Question about Uniroyal Tires

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NJ_Car_Owner

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My son's 2010 Elantra is going to need tires. Our mechanic said he can sell us Uniroyal tires for about $90 a piece. I don't see many people using Uniroyal these days, I had a set in the 80's but that was a LONG time ago.

Doing some research for about the same amount of money I saw Continental True Contact and Pure Contact tires. Would these be a better buy? I'm looking for longevity with good/great wet and snow traction and these seem to fit the bill based on whatever is online. Both Uniroyal and Continental are not mainstream as much as the other manufacturers so I figured I'd ask here.

I believe his tires are Yokohama which are the OEM and a major complaint from both boys is the car is garbage in the snow; the tires were long lasting (about 76,000 miles on them) but would like to upgrade wet/snow performance.

Thanks!
 
For that kind of money you should be able to find General Altimax RT43 tires which are very good tire in the snow, very comfortable/quite, and should last for quite some time. What size are you looking for?
 
Thanks for the suggestion!

I believe they are P195/65 15 ... I have to physically look at the tire and get the size off of it.
 
Looks like the RT43 in that size runs about $64 on TireRack. In my experience, you can usually walk into most local shops and just say "I found tire X on TireRack for $YY per tire, can you guys try to get in the ball-park? I'd rather support local business..." and they can usually beat TR.
 
Originally Posted By: IveBeenRued
Looks like the RT43 in that size runs about $64 on TireRack. In my experience, you can usually walk into most local shops and just say "I found tire X on TireRack for $YY per tire, can you guys try to get in the ball-park? I'd rather support local business..." and they can usually beat TR.


My local won't try to match or beat, he just encourages you to have them installed there. I think its because most make you add in shipping costs per tire, but we live close to a distribution center so no shipping if you can drive a bit.

I use Discount Tire Direct and just bring them there for install.
 
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With Uniroyal, it depends which Uniroyal you get. American Uniroyal is owned by Michelin, Belgian Uniroyal belongs to Continental. I only have experience with the latter.

Belgian/European Uniroyal have for ages had the marketing the claim "the rain tyre", and this is one of the very few times advertising and marketing hold true. I drive their Rain Expert in 195/69R15 88V on my Saab 900 turbo in spring and autumn. This Tyre is very good in the wet and plain insanely impressive regarding aquaplaning. It also rides very comfortably.
This comes at a price: wet traction requires a soft rubber compound, so they wear fast (even by european standards). Aquaplaning resistance means lots of negative space in the very deep profile, which means dry traction and handling suffers. (A lot!) Comfortable rides means soft sidewalls, which impairs steering response and thus high-speed* stability.

If you drive a lot at highway speeds and live in a cold-wet climate, they are excellent. If you want a crisp handling, sticky tyre for spirited drives on funny mountain roads on a hot summers day, they could not be worse. Yes, on a hot summer day and some windy mountain road, they feel worse than a winter tyre. But in the wet, on the other hand, they're [censored] brilliant. Just make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. This is a rain tyre. A full wet. (And like a full wet racing tyre, a few laps at a racetrack in the dry will kill it. It is that soft. I know a guy who relied the weather forecast, showed up to a track day with Uniroyals on, but then the clouds drifted away and they had a sunny day. Ruined a new set of tyres in less than 300km.)

I have written an extensive review on them on my blog. Articles are in German, but google translate might help. In case it doesn't, feel free to ask me for clarifications.

first impressions: https://turboseize.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/winterreifen-sommerreifen-regenreifen/
after 15.000km: https://turboseize.wordpress.com/2016/09/17/reifenerfahrungen-uniroyal-rain-expert/


*not legal anywhere on the planet except certain roads in Germany. But in case you are interested, the delayed steering response makes the driver exaggerate his steering inputs when keeping in his lane at speed around and above 200km/h. The driver makes a slight correction, the car does not follow, so he turns in more. Then, the car reacts, but steering input was to great, so the driver has to counteract. And as again, the input is delayed, he is likely to overcorrect, meaning the car will start to sway... There is only one remedy: keep cool, aim grossly for a line and then let the car dance around that line. Do not get seduced to try to drive a nice line.. you can't, and you will make it worse. Stay cool and just ride it out.
 
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I looked at both places - Tire Rack have installers by me that they can ship to and Discount Tire Direct has a list of installers. One of the installers that Tire Rack has is an actual tire retailer that I have used in the past so I was thinking about using the price from them when getting a quote. Of course, Tire Rack adds shipping which I have to take into account as well when thinking about price. I do like the free shipping from Discount Tire Direct (they seem to be slightly more expensive tire wise than Tire Rack but less expensive overall) but my concern is walking into a shop with tires and people refusing to install customer supplied tires; my mechanic has a sign up saying he won't install any customer supplied part.

Thanks for the info!
 
Originally Posted By: NJ_Car_Owner
but my concern is walking into a shop with tires and people refusing to install customer supplied tires; my mechanic has a sign up saying he won't install any customer supplied part.

This varies by shop, I guess. FWIW, my local Discount Tire shop will install customer-provided tires, but will charge more for the install than if you bought the tires from them. They do match Tire Rack's price+shipping.
 
