Tires - all season

[Malladine]

For my 99 corolla..

First question would be should I be using the spec tires for this car? 185 65 14 instead of the tires i'm using now which are 195 70 14? The garage tells me this makes a pretty big difference in speedometer/odometer accuracy.

Secondly, i've been quote $269.99 for 4 185 sumitomo tires...is this a good price for these tires, and are they as good as i've heard? If not, which are better?

Thanks!

 

[Zenmervolt]

The tires you have on the car now are significantly taller than the stock tires for the car. They will cause your car to be faster than your speedometer by about 13.5% In other words, when the speedometer indicates that you are going 60 mph, you will actually be going a little over 68 mph. If the speedometer indicates 70 mph, you're actually going almost 80. Basically, if you think you're only going 5 over on the freeway, you're actually going close to 15 over and you're much more apt to get pulled over for speeding. Also, you odometer will be recording more miles than you are actually traveling.

As far as the price, I really can't say. Sumitomo is a brand, which doesn't really mean anything since all tire brands have some good lines and some bad lines. In general though, 185/65 R14 tires are going to be inexpensive and long-lasting tires that are not designed for performance but that will provide good value. $269.99 for 4 tires seems very cheap to me, but I generally buy high-performance tires.

I would suggest that you look at www.tirerack.com for more information about the tires you're looking at. They are a great resource and will also have user reviews from people who have actually owned the tires.

ZV

 

[Malladine]

Thanks Zen, i appreciate it. The garage actually said it was the other way around, that i'd be slower than my speedometer display, so that's good to know...heh!

I'll check that site out.

And regarding the cost and performance tires: i'd like to fit some nice tires, but they might seem kind of out of place on a 99 corolla Still tempted though.

If the tire brand doesn't mean anything, i'm curious, how do you choose the tires you buy?

 

[scorp00]

I had some sumitomo's and they were awful tires. The traction was weak, rode hard, and weak handling. Spend a few more and you can get much better tires.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Malladine
Thanks Zen, i appreciate it. The garage actually said it was the other way around, that i'd be slower than my speedometer display, so that's good to know...heh!

I'll check that site out.

And regarding the cost and performance tires: i'd like to fit some nice tires, but they might seem kind of out of place on a 99 corolla Still tempted though.

If the tire brand doesn't mean anything, i'm curious, how do you choose the tires you buy?

A bigger tire has a larger circumference, so you go farther for each revolution than with a small tire. Since the speedometer and odometer actually count the number of revolutions and not the actual distance covered, anything that makes you go farther with each revolution will make you go faster than the speedometer "thinks" you're going. It's an easy thing to get backwards in casual conversation though.

I guess I should clarify my brand comment. Brand can mean something, but when evaluating tires it's more important to know the specific tire than it is to know the brand. Bridgestone, for example, makes some excellent tires (the Potenza G009 comes to mind, along with the G019) and also some poorly-rated tires (the Potenza RE92 and RE93 come to mind) all within similar performance categories.

Despite the ratings, even the "bad" RE92 tires will wear reasonably well and won't blow out on people but they don't grip as well as the G019 tires do. Pretty much any tire from a well-known brand will be reliable, but actual grip and tire behavior can vary wildly even within a particular product line.

ZV

 

[Gibson486]

Don;t know if they still have them, but I got Khumos for my Altima (15in tires) from tirerack for about $38 each several years ago, then I found a shop that mounted them for $50. The tires ended up being good. I thought they were going to be a POS (I wa sin college and I had no money, so you buy what you can buy), but they were good enough to get me through 2 winters. Only complaint was that in about 20K in, the tires started to become loud on every surface.

 

[Malladine]

Ahh, gotcha, make + model! Should have known that!

thanks guys. I should do my research before talking with the garage again and, potentially, handing them cash.

 

[DVad3r]

Goodyear triple tread. Bad ass tires.

 

[Vetterin]

Actually the 195 70 14 is 5.5% slow meaning that when your speedo shows 60 mph you are actually going 63.3 mph. You can look at 195 60 14 as it is only 1% fast and may be cheaper than your 185 65's.
If it were my money I would consider the General Altimax HP which is highly rated. I just did some checking and you can get 4 - 195 60 14's delivered for $266.42 but you would still need to get them mounted. If interested visit Tirerack.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Vetterin
Actually the 195 70 14 is 5.5% slow meaning that when your speedo shows 60 mph you are actually going 63.3 mph. You can look at 195 60 14 as it is only 1% fast and may be cheaper than your 185 65's.

