 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Toyota / Toyota Cars / January 2007Tire shopping experience yesterday
Hi everyone, I posted last week about replacing tires on a 2000 Civic with 43k miles that appeared to have adequate tread left but were looking a little old with some "dry rot". The front tires look somewhat worn (less tread, more sidewall wrinkling than the rears) but the rears cosmetically look good (good tread, little wrinkling). Anyhow, at everyone's advice I asked a few different places for their advice and here are the results: 1. Local tire/brake/alignment shop (nice guys but seemed a little like hustlers): >From 10 feet away from the car, the employee started to say "you NEED new tires." He took out a tread depth gauge and said, "new tires come with TWELVE/32 tread. On the front you only have FIVE. On the back you only have SIX. IT IS TIME FOR NEW TIRES." I asked him what a cheaper set is, and he said Falkens. He said "I will give them to you for $46 each and install for free." Bottom line was $279 for 4 installed out the door. 2. Town Fair Tire (very polite) Employee looked at the tires, said there's adequate tread on them, so technically still ok to use. When I asked him about "dry rot" he said it is there, but he can't quantitate how much a risk for tire failure that is. His suggestion was to replace the front tires but keep using the rears because they still have a lot of tread. He noted, correctly, that the edges of the front tires are disproportionately worn, the outer edges more than the inner edges. He said perhaps an alignment would help. So, his suggestion was to replace 2 front tires and get a 4-wheel alignment for $177 (asked him for the cheapest tires) out the door. He said that the purchase of 2 tires includes a "free front wheel alignment" and would be $127 alone, but he'd recommend getting a 4-wheel alignment. I asked him whether I should replace all 4 tires, and he said no, because the rears still have adequate tread and the rubber looks ok. 3. Costco tire (very polite) I always get good service here; of note, the tire center employees are on flat salary without commission, and are getting slammed with work lately because Costco has a tire sale going on right now. The employee looked at the tires, said the tread is ok, but he sees deterioration ("dry rot/cracking") in all the tires. He said probably best to replace all 4 tires. I asked if it's wasteful to replace the rears since they have so much tread left, and he said that it should be ok to replace them since the condition of the rubber isn't great ("dry rot"). I asked him about whether he thought the outer edges of the front tires being disproportionately worn means the alignment's bad too. He said maybe, but that since the inner edges are also pretty worn, though less so, maybe the tires were just underinflated for much of their life (my wife did drive on 22PSI for a while before I met her, so maybe). With Costco's current sale (I don't know how often they go on sale) it is $233 out the door (including lifetime balancing, rotation, road hazard warranty) for a set of 4 BF Goodrich "Premier Touring" tires, which is a subtype I think made just for Costco. 4. NTB, National Tire and Battery (very polite) Employee said the tires still had acceptable tread, but the fronts don't have much tread, so he would suggest replacing the front pair at the minimum, and probably replacing the rear tires too to save time, since they likely would need replacement in a year. He said the tires don't look that bad right now though, so he'd recommend just having them done sometime in the springtime (we are in Boston, it is freezing right now). Quoted about $250 out the door for a cheap set. I asked him if the car needs an alignment, he said that based on the tire wear patterns, if the alignment's off, it's minor, but he'd recommend it anyways for about $70 more. --Maybe I should just get the set of 4 from Costco right now, as they are probably reasonable quality tires and the do have good service (lifetime rotation/road hazard warranty, etc) included. I think Town Fair Tire includes these services in their price while NTB charges extra. I am not sure what my local shop that quotes $279 for 4 Falkens installed includes in their price-- I didn't feel comfortable there so didn't inquire further. My sense is also that if in 44k miles the non-rotated front tires are not too asymmetrically worn, that I can probably hold off on an alignment right now. What do you all think? John > Hi everyone, > I posted last week about replacing tires on a 2000 Civic with 43k miles [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > asked a few different places for their advice and here are the results: > <snip> I buy all my tires at Costco and Discount Tire. I favor Discount as they went WAY out of their way one time to help my wife. Anyhow, if I were you I'd just rotate the tires and wait until spring or summer to replace them. Then go with Costco (or try Discount). jor > What do you all think? > John My only comment is this: Years ago, someone I trust (a mechanic) told me never to run with one type of tire in the back and another in the front. Either replace all four, or at least replace two with the same brand & model. Then, he send me to his competitor down the road, because he said he couldn't get the tires I needed at as good a price