Scion TC Tires?

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Ah, obligatory tuned car post :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WskDefCOtgs

Quarter in 12.09 @ 115mph. Aftermarket Turbo setup, stock motor.

15psi, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole, and I personally think it's a waste of $$ making a fast Scion TC. But you have to admit, a 12-second car would give almost any other stock vehicle fits .. you'd have to bring a Z06 or the like to match/exceed that. So, 'performance aspirations' indeed.

I wonder what he's spent to make that car do 12s in the 1/4 mile. Wonder how livable it is as a daily driver.

Unless you are racing (club racing or tracking the car regularly), modding cars is largely just a huge waste of money. I know, I've done it with a Mustang GT. You never get that money back. If you have performance aspirations it's better to just buy a performance car instead of buying a cheap car and throwing money at it.

BTW-I drive a 5th generation Maxima. Believe me, people throw money at those cars to make them faster/handle better but I'm not one of them. You want a hardcore performance machine? Buy a motorcycle. $7k will buy you a bike that can dust almost any street legal production car made.

You know more people think you are clown for riding a bike around town then those that think it's a 'waste' of money to modify their car.

Most that are serious about it aren't looking to recoup their money. I have modified quite a few cars now with 5 figures of mods each...wasn't looking to get any of that money back, but it makes the car more enjoyable and more geared to what I want in my cars.

 

[evident]

good job for all the haters to stray from the original topic and turn this thread into a flame fest

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: evident
good job for all the haters to stray from the original topic and turn this thread into a flame fest

Yeah well, I've tried to balance things out by saying that the Scion TC is not a half-bad car, and it's distinctly above the generic econobox status.

To the OP : go to discounttire.com, see what you can dig. $400 should get you a decent set of tires, not just a single tire.

To JM, Maximas are very nice, I recommend them all the time. Great great motor. I think a race between you and a stock Scion TC w/SC would be really really close. IIRC, the last-gen SE's with manual put down 0-60 of 6.9 or so. The current gen drops that to around 6.5. Automatic version of the old one had a bit of a penalty, but not a huge one.

To sum up : the Maxima is an excellent car that costs in the $30k range, comes with an awesome motor, and performs very very well against much more expensive competitors (528/530/C320/CTS/STS/etc). The fact that a cheaper little pocket plaything like the TC can put down similar numbers is a good thing. If it were me choosing between the two for my main ride, I'd get the Maxima if I could afford it. But even so, I wouldn't shit on the TC and call it an econobox simply because it's not as big and comfortable. It's got nearly identical performance for a pretty decent price.

If we're going for cheap speed, though .. it's hard to touch the new Cobalt SS, or the Mustang GT for that matter. They're always available really cheap with incentives/etc.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Ah, obligatory tuned car post :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WskDefCOtgs

Quarter in 12.09 @ 115mph. Aftermarket Turbo setup, stock motor.

15psi, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole, and I personally think it's a waste of $$ making a fast Scion TC. But you have to admit, a 12-second car would give almost any other stock vehicle fits .. you'd have to bring a Z06 or the like to match/exceed that. So, 'performance aspirations' indeed.

I wonder what he's spent to make that car do 12s in the 1/4 mile. Wonder how livable it is as a daily driver.

Unless you are racing (club racing or tracking the car regularly), modding cars is largely just a huge waste of money. I know, I've done it with a Mustang GT. You never get that money back. If you have performance aspirations it's better to just buy a performance car instead of buying a cheap car and throwing money at it.

BTW-I drive a 5th generation Maxima. Believe me, people throw money at those cars to make them faster/handle better but I'm not one of them. You want a hardcore performance machine? Buy a motorcycle. $7k will buy you a bike that can dust almost any street legal production car made.

You know more people think you are clown for riding a bike around town then those that think it's a 'waste' of money to modify their car.

Most that are serious about it aren't looking to recoup their money. I have modified quite a few cars now with 5 figures of mods each...wasn't looking to get any of that money back, but it makes the car more enjoyable and more geared to what I want in my cars.

You know, I don't really give a fuck what more people think.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: evident
good job for all the haters to stray from the original topic and turn this thread into a flame fest

Yeah well, I've tried to balance things out by saying that the Scion TC is not a half-bad car, and it's distinctly above the generic econobox status.

To the OP : go to discounttire.com, see what you can dig. $400 should get you a decent set of tires, not just a single tire.

