning on an n/a 240 ... it must be a really really crappy tire
 
I've started to like Kumho tires. I really liked the Ecsta KH11. It's a great tire for the price. After asking for some advice from the Tire Rack, I decided to try the Ecsta ASX next. It is supposed to be a bit crisper and better for "spirited" driving. The fact that these tires perform almost as well as ones costing twice as much doesn't hurt either.

- John
 
OK!

I looked when I got home and I've got General Ameri-G4S, the cheapest, best reviewed tire I could find when I bought them. I don't think I the same size still on Tire Rack.

205/55/16's on my Hydras on my NA 945. They don't spin unless it's wet. If you take a quick corner with a lot of throttle, they will squeal and lose traction a little bit. (I'm talking U-turn from a stop.) On long sweeping corners, they're pretty decent, I'd say. Road noise isn't noticeable to me, then again I've got the music blaring half the time. I've put about ~10,000 miles on them, and they are wearing evenly and are still looking good.
 
tires

I was browsing the Tirerack for upgrade tires and noticed the Avon Tech M500. The 215/50-16 is very close to the stock diameter tire for a 240. This size will fit on the 6.5" Hydra wheel. They are on special at $81.00 each. I haven't tried them but they seem to be a good tire. Not sure that they would last that long but I'd rather recommend traction over tire life any day. Traction saves your life. Long wearing tires can kill you with their lack of traction.
 
Dunlop's SP Sport A2 plus, that have damn good grip both for torque and corners...mostly dry, but wet excellant. not too pricey. rated at 130mph tires.
 
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