jman093 Posted April 5, 2009 Report Posted April 5, 2009 I've been displeased with ride quality (or lack there of) in the GTP for some time and I've been frustrated not knowing why it was so bad when everyone with similar setups (Held coilover's rear, lowering springs up front with GR2's, addco rear bar, and poly sway bushings all corners) said they have no problem. Well it turned out to be the soft tires I had on it. And I would've thought that putting very high performance tires on it would have made it worse, but when I saw P225/50R16 Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R's on closeout at tirerack for $59 a piece, I couldn't pass it up ride quality be damned. TKeep in mind, these are in their "Extreme Performance Summer" category where tires are usually around 200 a piece. Anyways I get them and mount them at work, with much difficulty I might add, and the car has been riding better than it ever has. Bumps seem smaller and the car is so much more controlled. Before it use to just bounce up and down several times whenever the highway took a dip or ramp, like on a bridge. Now it just goes up or down with the road surface and stays put. Much more pleasant to drive (not to mention outstanding grip for a wrong wheel driver). Guess my lesson learned is don't mix a beefy suspension with crappy tires. ^^^^^^^Oh Yeah!!!!^^^^^^^^^^^ Also on a funnier note, I had some trouble even getting Tirerack to let me have these tires. First I get a call from a rep and he says the 225's are to skinny for the GP and says I need 245's. I tell him no, 225 is the stock tire size for this car and is what I have on now, they fit fine and I'm not gonna put a 245 on a 7 inch rim. Then he says the load rating isn't up to spec for the car. I'm thinking WTF, they're rated to 1429 lbs per tire. How the heck am I going to load 2200+ lbs of cargo in the car because that's what it would take to overload them. I finally got an email they're coming, and a few days after I got them mounted I checked the tire pressure again. One of the tires had no air pressure. Turned out one of the metal valve stems was leaking.The sidewall on them is so stiff, it was impossible to tell it had no air. The tire wasn't flat, didn't even look low, and the car rode no different. I just had to laugh. This guy was telling me these tires didn't have enough load capacity when they can hold the car's weight with no air in them Quote
CSI_MuNkY Posted April 5, 2009 Report Posted April 5, 2009 Out of curiosity what were the crappy tires you had on when you were having the issues? and what size were they? What specific issues were you having? Jamie Quote
jman093 Posted April 5, 2009 Author Report Posted April 5, 2009 The tires were Mastercraft Avenger's, P215/60R16, that the car's suspension had unmercifully beaten into submission to the point that the sidewalls were like butter. The tires always looked low when they weren't. I Didn't need a cup of coffee to keep my ass awake on my daily commute with the bumpy ride I had. I drive on an elevated highway clear across the whole city with no stop lights, and every mile or half mile or so, it goes from being built on a solid hill to a section built on a bridge going over a city street. It's never a seamless transition between the two. The bridge is always higher than the part on ground, and in the last few feet you ramp up on the bridge, then at the end "fall" back off on to the part on ground. Not built well, but in a normal car it isn't bad. But mine would ramp up on the bridge and bounce up and down maybe 3 times. Sort of like bad shock absorbers, but more violent. Then you'd go off of a bridge section and the car would land HARD on the ground part and bounce some more. All of that is better now. It doesn't bounce and it lands softer when going off of a bridge section. Plus there is a section of the road that's pretty washboard like and the car would bounce like crazy. It's feels so much better here too. Quote
Euro Posted April 5, 2009 Report Posted April 5, 2009 New tires always feels better! Didn't that car have the polished 5 spokes on them? Holy damn, clean them suckers!!!! Quote
CSI_MuNkY Posted April 5, 2009 Report Posted April 5, 2009 Yeah definitely the tires! lol They wouldn't of had a strong side wall even when new... Jamie Quote
jtwmechanic Posted April 16, 2009 Report Posted April 16, 2009 my low pros on 17" are the same way. they are so stiff in the side wall that without a guage it is nearly impossible to tell if there is any pressure in them at all. besides in todays economy soft sticky tires just don't last long enough! Quote
Andrew Posted April 17, 2009 Report Posted April 17, 2009 you know your speedo will be off right? Quote
ManicMechanic Posted April 17, 2009 Report Posted April 17, 2009 you know your speedo will be off right? I like taking speedos off... But yes, new tires will make a world of difference. Quote
jtwmechanic Posted April 17, 2009 Report Posted April 17, 2009 the only ones who care how fast i am going are the cops and old people Quote
jman093 Posted April 19, 2009 Author Report Posted April 19, 2009 my low pros on 17" are the same way. they are so stiff in the side wall that without a guage it is nearly impossible to tell if there is any pressure in them at all. besides in todays economy soft sticky tires just don't last long enough! I don't know if I'll buy soft compounds again for that reason, but for $59 a piece plus some shipping these were totally worth it. They are much more responsive and the grip is unbelievable. I still have yet to make them screech even once in a corner. I've been meaning to pull out my old G-Tech pro and see what kind of cornering G's it's pulling. Also, in the dry I can't make them spin at all anymore when flooring it on take-off. Don't have the torque with such sticky tires. Quote
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