legacycentral bbs

I dont understand how many of the board members have such crappy tires.
Out of every part on the entire car your tires are the ONLY part that is in contact with the ground. Your tires decide in every way how your car brakes, turns and increases speed.
Forget about ABS and Seat belts, even low speeds. Your tires are what is keeping you safe.

I once bought a Tercel for 400$ and imidiately spent 450$ on tires for it. Heck even my Legacy LSI that I bought for 700$ recently got 500$ worth of tires.

Out of EVERY modification available the most benefit to dollar is tires.

This isnt directed an anyone in particular, I just had this discussion with a bud. He spends money on all this crap (intake, spark plug wires etc..) but still uses 14 inch tires from costco

tires do you no good if the car cant move, but the reason i havent upgraded is my tires still have tread left on them.

Cheap tires are fun if you like to slide...

Good tires are the #1 upgrade - they're a safety issue as well as increasing road feel, better turn in, braking, etc. The other thing to do with little money is just keep what you have in good tune and although 400HP SUVs will still outdrag you in your N/A you can outconer and brake them any day and you don't have to fight to keep your car in the lane in crosswinds like they do... If that's small consolation think of their gas mileage and then go after some rice Hondas!

Steve

If you saw my post about needing a new control arm, I was on my way to put my snow tires on. Turns out my all seasons are worse than I thought they were.

Well I spent around $400 on my 195/60R15 Fulda Carat Assurros (these are for sale by the way and almost new), and another $400 on my 195/60R15 studded Goodyear Ultra Grips (on the car now on my oem 15" turbo wheels) and when my re92s' on my oem 16" wrx wheels get worn (unfortunetaly they're almost brand new) I will get nice 205/50R16 HP tires for my 16" wheels too! Not sure what I'll get yet though. I definitely don't like to skimp when it comes to my babies shoes

I have barely legal michelins on steelies right now. I've got oem wrx rims and re92's with ~85% left in my living room. I've got a reason. I have blown rear suspension. I had the re92s for about a week, and i found that they would not let go until the back of the car was dangerously flopping around. I consider them unsafe. Once i get my replacement suspension in, i will change them.

While i'd like to have some brand new tires, the bank account says no. I'm a full time student paying my way through school.

Tires are an almost perpetual battle for Subarus since they go such long distances. The stock size on my 94 legacy is 185/70HR14. After the stock RE92 wore out (about 52K) I switch to the Dunlop D60A2 (could push a set past 50K). I increased the size to 195/70HR14 ( the 1994 Toyota Camry OEM tire). I find they were a price leader so if you waited you get sale deals($39.96 ea). The small increase in size made a much more predictable high speed turn. You needed to buy them when they were cheap and not when you needed them. Kinda like toilet papar! LoL I used 5 sets and then the tire model was discontinued by Dunlop. Most recently I bought Falken ZE-705 in the 195/70HR14 at Sears. The size was again a price leader($39.96 ea). They are less noisy than the Dunlops, more like the RE92. They are also superior in the rain to both tires! Unfortunately, I don't see them offered at Sears anymore. With all the price matching offers that are going around, it seems that retailers are polarizing themselves to certain brands. You never see Sears and Walmart go head-to-head on product offereings just like you hardly ever see advertised pricing by tire dealers that could be stepped on by Walmart and Sears.
Bottom line... Run the most economical performance tire you can get unless you have the cash. Only use H-rated or better all seasons unless you're going to run winter and summer sets.

scottzg wrote:While i'd like to have some brand new tires, the bank account says no. I'm a full time student paying my way through school.

Ditto. I have Pep Boys 195/65R15s...

RE92s for meeee

Mark,

The 195/60 15 H-rated Yokohamas I got (after some dipshit slashed my tires Halloween) cost $46/ea. They're A550H and they are great in the snow, relatively quiet and handle excellent. Don't drift as well as the Falkens, but at least maybe they'll last half their rated tread life now. I always get H-rated for fwd (as mine is) since the higher tolerance for heat from high speed also applies to overworked front tires for cornering and braking.

Steve

Well, considering I found a set of re-92s with less than 5000 miles on them for $100 (THE WHOLE SET!!), it was an offer I couldn't refuse.

I'm running Blizzaks!

Bought used and they are kinda fun..

Racing = Legacy Turbo rims with Michelin Sport XGT V (195/50/15)
Summer = Gold WRX rims with Bridgestone Potenza RE92 (195/55/16)
Winters = Steelies with Nokian Hakkapalita 1 (185/65/15)

Also have:
- Steelies with Yokohama Avid H4 (195/55/15)
- Michelin Pilots (205/55/15) not on rims yet

There's nothing better than having the right tires for a given situation

re92's have the major suck. I couldn't believe how much they sucked until I put the WRX rims & tires on my car.....even with a taller tire (less engine advantage) I got more wheel spin and brake lockup when messin around.

Legacy777 wrote:I got more wheel spin

what's that?

scottzg wrote:

Legacy777 wrote:I got more wheel spin

what's that?

smart ass

WTF are RE 92s??? I pretty much understand the other tire & rim speak but I`m lost here........

The Bridgestone Potenza RE92 is a tire Subaru has used a lot as stock tires on US cars, including the present-generation WRX.

RE-92 try to be all condition tires but end up being good at nothing. Many new sets of these can be found for near nothing. Ive seen 4 RE-92 with less than 500 miles sell for 25$ each.

That's pretty much any all-season tire, Ciper. I don't touch them personally. But try Kuhmo 712's on a snowy road... with boost

I've found touring tire do all that an all-season will do except with far more grip in all situations. All-seasons are really pointless unless you buy your tires at Pep Boys 4 for $99 sales.

Steve

With my factory wheels (205/60 15's) I ran Falken Azenis ST-115's. These weighed 16.0kg wheel with tire.

I then bought a set of 17" wheels (215/45 17's) and once again bought Falken Azenis ST-115's.
These weighed nearly 20kg from memory.

Now I'm running MY98 WRX wheels, silver ones of the GC8 STi style wheel with (205/50 16's), same Falken tires Azenis ST-115's again.
These weigh 16.6kg

I made the switch back to the 16's as they are
1. Less unsprung mass
2. I can fit my STi 4pots.

I've gone a bit off topic here I guess. I highly recommend the Falken Azenis ST-115's Although I have heard good reviews from fellow friends with the new Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's.

yeah....the gs-d3's really are not a bad tire, especially for the price I paid for them.

Brat4by4: I think that is wrong, MOST all seasons perhaps but no all. For example the dunlop sport a2 (among others) are GREAT low cost all seasons with good dry performance. I even bought a set for my mom

Most all seasons are in reality 3 season tires. I'm thinking about what they do in winter (which you CA & TX folk don't have to worry much about). I don't give a flying leap about a tire that has great dry grip and then can stay soft enough in the cold stuff to not lose ALL grip but still suck... give me a snow tire for snow. With all-seasons the tread pattern is wrong, the tread depth is wrong, the construction is wrong, etc. if they are for snow, which they aren't. All-season is a misnomer and should be required by federal law to be called 3-seasons in any snow-belt state.