Yet another tyre thread

[riquelme1]

Hi All,

I've done about 30k on my Aurion Touring 2008 now. The tyres at the front seem to be wearing away whereas the back ones still seem ok. That said, I have two questions...

1. Do you guys recommend changing all tyres at once or staggered (2 now then 2 later)?

2. Choice magazine recently did a survey on the best tyres for the bigger v6's (aurion,commodore), with a ford being the test vehicle.

Ive attached the report to this post. Basically the list in order, judged by cornering in breaking in both the wet and dry are as below:

BFGoodrich Sport T/A 74 80 50 95 80 H 167

Goodyear Excellence 73 75 60 85 75 V 215

GT Radial Champiro 228 73 75 65 85 70 V 180

Goodyear Assurance 72 75 50 90 80 V 191

Kumho Solus KH15 71 70 65 80 70 V 175

Kelly Ritmo HP (A) 66 70 50 80 70 H 145

Michelin Energy XM1+ 66 70 50 80 70 H 188

Firestone Firehawk TZ100 65 65 45 90 70 V 195

Maxxis Radial MA-651 65 65 50 80 70 H 130

Dunlop SP Sport 200E 64 65 50 80 65 V 173

The thing is every time i call up a tyre shop and ask for a "GT RADIAL" or a "BF GOODRICH" these guys tell me its a 2nd rate tyre manufacturer and that I should be getting a Yokohama or Pirelli or Bridgestone/Michelin (better brand/make quality etc). So basically its a choice between the Choice magazine guys and the tyre manufacturers.

Are there any aurion drivers on this board running with gt radials or goodrichs? I wonder how they compare with the common recommendations such as Potenza and the Yokohama S drive?

choice_tyre_test_australia_may_2009.pdf

[DJKOR]

1. Do you guys recommend changing all tyres at once or staggered (2 now then 2 later)?

I personally change all tires at once. But this works out better for me because I rotate my tires properly so that they wear evenly. I just prefer the feeling of having all 4 tires travel the exact same distances together.

2. Choice magazine recently did a survey on the best tyres for the bigger v6's (aurion,commodore), with a ford being the test vehicle.

etc, etc

When it comes to reviews of tires (or anything for that matter), I usually take them with a grain of salt. The best reviews I find are through friends. Considering tires, there are quite a few recommendations made here on the forum. I would consider reading personal reviews like this over something published in a magazine like Choice.

It's all personal opinions in the end and which way you can be swayed. Everyone has different needs and budgets, and this will affect their own choices. As you can see, there are quite a few recommendations:

Need New Tyres

And if you think of a tire you might like, try searching the name of it in the following forum. You may find some personal reviews of it:

Wheels & Tyres

[David the Viking]

Best way to get maximum life out of your tyres is

1) buy a good quality pressure gauge as the ones at servos are usually out due to mistreatment and or abuse!

2) Make sure you check the tyre pressure at least every month if not every two weeks. And check them when they are cold as a tyres pressure will increase by about 1-2 psi when hot.

3) Add 3-4 more psi than what is stated on the tyre placard as it shows MINIMUM recommended pressures.

4) Get a tyre rotation and wheel alignment every 10k.

Follow this and you can get good mileage out of your tyres.

By doing this I was able to do 45k on the 19' Dunlops originally fitted my TRD while others had to replace before 20k.

Edited September 15, 2009 by SupaTouring

[lateralus]

amen to the tyre maintenance SupaTouring was talking about. different car, i know, but on my camry i've got the dunlop sp sport 300e in 205/60-16 and have had them on since nov 07, and ive done approximately 40,000km with them on, and they still look relatively new!

[Ingres]

Best way to get maximum life out of your tyres is

1) buy a good quality pressure gauge as the ones at servos are usually out due to mistreatment and or abuse!

2) Make sure you check the tyre pressure at least every month if not every two weeks. And check them when they are cold as a tyres pressure will increase by about 1-2 psi when hot.

3) Add 3-4 more psi than what is stated on the tyre placard as it shows MINIMUM recommended pressures.

4) Get a tyre rotation and wheel alignment every 10k.

Follow this and you can get good mileage out of your tyres.

By doing this I was able to do 45k on the 19' Dunlops originally fitted my TRD while others had to replace before 20k.

which brand would you recommend if i am to get a pressure gauge?

[DJKOR]

By doing this I was able to do 45k on the 19' Dunlops originally fitted my TRD while others had to replace before 20k.

amen to the tyre maintenance SupaTouring was talking about. different car, i know, but on my camry i've got the dunlop sp sport 300e in 205/60-16 and have had them on since nov 07, and ive done approximately 40,000km with them on, and they still look relatively new!

Even with maintenance like that, I'm sure I could chew em up faster

I think I'm a special case.

[Tofuboi]

I think I'm a special case.

