New Shoes

"Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg)
05/04/2015 at 08:43 • Filed to: None

On Saturday I discovered I have a slow leak in one of my tires, about 10psi in 24 hours. It’s the same tire that 15~20k miles ago I had to put a plug in because I found a big industrial staple stuck in it. The tires are original rubber and have 65k miles on them - there’s probably another 5k or so miles but if I’m going to replace one at this point I might as well do them all.

The OEM tires are Firestone FR710, a T-rated all season. They have been... tires. Really average at everything tires do - they wouldn’t be the worst choice to put back on the car but I think I can do better.

It’s not a race car - a little more grip would be nice but more important are longevity and fuel economy. I also want to an all season tire. I know Oppo’s thoughts on summer/winter tires, but I don’t really have a place to keep a second set of tires. I also don’t want to spend the money, and here in DC it doesn’t snow too much. And I understand the limitations of all season tires - I drive cautiously and if I don’t need to be out or there’s too much snow, I just stay home. Problem solved.

The tire I’m currently thinking is the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring in the H-speed rating (pictured above). Based on the ratings and reviews, I think it’s going to give me similar life, shouldn’t hurt my economy, and give me a little bit more grip. I’ll also admit that I’m friends with a Cooper regional rep who can get me a good deal, but I’m trying to not let this sway my opinion.

So, thoughts? Other Suggestions?

DISCUSSION (16)

JGrabowMSt > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 08:53

Cooper Tires are okay, but I’ve never been exactly impressed by them. What I have recently been very impressed by are both Yokohama and Firestone. On top of that, certain Nitto tires are extremely good.

What size tire are you looking for?

I have a set of Firestone Firehawk Wideoval AS tires, and they’ve blown my original opinion of Firestone out the window. They’re incredibly good tires, especially in the wet. As far as snow goes, I run Yokohama IceGuards and have never had a problem. Nitto tires are also pretty damn good, more than I would have expected. For you though, I would check out if you can get Firehawks in the right size.

My SL only runs in “warmer” weather (read: never in snow, but all other reasonable conditions) and it’s got a set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evos, and they’re certainly not the Michelin Pilot Super Sports I was used to on the SL, but this weekend I pushed them a bit, and they did not disappoint one little bit. They’re sport tires, and not terrible in the wet, but certainly not super budget tires.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 08:56

My wife and I bought a set of Falken G4 Pro All Season Tires back in January for the slowbalt and have had nothing but a good experience with them. Also got a good deal from discount ended up paying 500 for 4 with the extended warrantys where they replace the tire after a puncture or blow out.

They handled the snow like a champ, last blizzard we got they were stable at the speed limit even with 4 to 5 inches on the ground and so far their rain performance is solid too. Havnt taken them to a track or anything (yet) but I have high hopeS.

Wacko > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 08:56

My take on summer /winter tires are that only winter tires are winter tires. All seasons are summer tires. Now that being said it all depends on where you live, how cold, how much snow and ice you will see.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 09:18

I had a set of General G-Max A/S-03 tires on my slammed jetta that got me through winter no problem. They rode excellent (I was running stock camber and toe settings on coilovers) and had wonderful stability. Gas mileage was good too.

horspowr1001 > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 09:42

When you say you really need all-season, this tells me you will see snow at some point whether it’s at home or while on a road trip. I’d recommend these for you:

1) Continental ExtremeContact DWS http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.js…

2) General Tire Altimax RT43 http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.js…

Opposite Locksmith > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 09:43

Nitto nt05r

Super cheap, great longevity, great wet and snow performance

Stupidru > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 10:24

You have 3 Oppo-approved all-season tire choices. In my preference:

1) Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3 (performs wonderfully in the summer, sub-par in the deep stuff, and returns decent fuel economy)

2) Continental DWS (your best bet for driving in the white stuff. Sidewalls fold under heavy cornering load and there are numerous reports of premature puncture damage, both of which suggest that the tire is thinner than it should be)

3) General A/S-03 (the best of the rest)

Justin Hughes > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 10:30

I really need to get around to selling my Grand Marquis alloys with Falken Ziex 912s on them, seeing as how I haven’t had the P71 they went on for well over a year. Those are technically an all-season tire, but the emphasis is on dry and wet performance. I didn’t get stuck in the typical New England “wicked early” snowstorm, which is why I went with all-seasons in case I hadn’t gotten the dedicated snows on yet. They also held up to a couple of days lapping St. Lawrence Motorsport Park rather well.

shop-teacher > horspowr1001
05/04/2015 at 11:00

+1 for the General Altimax RT43’s. I was quite happy with their grip in wet and dry, especially for the money.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Opposite Locksmith
05/04/2015 at 11:11

Har har har... very funny

Snuze: Needs another Swede > horspowr1001
05/04/2015 at 11:20

Thanks! The Continental isn’t available in my size (215/60R16) but the General is. I’ll have to give that one a look. It’s rated better in every category than the OEM tire which is what I’m looking for. It’s also priced very competitively against the Cooper I was looking at, so it’s definitely a contender.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > JGrabowMSt
05/04/2015 at 11:25

The tire size is 215/60R16. Interesting opinions, to be sure. In the past I always ran Michelin or BFGoodrich, and did have one set of Toyos, that’s about it as far as my experience with tires. I have always heard good things about Yokohama, but never run them. As for Firestone, I’m not crazy about them. As I mentioned they were OEM on the car, and my dad has had some as OEM on various trucks and vans for his business and they seem like competent middle of the road tires. Nothing stood out to me about them, but they weren’t necessarily bad. I can get Firehawks in my size. They are little more expensive than the OEM FR710s but sound like a better tire. The only hangup I have is the 710’s are a 65k mile tire (and I have 65k on them now and probably a few more thousand to go if it weren’t for the leak) and the Firehawk is only 50k. I’ll talk to my tire shop and see what they have though. Thanks for the advice.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Stupidru
05/04/2015 at 11:30

Unfortunately none of those appear to be available in my size (215/60R16). Others have mentioned the General RT43, which seems pretty close to the A/S-03, so I’m going to look into that.

Opposite Locksmith > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 11:42

I got less than 15k miles out of them on the street entirely :( with an AWD car

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Opposite Locksmith
05/04/2015 at 11:44

That’s sad. I got almost that many miles out of ultra-soft compound motorcycle tires on my CBR1000RR

JGrabowMSt > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/04/2015 at 12:00

No problem. I ran Coopers on my Neon for 5 years in all sorts of weather. Moving to a dedicated snow is the best possible thing as far as that is concerned, but Ive been told the Firehawks are a minimum of 40k miles. The important factor is that you want to make sure youre going to use those miles before the rubber starts to split and essentially expire.

Toyo is a tire Ive heard many good things about, on the performance end, the Proxes are amazing sticky tires. BF Goodrich is a brand I have no experience with though.

My sole complaint regarding any tires has been that Coopers always had more road noise than I was okay with. Tires were decent, but once the tread starts to get low, its already time to replace them as they had very little grip once the tread went below about 10/32 or so. Something you would expect to still have a passable amount of grip. Theyre cheap though, if that counts anywhere, but Im beyond the point of settling for cheap tires, especially since I run separate winters.