I need tires and opinions

[GPX]

I've had some wrong-size tires on the back of my car for about a year. At one point, I got a gash in the sidewall which caused a slow leak. Hasn't been a problem until it started leaking a lot faster this week and bearly got me home yesterday. I'm sure there's no repairing it and as I said, it's the wrong size. I don't see myself being able to do all four at the moment, but I want to soon.

 

My regular mechanic doesn't sell tires as a rule. Seems to have limited availablilty, bad prices, Cooper tires, $15 to mount and balance...so I'm not going there. The local Goodyear store has a Yokohama Avid TRZ 215/60R/16 for $100 installed. I don't have a lot of time to dick around with this. I want to get some decent tires on the car--two at a time if I have to--and be done with it. Not too interested in trying to get some great internet deal. I don't do much highway driving. I live in Vermont so there are great back roads all over the place, but it's stupid to drive really fast (seen ricers upside down in the road more than once), still, you want to have confidence in the tires if you feel like pushing it a little, ya' know, for an early morning adrenalin rush or something. He also had Bridgestone Potenzas that looked nice, but I didn't get a price on those. Obviously he carries Goodyear tires too. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

 

PS: Also, the local tire store says they won't put a set of 225s on the back because the car has 215s on the front. The only way I can get the 225s is to buy all 4! I understand the policy, but for 5mm on each side of the tire?

[BXX]

The Yoko TRZs arent that good.. I work as a Tire Technician and believe it or not, we have had to do some adjustments on brand new ones due to radial pulls and they also then to have excessive runout and require a lot of weight to balance at times.. And $100/installed isnt that good of a price, I think we sell them for like $25 less...

 

The local tire shop you are dealing with are idiots, it is perfectly safe to stick the 225s in the back.. Your car should call for 225/60/16s stock, so it is wrong of them to install the 215/60/16s..

 

Potenza wear quickly, not worth the money...

 

Kelly Chargers are a decent cheap tire and are actually a classic... Cooper CS4 Tourings are a pretty good tire as well along with Dunlop Signature and Dunlop Signature Sports.. As far as Goodyear, a good one will kinda cost a bit... The Eagle GT HRs are somewhat decent though and are H speed rated.

 

Your other options which are prolly the best would be BF Goodrich... The BFG Traction T/As look nice, are directional and have a good grip. The BFG Comfort Plus are a nice riding tire and have decent traction.

 

If you want to spend a tad bit, Michelin is where its at...

[GPX]

The Yoko TRZs arent that good.. I work as a Tire Technician and believe it or not, we have had to do some adjustments on brand new ones due to radial pulls and they also then to have excessive runout and require a lot of weight to balance at times.. And $100/installed isnt that good of a price, I think we sell them for like $25 less...

 

The local tire shop you are dealing with are idiots, it is perfectly safe to stick the 225s in the back.. Your car should call for 225/60/16s stock, so it is wrong of them to install the 215/60/16s..

 

Potenza wear quickly, not worth the money...

 

Kelly Chargers are a decent cheap tire and are actually a classic... Cooper CS4 Tourings are a pretty good tire as well along with Dunlop Signature and Dunlop Signature Sports.. As far as Goodyear, a good one will kinda cost a bit... The Eagle GT HRs are somewhat decent though and are H speed rated.

 

Your other options which are prolly the best would be BF Goodrich... The BFG Traction T/As look nice, are directional and have a good grip. The BFG Comfort Plus are a nice riding tire and have decent traction.

 

If you want to spend a tad bit, Michelin is where its at...

Funny about the TRZs. I got the impression he liked them mostly because they hadn't given him much trouble on installs Yeah, I'm sure they would be perfectly safe, and I think my tire guy also thought so, it's a company (small chain) policy, but I'd be surprised if I couldn't talk him around it. Use the force, Luke...

 

I don't see Kellys around here. The cheap tire everyone sells is Cooper. In Michigan (where I grew up) it was Kelly Springfield. I wonder if I can find Dunlops around here...

 

I very much appreciate the inside information. I know that people who work in the biz have different opinions (worth listening to) than what the media/advertising tells us about products.

[BXX]

Well, TRZs are bad, but they just arent worth the money, especially with the high amount of runout they have.. They may balance fine, but with excessive runout, you can have unnessasary vibrations and excessive tire wear...

 

The Cooper CS4 Tourings arent a bad tire. I wouldnt consider them cheap to be honest with you. They are better than 90% of Goodyear's current products...

 

The Dunlops are a good bang for the buck really

[GPX]

Well, TRZs are bad, but they just arent worth the money, especially with the high amount of runout they have.. They may balance fine, but with excessive runout, you can have unnessasary vibrations and excessive tire wear...

 

The Cooper CS4 Tourings arent a bad tire. I wouldnt consider them cheap to be honest with you. They are better than 90% of Goodyear's current products...

 

The Dunlops are a good bang for the buck really

What is "run out?"

 

I've been looking at all the tires you suggested at Tire Rack. They are all within a few dollars of each other. The TRZs look appealing to me as they rate very well in snow and I get about 6 months of that to deal with. Tire rack has them for $83 for the 215s. That, plus shipping, plus m&b and it seems they would easily be over $100 so that seems like an ok price. I also like the CS4 and the Dunlop Sport Signature. I'll check out local pricing for those tomorrow.