No you're just nuts. ;)

[prometheus]

The advice given by the guys above is spot on.

Don't pay too much attention to the Choice results.

From time to time Wheels Magazine publishes a comprehensive tyre comparison.

Alot of public Libraries subscribe to Wheels Magazine and they should also hold back copies ... so walk into your local public Library and do some research (its all free).

Most people tend to buy tyres by weighing up the Cost v's Brand v's Reputation and other factors.

Also , think about the type and style of driving that you do and think about what sort of tyre would be best suited.

Do you want a tyre for long distance freeway cruising that is quiet and comfortable or are you looking for a high performance sports tyre for cornering grip etc ?

I have 195/70 Dunlop Daytonas (these are no longer made) on my 96 Camry , even though the recommended size is 187/75 and they still have another 10 - 15 thousand klms in them after already doing about 60 000 klms. Not a bad effort.

I guess the extra 10 mm in tyre width has helped.

[tekkyy]

amen to the tyre maintenance SupaTouring was talking about. different car, i know, but on my camry i've got the dunlop sp sport 300e in 205/60-16 and have had them on since nov 07, and ive done approximately 40,000km with them on, and they still look relatively new!

I must be doing a bad job with tyre maintenance

my 215/60R16 Dunlop SP Sport 300E on the Aurion hit the thread indicators after 14,000km

[tekkyy]

Kumho Solus KH15 71 70 65 80 70 V 175

I had a 205/60R16 Kumho Solus KH15 on the Camry

it wasn't a quiet tyre

[DJKOR]

I must be doing a bad job with tyre maintenance

my 215/60R16 Dunlop SP Sport 300E on the Aurion hit the thread indicators after 14,000km

Or you had dud tires. Or those mysterious low mileage OEM tires.

[cranky]

i am at 16000km and my dunlops look almost brand new.

[David the Viking]

Best way to get maximum life out of your tyres is

1) buy a good quality pressure gauge as the ones at servos are usually out due to mistreatment and or abuse!

2) Make sure you check the tyre pressure at least every month if not every two weeks. And check them when they are cold as a tyres pressure will increase by about 1-2 psi when hot.

3) Add 3-4 more psi than what is stated on the tyre placard as it shows MINIMUM recommended pressures.

4) Get a tyre rotation and wheel alignment every 10k.

Follow this and you can get good mileage out of your tyres.

By doing this I was able to do 45k on the 19' Dunlops originally fitted my TRD while others had to replace before 20k.

which brand would you recommend if i am to get a pressure gauge?

I have a Kincrome digital gauge that does a calibration each time it turns on around $30 from Autobarn. Better to spend a few extra $$ on a gauge then have to replace a $1000 worth of tyres prematurely! Michelin also make one that is available from Autobarn for similar $$.

I think I'm a special case.

No you're just nuts. ;)

Daryl is especially nuts! Mind you when I was younger I used to go through tyres as if they were going out of fashion!!

I must be doing a bad job with tyre maintenance

my 215/60R16 Dunlop SP Sport 300E on the Aurion hit the thread indicators after 14,000km

Or you had dud tires. Or those mysterious low mileage OEM tires.

I know the gen 6 Camry has an engine that is a bit lighter then the Aurions but my wifes is at around 27k and Im happy with the tyre wear. I am expecting around 60k out of the OE Dunlop 300E tyres. We run 36psi front and 35psi rear and it is never heavily loaded. If we needed to carry a heavy load for any great distance ie: 4+ passengers and luggage interstate I would increase the rear tyre pressures to around 38-40psi.

Edited September 16, 2009 by SupaTouring

[e240]

The thing is every time i call up a tyre shop and ask for a "GT RADIAL" or a "BF GOODRICH" these guys tell me its a 2nd rate tyre manufacturer and that I should be getting a Yokohama or Pirelli or Bridgestone/Michelin (better brand/make quality etc). So basically its a choice between the Choice magazine guys and the tyre manufacturers.

Thats because tyre shop try and sell what they have in stock or what gives 'em better commissions.

Make up your own mind and get what you really want - trust me on this or you gonna regret...

If the shop doesn't want to do that, there are always other shops - incidently, the tune will probably be different if you went to a BF goodrich dealer.

Anyway, JAX gave me a good deal on some BF Goodrich Sport for my wife's civic, its pretty good, and cheap.

[Speedz]

Guys... i went to jax tyre today to do some alignment and balancing on the Yaris, while here they quote me $159 bucks for Pirelli P7 215/60/R16 or $700s including fittings and alignments... (promotions running till end of Sept)

i was thinking of changing the tyres coz i reckon i overinflated the dunny sp sports 300e tyres to about 38-39 psi (r16s) so now the side has more trend than the centre... (the centre groove running across the tyre almost visible where as there seems to have abit more tread on the side...)

just wondering if i should get it done coz i read nothing but good things about the P7s and dont know if they gonna do a promotion on the P7 again next year, rotating the tyre would probably get me another 10k -15k km as the rear wasnt new when i got the Aurion via auction last year... (only the front 2 was new...), just wondering if i should bite the bullet now or hope they have a good deal going on next year? the lazy me didnt do any rotation for the last 30k km :P

ofcoz the Aurion will never be use as a track weapon or even for Nebo run (the Yaris will gleefully take her place... :P), but i will using it mainly for short day trips in and around GC/SC areas...

