New Tires for the '09

[jake75]

Have had a slow leak in one tire for some time. The low tire pressure warning came on a few days ago - was down to about 15 psi. Turns out the source was in an unrepairable spot. At 27,000 miles the OEM Goodyear Eagle RSA's probably had only 20% of their useful life left - decided to replace all 4. I have not bought tires in many years - always got rid of vehicle before that was needed. Too many choices. Don't drive a lot of miles so a 60,000 mile tire is adequate. Main interest was "quiet" - per advice from DISCOUNT TIRE decided on the Yokahama YK580. Thought I might keep one of the old tires for a full size spare. I know I will have to buy a rim. Will that fit in the "well"?.

[KITT222]

The full-size spare might not fit where the compact spare is with the plastic tray in there with it, so that may need to be removed, and the tools might need a new place to stay. Without the tray it appears you could fit a full-size tire, but I don't have a tire to test with, and I'm not sure how much of a difference in the spare tire tray there is from 04 to 09.

[tpollauf]

Thought I might keep one of the old tires for a full size spare. I know I will have to buy a rim. Will that fit in the "well"?.

I don't know Jerome. I'm pretty sure the overall diameter of the full size tire is too big to fit in the wheel well. You can simply place one of the old tires over your current doughnut spare to see how close it is. Add to this the width of the tire and your plastic hatch flooring won't fit anymore. Nice thought but I don't think it will fit Also that seems like a premature death to your original tires My Vibe, while only @ 17k miles, still has 50 - 75% of it's tread left. They still look new. Juniors would still be on his Vibe if it weren't for the previous owner NEVER rotating them Fronts were very worn & the rears looked great! We replaced his @ 42k miles. Good luck with your new rubber

[jake75]

The dealer where I bought my 2007 T&C SWB ordered all his with the optional full size spare - that was a $25 option vs the "donut". Who would object to paying $25 more for a real spare tire.

[vibedrivermatt]

yea, I just got new tires. My RSA's were definitely done. One of mine had a slow leak as well but I had done one of those repair jobs with the black sticky strips when a nail got in one of my tires..

I think my car is at 37,000.. but this isnt an accurate measure of the miles I had on the RSA's because I also was using some alloy rims with tires for summer months.

I went for hankook tires again. This time I got Ventus V4 ES H105 which is an all season tire. I've only used for a few hundred miles but so far they are pretty awesome on the 16" steel wheels. They weren't that expensive either. I usually go for something that is advertized to have good hydroplaning resistance. These do.

goodluck with the tires you get.

[star_deceiver]

Careful with those hankooks in the winter, they have the traction of hockey pucks on ice. Unstoppable in the dry and wet though!

[jake75]

Paid for the Yokahama YK580 tires on Saturday as $60 rebate was ending - they had to get the tires from another location. Had a chance to read the details of the invoice - I didn't realize I was charged $75 for full price road hazard replacement (prorated road hazard is included at no charge in $16/tire mouting fee) - and fine print said that was only in first 3 years. When I went in today for the install and deleted that the salesperson tried to convince me to keep it saying they they would honor for life of tread - right!!!. Also, on the way I stopped at a used tire place and they said they would gladly take my old tires - saved me the Discount Tire $2.50 per tire recycle fee. When I originally paid for the tires the salesman gave me the $10/tire TPS overhaul for $2.50 each. Today they were going to charge the full $10 each since I didn't take the $75 warranty. I told them in that case I would just call the whole thing off and go somewhere else. I am not sure the overhaul was necessary anyway. Apparently they didn't want me to walk so I got that at the original $2.50 price. Bottom line after $60 rebate was $523. While waiting for the install it was interesting to see the b.s. being hurled at prospective customers to sell add ons. One lady was told that tires are not perfectly round and they recommended a service that made sure they were - evidently sheared off the higher spots. I was told the Yokahamas were the quietest tires because they were made with orange oil. This lady was told the Michelin was the quietest tire and would last 90,000 miles. I am satisfied with my 60,000 mile Yokahamas that will rot off my car before I put that may miles on them. Also - I doubt that very many people will get Michelins to last 90,000 miles.

[tpollauf]

I doubt that very many people will get Michelins to last 90,000 miles.

I love the frugal shopper that you are AND more importantly than you know the sneaky sales tactics and avoid them I just couldn't resist to jump in and
let you know that I am one of the extremely few who actually DID get OVER 90000 miles on a set of Michelin tires ..................... TWICE The first set was on my 2007 GMC Savana 2500 work van, and the second set was on the replacement to the 1997, a 2002 Chevy Express 2500 work van. Company policy is FIVE years OR 100K miles .... whichever comes first. In both cases the five years came before the mileage although not my much. 92K & 94K miles respectively and they both had all four original Michelin's (no flats ever & rotated regularly) still on them! Granted they were below the legal limit as far as tread wear goes BUT uniformly worn and still safe tires. Was a bit shocked myself to see a 7000 pound vehicle get that many miles on some rubber. Enjoy your new tires

[vibenvy]

I'm considering getting some 215/45/18 Hankook Ventus V12 K110 summer tires for our 18s with next year's tax refund. They are decently priced on Tire Rack and have good reviews there as well. No need for all season tires since we only use the 18s in the summer. The OEM Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S-C tires are wearing nicely and all, but the Vibes are approaching 42,000 miles and I would rather replace the tires before they get too bad.

[Zimm]

i'm due for some new tires on my '10-probably in the fall. currently have 47,xxx on the stock goodyears and it's been 47,xxx lousy miles. the pair currently on the back are absolutely done, and the ones on the front will be similarly dead by late fall.far more life than i expected out of them, but finances didn't allow me to replace them last fall when they should have been. figured i can make it until fall provided i watch myself in heavy rain.

i'll be very interested to see everyone's reviews on recent replacement tires. i'll be looking for 60,000+ mile, all season tires. i've done a little research on tirerack, and noticed that there are several new products available to us since i last looked into it.

would love to know how they guys who bought the general altimax tires are doing now that they've had a chance to put some serious mile on them. tirerack had a sale/rebate on them, which leads me to believe that they're being phased out.

[jake75]

I glanced at a newspaper article today that mentioned something about the complexity of women choosing a bra. My reation was that buying tires has to be even worse.

[vibedrivermatt]

Careful with those hankooks in the winter, they have the traction of hockey pucks on ice. Unstoppable in the dry and wet though!

Oh I had noticed they seem to have more of a summer tire look just by looking at the tread. but thanks thats good to know.

I also noticed the hankook tires made a bit of a helicopter sounds if I opened up a few windows. Im not entirely sure of the cause of this. Maybe they are just noisy tires or is has to do with the rear alignment of my car. I know to alignment of the rear wheels isnt prefect on my car. I even bought a shim kit which I was hoping would fix that if I ever get around to it. but if the tires are still noisy after that, oh well I guess.