CURIOUS ABOUT TIRES

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

with many hating kenda and giving thumbs up on kumho, federal, falken & others what brand do you put on your car
when it comes time for replacement?

[Bob Denman]

The Missus never keeps a car long enough to wear out a set of tires...
With my Jeeps and Trucks: I've normally put Coopers or Generals on them, once the OEM rubber was done!

[cuznjohn]

like bob and his better half, i never have a car long enough to have to buy tires. but if a tire blows or needs replacing, i get the same one that came with the car, whatever it may be on that car

[Bam Bam and Pebbles]

Cooper, General and Yokohamas on my truck and Kumho and Yokohamas on Pebbles van

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Nitto 555 on my Shelby Cobra .......Mike

[WA5VHU]

But the real question is what brand and type of oil do you use for each particular brand and size of tire?

[robmorg]

like bob and his better half, i never have a car long enough to have to buy tires. but if a tire blows or needs replacing, i get the same one that came with the car, whatever it may be on that car

Same here.

As for oil, i have NO idea what kind of oil I run in my car. I just take it to my mechanic once a year for inspection and he also does an oil change. I pay him and have never once asked what kind of oil he put in.

Funny how our toys are so much more important. Years ago, when I had a small plane, I not only knew the brand of tires and oil, but I knew just about every nut and bolt in that thing. I suspect that for guys who have boats, it's the same thing (except for the tires, of course).

[finless]

with many hating kenda and giving thumbs up on kumho, federal, falken & others what brand do you put on your car
when it comes time for replacement?

Michelin hands down. From experience by the way.

Bob

[Warlock]

Just installed this one today. Only time and miles will tell how it holds out. Can't beat the price.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/215-60R15...Tires/52943290
David

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Just installed this one today. Only time and miles will tell how it holds out. Can't beat the price.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/215-60R15...Tires/52943290
David

. It fits fine on an RT, and will correct the speedo / odo error . However I have NEVER heard of this tire. For about $ 30.00 more you could have bought the top rated General Altimax RT 43 on-line delivered to your home for free......... Hope this experiment works out for you........please keep us informed ........Mike

[Warlock]

. It fits fine on an RT, and will correct the speedo / odo error . However I have NEVER heard of this tire. For about $ 30.00 more you could have bought the top rated General Altimax RT 43 on-line delivered to your home for free......... Hope this experiment works out for you........please keep us informed ........Mike

It fits fine on my 08 GS. Have installed 3 of the the Altimax TR 43 on my friends bikes. One was like mine, the others was 09 and 13 model RS. Just curious on how this tire will compare to the Altimax. I know it mounted and sealed better than the Altimax. Of course it could be a crap tire, but will keep a eye on it and will do follow up post.
David

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

It fits fine on my 08 GS. Have installed 3 of the the Altimax TR 43 on my friends bikes. One was like mine, the others was 09 and 13 model RS. Just curious on how this tire will compare to the Altimax. I know it mounted and sealed better than the Altimax. Of course it could be a crap tire, but will keep a eye on it and will do follow up post.
David

Interesting - - I put a 215/60-15 on my GS .....but had to SHIM the rear fender to keep it from rubbing !!!!....Mike

[Warlock]

Interesting - - I put a 215/60-15 on my GS .....but had to SHIM the rear fender to keep it from rubbing !!!!....Mike

My buddy came down to help me do the swap. His has the General tire and mine the Solar tire. His was closer to rubbing than mine. I talked with a friend of mine that sales tires and he had told me there is no set standard on the tires. So all tires aren't the same. Mine might be a 1/4 shorter than his, but carries the same size. I figured there should be a standard for tires, but as long they are close to the right size.
David

[Warlock]

Interesting - - I put a 215/60-15 on my GS .....but had to SHIM the rear fender to keep it from rubbing !!!!....Mike

I will say he had to shim his. He had the old style fender supports that created a crack in them. When he received the new ones he had to shim his fender. He also added the support to the fenders like on the 13 models. Going to order some for my bike, but will have to drill holes for them to work. Also have to change out the piece that fits in the fender. Whenever you order the replacement fender supports to replace the older ones they send you is the same ones like on the 13 models with the holes already in them.
David

[3whlLefty]

I just put the Altimax RT43 on the rear of my 09 GS and it comes very close to the license plate bolts. I can get my fingers in the gap but that's all. I wonder it there's that much variation in the length of the drive belts.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

My buddy came down to help me do the swap. His has the General tire and mine the Solar tire. His was closer to rubbing than mine. I talked with a friend of mine that sales tires and he had told me there is no set standard on the tires. So all tires aren't the same. Mine might be a 1/4 shorter than his, but carries the same size. I figured there should be a standard for tires, but as long they are close to the right size.
David

David there are numerous Threads here that address this fact..... I see TIRE CALCULATORS quoted as a reference constantly and it makes laugh and also cry...... because it's HOOEY .... I seriously doubt if you got all the 215/60-15 tires together ( from different makers ) with an accurate tape measure, and measured their CIRCUMFERENCE that you would find any that WERE IDENTICAL ... I'm SERIOUS ........Mike

[Warlock]

I just put the Altimax RT43 on the rear of my 09 GS and it comes very close to the license plate bolts. I can get my fingers in the gap but that's all. I wonder it there's that much variation in the length of the drive belts.

