jmilz28

iTrader: (13)

Well, I bit the bullet today and spent $740 drive out from Firestone, including lifetime rotate, balance, and the free replacement road hazard. I haven't driven TOO hard as traffic has been bad and I've had my daughter with me but here's what I know so far.

These tires are MUCH quieter than anything else I have tried - Kumho 712s, ASXs, SZ50s, GY F1s

They grip well from a dig

They grip well in turns

They also seem to soak up bumps better

Dunno anything on wet traction or treadlife (obviously)

I do have some weirdness - some on center turn in laziness. It's like a delay in getting the car to turn, it's worse as you go faster. It feels numb and wanders a tad on the freeway. With the old tires, turn in was crisp but stable and the car drove arrow straight. I strongly believe this to be an alignment problem, though it's odd that it could change THAT drastically with just a tire change. They did have to forcibly remove my wheel locks as the last shop gave me the wrong one back. But they did it and gave me some regular lugs for free so I can't complain at all. I am going back tomorrow with alignment specs in hand and see how it drives after. Don't want to eat up my pretty new shoes.


Overall, so far, they do EVERYTHING better than the 712s that just came off. I'm anxious to see how the car responds to an alignment, hopefully I'll get my stable but crisp lane changes back. Also curious about wet traction. I'm betting that a good alignment will bring these tires to unconditional love status. Even now, I feel I got more than I paid for. We'll see if it lasts...

Anyhow, feel free to ask questions if you have any. So far so good.

shaun

do the wide ovals look wider or narower that the kumhos?

LT1-DAN

i had the same question i heard they run a little narrow. did you get them in 275 or 285?

RAMPANT

iTrader: (17)

The laziness you mention may be that you are feeling the tread squirm. The tall tread block can bend and therefore not react like your worn out tires that little tread to bend. That is why guys who race on a DOT tire get them shaved to get rid of that. It also shortens the life of the tire.

Hopefully you see some improvement with the alignment though.

Rampant

Turo

iTrader: (23)

I'm running the wide ovals also on a pair of OEM C5 Z06 wheels (275-40-17 and 295-35-18). They were replacing a set of goodyear GS-D3's that I had on there previously. One thing I noticed is that the wide-ovals look a bit narower than the goodyears (but those goodyears look wider than just about every other tire of the same size), cornering grip of the goodyears was a tad better, and the straightline traction was also better in the goodyears. But overall I saved around $300 by going with the wide-ovals so I am happy with my decision (since these are my daily driver tires, so I won't be doing any racing with them). Plus they have a better wear rating than the goodyears, so they should last me a while.

jmilz28

iTrader: (13)

Measurement says they are the same but the rim guard sticks out a bit, so visually a little narrower. Not the case on my rims. The tread pattern is also SUPER good looking to my eye. Nice DEEP tread too, which I like.

After my alignment (close to LS1tech rec'd specs) the car drives perfect. Turn in is close to what it was. Caster is about .4 off where I wanted it but overall, I think it worked out great. This should help tire life too, I think. Pressures are about 32psi all around and couldn't be happier. I figure I gave up a touch of grip to the GSd3s but gained some treadlife and saved a few bills. Overall, very happy.

I'll get on it tomorrow after I drop off my daughter and see how it does from a real dig and some hard corners. The normal stuff though, just flat impressive and easy. Did I mention these tires are quiet? Never thought a tire this wide could have normal noise levels.

coolformula

iTrader: (21)

I just got these tires. I think there very good for the money. I heard a lot of good things out of the good years but these should last longer and like you said about 300 dollars cheaper.

I was caught in some HUGE rainfall the toher night and thesee th ing ROCK. Lot of water on the road and I got caught in a big puddle doing about 50mph and instead of pulling the wheel/tire to that side it went right though and didn't pull hard like it usually does.