To JM, Maximas are very nice, I recommend them all the time. Great great motor. I think a race between you and a stock Scion TC w/SC would be really really close. IIRC, the last-gen SE's with manual put down 0-60 of 6.9 or so. The current gen drops that to around 6.5. Automatic version of the old one had a bit of a penalty, but not a huge one.

To sum up : the Maxima is an excellent car that costs in the $30k range, comes with an awesome motor, and performs very very well against much more expensive competitors (528/530/C320/CTS/STS/etc). The fact that a cheaper little pocket plaything like the TC can put down similar numbers is a good thing. If it were me choosing between the two for my main ride, I'd get the Maxima if I could afford it. But even so, I wouldn't shit on the TC and call it an econobox simply because it's not as big and comfortable. It's got nearly identical performance for a pretty decent price.

If we're going for cheap speed, though .. it's hard to touch the new Cobalt SS, or the Mustang GT for that matter. They're always available really cheap with incentives/etc.

Yeah, I don't mean to bag too much on the Scion. I'm sure it's a great little car. :beer:

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Yeah, I don't mean to bag too much on the Scion. I'm sure it's a great little car. :beer:[/quote]

I've only ridden in one a couple years back, but yeah it was pretty decent, definitely on-par with the best competitors in the class. I'd defend it regardless of what badge is on the hood. I don't care much for the other Scion offerings, the stying just a bit too strange for me.

Anyhow, good discussion :beer:

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Performance aspirations? Hell in the 80s, 0-60 in ~7 was sports-car performance. Everything has moved upwards. The fact is, that most econoboxes have 0-60 in 8 to 9, or worse. 7 is pretty snappy. 6 is getting fast, 5 is the range of Mustang GT / 350Z, and the 4s and below are where it gets really meaty.

I don't have to be 'convinced' of anything, the Scion TC w/SC is a pretty quick little car, which delivers GOOD performance even if you don't like 4cyl cars at all. Sure it's slower than the really fast stuff, but that doesn't mean that it's automatically worthless.

But there's nothing wrong with varying opinions, which are just like you know what. Econobox to me = generic cheapo 4cyl with ~150hp or less, delivering performance that is by no means even 'quick'. I don't deny that there are tons of econoboxes out there, doing exactly what they're supposed to do : offer a cheap and efficient means of transportation, usually in a fairly reliable but uninspiring package. I think stuff like the Civic Si and Scion TC offer a nice bridge between these and more purpose-built performance machines. Of course it would be silly to look at the TC as a 'sports car', but only morons would do that. Of course, in my mind, only a moron would say that it has no 'performance aspirations' at all.

Keep your personal attacks out of this thread.

TC = econo-box, plain and simple.

Comparing a TC to a Civic SI is just silly. The SI us a purpose built car, the TC is flashy car that through marketing has convinced people like you that it is some contender. It's just isn't.

As for the 12 second car you posted - big deal. Any car can be made fast. I have seen sub 10 second VW Beetles, that doesn't mean they should be mentioned in the same sentence as Corvette.

Again, keep your personal attacks out of the discussion. It's clear you are biased torward the TC, and that is fine, but don't try to convince everyone here it's some super coupe, or even a sporty coupe, because it's not.

 

[Arkaign]

Well, your opinion is yours, and you're free to it. We differ on what's 'plain and simple', because there's no authoritative definition of what is and what isn't in this discussion. I don't care what marketing says, I pay no attention. Marketing would have me believe the 350Z is a serious sports car, when I look at it as a bit of a joke. For what it is now, the 350Z is a decent counterpoint to the Mustang GT, but historically, it's an abomination to its legacy.

The 12 second TC (and there are many faster ones out there) proves the point that the car, with stock motor, can be made to be a serious performer without a severe investment. The SI and TC put down the same performance numbers, give or take a % or two here and there.

I'm not biased towards the TC in any way, but I also won't refuse to see it for what it is : a cheap coupe with decent performance, and upgradability, a la the Civic Si, etc.

As for personal attacks, you seem to keep claiming that I'm buying 'marketing'. I don't own a TV, have never seen a TC or other Scion commercial of any type. I don't look at anything other than the numbers, and the numbers don't lie. My definition of an econobox, once again, is a generic little car with ~150hp or less, that puts down completely bland performance, such as 0-60 times in the 9 second range. Once you get into the ~7 second range, you're starting to get moving pretty good. Many nice vehicles put down that range, such as Maximas, stock CTS, BMW 325i, Civic Si, and so on. Not 'fast' by any means, but totally out of the realm of generic econoboxdom.

