At Alex's request, I'm posting my impressions of the Avon Tech M500 tires, as I'm one of the first to have them put on, and within a week they will be replaced. Just a few specs:

'03 MINI Cooper
16x7 OZ Superleggeras
205/50-16 Avon Tech M500's
30-32 PSI, checked every 2-3 weeks
Los Angeles, CA USA

I put them on at 35k miles, and at 60k I will be replacing them, so they lasted 25k, which is what Alex expected out of them. They are very, very quiet tires. When I first put them on, I called them my stealth tires, because with the windows down and the car in neutral idling to the red light, you couldn't hear a thing. Their dry grip is wonderful (I had the Goodyear runflats for the first 35k miles), with no noticeable tramlining. If you've ever driven on the Southern California freeways, you'll know that the rain grooves we have really encourage tramlining, but I never noticed any. In the rain they were very solid, whereas the runflats tended to be a bit floaty. I was quite impressed with the wet traction as well.

Overall I am very, very happy with these tires, and at $86 a tire, I would whole-heartedly recommend them to anyone and everyone. They are very forgiving and sticky, you just dial in the steering and it makes it happen smoothly and quietly. As Alex put it, they have good "road manners". I would even go so far as to say that they exemplify "good road manners".

Edit: No rubbing, but I wouldn't expect 205/50-16's to rub. I've never written a tire review before, so if there's anything I didn't touch on, please just email me at santazeede@earthlink.net and I'll come add a post to this thread

 

These sound like a great deal. Anyone know how the Avons compare to the Goodyear GS-D3 's (which are about $40 more per tire)?

 

D3's are not a quiet and smooth, but are more agressive for handling, and hydroplaning resistance. Diffrent prioroties.

Alex

 

I had a bad experience with these tires. They were hard as a rock and rode like a truck, a 2-ton truck. Alex at the Tire Rack did an A+ job of making things right for me but I was not happy with the Avon tires.

Bottom line...
Tire Rack, thumbs up
Avon Tech M500 tires, thumbs down

ripley

 

I agree with zeede write up but have only 2000 miles on them and can only compare them to the runflats. I think almost anything will be better than the runflats for grip, noise and comfort. Depending what you are looking for they are hard to beat for the price.

I am also running 205/50/16 on 16x7.5 ssr comp wheels.


ripley what size did you try? and what tires did you end up with?

thanks J

 

I'm running M500's at 215/50R16, and while there is slight rubbing on HARD bumps, I've had no problems.

As for their durability, they've seen about 4K miles and have a little more wear than I was expecting, but I did put them on in February, so they were being run very rigid during the cold bits.

It's been much more difficult to initiate a drift than on the run-flats. That being said, the only time I've spun the car was the day after rotating these tires. I will never rotate tires again.

I must disagree with the previous comments about ride-harshness. These have been much softer than stock, but I am on a *slightly* higher side-wall. My Avons are mounted on 16x7 SSR Comps and make wonderful daily driver tires. The run-flats were brutal over bumps.

Finally, man-o-man are these things quiet. Wow. I ask my wife every time I change something in the car if she can tell, and she has consistently said no. For me, that's a very good thing.

I think she'll notice when I do the Sparco seats, though...

 

I should note that I rotated the tires every 5k miles. On the new set of BF Goodrich T/A KDW 2's, I'm going to rotate them at 3k, 6k, 10k, and then every 5k thereafter.

 

215/45-17 tires with light weight Kosie 17x7 wheels. Ended up with BFG G-Force Sport (same size). Love the BFG's

ripley.

 

Did you happen to measure your total wheel / tire weight before you put them on? Our configurations are very similar, and I've had numerous arguments with people about how little these wheels / tires weigh.

RedBaronF2001 says they're the lightest combo he's ever held, and my scale shows 22.5 lbs.

I've had several people, however, tell me that the tires alone weigh over 20 lbs. Of course, those people have never actually picked up one of my wheels.

 

If my memory serves me correct they wieghed out at 28.5 to 29.5 on a digital postal scale. About a pound difference between the lightest to the heaviest.

J

 

From tirerack.com

The M500 in 205/50-16 should weigh about 21 pounds
The SSR comp rims in silver in 16x7.5 should be 11.5 pounds each
Plus a little weight for wheel weights/valves and stems.

So about 32.5 pounds each.
Maybe give alex@tirerack.com a call to confirm that they are not listing inaccurate weights- usually tirerack is good on weights.

Worn tires will weigh less over time since you wear off rubber from the tires. Centercaps add a bit, some SSR comps don't come with them.

 

I am running a set of 215/40/17 M500s right now. I wasn't sure about the handling at the biginning but after 2k or so, I am really happy with the performance. These are my forth sets and (Runflats- Yokahama Pareda SpecII - Falken ST115) I loved the Paredas very much but only lasted 9k or so for me. These are just as good and Alex told me that should last a bit longer. See how it goes.

 

I've seen this information, but it just doesn't hold true. They aren't posting the weight for each size that they make, and it would necessarily differ. As for differing by 9.5 lbs, well, that might be unlikely, but a stack of 2 Avons sitting on my scale shows 23 lbs. I weigh 149 lbs whether I stand on my scale or any scale at "the store", so I don't think my scale is terribly inaccurate.

Perhaps 21lbs is the average weight for the M500. They make a 275/40R18 tire that has to weigh a ton (at least in comparison to mine).

 

We do not weigh tires- we use manufacture's spec. With respect to wheels we weigh each one of them.

Alex

 

Has anyone tried the M500 in 205/45/16 yet? I am considering this or the AVS100 or Falken Azenis (in 215). I want RPM gain from my Euphoria OE 17".

Thanks
Wes

 

Zeede-

Let us know how you like your new BFG KDW/2's. I like BFG tires and these look sweet. On a side note; the BFG's are listed as ultra Performance tires by Tire Rack and the factory Dunlop runflats are listed as Max Performance tires, hard to imagine the BFG's would be a downgrade from the stock tires.

 

I think Ultra is a higher rating than Max. A friend has the KDW/2's on his STI and loves them.

 

"Ultra is a higher rating than Max."

MAXimum is is the highest performance catagory

Alex

 

Abbett: I should be getting the KDW2's put on early this week, and will post back thereabouts