Obvious Observation

[Justin Kirkham]

Today I chucked my Goodyear Eagle RS-A 245/50ZR16, and put on my old Cooper Trendsetter SE 215/60R16 again. ((You can imagine why it is I used a different tire for a while.. :rolleyes: )) I thought that I just might throw up an obvious review, and see if it helps anyone out. Overall, I was horribly dissatisfied with the Goodyear tires. While their dry traction was respectable, their snow or rain traction was horrific. In rain, my car would throw out its back end like I was on black ice.

The ride quality, what made me chuck these tires, was the worst I have ever experienced. It made me embarrassed to give people rides in my car. It truly felt like my shocks were gone. Another thing I noticed was that my gas mileage decreased a little, something that I, as a college student, cannot afford.

Now that I have put my old skinny tires back on, my car rides like its on a cloud. Also, my dry traction isn't much different from when I had the Goodyears on. Maybe for someone running in the mid to low 14's, they need more traction. But my car, in its near stock form, does not. My gas mileage has improved, and winter/rain traction has finally returned. Overall, I will be going with a very different tire, and a different company, when I decide to get a more performance tire. I am thinking the Dunlop Assymetrical 225/50WR16. These are rated far above the Goodyears in every catagory, will give me far better performance, and will not put my speedometer off as much either. Tread width will go from 6.4" to 8.4" ((Tread on the RS-A's was about 8.9", so performance shouldn't be hurt much.)), and the price is reasonable too, at only $109 each. Plus, this shouldn't hurt the ride quality as much as the 245's did. So, there it is. :D

-Justin

[hawgs]

215/60 tires :eek: talk about pizza cutters ;)

[V6Bob]

This ain't so obvious. You may be very disappointed.

The 215/60s ride better mostly because of the tall sidewall. The sidewall on the 225/50s will be even shorter than that on the 245/50s. They don't have room for much air, either. The ride may well be worse than the Goodyears. In fact, I'd bet on it.

Did you correct for speedo error in thinking that you got better mileage with the 215s? The 225s will be very short, increasing your effective rear gear and decreasing gas mileage a bit. Speedo error will be worse than the Goodyears, not better.

Last, but certainly not least, do the 225/50s have a high enough load rating for your car?

[Justin Kirkham]

v6bob, thanks for the insight, upon further searching, these are the tires I may be getting instead:

Dunlop SP Sport 5000 Asymmetrical - 255/50WR16's - These will put my spedometer EXACTLY on what it is factory, and the sidewall height will be almost the same as for my 215's. This should help to improve the ride quality to far above the goodyears, and it should help to put my gas mileage a little better. -or-

Kumho Ecsta HP4 716 - 235/55HR16's These will also exact out my speedometer, and the sidewall height will be as good as my 215's. It will give me more traction than the 215's, and I think that this will be a good compromise.

So, what does y'all think? I am actually thinking about the Kumho Ecstra's now, especially because the review scores are so high.

-Justin

P.S. And with price as a concern, the Kumho's are looking especially good. ($75 for each kumho, $125 for the Dunlop)

[V6Bob]

Now that you're in the right ballpark, this gets a lot harder. I'm much less confident in this advice, but here goes.

Size isn't everything. Construction counts. Being a performance tire, I think the Dunlops will have stiff sidewalls and ride substantially harder than the Kumhos. Of course they'll also have better steering response.

For the price, the Kumhos look good. Others you might want to consider are Bridgestone Turanzas and the 215/60-16 Michelin Harmonys. The Michelins are expensive, but very long lived. They are my winter tires.

[Justin Kirkham]

Yeah, the hard thing for me is that I drive in ALL conditions. I do a lot of dirt roads, dry pavement, snow and ice, rain, gravel, etc... This is why it's hard for me to decide on a tire. Overall, I think that I am leaning towards the 'comfort' tire right now, since a car with my near-stockness doesn't quite need the extra performance. Thanks for the help though!

-Justin

[Everglades W68]

My car came with Goodyear 235/55/16s. When they wore out, I replaced them with Fulda Extremo 255/505/ZR16's. Some comments:

1. Yes, 215/60/16 235/55/16 and 255/50/16 will all yield nearly the same outside radius; therefore, no speedo error.

2. I like the looks and handling of the 255/50/16's much better. The highway driving at fast speeds is extremely good.

3. The 255/50/16s are a drag on fuel economy. I found they decreased my fuel economy by 1-2 MPG. It just makes sense - there is a lot more area rolling on the ground.

4. The larger tires will track worn or "grooved" roads more than the skinnier tires. Not a big problem - just a littel more noticeable at first.

5. I like the looks of the 255/50/16's much better.

6. The 255/50/16s wore well. I don't race at all, but then again I'm pretty hard on the car for street driving.

7. I recently replaced the 255/50/16s with the same brand. I came very close to giving the Kumho's a try, but read too many comments indicating the owners thought the tires wore out relatively fast.

I was happy with the 255/50/16s I had and got 30K+ miles on them, so I got the Fulda's again.

[ April 03, 2004, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: Everglades W68 ]

[Dominic]

The Dunlop SP5000 Asymms in P245/50 or P255/50 are very good tires. They're 2nd in line to the ES100s for dry/wet, but are probably better in the snow than ES100s.