[Speedz]

anyone no help? :P

[Guest]

Daryl is especially nuts! ...

Daryl has special nuts?

wait, wut?

[SCOOTA44]

Hi All,

I've done about 30k on my Aurion Touring 2008 now. The tyres at the front seem to be wearing away whereas the back ones still seem ok. That said, I have two questions...

1. Do you guys recommend changing all tyres at once or staggered (2 now then 2 later)?

2. Choice magazine recently did a survey on the best tyres for the bigger v6's (aurion,commodore), with a ford being the test vehicle.

Ive attached the report to this post. Basically the list in order, judged by cornering in breaking in both the wet and dry are as below:

BFGoodrich Sport T/A 74 80 50 95 80 H 167

Goodyear Excellence 73 75 60 85 75 V 215

GT Radial Champiro 228 73 75 65 85 70 V 180

Goodyear Assurance 72 75 50 90 80 V 191

Kumho Solus KH15 71 70 65 80 70 V 175

Kelly Ritmo HP (A) 66 70 50 80 70 H 145

Michelin Energy XM1+ 66 70 50 80 70 H 188

Firestone Firehawk TZ100 65 65 45 90 70 V 195

Maxxis Radial MA-651 65 65 50 80 70 H 130

Dunlop SP Sport 200E 64 65 50 80 65 V 173

The thing is every time i call up a tyre shop and ask for a "GT RADIAL" or a "BF GOODRICH" these guys tell me its a 2nd rate tyre manufacturer and that I should be getting a Yokohama or Pirelli or Bridgestone/Michelin (better brand/make quality etc). So basically its a choice between the Choice magazine guys and the tyre manufacturers.

Are there any aurion drivers on this board running with gt radials or goodrichs? I wonder how they compare with the common recommendations such as Potenza and the Yokohama S drive?

yes im running GT radials on the front at the moment they are a very good tyre quiet, they also have a better profile than the michelin energy tyres, which i have found to be a bit noisy. ther is a price difference too. GT's $180 compared to the michelin energy $250.

[Snoochem]

yes im running GT radials on the front at the moment they are a very good tyre quiet, they also have a better profile than the michelin energy tyres, which i have found to be a bit noisy. ther is a price difference too. GT's $180 compared to the michelin energy $250.

I just came back from my local tyre shop (Mt Gravatt, Brisbane) and they quoted me approx:

$520 for Michelin Energy

$416 for Bridgestone Adrenalin

$360 for some Goodyear tyre

I have 225/45R18. I realise this size isn't too common but should they really be that expensive? Most guys on this forum have been saying $200 - $250 for decent tyres so you can imagine my shock when I was told $500!!

Are they ripping me off?

[SecaBoy]

i havent had the need to buy 18" tyres in a few years, so not sure on the 'current' prices...

best idea is to shop around, A LOT... that way you know if they are quoting you high or not...

ive had good experiences with a place in bowen hills if you want to go there...

$500 does seem a bit pricey for 18s though...

i got some really good rubber for my 20s for $500...

oh, thats $500 EACH, right?

[Snoochem]

i havent had the need to buy 18" tyres in a few years, so not sure on the 'current' prices...

best idea is to shop around, A LOT... that way you know if they are quoting you high or not...

ive had good experiences with a place in bowen hills if you want to go there...

$500 does seem a bit pricey for 18s though...

i got some really good rubber for my 20s for $500...

oh, thats $500 EACH, right?

Yep, $500 each.

I wouldn't mind checking out the place in Bowen hills.

I did actually go to a couple of places in Mt Gravatt and they both quoted pretty much the same price. Even the cheap brands were in the $300s.

Makes me wonder how the other guys on here got Bridgestones and Michelins for just over $200!

[SecaBoy]

the place was quickfit at bowen hills...

its on the same road (just a few doors down) from Di Bella Coffee... i think its Abbotsford Rd in bowen hills...

i forget the guys name (could have been Jason), but they're all pretty helpful... i believe the pirelli's i got were on sale though..

either way, go in and have a chat with them... :)

[Snoochem]

the place was quickfit at bowen hills...

its on the same road (just a few doors down) from Di Bella Coffee... i think its Abbotsford Rd in bowen hills...

i forget the guys name (could have been Jason), but they're all pretty helpful... i believe the pirelli's i got were on sale though..

either way, go in and have a chat with them... :)

Thanks!