tires and wheels HELP!!!! i need tires!!!!

[lunar_underground]

i need some advice on some new rubber for my 72. she's a daily driver from spring to fall (no snow for this one) and my original path towards pirellis was cut off by some very nasty reviews of pirelli's performance and customer service. in a perfect world i would like to find something with fairly high performance abilities that don't get too sloppy in the rain (the pirellis i have on there right now are downright scary with a bit a water on the road.) i've got 13 inch 3 series alloys on her right now. any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. counting the minutes 'til april . . . .

[c.d.iesel]

what size tires do you use ????

[lunar_underground]

185/70/13 - (spaced on including that slightly important pience of info)

[Paul7002]

(nt)

[BarryA]

that you can turn any up, Bridgestone Potenza RE900's are excellent in both wet and dry conditions (don't have snow where I am, so can't speak to snow/ice performance). I've got a set of 185/70x13s on the '69 with a couple of very good used ones on the top shelf in the garage for back-ups in case of damage.

Bridgestone quit making the RE900 series about 18 months or so ago - as of late last summer there were still a few in the pipeline, and I've found some excellent, deep tread used ones on smaller asian cars @ P&P.

[73tiiDavidPA]

I have Sumitmo HTR 200 on original 13" allows. Only used Spring - Fall. The handle great on dry and not too bad in the wet.

[c.d.iesel]

I love the performance from KUMHO Touring A/S 795 tires

that I have on 'another' family car !

Great wet grip, QUIET, great turn in, just a dam good tire!

read the excellent customer reviews at this link >>>>>

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Touring+A%2FS+795&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=87SR3TAS795&fromCompare1=yes&place=3

[MichaelP]

I have a similar dilemma. I think I'm going to go with the Yokahama Avid T4's. They seem to be the only thing in that size resembling a "performance" tire. We have Avid V4's on our 535is and they're not too bad.

If you have 5.5" (or larger) wide rims, The Sumitomos are available in 205/60-13s, but there's a lot more steering effort involved. Other sizes offered by Sumitomo in 13's are too small in overall diameter.

[lunar_underground]

yeah - i was looking at a review for those avids - but the word 'minivan' popped up and i became scared. and the sumitomos - as you said - are a bit too small, i can only find them in a 185 60 13 and i'm not so sure that my already lowered 02 could stand to lose another 18 mm. this may become a bit of a treasure hunt . . .

[mixamson]

great tire for the cheap as hell price. mine are 185 and 195/60/13's for reference, feel free to shoot me any email with questions.

mike

[Guest Anonymous]

is that a golf, mike? i can't tell from the lighting . . .

[MichaelP]

Those minivan-rated Yokos are light years ahead of the Michelin XZXs (or XWXs or whatever they were) that originally shod these cars in just about every way. They may not pass for race-grade, but there's a heckuva lot more stick to them than these cars hit the showroom with.

If it's any help, the V-rated version of this tire (150mph sustained rating) get pushed pretty hard on our 535is and while they get a little greasy in the twisties on long trips on really hot days, they're ok otherwise. They're quiet, long-wearing, great in rain, don't tramline and don't sqeal until the tires are cut loose. They're biggest fault is that the sidewalls are flexier than I'd like sometimes. Would I buy them for that car again? No. I bought them on Cape Cod after one of our Z-rated Yokos was badly punctured and that was all that was available - it's a long, boring story, but in the end the Avids were better than I expected.

The T-rated versions are rated for a sustained 118mph. Not so bad. Do you drive 118mph?

I've done a fair amount digging on what's available in 185/70-13. Brands not available thru Tire Rack include Toyo and Falken. The only thing in those brand seems to be the Toyo Spectrum. Doesn't sound promising. See http://www.edgeracing.com/

If you're willing to go to to 205/60-13, Toyo has Proxes RA-1's available. Now that's a sticky tire, as long as you don't mind driving on plastic when the temp falls below 45 degrees...

Do tell if you find anything in the smaller size.

[JasonG]

I run 195/60HR-13 HTR-200s on 13" Mahle BBS wheels. At $39/corner you will be hard-pressed to find a better tire for your money. On more than one occasion I've found myself entering a corner too hot, only to find that an '02 with a nice set of shoes has no problem dealing with such situations.

The tire performs well in the rain, with no moments of uncertainty that I can think of. Dry performance is outstanding, as the tires seem to lose traction in a progressive and linear manner. Turn-in is crisp.

Prior to these I was running worn-out Continentals from the PO, and the difference was apparent immediately after the break-in period.

[mixamson]

[jonny]

195/60/13's

That's what I'm gonna run on my newly acquired MiniLites!

Lower profile than the 205/60's obviously. My Yoko 205/60s always rubbed in the rear (over big bumps) even with the fenders rolled.

I've also went from the 1 dot spring cushion to the 2 dot (thicker) and '74 springs with only 100k miles.