as the other guy. Whether this mixed tire thing is really true, I have no idea. Others will chime in, I'm sure. >> What do you all think? >> John [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Whether this mixed tire thing is really true, I have no idea. Others will > chime in, I'm sure. Um...yeah, although I do it on occasion. Depends on how junk the car. On my Grand Voyager, I was running the Daytons that came with it on the front, but the rears were worn and spun me in the snow. Put some decent brand of studded snows on the rear. But, for an all-season type tire in the snow, the difference can cause skidding and spinning... My Supra, the Mazda (the absolute CHEAPEST tires I could get...) and obviously the Scion all have matched tires. And, I'm kicking myself. I paid $29 for the cheapest tire I could get, and 10 days later Sears was selling Goodyear Weathermasters for $5 more a tire... UGH! Either he's someone you *can't* trust, he doesn't know what he's talking about, or you are remembering incorrectly. The rule is not to run different tires on the same "axle". >From http://www.michelinman.com/care/tip6.html - Tires of different size designations, constructions, and stages of wear may affect vehicle handling and stability. For best all-around performance, the same type tire should be used on all four-wheel positions. It is also recommended that you NOT mix radial and non-radial tires on a vehicle. However, if mixing tires is for some reason unavoidable, NEVER mix radial and non-radial tires on the same axle. If two radial and two non-radial tires are to be installed on a vehicle, the two radials MUST be installed on the rear axle and the two non-radials on the front axle. > <johnyan...@gmail.com> wrote in messagenews:1169822634.540818.292100@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Whether this mixed tire thing is really true, I have no idea. Others will > chime in, I'm sure. >> <johnyan...@gmail.com> wrote in >> messagenews:1169822634.540818.292100@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >> Whether this mixed tire thing is really true, I have no idea. Others will >> chime in, I'm sure. > Either he's someone you *can't* trust, he doesn't know what he's > talking about, or you are remembering incorrectly. The rule is not to [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > vehicle, the two radials MUST be installed on the rear axle and the two > non-radials on the front axle. Since I'm picky, and live in a place where snow makes the roads bizarre at times, I suspect he, too was being picky. No mixing. Period. In any case, he stood to make no money on his recommendation, since he sent me elsewhere. He also did this when I needed a muffler, since Toyota offered a longer warranty than his supplier. OK, I'll be picky too... you said he "told me never to run with one type of tire in the back and another in the front. Either replace all four, or at least replace two with the same brand & model." Your statement at least implies (if not outright states) that he told you to at least replace one *side's* tires at a time, which is incorrect. You seem to have a penchant for arguing and nitpicking (not to mention blathering on forever), and for denying any lack of accuracy on your own part, so I would advise you to either pipe down or learn a little humility. And we are still waiting to hear whether or not there is an objective standard for moral behavior, and if so what that might be... > >> <johnyan...@gmail.com> wrote in > >> messagenews:1169822634.540818.292100@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > He also did this when I needed a muffler, since Toyota offered a longer > warranty than his supplier.- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text - >> >> <johnyan...@gmail.com> wrote in >> >> messagenews:1169822634.540818.292100@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] >> He also did this when I needed a muffler, since Toyota offered a longer >> warranty than his supplier.- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text - > OK, I'll be picky too... you said he "told me never to run with one > type of tire in the back and another in the front. Either replace all [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > And we are still waiting to hear whether or not there is an objective > standard for moral behavior, and if so what that might be... I see what you mean. No - the only "mixing" I've ever heard of being (sometimes) acceptable was matched pair in back, matched pair in front. I should've been more clear about that. Nobody suggested matched pair on the right, different matched pair on the left. As far as objective standards for moral behavior, I don't think there are any. And yet, most humans seem to have a natural affinity for ideas like not killing people for no reason. > Either he's someone you *can't* trust, he doesn't know what he's > talking about, or you are remembering incorrectly. The rule is not to [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > vehicle, the two radials MUST be installed on the rear axle and the two > non-radials on the front axle. I once had to do a survey of at least 10 non-Toyota vehicles and note the vehicle's year, make, model, and brand and model of tires installed. I had an "opportunity" to speak with a Mass State Police officer, and since there were 4 Crown Victorias sitting on the side of the road, I told him about my assignment and asked if it would be OK to check out the tires. He agreed, and I was very surprised to find that the cars had mix and match tires with different brands on each corner, and that most of them were worn unevenly - a sign of the car being out of alignment. With the potential for very high speed driving that these cars would see, I would have expected them to have matched sets in good condition.  