"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
10/05/2018 at 12:07 • Filed to: tires
0
6|
"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
10/05/2018 at 12:07 • Filed to: tires | 0
| 6 |
I bought my Prius in January with 4-year-old Michelin Defender all-season tires which were starting to dry-rot. I always found it remarkable how well the car handled, “for a Prius” – very linear and predictable cornering, stable over bumps. I finally got to a marginal level of tread wear, and one of the tires stopped holding pressure, so I decided to get new shoes.
I shopped the Michelins against the General AltiMax RT43; it was $68 vs. $110 per tire, so I figured, why not, I don’t mind if I have to sacrifice some grip for that level of savings. The reviews on the Generals were generally good as well.
Holy shit though. I almost pooped my pants my first day driving on the new tires, when I hit a sizable raised bump on one rear tire mid-lane-change (NJ-21 I’m looking at you), and the rear felt like it was going to bounce into outer space. I’m chalking this up to a lack of sidewall stiffness; uneducated guess. In harder cornering over 50 mph or so, the Generals flex like mad, and you never know quite when that rebound is going to happen. I noticed that I was doing a lot more small corrections in steering as the tires squished around. It also makes for increased motion sickness.
I ended up invoking the 30-day satisfaction guarantee and getting the Michelins. I know that the impact of tires on handling is no news to Oppos, but I was flabbergasted that weaker tires turned a Prius from a remarkable if low-power little beast, into a nightmare at speed.
NojustNo
> yitznewton
10/05/2018 at 13:35 |
|
I bought a late 80s I bought a late 80s Thunderbird V8 years ago and the thing wallowed and squealed tires everywhere on the stock 14s. I went I found a set of nice 80s Mustang turbine Wheels with some good bf Goodrich tires on it for $200 . I t made it actually fun to drive, t hough of course i t still had lots of body roll.
Then I then I sold the car to my friend and she T-boned a Hyundai in it .....
Logansteno: Bought a VW?
> yitznewton
10/05/2018 at 13:44 |
|
Ive put those same model of Generals on a couple different cars and have always been impressed by them so I'm kinda surprised with your outcome.
shop-teacher
> yitznewton
10/05/2018 at 14:24 |
|
That’s interesting. I’ve put General RT43's on a couple different cars, and loved them. Obvious ly the way they are tuned does not work with the Prius though.
sony1492
> Logansteno: Bought a VW?
10/05/2018 at 15:42 |
|
Id assume it has something to do with the Prius tire section width vs. Its weight
That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
> sony1492
10/06/2018 at 10:52 |
|
This makes sense to me, with the battery pack the Prius is a heavy car for its size, and a small contact patch with tall, soft sidewalls is a bad match for that.
Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Logansteno: Bought a VW?
10/06/2018 at 20:27 |
|
Yeah I have the Generals on my LS400, which came with Goodyear EAGLE LS2's which were garbage. The RT43's have been good in the wet and dry, even on a big boat Lexus.