Tire effect on "poor" handling car

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Not every Michelin made is the cat's meow.


Amen to that. I've personally yet to love any Michelin tires I've driven on. They are not all BAD tires, but they are almost never worth their price premium.

Agreed. Typically, you can get 99% of the performance for 60-70% of the price if you look elsewhere.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: oily boyd
Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S's on my last 2 Camrys: high perf tire on low perf car.

I heartily recommend this sort of mismatch! I'll bet you'll have so much better cornering, braking and confidence that you won't ever go back.


I must agree here. My 2007 Corolla, with the stock Bridgestone Insignia SE200 tires handled like a typical Toyota. Turn-in was delayed and steering responses were rather numb. But with a set of Yokohama TRZs, the car was transformed. Turn-in was crisp and road-holding was remarkable. Tire squeal was almost nil and I could hang corners much faster than I cared to try. Tires do more for a car than many realize.

It's interesting that I'd write the same thing about adding a degree or two of negative camber to the front of my car. With the same the same mid-range all season tires I had before. Or even just adding a few psi to the front tires can yield alot of handling gains.
Personally I don't find I care all that much about the ultimate grip level of a tire except when I need to shave a couple tenths off for autocross. On the street or on a track day I'd rather have a neutral handling car than an understeering one with more grip.
Just recently I had a great time running on a winding wet and sandy cottage country highway on my skinny snow tires. If I was pulling .6G's in the corners I'd be surprised, but the car was responding how I wanted and I could play near the very wide and obvious limit without going too fast.

 

[Rand]

there are plenty of nice tires out there.
all michelins arent super.


I think most kumho has a 30day guarantee.. long enough to know if they are bad or not.

kumho like everyone has good and bad tire lines.

The kumho kh16's are oem and mediocre.. The kr21's are decent standard tire..

etc.

 

[Trvlr500]

I am one of the few people in this country and on this board that drives an "almost" 40 year old car daily. I have a '73 Cadillac CoupeDeVille I've owned for 16 years. It has been my only car.

In any case for the last 13 years I had Firestone FR380's on it. I wore out 2 sets of them. They did the job but I never realized how they were slacking until I finally stepped up to some Michelin's.

As most here know pretty much ANY land yacht from the 70's is downright dangerous if you have to make "eveasive manuevers" or want to go around a corner faster than an 80 year old woman.

I have installed bigger sway bars. The rear didn't even have one from the factory, and better shocks not to try and transform it into a "sports car" but just for safety reasons. The sway bars made it into a different car and the shocks hepled a lot also but when I recently installed a set of Michelin MS2's on it all I could say was, WOW!

It steers quicker and goes around corners faster without any squealing and I can basically ignore water on the road even at 80 mph. They don't hydroplane and work quite well in the snow. I can even stop on a steep driveway on the ice and actually start off without spinning the wheels as long as I don't hit the gas too hard.

I realize the MS2's are a light truck/SUV tire but this Cadddy weighs 5000 lbs which is as much as most light trucks and SUV's and I take long trips in it pretty regularly with at least 500lbs of stuff in it at fairly high rates of speed. I had it loaded with over 1200 lbs one time. The speed limits where I drive are anywhere from 65 to 80 mph with lot's of windy mountain roads and snow and ice all winter long.

Tires make a HUGE differnce on a very poor handling relic. I don't know about other Michelin's but so far these MS2's are considered they are worth every penny and more to me. I needed a "do it all tire" because of where I live and drive. I'll have to see how long they last and how they wear but so far, I'm a very happy camper.

 

[SteveSRT8]

A great illustration. Thanks for posting.

Shows how ANY car benefits from good tires.

 

[dparm]

I could care less who makes the tires. If they perform like I want them to, and they're backed with a warranty, I'll buy them.

I've run Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Kumho, and others. I have no brand allegiance....anyone that does is probably just a sucker for the marketing department. ;-)