SignatureRay O (correct punctuation to reply) >> Either he's someone you *can't* trust, he doesn't know what he's talking >> about, or you are remembering incorrectly. The rule is not to run [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > potential for very high speed driving that these cars would see, I would > have expected them to have matched sets in good condition. (That was when Mike Dukakis had run the state out of money, Ray...!) > With the potential for very high > speed driving that these cars would see, I would have expected them to have > matched sets in good condition. A few years ago in my area, a cop was killed in a high speed chase accident. Mismatched tires on the cruiser became a legal hot potato for the department and the shop that did their tire work. > My only comment is this: Years ago, someone I trust (a mechanic) told me > never to run with one type of tire in the back and another in the front. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Whether this mixed tire thing is really true, I have no idea. Others will > chime in, I'm sure. It's probably true to a certain extent, but side-to-side mix is much worse than front-to-back mix. I've driven both! (spare tires) With FWD cars, the front tires wear much more quickly than the back. So you can save a lot of money on tire rotation expenses by buying just two new tires for the front, and moving the old ones to the rear. With Michelin tires rated for 70-90000 miles, you'll only have to mess with your tires every 60000 miles or so. This might not be recommended by mechanics, but provides excellent traction and handling, because your best tires are always where they're needed most. >> My only comment is this: Years ago, someone I trust (a mechanic) told >> me [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > mechanics, but provides excellent traction and handling, because your > best tires are always where they're needed most. This is how I do it on the Sienna. It has worked out well for 188K+ miles. Tomes > >> My only comment is this: Years ago, someone I trust (a mechanic) told > >> me [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > miles. > Tomes Sounds like a plan, but does it affect handling at all? I'm going to be needing tires myself soon. How are the Michelins for ride? I have an 04 Sienna. -- >> >> My only comment is this: Years ago, someone I trust (a mechanic) >> >> told [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > I'm going to be needing tires myself soon. How are the Michelins for > ride? I have an 04 Sienna. This Sienna has always been a pleasure to drive around. This is one of the reasons I got it in the first place. The first time I needed tires I just replaced the fronts and I have no memory of the handling changing - it was still fun in the same manner. After that it was replace 2 of the tired, moving the fronts to the rear, same handling as far as I can tell. Once they happened to wear out all 4 at once. For the past few sets I have been using Michelin X Radial bought from BJ's. I also use the Michelin X Radial LT for the Jeep. I have been happy with these tires; good rides, good price. Tomes On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:43:54 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: > 2. Town Fair Tire (very polite) > Employee looked at the tires, said there's adequate tread on them, so [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > I asked him whether I should replace all 4 tires, and he said no, because > the rears still have adequate tread and the rubber looks ok. Interesting...what were the 'cheapest tires'? I got Geeze, I can't remember...Remington? for $29 a tire, 185/60-14 for the Mazda. It snowed lightly last night, and they didn't spin very much at all...an 'all season' tire. Front end alignment included, $160. I passed in the FEA, since the car has been running true and straight. Also, the front tire wear problem does sound like underinflation. Are there any bad habits, pulling/dragging, or anything like that? With Toyotas (and, unfortunatley, with *some* TFT locations) I have them leave it alone. Luckily in Greenfield there is a guy at a local tire shop that it a MASTER at alignment, 4 wheels for $62, and when you leave, your steering wheel is straight, and the car runs true at 120MPH. Hi, > > So, his suggestion was to replace 2 front tires and get a 4-wheel > > alignment for $177 (asked him for the cheapest tires) out the door. He In response to your question, the cheapest tires they were offering at Town Fair Tire were "Gooxxxxx" or something (no, not Goodyear!). Or maybe it was "Hangook?" I think it was Hangook actually. Never heard of that brand before. > been running true and straight. Also, the front tire wear problem does > sound like underinflation. Are there any bad habits, pulling/dragging, or > anything like that? With Toyotas (and, unfortunatley, with *some* TFT > locations) I have them leave it alone. No, no bad habits. Tracks straight at 75 mph, cruises great. > Luckily in Greenfield there is a guy at a local tire shop that it a MASTER > at alignment, 4 wheels for $62, and when you leave, your steering wheel is > straight, and the car runs true at 120MPH. I got an alignment once at Pep Boys for my '89 Corolla SR5. I bought the car used and tires looked fine and the car tracked straight. About 10 months later a tire suddenly went flat (in inner-city New Haven, CT no less). Pulled off the tire and saw that the inner edge had worn out very prematurely, so the alignment was obviously bad. After getting new tires I went to Pep Boys since they were running an alignment special (I know, BAD move to go there). The guy aligning my car was more interested in watching the other "mechanic" there do burnouts in the parking lot in his Mustang 5.0 than concentrating on my car. Got the car back, needed to hold the steering wheel 15 degrees to the left for the car to track straight. They told me I needed to find a mechanic with a "steering wheel puller" to pull and center the steering wheel, as that's not part of an alignment. Being young and ignorant I went to my mechanic, who told me that was nonsense. So, I went back to Pep Boys, talked to the manager, he drove my car around with me in it, and told me that the alignment was the best they could get it. When I told the manager that his mechanics are doing burnouts in the parking lot instead of concentrating on doing a decent job, he told me "that's nonsense, the mechanics are over 30 years old," and the guys working there also all told me that nobody was doing burnouts outside the service bay. I thought about just going elsewhere and paying for another alignment altogether, but then felt bad about wasting the $$$ on the first useless alignment, so ended up going to another Pep Boys location where they were nice and did the job right (no extra charge of course). Since then the Corolla has gotten 3 alignments (usually after front end work) at competent shops and there have never been any strange issues like happened at Pep Boys. John > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > maybe it was "Hangook?" I think it was Hangook actually. Never heard > of that brand before. I believe in sticking to brand names when buying tires. >> been running true and straight. Also, the front tire wear problem does >> sound like underinflation. Are there any bad habits, pulling/dragging, or [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > John Pulling the steering wheel to straighten it after an alignment is the lazy tech's way, and IMO, a sure sign of incompetence, especially if they say that is the only way" to straighten the steering wheel. It is possible for the vehicle to be out of alignment without any sensation of it being out of alignment, so the lack of "bad habits" is not a good indication. The best indication is to closely monitor tire wear to make sure they wear evenly. SignatureRay O (correct punctuation to reply) >> In response to your question, the cheapest tires they were offering at >> Town Fair Tire were "Gooxxxxx" or something (no, not Goodyear!). Or >> maybe it was "Hangook?" I think it was Hangook actually. Never heard >> of that brand before. > > I believe in sticking to brand names when buying tires. I bought my first set of Hankooks in 1988... I like the name better than Kumho!! Hachiroku ??????????? <Trueno@ae86.gts> wrote: > I bought my first set of Hankooks in 1988... > > I like the name better than Kumho!! Yeah, that's for sure. Unbelievable they haven't re-translated their corporate name yet. >Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >maybe it was "Hangook?" I think it was Hangook actually. Never heard >of that brand before. Hankook is Korean, and AFAIK makes good tires. But I wouldn't jump on it quite yet unless you have spare money to burn - If the front tires aren't totally gone at the edges I'd rotate the tires you have front to rear, and flip the tires with outer edge wear so it's on the inside edge that doesn't get the cornering loads. Six years will get you some dry-rot and/or 'weather checking', but it shouldn't be bad enough to cause structural failure - but you have to watch them. Costco runs the "Buy 4 tires" specials every six months or so, perhaps they'll be ready by then. >I got an alignment once at Pep Boys for my '89 Corolla SR5. I bought >the car used and tires looked fine and the car tracked straight. About [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >wheel, as that's not part of an alignment. Being young and ignorant I >went to my mechanic, who told me that was nonsense. Boy, is it ever nonsense... Sure sign of an inexperienced alignment mechanic. To fix that, they just have to unlock the steering relay rod adjusters and match turns on each side - that gets the steering wheel centered the right way. If you remove the steering wheel and re-position it on the shaft that only gets the wheel centered - the steering gear is now off center. Meaning you can make sharper left turns than right (or vice versa depending on which way they went) and the wheels will rub on the body turning left if they don't hit the stops first. Or you do something really exciting like over-stretch the brake hose on one side and cause a braking failure, or overstretch the clockspring cable in