Tyre Dilemmas ?

[Penfold]

Basically chasing up a set of tyres - 245/255/265 (9 inch rims) x 17inch x 4 for a R33 GTR. At the moment I need four tyres. I purchased some Falked Azensis ST115 245/17s for the rear about 12 months ago and I'd be lucky to have got 10,000 km out of em (and thats with very moderate driving) for $320 each from Quickfit. So I guess they were a bit soft but I don't really wanna spend $1200+ for tyres lasting less than a year. So I'm in the market for some decent tyres- new or used at a reasonable price.

Anothther option I had was tempE tyres in Sydney. They had:

some Dunlops in 255 40 17 ($250ea inc freight).

some falken zeix 512 ($230ea inc freight).

Of course, then you would have to pay for fitting, balancing and alignment. Which begs the next question - who would be good to fit/balance/alighn tyres for a decent price. I could fit them myself but they wouldn't be balanced and would need an alignment. Just wondering if places would it do and how much, bearing in mine you bought the tyres from somewhere else (+some places have the fitting machine so it probably wouldn't be worth my time to put em on anyway). So any recommendations??

Cheers,

Pefnold

[maccattack]

Firstly, have a look at the sticky thread at the top of this section on tyres and how you rate them. By the sound of things you want a reasonable tyre which will last. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for in most instances. High performance generally comes with high wear. Anything that does both comes with high cost. My suggestion would be to have a look at the Hankook Ventus Sport K104. These appear to be a well priced, long lasting, reasonable performing tyre.

[MANWHOR3]

I'll give you my 200 cents. I wouldn't touch falken ziex or any other crap tyre with a 20ft pole.

You get what you pay for. I was once young and stupid and did just that. I looked at the pattern of the ziex 526 I beleive it was, and thought it looked pretty 'race spec' (reads - gives good traction). In the rain, on a rwd car, it was like driving around on ice.

You should be targetting the source of the problem, not a cheap fix. Obviously your wheels are out of alignment for the tyres to be dead after 10000ks. The St115 are good tyres. Another alternative is the falken fk451. They're both very good.

The tyres themselves are not that soft. With good alignment and 'moderate driving' as you said you did, I don't see why they won't last 20000-30000ks.

I've got a set that has done 15000ks and it's still got quite a bit of tread left, I dare say more than 5000ks (A friend of mine used these for a bit then gave them to me. His job involves a lot of driving. The car is a 32).

[Penfold]

Well ran round & got some quotes (fitted):

Hankook K104 - 255/40R17 - $260

Falken 326&512 255/40R17 - $320 (wont touch)

BFGoodrich Profiler G 255/40R17 - $315

Kumho KU21 255/40r17 - $260

Rest of places laughed & quoted like >$500 for Bridgestones, etc. One guy told me to get 235/45R17 Bridgestone TZ100's for $185.

Feedback? Saw someone got the Hankooks for $200 somewhere????

Cheers,

Penfold

[Duncan]

About 500 a corner is right for the sort of tyres a GTR deserves

[wrxhoon]

About 500 a corner is right for the sort of tyres a GTR deserves

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Depends where you buy them , i got T1R'S for $340per corner for 275x35x18 .

You are correct though the normal retail is close to $600 .

[Duncan]

bloody good price! is that deal available for anyone else? they are good tyres too

[wrxhoon]

bloody good price!  is that deal available for anyone else? they are good tyres too

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not now Duncan , that was about 6-9 months ago , i got several sets ( 20 tyres all up) for some forum members that took advantage of this when i put it on the forum at the time .

I know a couple of wholesalers and i can get good deals from time to time , by the way that was for tyres only ( no fitting ) but still a very good deal .

[mr 32]

i agree with the falken ziex being one of the worst tyres around,lost it a few times under no throtle in the xr when it would ran, not much better in the dry. i run goodyear eagle f1's now best tyres i have used also have used goodyear revspecs also very good and well priced. for the gtr next time i will get f1's.

ring goodyear in bankstown 9790 3919 and ask for david tell him norm sent you will look after you.

mr 32

[sav1]

Just bought a set of Dunlop Direzza DZ101 255x35xr17 from nathan at grey imports at annandale. got a real good price fitted balanced and wheel alignment. Was in there last week and think he had one set left. give him a call on 95195150.

[nuffsaid]

Yeah the Ziex's definately suck frmo what I have read.

They work well for your lancers/pulsars/civics, but not anything else with power.

[T04GTR]

federal ss595. dont knock them till youve tried them. the best old road tyre ive used.

abit doghy till there warm. then they come into there own. very predictable and they give good feedback.

they suite the gtr very well. they need to be treated agressivly to get the most out of them. when they feel like they are loosing grip they keep on gripping harder. quite a wierd sensation.

-2.5deg camber front/-1 deg rear camber/9deg caster/2mm toe out on front/5mm toe in on rear/ slightly lower at the front ,whiteline swaybars. rear hard front soft.

500lb front springs, 400lb rear springs

6 months worth of trial an error getting this set up that works and doesnt understeer. for my 32gtr :lol:

they were better than s02,re01,fk451,gIII potenza, re03 potenza, sp sport9000

the main diferance was the leval of heat they could take. they did not get all "ski-jumped".

but they run best at 34-36psi hot

this is on a r32 gtr. 255-40-17. nismo lm-gt2 17by 9inch.

FOR $185 EACH NOTHING COMES CLOSE. to be quicker round corners than those crazy honda guys that hit the old pac everynight. federals are doing ok.

[T04GTR]

it doesnt really mater what u pay. more expencive is NOT always better.

it all comes down to your given set-up. and a tyre that can take heat.

[maccattack]

I find its not just taking the heat, but taking the heat cycling. The constant heat up and cool down cycles of tyres make them go hard after a while. It happens to all tyres, but some tend to resist it better than others. Quite often this is where the expense comes from - using compounds that are resistive to this cycling yet providing grip, comfort and durability.