Needing new tires

[matttodd2009]

Well it [time to buy new tires for my ride. I currently have Hankook optimos 185/60/14. just put them on last spring and had them off for 3 months and they wore very quickly. i also drive a lot of highway miles. anyone have suggestions on tires?

[NYChevoo]

hey matt, first of all when I replaced mine and my wifes tires on our aveos we went with 195/60/14's instead. gave the cars more stability on the road and took away some of that wandering in the lanes. I went with bf goodrich traction t/a's. got about 50K to the wear bars on my tires before needing replacement. very happy with those tires in all weather! we no longer have the aveo's. wife has a 2012 sonic hatchback and I have a 2012 cruze eco. anyway I just replaced my tires on the cruze as I do 150 miles/day commute and now have 51000 miles on the car. took off the goodyear assurance fuel max tires from the factory and replaced them with a set of michelin defenders. supposedly these tires are rated for 90K miles but lets see what real world driving gets out of them. by the way they were probably the most expensive tires I ever bought. they were $185.00/tire mounted and balanced. the key to long tire life is always proper inflation pressure and I always rotate every 10000 miles for even wear, and a well aligned front end is always a good thing too! good luck with your next tires! some of us also order from either www.discounttire.com or www.tirerack.com. you might be able to find a good closeout sale.

[matttodd2009]

Thanks for the advice. I've been shopping around and was just seeing what people found worked best for them. I travel about 120 rounds trip, mostly highway. I have checked the various tire sites and it doesn't pay for me to buy from them. However, my car dies need aligned, but I check pressure every week and rotate them every oil change which is around 10,000 miles.

[petrified.rabbit]

you could get a set of sunny sn880 for about $175 shipped for all 4. My sunny tires held up wonderfully for the price. Install, can be anywhere from $50+ for all four, depending on where you can go. SO that is $225 potentially for a set of four tires installed. With a 420 tread wear rating, they should last long enough with a good alignment that you will get your money out of them.

My philosophy on tires isn't like that of the manufacturer. I tend to get the same distance out of a tire regardless of cost.. SO if a tire last me 30k miles. I would be happier getting the same performance for $225 than I would paying upwards of $600. Even if I buy a set of $225 tires every year. I can go almost three years before i hit what a set of tires would cost at NTB or firestone.

NOW if you want to invest a little more now, and make like easier in the long run. Upgrade to a set of 15" rims so you can run a 195/50r15 tire there are many more "better" selections from the local conglomerate tire stores, and you can get decent tires for about $350 installed.

[matttodd2009]

I would love to go bigger on rims but last year I bent 2 of my factory steel wheels with the tires still having life left in them. I thought about ordering some of the cheap tires if Amazon but never heard anything about them. plus the roads in central pa are way worse than Pittsburgh.

[jamelar]

2010 Aveo Hatchback. The stock 185/60R14 tires are ready for replacement. A fella that's worked with tires for decades suggests I replace with 185/65R14. Claims it would slightly increase gas mileage. The circumference difference according to the comparison chart at
http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Tire-...5R14/185-70R14
would be 3.1% greater. Anyone with an opinion about this?

[Shakatu]

Wouldn't the slightly bigger tires also be slightly heavier? So would they REALLY save gas?

[Thymeclock]

2010 Aveo Hatchback. The stock 185/60R14 tires are ready for replacement. A fella that's worked with tires for decades suggests I replace with 185/65R14. Claims it would slightly increase gas mileage. The circumference difference according to the comparison chart at
http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Tire-...5R14/185-70R14
would be 3.1% greater. Anyone with an opinion about this?

I am old, and I can remember an old commercial that said (I'm paraphrasing) 'the only thing between you and the road are your tires.'

Theoretically your gas might improve, slightly. But a fatter tire profile has more rubber on the road and (usually) provides better traction and handling.

I've learned the hard way that having tires that can perform well in dire situations are worth more than tires that might theoretically save me a few cents in gasoline used. When I was a young man, virtually every accident I ever had was due to having less than optimal tires in a bad weather situation.

That's my personal opinion...

[Hunin]

I've been very happy with Kumho Solus KR21 tires. I've done about 50,000 miles on the first set and bought a second set. The tires give me good performance around corners and are fairly inexpensive. I have the original steel wheels with the stock tire size.

[JusteR]

+1 on the KR-21's. I've got only 15,000 mi on mine so far so good... we'll see how things go this winter