rough riding tires?
- Thread starter stangguy
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- Jul 14, 2020
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LOl is right. The only car I can remember having tubes was my 47 chevy that I had in 1959. I know young people think 98 is an old car, but to me it is one of the "new fangled" cars. Has to be from at least the 70s to be an old car. Or maybe I should say it needs to have a carburetor, and maybe even points and condenser for ignition.
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2020
- Messages
- 522
Do you mean the old tire that are on it now, or the new lower profile tires???
Tires can make an amazing difference in a car. You could probably upsize and get a better ride if you chose carefully. Cheap won’t likely figure in though.
Your thinking of NARROW tires,. Most 20's have tire that are skinny in the vertical direction, thereby meaning LESS sidewall.
I was guessing at recommended tire pressure based on the year of the vehicle. 35 is good, but if the ride is objectionable, a few PSI less won't hurt unless your out there hitting the interstate.
Yes, narrow as in width or skinny like road bike tires. Short side wall heights I usually refer to the standard tire size convention of width/profile(percentage of the width) and rim diameter in inches. So a 155/80R13 is a skinny high profile tire to me. 245/40R15 is a wide-ish low profile tire.
If you look at a lot of pickup 20" tires, they are "low profile" but still have as much or more sidewall as a 155/80R13 tire
So there's really no way to discern a 'stiff' tire from a 'soft' tire in any feasible manner. That's depressing. I based this off the last couple sets of tires I bought and went back and compared load ratings. In my case, the higher load rated tires rode much rougher, but I guess it could have been a coincidence. This was on a Trailblazer and Town and Country. Trailblazer went from lower rated BFG to higher Cooper and got rougher. T&C went from higher rated Cooper to lower Pirelli and got softer. I don't guess it's directly correlated but the rougher, higher load tires also were both somewhat larger - same size but you know how some tires just are meatier than others.
My wife and I both had 2018 Elantra GT's.
Both had the same OEM tires from new and both had the same PSI and her car rode a lot softer.
Both had the same OEM tires from new and both had the same PSI and her car rode a lot softer.
In passenger tires, the lower load rated, or lower speed rated, will be a lighter tire, and have fewer plies on the tread surface and sidewall. These should ride "smoother" I believe, all things equal, but rubber compounds and tread pattern are very important to NVH from a tire too.
Lots of cheap flimsy snow tires are probably smoother riding in terms of g forces transmitted to the car than a good all season, but are noisy or grumbly and generally unpleasant.
Hey that's my new nick name "Snow tire".
I will tell you this much... My friend's 2019 CRV-EXL came with Hankook rubber; they made the vehicle feel pretty cheap, IMO. After 35K, we replaced them with a set of Continental SUV tires. It made the CRV a different car. Ride, handling, road noise, everything. Money well spent.
This^^^^^^^^. The more sidewall between the rim and the road, the softer the ride. ex. I prefer the 65 aspect ratio for my '17 Camry.....Better ride than the 55 or lower aspect ratios.
In the stock tire size, 30 grand touring and touring options at Tire Rack, your zipcode may vary.
Comparing the six highest consumer rated of the thirty.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/CompareTires.jsp (not sure if this is going to work, you may have to sort by rating and select to compare)
And the winner if they were for my car.
Comparing the six highest consumer rated of the thirty.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/CompareTires.jsp (not sure if this is going to work, you may have to sort by rating and select to compare)
And the winner if they were for my car.
New lower profile tires.
I tried some on my 77 Z/28. For some reason they beat me to death. But man, could they ever hug a nice curve at high speeds!
The reason they "beat you to death" is 'cause they're Low Profile.
As a very unscientific rule, I’ve liked 60 series tires as a nice blend between usable performance and ride comfort. That tipping point can change with other factors, but it’s been a good basis. Another reference is 4.5 to 5” of sidewall between the wheel and dirt as a minimum point for dealing with potholes for pavement vehicles. so, if the rim widths are similar, you could probably do a 205/60r16. or maybe a 205/55r17. But, depending on what wheels you get, the 205 might change and then the calculations must be based on whatever width you go with. Steering “rails” become more direct with the lower profile tires, but bumps and chassis upset from higher wheel weights increase too. just my 2 cents.
i have 235/55r17 on my RWD Lexus. Stock was same width on an 18” wheel. The 17 is a better match for this car in every way and by no means degrades the performance even when pushing it a bit. The lighter tire-wheel combo is very evident, and better.
i have 235/55r17 on my RWD Lexus. Stock was same width on an 18” wheel. The 17 is a better match for this car in every way and by no means degrades the performance even when pushing it a bit. The lighter tire-wheel combo is very evident, and better.
A useful site for comparing and just having some fun with: https://tiresize.com/comparison/
My car came with 225/65-17 and when I eventually have to replace them I may go to 215/70-17 to get a bit more sidewall comfort into the ride. It will throw my speedometer off about 1.2% but that's not enough to concern me if it improves the ride. And in theory it will raise fuel mpg slightly by being a smaller contact patch to have to bring into motion as well as a smaller "wall of tire" for the air to have to meet and bypass.
My car came with 225/65-17 and when I eventually have to replace them I may go to 215/70-17 to get a bit more sidewall comfort into the ride. It will throw my speedometer off about 1.2% but that's not enough to concern me if it improves the ride. And in theory it will raise fuel mpg slightly by being a smaller contact patch to have to bring into motion as well as a smaller "wall of tire" for the air to have to meet and bypass.
I was, mildly, surprised at how well my '17 LE Camry handled with 205/65/16 OEM Michelin Energy Saver tires. Bad news is the tires only last about 20K miles in short city driving in Big D. NBD I get a pro rate and fresh rubber every 2-3 years.
You'll get 0.16" or so (about 5/32, half typical tread depth) extra sidewall. For more comfort, you'd be better off to look at tires optimized for comfort. Tirerack only shows 3 tires in 215/70-17 as well. 225/65-17 is very popular. For snow traction, look at (yeah, I'm a broken record, sorry) tires optimized for that. Tirerack will have comparisons where you can see many advantages and disadvantages of different product.