the column and kill the airbags and horn... > So, I went back to >Pep Boys, talked to the manager, he drove my car around with me in it, [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >location where they were nice and did the job right (no extra charge of >course). That's the time to tell PB Corporate that they have a store with the blind leading the blind. >Since then the Corolla has gotten 3 alignments (usually after front end >work) at competent shops and there have never been any strange issues >like happened at Pep Boys. Proving my point - Alignments aren't rocket science, you just have to understand the what how and why of the work you are doing. Any good mechanic could do them, it's the cost and service bay space for the rack and equipment, and the parts you need to stock. You basically have to keep the machinery busy all day and have one mechanic dedicated to primarily alignment and suspension work to make the investment pay off. Otherwise you have to charge too much for other work in order to make payments on a machine sitting unused. --<< Bruce >>-- On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 08:20:51 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: >> Luckily in Greenfield there is a guy at a local tire shop that it a >> MASTER [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > months later a tire suddenly went flat (in inner-city New Haven, CT no > less). Not Good! Did you hear any gunfire? > Pulled off the tire and saw that the inner edge had worn out very > prematurely, so the alignment was obviously bad. After getting new tires [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > hold the steering wheel 15 degrees to the left for the car to track > straight. I took my wife's 12 YO Caprice-of-sh!t to a place in Palmer once. The guy was having a slow day. He did the alignment, then set the steering wheel perfectly straight and did it again. Guy was also a master. > > car used and tires looked fine and the car tracked straight. About 10 > > months later a tire suddenly went flat (in inner-city New Haven, CT no > > less). Not Good! Did you hear any gunfire? Hi, No, no gunfire that day, just some sketchy teenagers who didn't bother me or my friend. Luckily my dad had recently done brake work on the car so the wheel wasn' t rusted to the hub as has happened to me before. The closest I came to gunfire in New Haven was one day when I was walking down the street, a cop told me "whoa, don't step there," and there were fresh bullet casings from where some teenagers had just shot at each other. Back when I was in school in New Haven I was afraid of the Corolla SR5 getting stolen, so used the following anti-theft system (not the best setup, but was trying to do things very cheaply): 1. "The Club" on the steering wheel (yes, aware that it's easy to cut the steering wheel). Had gotten the Club for free. 2. Another "Club" like device between the shifter and parking brake (yes, aware that you can pick the Club, or else kick off the parking brake lever and drive with the parking brake on). 3. Used $3 of Radioshack parts to rig up a flashing LED on the dashboard to make it look like I had an alarm. 4. Bought a length of thick security chain from Home Depot and 2 huge Masterlocks; padlocked one end to the frame of the driver's seat; other end wrapped around and padlocked around the brake pedal with the driver's seat all the way forward. I figure most thieves don't carry bolt cutters big enough to cut the chain, nor do they have the patience to hacksaw off the brake pedal. Now I am lazy and don't do any of the above. Car thieves nowadays are probably too young to know what carbureted cars are and that they won't start without cranking the gas pedal. Once in Boston I was at my friend's place and was telling his 2 friends (one had an Integra; one had a Civic; both were street parked) about my above security scheme, and they both said I was being completely paranoid. Sadly, the next week, both of them had their cars stolen off the street... One of my friends moved to a so-so part of Boston (the "South End", formerly inner-city but now gentrified) and parked her Acura Integra on the street... within a week all the wheels were stolen. My dad's '82 Buick Regal station wagon got stolen once in New York City in 1987. It was found 2 months later, towed to a shop whom we asked to fix it up (busted steering column and missing the battery), and we picked up the car. It had only been driven 50 miles in the time it was stolen. Per the parking tickets found on the car it was probably sitting in the same spot for 2 months collecting parking tickets before the police recognized it was a stolen car. Inside was the thief's reform school essay about "stealing is bad" (no kidding). The car was stolen with 4 NEW tires on it. When we picked it up from the shop the car had 4 OLD but non-leaking tires on it. The shop owner says "thief must have swapped your tires." Yeah right, I'm sure that this teenager stole the car, drove it 50 miles, then decided to take off its new tires, and somehow had the time and patience to find 4 old but same size tires to mount onto the car before he abandoned it. Anyways, it's not as if we could've asked the shop, "did YOU steal the tires perchance?" so we just drove the car home and got new tires. John On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:27:12 