Originally Posted By: turboseize
With Uniroyal, it depends which Uniroyal you get. American Uniroyal is owned by Michelin, Belgian Uniroyal belongs to Continental. I only have experience with the latter.



It would probably be American and he didn't tell me which one. A 2010 Elantra and spirited driving do not go together!
smile.gif
 
A family member is restoring a 633CSI. He replaced the TRX wheels with a set of OEMs which came with UniRoyals. The compound is a little hard but they have racked some impressive mileage.
 
Originally Posted By: NJ_Car_Owner
A 2010 Elantra and spirited driving do not go together!
smile.gif


A teenage driver would probably disagree.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: turboseize
With Uniroyal, it depends which Uniroyal you get. American Uniroyal is owned by Michelin, Belgian Uniroyal belongs to Continental. I only have experience with the latter.

Yeah, their US product lineup seems to be quite different. My guess is that the tire OP was offered was the Tiger Paw Touring...

https://www.uniroyaltires.com/homepage/our-tires.html


Treadwear indices raging from 560 to 660 and 70,000mile warranty for the TigerPaw... wow.
crazy.gif

That treadwear rating is in the realm of the Michelin Energy Saver, which are not known for their wet traction, to put it friendly. My (belgian) Uniroyal Rain Expert have a treadwear rating of 180 or 240 or something like that...
 
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Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: NJ_Car_Owner
A 2010 Elantra and spirited driving do not go together!
smile.gif


A teenage driver would probably disagree.
smile.gif



My son is going to be 22 and he was just complaining how slow the car was the other day with 3 people in the car and trying to merge with traffic. But I agree that people may push the envelope of what the car is actually made for. When I was younger 4 cylinders = manual transmission and had a 84 Escort and 88 Civic with manuals, I got SO tired of driving them in the NYC/NJ area due to traffic.
 
Originally Posted By: NJ_Car_Owner
My son's 2010 Elantra is going to need tires. Our mechanic said he can sell us Uniroyal tires for about $90 a piece. I don't see many people using Uniroyal these days, I had a set in the 80's but that was a LONG time ago.

Doing some research for about the same amount of money I saw Continental True Contact and Pure Contact tires. Would these be a better buy?... Both Uniroyal and Continental are not mainstream as much as the other manufacturers so I figured I'd ask here.


Uniroyal is, in the U.S., Michelin's bargain-basement tires. They seem to not invest much in that brand and the tires are generally just OK.

The True Contact and Pure Contact are in an entirely different league. They're top-tier tires.

Continental is a mainstream brand and one of the biggest tire makers. Buy with confidence.
 
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: NJ_Car_Owner
My son's 2010 Elantra is going to need tires. Our mechanic said he can sell us Uniroyal tires for about $90 a piece. I don't see many people using Uniroyal these days, I had a set in the 80's but that was a LONG time ago.

Doing some research for about the same amount of money I saw Continental True Contact and Pure Contact tires. Would these be a better buy?... Both Uniroyal and Continental are not mainstream as much as the other manufacturers so I figured I'd ask here.


Uniroyal is, in the U.S., Michelin's bargain-basement tires. They seem to not invest much in that brand and the tires are generally just OK.

The True Contact and Pure Contact are in an entirely different league. They're top-tier tires.

Continental is a mainstream brand and one of the biggest tire makers. Buy with confidence.


Thanks for the info! I believe I've read in the past that Continentals were on MB but don't remember 100%.
 
Continental is top tier manufacturer along Michelin and Bridgestone.
If you can afford Pure or True contact - buy them.
If you want cheaper go with General RT43. General is lesser brand from Continental.

Krzys
 
I have been using Uniroyal Tigerpaw AS65 205/55/R16 All season tires. I have put 2000 miles on it.

I am impressed with the overall performance. Dry/wet performance is relatively good. It gets the job done for sure. It's even not bad in the snow (not as good as a dedicated winter tire, but still good). I was going to buy Continentals, but they are $150 (total) more expensive. The only difference is, Uniroyals are 65k rated, whereas Contis are 90k rated.

It's totally up to you. At the end of the day, both of them are budget tires. I would have said get the best tire you can afford, if we are talking about a sports car. I'd buy the Uniroyals if they are 20% (or more than 20%) cheaper than the Continental.
 
Originally Posted By: krzyss
Continental is top tier manufacturer along Michelin and Bridgestone.
If you can afford Pure or True contact - buy them.
If you want cheaper go with General RT43. General is lesser brand from Continental.

Krzys

it surprised me when i first found that out, looked up the DOT code on the Factory Conti's on my dad's Escape, and it says they were made at the General plant in Marion, IL...
 
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here's a discount tire direct search for that car and size, in the H Speed rating that the car calls for:
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct...ca&fqs=true

there are some brands i've never heard of for under $50, the RT43's are $72.35, cooper CS3 touring for $75, and Cooper's top of the range CS5 Ultra Touring for $82.08, and other option both in between those, and more expensive.

I put a set of the CS5 Ultras on my sable last year and love 'em.
Fantastic Tires, the company is headquartered less than an hour from me, my tires were made in...been a while since i looked em up, either Mississippi, or Alabama, IIRC...
 
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