As for Scion TC vs. Civic Si, I'd buy neither, but if I was forced to, I'd get the Civic as I prefer N/A if at all possible.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I was actually very surprised when I found out our Expedition gets 0-60 times in between Scion's xA and xD... Obviously, the vehicle did not have any performance aspirations in mind.. But I kinda like econo-boxes

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I was actually very surprised when I found out our Expedition gets 0-60 times in between Scion's xA and xD... Obviously, the vehicle did not have any performance aspirations in mind.. But I kinda like econo-boxes

5.4L V8 FTW?

And to differ, the Expedition does have performance aspirations in mind, albeit more for cargo/towing/climbing. It's basically a F-series pickup that got turned into an SUV, so it's performance is tuned for these kinds of workloads. It just so happens that the required large amount of torque translates into pretty decent straight-line performance as a happy secondary benefit.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I was actually very surprised when I found out our Expedition gets 0-60 times in between Scion's xA and xD... Obviously, the vehicle did not have any performance aspirations in mind.. But I kinda like econo-boxes

5.4L V8 FTW?

And to differ, the Expedition does have performance aspirations in mind, albeit more for cargo/towing/climbing. It's basically a F-series pickup that got turned into an SUV, so it's performance is tuned for these kinds of workloads. It just so happens that the required large amount of torque translates into pretty decent straight-line performance as a happy secondary benefit.

Indeed, we actually took a little video of it a week ago Linky. Flowmaster Delta 50 and an 18" echo tip sounds nice and good.

As to the OP, yeah. Simple point is they are way over-charging you for tires. Dealers like to do that sort of thing . As recommended by the other posters go to the recommended sites and purchase the tires there. Even going to get them dealer installed would cost you a lot less than doing it all at the dealer.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Try Tirerack.com. They have good prices and they have reviews too.

 

[exdeath]

I guess only people with $100,000+ cars are allowed to ask about tires on AT Garage :roll:

Wow...

 

[randay]

yeah its pretty funny. we dont even have a drag strip or track to run at here in Hawaii anymore, the old one shut down. so honestly we could care less about how fast a car is.

At least noone is defending the 300 dollar dealer price quote. I guess that answers my question. I will check out tirerack next time, seeing as how we live in hawaii buying tires online had never occured to me, but it looks like they have "dealers" in hawaii, so it might be good to check. Usually we just go to costco, free installation and all that jazz is nice.

 

[helpme]

Originally posted by: randay
Usually we just go to costco, free installation and all that jazz is nice.

Well, installation is included in the price... but yes, they usually have good deals on name brand tires.

 

[fstime]

First of all, you can find much better tires for a much lower price, check tirerack like others have said.

Second of all, how did the topic go from someone asking about tires to whether the TC is an econobox?

And yes, just for clarification it is an econobox, a very obvious one to anyone knowledgeable about cars.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: BouZouki
First of all, you can find much better tires for a much lower price, check tirerack like others have said.

Second of all, how did the topic go from someone asking about tires to whether the TC is an econobox?

And yes, just for clarification it is an econobox, a very obvious one to anyone knowledgeable about cars.

Um, that was partially my fault. Sorry...

 

[thecritic]

Costco only sells a very limited selection of name brand tires. Not the best place to go.

Check TireRack for the reviews and prices. Take the prices to your local Discount Tire and they will match them.

A set of AVID V4s, G019s, etc should not run you more than $700 out the door for a set of four.

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: thecritic
Costco only sells a very limited selection of name brand tires. Not the best place to go.

Check TireRack for the reviews and prices. Take the prices to your local Discount Tire and they will match them.

A set of AVID V4s, G019s, etc should not run you more than $700 out the door for a set of four.

Discount Tire is not in every state, none anywhere near me, so keep that in mind when recommending retailers.

 

[thecritic]

Originally posted by: dawp

Originally posted by: thecritic
Costco only sells a very limited selection of name brand tires. Not the best place to go.

Check TireRack for the reviews and prices. Take the prices to your local Discount Tire and they will match them.

A set of AVID V4s, G019s, etc should not run you more than $700 out the door for a set of four.

Discount Tire is not in every state, none anywhere near me, so keep that in mind when recommending retailers.

In that case, just purchase from TireRack and have it delivered to a local shop.