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: > Back when I was in school in New Haven Yalie... Yeah, the Hachiroku was stolen, I got it back minus parts and put an SR-5 interior in it. Stolen the DAY before I was going to install an alarm. Got it all back together, minus the $1100 stereo, and put in about $500 worth of Kenwood stuff. A week later the f*@king bastards broke the window WITHOUT setting off the alarm and took my new Kenwood...in BROAD DAYLIGHT. Next time, I f 'em up...seriously... > On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:27:12 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Next time, I f 'em up...seriously... Clue: save your expensive stereo installs for AT HOME. Put a cheap, but functional unit into any vehicle. >> On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:27:12 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: >> [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Clue: save your expensive stereo installs for AT HOME. Put a cheap, but > functional unit into any vehicle. I used to have a neighbor that was into audiophile equipment and had a $1000 Nakamichi sound system installed in a beat up Dodge Aires that he paid $500 for. Part of the cost of the sound system was installing soundproofing around the passenger compartment. He modified the glove box to fit and hide the audio system head that he controlled with a remote, and installed a decoy K-Mart $49 radio in the dash. He removed all of the badges from the speaker grilles so it was not obvious that they were good speakers. He rebuilt the automatic transmission and engine himself, and ended up with a great sleeper car with amazing quality tunes that did not appeal to thieves. SignatureRay O (correct punctuation to reply) >> On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:27:12 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: >> [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Clue: save your expensive stereo installs for AT HOME. Put a cheap, but > functional unit into any vehicle. I'm in my car more than I'm home... >>> On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:27:12 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: >>> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > I'm in my car more than I'm home... Then listen to talk radio on AM. That doesn't require a system that a thief would be interested in. >>>> On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:27:12 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: >>>> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > Then listen to talk radio on AM. That doesn't require a system that a > thief would be interested in. I do...when I'm not listening to XM or MP3's... >>>>> On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:27:12 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > I do...when I'm not listening to XM or MP3's... I've only had car glass smashed twice--both times they turned up their thieving noses at my auto audio crap. Duh. Another great thing about aging--one's hearing frequency sensitivity range decreases...to the point where car audio sounds better and better...without any added expense. On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 08:20:51 -0800, johnyang97 wrote: > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > maybe it was "Hangook?" I think it was Hangook actually. Never heard of > that brand before. My first experience with Hankook was a set of winter tires for the Hachiroku. As much as I tried not to drive it in the winter, somethines it couldn't be avoided, and it was a HORRIBLE car in the snow! I have Hankooks on the Supra. I replaced a set of Yokohamas with them. With the roof off, the car is as quiet as a mouse, handles well and gets decent mileage. After one whole summer, the tires are hardly worn at all! They're supposedly all-season (K106) but they sure are a more than adequate tire for my kind of driving! And at $75 a piece, a relative bargain! > Hi everyone, > I posted last week about replacing tires on a 2000 Civic with 43k miles [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] > What do you all think? > John Without actually seeing the tires firsthand, it is difficult to assess the actual condition of the tires and the cause of the front tire wear. Under-inflated tires will wear the outsides of the tread faster than the center of the tread. I'd say that # 2, 3, and 4 gave you honest answers. Whichever place you choose, I recommend that you get a 4 wheel alignment performed when the tires are installed so that you will not have to guess whether everything is right or not with the new tires. Keep an eye on tire pressure, try to keep them about 4 or 5 psi over the automaker's recommended tire pressure to improve tire life and fuel economy. If the vehicle is going to be parked for long periods, try to park in the shade, and while you are at Costco, get some tire protectant like ArmorAll. I do not recommend using rubber/plastic protectant inside the car because it tends to fog up the inside of the windows. Use a spray furniture polish like Pledge instead on the interior. SignatureRay O (correct punctuation to reply) ohmigod, just go to effin Sears, or Sullivan Tire, or BJ's. Get the tires, shut the f up. Do you know how to change a tire? In a blizzard? I do. Shut up. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.