D'oh!

I compared sidewall height ratio instead of diameter ratio. Yup, my math was definitely off. Sorry about that!

ZV

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: scorp00
I had some sumitomo's and they were awful tires. The traction was weak, rode hard, and weak handling. Spend a few more and you can get much better tires.

I had some Sumitomos on my mazda and they were pretty decent; much better than the crap Michelin Pilots they replaced. The Michelins chirped all the time and had crappy sidewalls.

Edit: SP

 

[AnnonUSA]

I second the Goodyear Triple tread...great tire....get the correct size for your car...and you will be happy.

 

[DVad3r]

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
I second the Goodyear Triple tread...great tire....get the correct size for your car...and you will be happy.

Yup, people have no clue what the triple tread is, it's awesome. Whenever I bring my car into a shop and they look at the tires the mechanics are always like "oh wow, now that's interesting".

It also has a shitload of life, and it's really good all around. According to people on the Lexus forum it's one of the best tires you can get for my car.

 

[Vetterin]

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
I second the Goodyear Triple tread...great tire....get the correct size for your car...and you will be happy.

Great reviews but only 2 problems. You'll be stuck with the same size you have now
(195 70 14) and they will cost you over 4 bills installed.

 

[AnnonUSA]

On a corolla, tire size is not going to make or break the car, and I got 65 thousand miles out of my set, on 2000 Honda Accord...that is driven hard.

 

[Vetterin]

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
On a corolla, tire size is not going to make or break the car, and I got 65 thousand miles out of my set, on 2000 Honda Accord...that is driven hard.

Tire size won't make or break ANY car but on a Corolla the price might.

 

[AnnonUSA]

Originally posted by: Vetterin

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
On a corolla, tire size is not going to make or break the car, and I got 65 thousand miles out of my set, on 2000 Honda Accord...that is driven hard.

Tire size won't make or break ANY car but on a Corolla the price might.

Well you get what you pay for...and these tires are worth the cost.

 

[Malladine]

Okay, i just talked with the garage and they are quoting $436 for four "Sumitomo Touring LST" tires...can anyone verify the quality of these? I checked tire rack and all they have in 185/65/14 is the HTR range, nothing mentioning "LST touring" that i can see. He said they're 85,000 mile tires...

The $436 includes the mounting/balancing and alignment, plus i can take em back if i don't like them within 30 days.

 

[Zenmervolt]

As best I can tell, the "Touring LS-T" line is no longer in production, they aren't even listed on Sumitomo's own website. Sounds like the shop is trying to get rid of some old tires that they have sitting around. Do not get them.

You can get the Sumitomo HTR-H4 through Tire Rack for $52/each, which is $208 for a full set. Mounting and balancing shouldn't be much more than $20/tire and even if they're charging for valve stems you shouldn't be much over $300 (before tax) for a set of HTR-H4 tires in your car's size, including mounting and balancing. The HTR-H4 tires seem to be mid-pack based on Tire Rack reviews, which means they will be decent tires, but nothing special; should be perfectly fine for a Corolla.

Tire Rack even has a "Recommended Installer Program" that will let you have the tires shipped directly to an installer and you just drive in and have the tires balanced and put onto your car.

ZV

 

[DVad3r]

Originally posted by: Malladine
Okay, i just talked with the garage and they are quoting $436 for four "Sumitomo Touring LST" tires...can anyone verify the quality of these? I checked tire rack and all they have in 185/65/14 is the HTR range, nothing mentioning "LST touring" that i can see. He said they're 85,000 mile tires...

The $436 includes the mounting/balancing and alignment, plus i can take em back if i don't like them within 30 days.

Again, Goodyear Triple Tread, it's a better tire

 

[SickBeast]

I have Michelin Primacy MXV4's on my Civic and I love them. They are much better that the Bridgestone Turanza's that came with the car. The Michelins handle much better in wet conditions and also offer better handling on dry pavement. My only complaints are that they are much firmer than the Bridgestones and are noisier on the highway as well.

 

[SickBeast]

Do they have Active Green & Ross in the US? I recommend them highly.

 

[Malladine]

OK they threw in free rotation/balance for the life of the tires so i went for it...it's with VIP - pretty big garage chain around here. If they fail or just plain sucki'll consider it lesson learned and recall everything i've learned from you guys so far