[w-bodys_are_the_best]

I've had the 80,000 mile Cooper CS4's on our 99 Grand Voyager for 3 or 4 months now, and they are great. I can't really tell as far as handling because it's a minivan but they were great in the snow and I haven't had any complaints, they are great, that's what I plan on putting on my 91 cutlass once it's on the road. If they made them for my Z24 I'd have them on there already. I searched around reading reviews and decided this is what I wanted, then shopped around for the cheapest prices. I was going to get them installed by FleetFarm, they were by far the cheapest, but a local shop could actually get them cheaper than FleetFarm, I got the 4 215/65-15's for $336 mounted and balanced with new valve stems.

[per0781]

i bought 4 BFGoodrich g-Force Sports from tire rack and have had them on my cutty for a month now and no complaints here.

[19Cutlass94]

Michelin.

[BXX]

Michelin.

 

x2, but they will cost some money except the Harmony's. Personally, I wouldnt put a Michelin Harmony on my car, they are about the same level as a Goodyear Integrity.

 

Looking into the Michelin Energy MXV4 and the like if you have a bit of extra money to play with and want a nice tire.

[Euro]

BFG Traction T/A's

[EviLette]

Bought the Potenzas off Tirerack a couple months ago.

 

Love them. Even with my failing suspension, car has yet to hydroplane once.. and I've always had issues with it on other tires...

 

They grip well, they are just loud as HELL.

[Drummer]

i bought a set of kumho escatas and they suck as far as wear is concerned, but they did grip good, too soft of a tire. I had bridgestone potenzas and they were awsome except for sitting for 3 years and having a flat spot on them lol.

[GPX]

i bought a set of kumho ecstaticas and they suck

[3.1cutlass]

I am on my second set of kumho ecsta ast tires. Cheap and directional. They wear fast that most tires but they grip very well.

[GPX]

Okay, this is what I did. I looked at all the suggested tires. I looked at relative pricing and reviews from usere like you and me. I narrowed my search to Dunlop Sport Signature, BFG Traction T/A, Cooper CS4, and Yokohama Avid TRZ (with the thought that if I had to buy them, I'd insist that there not be any run-out issues). One of the few disadvantages to living in Vermont is that it's a poor consumer environment. You have to drive close to 30 miles to get to a mall, and it's not the kind of mall most of you are familiar with. It's a weird little Walmart on one end and a pathetic little JCPenney on the other end and a bunch of odd stores in between. Anyway, I called a bunch of places that are a half hour away and was surprised to find very few with the model I wanted in the correct size (I decided to get 215/60/15s because they were enough cheaper to make me think that the extra 10mm on 225s was not worth it). The few that I do find in stock are pricey: The TRZ was $5 more than just down the street, the Cooper CS4 is $107 m&b'd, but neither can get me in till at least Tuesday. So just for the heck of it, I call the other Cooper dealer in town thinking he'll be expensive and it will take a long time to get tires. WRONG! He'll be installing them Monday for $92 m&b'd! Hope to get the other two by the 4th o f July.

 

On a side note that made me laugh: When I went to the Cooper website to look at it briefly for one last time, it pops up with a window asking me if I'd like to participate in a survey about the website THAT WOULD ONLY TAKE 15 OR 20 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[w-bodys_are_the_best]

My 94 cutlass had 215's from the factory, even the tire shop thought they should have 225's but when they looked in their book it said the cutlass's got 215's and I think most of the grand prix's came with 225's. I thought that was strange. I think the older cutlass internationals with the pie wheels came with 225 though.

[GPX]

My 94 cutlass had 215's from the factory' date=' even the tire shop thought they should have 225's but when they looked in their book it said the cutlass's got 215's and I think most of the grand prix's came with 225's. I thought that was strange. I think the older cutlass internationals with the pie wheels came with 225 though.

[/quote']I really can't believe that 5mms to either side of the rim makes much difference for handling or appearance. It's not even a half in for crying out loud!

[Canada]

I'm surprised the 215s were cheaper. 225/60/16 is the most common tire size ever! Impalas, Grand Prixs, Crown Vics.......cop car tires!

[BXX]

I'm surprised the 215s were cheaper. 225/60/16 is the most common tire size ever! Impalas, Grand Prixs, Crown Vics.......cop car tires!

 

Taurus's, Sables... I can go on and on

[Venom]

I'm surprised the 215s were cheaper. 225/60/16 is the most common tire size ever! Impalas, Grand Prixs, Crown Vics.......cop car tires!

 

No kidding, that was the easiest tire size to sell when I worked at the dealer since the customers always had a HUGE selection to choose from.

[w-bodys_are_the_best]

When I first got my 94 cutlass a friend of mine worked at the local tire dealer which is one of the biggest tire dealers in about 75 mile radius. He told me they just got the contract or whatever for state patrol service in this reigon. He also said they have to get new tires at a certain milage, barely past 3/4 tread and they were required to get a new set. They all used Z rated 225/60-16 Goodyear Eagles, he was saying he could get me a set for really cheap, probably $20 each (they are nearly $200 each for the Eagle models they run) but about 6 months later when I needed a set, they told him that he couldn't have them (he said they were for him) and they couldn't even re-sell them He had previously bought sets off the trooper cars for that price for himself when he had his GP.

[GPX]

I got my tires today! They look great and feel good. :biggrin:I haven't done a real power-run on them yet and now I'm a little hesitant to. While I was looking under the back end of my car, I noticed that my monoleaf is cracked on one end. Now I'm concerned about it giving way before I have a chance to replace it. Looking for opinions about Flex-a-Form and Birchmount aftermarket monoleafs. C'mon, I know you've got one--everybody does!