Didn't have to shim the fenders on the 09 and 13 model RS that I installed the Altimax on. My buddies bike fender didn't need shimming until he installed the new fender supports that was cracked.
David

[Warlock]

David there are numerous Threads here that address this fact..... I see TIRE CALCULATORS quoted as a reference constantly and it makes laugh and also cry...... because it's HOOEY .... I seriously doubt if you got all the 215/60-15 tires together ( from different makers ) with an accurate tape measure, and measured their CIRCUMFERENCE that you would find any that WERE IDENTICAL ... I'm SERIOUS ........Mike

You're right about that. Especially the ones that comes from over seas, which is most of them.
David

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

[QUOTE=3whlLefty;1186067]I just put the Altimax RT43 on the rear of my 09 GS and it comes very close to the license plate bolts. I can get my fingers in the gap but that's all. I wonder it there's that much variation in the length of the drive belts.[/QUOTE}.......You can make some nice shims from the GRAY PLASTIC TUBE you get for the plumbing connections under your kitchen sink at Home Depot / Lowe's / Ace etc.............Only the F-3 has a different length Belt ......Mike

[sandeejs]

with many hating kenda and giving thumbs up on kumho, federal, falken & others what brand do you put on your car when it comes time for replacement?

I don't have any problem with Kenda, got 15000 miles on my first one and expecting that many for this on the rear. Maybe I'm nuts.
~Sandee~

[Peter Aawen]

It's really only been recent health issues that've slowed me down a tad; up until recently we used to go thru a couple of sets of tires each year on our personal motor vehicles (well over 100,000 km per annum each, & for me, sometimes 200,000!) and way more sets on 'work' vehicles (but they generally get swapped out after about 20K or so of 'mileage testing!') so I do get to try a few different brands of tires of various compounds & tread patterns!!


Of late I've been running Kumho Solus KH17's on the family cars with a great deal of success. We are now the second set of them under the Missus' SX4 in 2 years, the first set easily did 100,000 km of mixed black top/dirt road running before our Autumn rains began setting in during March/April & since it looked like being a really wet winter just past (it was!), I swapped 'em out for a new set of the same despite the old tires still having sufficient tread to last a fair while longer - I just wasn't going to risk relying on balding tires on wet roads so I gifted them to a friend who's been running them on his 'get the kids to the gate' car (they drive themselves, taking about 10 mins running to get TO the gate in the AM, but about an hour to get home FROM the gate in the PM cos they tend to paddock bash & muck around a bit once they get off the bus & into the car!!) where they are still doing sterling service, probably 20K or so of absolute thrashing down track! Both of our daughters are running similar Kumho's under their cars with equal success, so when it came to choosing tires to go on the Spyder, once I'd checked their compatibility with the 'passenger' rims, it was a no-brainer & I haven't regretted it for a moment!!

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

and what about for snow tires?
for my wifes car i pulled off the yokohama's when we first bought it & put conti dws, for winter i run dunlop wintermax.

[Bob Denman]

Blizzak...

You can find traction on a greased marble floor with the dang things!

[Peter Aawen]

PMK, It's pretty hard to offer any specific advice without spending some time working out exactly how you use your vehicles & what you expect from your tires under your local conditions, but generally speaking, it seems to me that the days of BFG being or having a great tire choice for just about anyone/any need have passed, even tho there was once a time.... These days, I believe there are quite a few better options in just about every section of the market & for every type of driver need. Still, BFG's certainly aren't anywhere near as bad as Kenda's, altho it's a shame that neither are they as good as they used to be!!

If you wanted to stick with the one brand, Cooper's are probably the modern day equivalent of what BFG used to be, with a pretty reasonable tire offering to suit just about every market niche or driving need. You could do a lot worse than to check out the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring for the E150, the ST Maxx or one of their other offerings either side (HT or STT) in the on road/off road traction stakes for the Tacoma, & maybe the CS5 Ultra Touring for the Corolla. Altho if you've got a good local dealer, they should be able to match your specific needs to the most appropriate tire somewhat better'n me due to their local knowledge of driving conditions & a discussion of your driving needs, if that makes sense?!?

Bridgestone certainly do some good tires for most of those vehicles; Yokohama's are up there in the sportier offerings for things like Corolla's without breaking the bank; for the Tacoma, Mickey Thompson make some great off road tires that do pretty well on the black top too, altho they are generally 'stickier' compound tires than the equivalent Coopers & might 'go off' before you get around to wearing them out if you don't do 60K or so miles every year/18 months-ish! As for winter driving, even tho we do have some 'snow & ice' regions here in Aus, we don't really have anything like what you get in the top parts of North America - long & hot miles on poor quality black top, that we've got scads of, especially up North, doyawanta swap some?? Atm, in most of our Southern States we can even do long & wet miles with enough water covering the normally poor quality black top that you can never be sure there actually is any there of any quality!! But we can't give any of that away, we might need it to get around on in a month or so!!

[Aracknoid]

I have had very good service and support from Discount Tires. BTW Discount has a size calculator that will give the Diameter, width, revs per mile. very interesting if you are looking to change tire sizes.

My last Kuhmo rear tire was $50.00 and free shipping.

Good Luck