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new tires
mightyjongyo
Sour CrrmEast Bay, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
Sour CrrmEast Bay, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
I guess my tires are almost bald...so --
What tire brands should I avoid?
What tire brands would you recommend?
Are fuel efficient tires worth getting?
I live in California, so its mostly dry but it does rain on occasion. I drive a Honda civic coupe. Most of my time is spent commuting on the highway.
What tire brands should I avoid?
What tire brands would you recommend?
Are fuel efficient tires worth getting?
I live in California, so its mostly dry but it does rain on occasion. I drive a Honda civic coupe. Most of my time is spent commuting on the highway.
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I have had bad luck with the less major brands so I usually keep to brands and tire families that are usually equipped from the factory on new cars: Michelin, continental, Pirelli, Dunlop, Goodyear, and Firestone. I expect 40-60k miles out of a set given my driving conditions (assuming I don't damage them beyond patching) and the few times I've tried to save 50-100$ a corner I've regretted it.
Not sure what you mean by fuel efficient tires, but just keeping your tires properly inflated will get you better fuel economy. If you don't check every other feel up or month or so your tires are almost certainly under inflated. Some tires have a central rib as part of the contact patch, but that's more for better tracking on the highway than for fuel economy.
You may be able to get away with running summer tires year round, but depends on local climate. I live in Austin where any accumulation of snow, ice, sleet, etc will result in the entire city shutting down, so I don't have to consider even all-weather tires much less snow tires.
Not sure what I mean by fuel efficient either - I was looking at some tires online and some of them are marked as fuel efficient, so I was just wondering if its marketing BS or if there is actually such a thing.
Michelin's are soft but drive fantastic
Goodyears are middle of the road but wear like iron (great wet grip too)
Yokohama's are soft but good while they last
I've had good and bad experiences with everything and used to sling tires for a chain. There's not a ton of difference between major and off brands as long as far as commuting goes. If you want to save money, get a solid H-speed rated tire, as it means you avoid the crappy sidewalled bargain specials. Also, name brands often include a royalty (known as SPIF's) if you sell a set, so people will often drive you towards an equivalent name brand for more money because it means they make 20-40 bucks.
Avoid "fuel efficient" tyres like the plague, they're specifically designed for reduced friction between the road surface and the tyre, to reduce rolling resistance.
I dunno about you, but I prefer my tyres to be as grippy as possible instead of getting 0.5% better mileage...
Thanks people, think I got what I need to know now.
I just put Continental DWS on my car a couple thousand miles ago and they're working great, even in the frozen, snowy hell I live in.
Actually, if you live in really snowy areas (like where I am in NH), snow tires aren't any more expensive, as it's not like you're putting wear on your normal tires while you're on your snows. You can usually swing free tire rotations or make a one-time investment in steel wheels for ~$200. So while the upfront capital to have 2 sets is more, over the long run there's not much difference, and you get better summer and winter grip by having specific tires for each.
Yes, but if he has bad tires now, then got snow tires, he's still have to pay for new summer tires. Since he's in CA it's moot. Also, if car has Tire Pressure Monitoring, that jacks up the price of your other set of rims unless you A) switch them out of our current rims or
I've had pretty good luck with Bridgestone Potenzas. They were the stock tires on my Impreza and they easily lasted 55,000 miles (they still had a decent chunk of tread on them, but it's winter in Duluth, MN so I got the CWSs, which are better in snow).
For the most part, you get what you pay for in tires. If you go supercheap, they're super cheap. I'd read the reviews on Tirerack and then see if you can get a price match at a local shop that does free rotates.
The one thing I will say is buy the best tires you can afford. A good set of tires can save your life when things go wrong on the road. Its really not something you want to skimp out on.