Cromax

Mention you're part of a car club and that a lot of you are coming up for new tyres soon ... if they can do a good deal they may very well be able to honour that price.

Doing the ring around, there was only one place which would bring their price down under $300 and that was a tyre shop at Cheltenham. The others ... even my regular (who's made a lot of money out of my family) didn't want to budge.

I reckon if you're paying $390 a corner it'd be better to go Michelin Pilot Preceedas.

auzoom

Trev, do yourself a favour and ring around interstate. Get them to include shipping to you in their quote. Melb seems a lot cheaper to get tyres. I know payless tyres in Sydney are quite cheap and it costs between 10 and 20$/tyre to ship to melb.

Also, look at 235/40/R18 instead of 225/45/18. The 235 size is a lot more common and so you will get better pricing.

Cheers

Andrew

Black-8

I can vouch for the goodyear eagle F1, holds well in both dry and wet. I got them on my previous car. I can also vouch for pirelli dragon as I have a friend who has them on, good grip, and lasts longer than eagle F1 (harder compound). so depends on your need, if you want grip, go eagle f1, if you want tyre that will last, go pirelli dragon. Sorry I can't comment on the other tyres as I have no experience with them.

Cromax

My stance is against the Eagle F1s based on (1) Trev wants a quiet tyre that's stable for straight line driving but good in corners which will last at least 40000km and (2) the fact that there are now tyres out there that will grip just as well in the wet and outperform them by far in the dry (hard sidewall technologies and advances in silica compounds have directly impacted on this).

enforcer

This topic is just one of those which seems to generate the most debate and opinion on this forum, but I'm leaning towards the Adrenalin, the Proxies and the Pirellis. The fact that these tyres have a superior grip in the wet and a relatively long life is my rationale.

I've always had Pirellis on my Moto Guzzi California 1100, and they have never let me down, but having said that we are talking about a completely different motor vehicle. I've got to admit the tread on the new Adrenalin looks very sharp, and I like the idea of the Proxies getting a huge life...

One thing I've learnt about the tyres here is they all have a trade off, but I also know if I spend $300 - $350 I'll get a good tyre.

I'm pretty certain I'll also be going with the 235/40/R18's....

Cromax

The Bridgestones are very quiet and they don't smoke up as easily as the RE040's :P

auzoom

Sorry but you cant have sidewall strength and quiete. You either have sidewall strength/stability which will give you the cornering stability or you have quiet...you cant have your cake and eat it too.

Also, as much as I like my Proxies, if cornering is your passion then there are much better. I would say the pirelli's are a better choice as the only down side was the warm up required whcih probably isnt such an issue up there (I had them in the -2c temps in winter last year).

Revolver

I've been pleasantly surprised at the long life I'm getting out of my Michelin PS2's, which has included a number of track days and a lot of hard street driving.

It's a bit like power to weight - cost to longevity is important when choosing a tyre.

auzoom

Yes but longevity to the performance/handling is also key, I mean if you want pure longevity, ask Drewman...get some nankangs (I was going to but there isnt anything legal for the 8 in Victoria).

auzoom

Was just having a look around, forgot that federal have the SS595 here http://www.federaltyres.com.au/ss595.

They are a fairly well rated tyre. Not sure on price.
http://forums.evolutionm.net/showthread.php?t=177164
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/arch.../t-132094.html
http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/for...hp/t10850.html

I have found them for $220/tyre in 235/40/18.

enforcer

Interesting thread Andrew. I heard of Federal years ago and didn't think they were still around....this comment was interesting...

I had a friend of mine give me a half worn out set of these tires back in august. He abused them on his mustang before the car was stolen.
My biggest complaint with the tires is the road noise. I get a low end grumble that is easily confused with the center diff going out.
Other than that, these tires are awesome. They can handles a rain flooded road better than the advans, I don't feel any hydroplaning until I hit standing water around 65mph (keep in mind I am almost to the wear indicators)
The cornering is nice and surprizingly good considering the treadwear is set to something like 240
They don't handle mud that well, but considering that it's a dry weather performance tire, you can't really complain.
I have seen them for as little as $85 / tire for a 245/40/17 which is the size I am running now.
Great tires for the street.

For the purpose of this exercise, I'll talk to the dealership and find out some more including costs in Queensland.

auzoom

Most of the "issues" I read people had with them sounded more like alignment and abuse problems unrelated to the tyres. I am spewing now that I didnt remember about them when I bought my proxies.

Revolver

I had assumed we were talking performance tyres, not crappy ones.

Handling v longevity is always in tension as you know because (to generalise) the grippier the tyre the softer the compound and hence the faster it wears.

I was just trying to make the point that if a higher price well-performing tyre lasts longer, the higher price can become competitive with a lower cost well-performing tyre that wears out quicker.

auzoom

Yep understood I wasn't saying you weren't saying...was just "trying" to compliment your post.

thisllub

I expect about 20000km out of the standard Bridgestones if I am lucky.

At 16000km I am getting very close to the tread wear indicators already.

Country driving on coarse chip roads is obviously hell on tyres.

I have never done a burnout, I have only got it sideways in the wet once (a scandinavian flick to see how good the DSC was ) and never even heard the tyres squeal in the dry.

I am surprised that I am getting half the wear of you city drivers.

Revolver

Good to see we're in violent agreement on that, lol.

Revolver

That is bad. I've had well over 20K out of the PS2's and still have heaps to go. And although I never do burnouts it's fair to say I've heard them squeal, ahem, once or twice...

enforcer

Very correct Kal. My alignment is spot on as they've been done twice this year, and both times came up trumps (+/- .005%). I've been running my Bridgys on 36 psi and I think thats half the problem why my tyres are starting to scallop.

Until I get the newbies, I'm running them on 40 psi but I've left my run too late...and lost out on 5K+ in tread...

auzoom

Trev a question. When you said your tyres were scalloped can you confirm its as per the attached pic'

DrewMan

that looks like -ve camber action to me!

enforcer

I have to agree with Drew - that pic looks like a camber issue. The only way Mazda could detect it was on their hoist.

When they spinned the rear wheels (and you looked against a white backdrop) you could see a faint uneven variation on the tyre. You could feel it as it was spinning...like there were some raised 'bumps' in the tyre.

The mechanic said the only way to fix it would be to flatten out the tyres with some serious drifting...or buy some new ones!

For the purpose of the exercise they quoted me $490 a corner for new Bridgestones....

takahashi

You sure is the tyre?

Not the wheel......

auzoom

Nope, its pure scalloping from excessive toe. Note the wear on the tyre wall. -ve camber wear is restricted to the tread.

If its not that Trev then from what you are saying its this...cupping, which is as a result of a bad wheel balance as taka was getting at.