I am due for new tires for my 96 850 turbo wagon and I am wanting the best bang for the buck. I live in Phoenix, so snow traction is not a consideration. I am currently running Falken Ziex 225-45-17 on Volans (big shocker) and I would not put these tires on my ex-wife's car. Well, maybe my ex-wife, but noone else. If anybody has some good input, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

See my steering problem thread where I put a whole lot about tires in there. I ended up buying Kumho KH16's, but I just did my 15 inch wheels. When I put tires on my Volans, I'm either going to get another set of Kumho's in 215-45-R17 or Yohohama H4s's. I would think the 225-45-17's are toobig for the car. It calls for 205-45-17 which is very hard to find, which why I'm going with 215's.

 

I just replaced all four tires on my 96 turbo wagon with Nexen N5000. They are directional tires and they are amazing. Very good traction and very quiet as well. the best part is that they are as cheap or cheaper than Kumhos and hankooks, however rated by some as better than Michelins. I have them on my wagon and i have to say these are the best tires so far.

Here is the link for info

http://www.nexentire.co.kr/english/p...0&expend=1

 

I had 205-60-15 BFgoodrich G-force on my stock 15's. They are only summer tires,which is good for youbut they were great on rain. I don't know how much they are for your size but mine were very good for the price.

I have exactly those same tires and size as you do now. Falken Ziex, you don't like them? I have yet to have an opinion on them, I just had them put on not long ago. I do wish I had put on 235-45-17 if at all possible.

 

Dear All,

After reading all replies, I've come to realise that any name-brand tyres perform pretty much the same, so tyre selection, as well as oil/fuel selection, seems to be a personal preference. Korean mfgs seem to be doing pretty good lately (Kumho & Hancock), whlie a major player like Michelline seems to be struggling. So, you probably won't go wrong, as long as all 4 tyres are replaced, balanced ona dynamic balancer and have them aligned on laser-type alignment machine. I also rotate them at every oil change (front-to-rear only, as I like directional tyres).

After putting the new tyres on, I would re-check the tyre pressure in a few days. Go with what the car says (door sill, glove box, or owner's manual), not the ratings on the tyres unless the specs on your car exceeds the rating on the tyres.

Good luck with new tyres,


JPN

 

Exactly JPN. The Nexens are korean made tires and i belive for the 205/55/16 they run about $220 for a set of 4. I got all of mine installed and balance on mine for $230. Its good when you have a friend who owns a tire shop

 

I have the BFG G-Force Sports and have been very happy with them. They replaced the Falken Ziex 512's had that were complete garbage from a wear perspective. I have the G-Force Sports on all 3 of my cars now and they wear like iron, balance up very well and grip well in both dry and rain.

There's very little to no snow ever here in Charlotte, so a summer tire works fine.

I've used Kumho with good success as well, and I currently use their V710 race tire on both of the race cars - AB

 

We are running Kumho KH-16's on our 95 Turbo sedan and are very happy with them. Got about 5K so far and they are good in the wet, but quiet and responsive in the heat and dry weather.

 

In summer I have a set of Potenza G009's (standard aize) which have been fantastic and I will buy again.

In winter, if anyone cares, I have a set of Nokkian Hakkapeliitta's which are absolutely beautiful for snow and mild ice. I turst this car in the snow more than my father's Grand Cherokee with the tripple-tread tires.

 

I might get some new tires soon, came home today to find the PSI at 10..so I took a closer look and there was a screw lodged in my tire...i repaired the damage to the tire but I dont trust my repair job lol

 

I went to buy some 215/45/17 Kumho's today at tirerack and they are on back order. Think I'm going to end up going with the Yokohama H4s on the 17 inch rims. I think it's around $410 delivered for the tires and found a shop to mount and balance for $14 a tire. The place is called Wheel Medic and they will straighten my bent Volan for no more than $137 too.

Then I'm putting the Volans on the T5R and keeping the 15" Kumho's on the 850 R. I can't afford another set of wheels and two sets of 17" tires. I really want Titans on the T5R, but I think the Volans will look great.

 

After reading many tire reviews on tirerack.com and talking with other mechanics, I decided on Bridgestone Potenza RE950's. I found a set on e-bay from a tire dealer in Maine for $398 shipped. I just aligned the car today after work and will be mounting up the new hoops this weekend along with new pads in the rear. As far as mounting and balancing is concerned, the dealership I work for is a brand new $35M facility with state of the art everything including a road force balancer, so keeping them balanced and rotated frequently is no issue. The beauty of it is the entire service department is inside and climate controlled to a comfortable 73 degrees year round! I'll update this weekend after I get them mounted as to how it went.

 

So the first two were real pains to mount, but once I got the procedure down, the other two went smoothly. As far as balancing went, it couldnt have been better! Collectively they took less weight than the outside of just one of the tires on my Jeep and one tire took no weights. The ride is better than the Falkens ever were and wet traction is phenomenal as it actually rained today so I got a chance to try them out in real weather. I am very pleased and my wife is even happier than I, which is key due to the fact that it's her daily driver to haul the kids around. Time will tell as far as treadlife goes, but as long as they do better than the previous set, than I'll be happy.

 

>The beauty of it is the entire service department is inside and climate controlled to a comfortable 73 degrees year round!

I wish aircraft hangars were like that.


JPN