Hey guys,

So I am new here, and until now have just been reading away on the forums sucking up what I can about my new toy. Last November I kicked the Volvo to the curb and picked up an 02' S w/only 25k miles on it. And I am absolutely in love with it!

So, I have a problem now. My car came with some OZ 17" wheels and Kumho Ecsta AST tires. I had some alignment problems with the first pair and they wore out in less than 3k miles. I got the dealer to pay for alignment only after I got the second set on. They said they would warranty the tires because it wasn't the alignment. Well they were wrong. After about 1000 miles or so we could see uneven wear. So at this point they finally paid for the alignment.

These tires had a bad start in life so I may not be able to judge them, but right now I think they suck in the wear department. I only got about 8k out of them with only a moderate amount of aggressive driving and that is to baldness! So I am looking for new rubber.

my tires are 205/45R17

I would like to maybe get a little more rubber on there to soften the ride slightly but the guy at the shop says that a 215/45 will rub. But after reading around on the forums I see people putting them on. Is the guy at the shop wrong? Please help!


Also the tires I am considering are the General Exclaim UHP's. The guy at the shop recommended the Falcon SS595 as well. Does anyone have any suggestions on which is better?


Thanks for your help guys!

Sneaky6

 

I'm running 215/45R17s with no rubbing issues. Works fine with stock wheels and suspension... but it will depend on the offset on your wheels... a competent tire guy should be able to look at the car and tell if an extra 2.5mm on each side will make a difference... Worst case, if it rubs the inside of the fender trim, a bit of (hidden) work with a Dremel will solve it.

Tire wear is highly dependent on alignment, inflation, treadwear rating and driving style. I drive quite aggressively with a lot of mountain twisty excursions, and expect to get about 15-20K miles out of my current set of Kumho SPTs. I may get 25K or more out of my Goodyear F1 All Seasons (a higher treadwear rated tire). Driving style is the primary wear issue for my tires - if I drove more conservatively, I could double my tread life (e.g. no drifting)...

How are your tires wearing? Are they wearing evenly across the tread, or more in the center, or more on the edges, or on one edge or the other? That can give many clues about what's causing the premature wear. With all things aligned and inflated properly, you should get much better wear than you're seeing for regular street use.

 

Thanks for the advice! I am going to pick up some of the Exclaim UHPs this weekend in the 215 size. I spoke with another shop and they said it shouldn't be a problem, and yes that it wouldn't be more than a mm or 2 rub. I found them for $75 a piece. Both installed and tax it is only $197! Most shops were asking 240 or more.


As far as the wear, they are bald on the outside edges. When I had the car aligned at California Customs, the guy just looked it from the front, and you can easily see they were toed in. The dealer was just being cheap and trying to not have to pay for alignment. I actually have pictures on my cell phone of the first set after we took em off. They were bald all the way across until the last 1" to 1-1/2" where there was still tread. The ones on the back are completely fine. They look brand new.

Thanks for you help =) Happy Independence Day!

 

Interesting... curious how you got that much toe-in... does the car have front camber plates installed? Because I just installed fixed front camber plates, and it gave the car massive toe-in until I had it aligned (two days later).

 

Ya know I really am not sure. None of the mods on my car were done when I owned it. I don't believe there have been any suspension mods on it, or at least that I am aware of. How can I tell?

 

For where you live there isn't much reason to run such a snow-biased all-season. You'd be better off running something more, ahem, summer-biased like a Goodyear GS-D3, or the new Sumitomo HTR ZIII.

 

I just got them put on this afternoon actually. So far I like them. I think they are a little under inflated, so I am going to put a gauge on it.

They handle pretty decent so far. I have noticed a huge ride difference with the larger size. The roads around here are pretty shitty, so my wheels will finally get a bit of a break.

I liked the general because I spend a lot of time up in the Los Gatos/Santa Cruz mountains, and it gets pretty nasty up there sometimes. And I do go to the snow with the mini on occasion. I thought about a more summer tire but I think for my driving and the fact that the roads here suck the exclaim was a good choice. We will see in several k miles though.

Thanks for all of your help =)

Sneaky6