Technical Tips > Brakes, Suspensions, Steering, Wheels & Tyres
Found some Dunlops..
Vette Obsessed:
To be honest, as good as the CorvetteForum is I would advise taking subjective opinions on tyres given by people as gospel. My reason is how do I know how the person offering the opinion drives their car? If they idle their car around like an old lady (sorry but that is the best expression I can think of) how can I trust their views on traction?
I currently have Michelin MXX3 Pilots on my car in 285/40/ZR17 sizes all round - I know 275 is the correct size but seeing as I paid about $298 per tyre when they should have cost me $800+++ per tyre I wasn't going to argue (I was in the right place at the right time). These tyres have a 140 treadwear rating and I understand they are more of a dry weather tyre. They aren' too bad in the wet but I usually drive very gingerly in the wet.
I have had Dunlop D40M2's, Dunlop SP8000's, Sumitomo HTR 40Z's, and my current Michelin's on my car and to be totally blunt I don't recall there being a hugely noticeable amount of difference between any of them - they all let go too early in either the wet or dry (mind you I am a bit of a hoon).
I imported my SP8000's into Australia myself from the Tire Rack a three or four years back. The problem I had was shipping, because of the size of four tyres being shipped I had two options, A) use a container/freight forwarder or B) use UPS express and get the tyres quickly at high shipping cost. Because I was new to buying parts from the USA at the time and I needed the tyres ASAP I had them shipped UPS. I can check my receipts but from memory the tyres cost me about $500AUS to have shipped in and including duty the tyres cost me about $500 each. I don't recall what the tyres were worth in US dollars but I can find out.
With regard to skidpad numbers - those figures are obtained on a smooth surface with the car being driven in a constant circle in the dry - I think the circle is about 100ft in diameter.
77CVT:
DO NOT go to 16" rims as you will have even less tyre choices! :b4
Stingraynut:
Vette Obsessed, that’s some good info about the 4 brands of tyre you’ve had.
When I ordered the new tyres I asked for ones that were good in the wet and got an amazed look – I’m still wondering about that, but it makes sense to me that a tyre that wide is going to work in the dry, even without tread, it’s the wet that is the problem. As it turned out I had no choice because I thought $395 a tyre was enough to pay (seems I was wrong, again)
So the test skidpan was dry….Wot Tha ? Never heard of that one before. What exactly defines it as skid pan. Haven’t been on one for a long time but they had oil on them and were very slippery (and messy).
I understand what you are saying re the advice got from forums. I’ve been on a Radio Control discussion forum for a couple of years and I recognise the same trends – it’s amazing how much misleading info you can get –but also some good stuff.
I try to identify the ‘real’ people and give their advice more weight. As for tyres, it’s so subjective and depends on the road condition and weather of the area as well as the way people drive.
Some of those Forum guys really love to argue, they take offense at nothing. Some just chip in with “Use the standard GM part” –“leave it to the experts” etc. Currently I have been getting some stunningly accurate advice from SunCR re my aircon – he is a guru. But he probably drives like the proverbial old lady so no good for tyre advice !
A guy called Vader 86 has given good advice to me and others. I notice he advised me to choose Kumho’s but in someone else’s thread he said he had the Firestone Firehawks. (or the other way around) I was a bit confused by that.
I was so glad to hear from another Falken inflicted driver – SM90. I also understand what you are saying re aquaplaning but I will have to replace two tyres in a while and I don’t want to get more Falkens.
The Aussie dollar is placed better versus US$ at the moment, your $500 a tyre was high though – The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS DS I mentioned is currently US$185 which I converted to Aus$285
I have at least 6 months to replace my rear tyres and I figure that not being in a hurry as usual I should be able to organise this properly. Looks like you know about shipping too. What would you advise ?
77CVT – Re 16” – I got the impression there was more choice and some bargains around.
S’nut
77CVT:
"77CVT – Re 16” – I got the impression there was more choice and some bargains around."
I'd doubt there would be anything close over here to the standard height. I know for C3's it is a waste of time going to 16" because there is virtually nothing to fit.
Handling wise it would be a backward step IMHO.
Vette Obsessed:
Stingraynut, A skipan is different to a skidpad.
A skidpan gets filled/covered with water to induce a loss of traction. As I understand it, these are used for driver training and wet weather testing for cars.
A skidpad is a circular asphalt surface that is used by testers to ascertain maximum grip in relatively controlled conditions.
I'll step onto my :o before I talk about "Vader". I know of Vader86 (who is well known and liked on CF quite well). He is the guy who doles out advice on the CorvetteForum based seemingly on what he has read. He gives guys tech advice on what cam specs to use for their $$$ motor projects but as far as I know his car has the stock cam and he hasn't built any motors... This will probably get me flamed over there when these comments are made known on the CorvetteForum - I have made my concerns known to him before over there and I think we more or less agreed to disagree. He probably read about Kumhos on the Tire Racks website and advised you accordingly. I prefer to try and restrict my comments to those topics I have firsthand experience with. I'll get off my :o now.
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