![]() |
|
Porsche, and the Porsche crest are registered trademarks of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG.
This site is not affiliated with Porsche in any way. Its only purpose is to provide an online forum for car enthusiasts. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. |
|
![]() |
purple |
![]()
Post
#1
|
Pigeon feeders attract me ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 938 Joined: 24-July 07 From: Houston, TX Member No.: 7,942 Region Association: None ![]() |
Hey Guys,
As I'm nearing completion of my fuel system resto on my teener...I'm faced with the choice of tires, as the first stop for me is going to be discount tire for a balancing; as the car shimmies when I get around 65 mph, then a trip to gashead motorworks for an alignment, as it pulls to the right. I was thinking, since I'm at DT, mayhaps I should put some new shoes on there. I HATE the tires on the teener, they are 185 65 R15's from god knows who...they say HR metric. They have ZERO grip and I've almost spun the car twice because of their utter lack of traction...and my utter lack of skill (IMG:style_emoticons/default/owned.gif) I'd like some recommendations from you guys...I was thinking of some Falken Azenis in 205 50 r 15's, but I've found on here that they are so small the engine is really revved up on the highway, and I would like to take the car to galveston a few times, and screaming engines on the highway would get annoying, as houston highway speeds are in the 80's. Any recommendations for me that DONT involve flares, 5 lugs, or prayers to Ra, god of the sun? Having a somewhat accurate speedo would be nice... I'm running stock 15X5.5 Mahle's with a 2 inch drop. This car is unlikely to see a whole lot of track time until I put my dual 40's on it... |
![]() ![]() |
woobn8r |
![]()
Post
#2
|
Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 607 Joined: 7-January 07 From: Newmarket, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 7,435 Region Association: None ![]() |
Well guys the Fuzion ZRi is a Bridgestone RE750 with a different mould...Bridgestone offered them to the tuner market to compete with low priced tires as well as to build loyalty with a newer generation....they didn't want to spend $$$ to R&D a less expensive tire...so they "borrowed" a current casing and by calling it a new sales channel (with less of a budget and not a new company...same people too) made the best secret in the industry value wise....Although your "Firestone" story was amusing...BTW Bridgestone is the Largest Tire and rubber company in the world and recovered from the voluntary recall shortly afterwards posting profits exceeding everyone in the industry...some others are still losing $$$.
MtM...The cheap tires are not new technology, the smaller companies just cannot invest the money in R&D that the big 2 can. Also their engineering is not upgraded...ok maybe a cosmetic face lift, but the casings are years out of date and nowhere near state of the art....(with the V700 victoracer proviso). I venture to say that your dealer friend sells Hankook ...probably a few so he'd better stand behind them...but if he's a competitive auto -x guy I bet he'd get lower times with Hoosiers, BFGs, Toyo Ra1s or any other decent R compound tire.... Trust me, (I'm not making any money here) Tires to your car are like speakers to your audio system....if you go cheap it lowers the quality of the whole system...but if you have never had a good system or can't tell the difference you'll be happy with crap...and some people are. Purple, If I were you I'd go see these tires in person...the RE960 may be too much tire for your application...I dont know if you want a soft ride or a firm one...if firm, how firm? You probably want a tire that looks good too...I think the Turanza LSV is a great touring tire for a street driven narrow body where comfort, less noise and performance are all of importance...if you want the sporty look you also get better steering response and more noise. Shorter sidewalls must be stiffer and transmit more "road feel" (all of this is in general terms of course)...I'm guessing by your original post you are looking for a balance...tires are a personal thing IMHO. Anyone that can quickly reccomend a tire for you from the multitudes on the market without playing 20 questions first just wants your $ and doesn't really care. Car enthusiasts whether they can tell the difference or not usually care.... and in time will come to learn what they like in tires as others learn what they like in wine (it comes with experience). But it still holds true...you get what you pay for. |
Dave_Darling |
![]()
Post
#3
|
914 Idiot ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 15,000 Joined: 9-January 03 From: Silicon Valley / Kailua-Kona Member No.: 121 Region Association: Northern California ![]() ![]() |
Anyone that can quickly reccomend a tire for you from the multitudes on the market without playing 20 questions first just wants your $ and doesn't really care. ... That much I can agree with. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I do, however, disagree with your comments about the Azenis. I don't know if they're on top now, but 8-12 months ago they were the grippiest hard-compound tire you could buy. If all you care about is dry traction, they are absolutely fantastic! Perfect? No, far from it--they are a set of compromises in the shape of a donut, just like any other tire. (And anyone who tells you there are "no compromises" in their tire also doesn't care and just wants your $$.) The Azenis are heavy, particularly when compared to other "street-class cheater tires" or R-compounds, they're quite noisy (you can even hear them over your 914!), they don't tend to last an awfully long time, and they're not very good in standing water and absolutely undriveable in the snow. They tend to get greasy when you put a good amount of heat into them, too. That happens to fit my needs quite well, as does the reasonable price. [Holy crap! They're now over $90 each in 205/50-15? That's almost double what it used to be! OK, scratch the bit about "reasonable price"... ] But they still fit my own needs. As far as my car is concerned, they absolutely kick the living crap out of the RE-930s I used to have. That was the wrong tire for the wrong application. Anyway, the Azenis is a tire that is all about gripping dry pavement. There may be better ones out there now, but even if someone has outdone them in that department, they are still pretty close to the top of the heap. --DD |
woobn8r |
![]()
Post
#4
|
Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 607 Joined: 7-January 07 From: Newmarket, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 7,435 Region Association: None ![]() |
I do, however, disagree with your comments about the Azenis. I don't know if they're on top now, but 8-12 months ago they were the grippiest hard-compound tire you could buy. If all you care about is dry traction, they are absolutely fantastic! Perfect? No, far from it--they are a set of compromises in the shape of a donut, just like any other tire. (And anyone who tells you there are "no compromises" in their tire also doesn't care and just wants your $$.) The Azenis are heavy, particularly when compared to other "street-class cheater tires" or R-compounds, they're quite noisy (you can even hear them over your 914!), they don't tend to last an awfully long time, and they're not very good in standing water and absolutely undriveable in the snow. They tend to get greasy when you put a good amount of heat into them, too. That happens to fit my needs quite well, as does the reasonable price. Anyway, the Azenis is a tire that is all about gripping dry pavement. There may be better ones out there now, but even if someone has outdone them in that department, they are still pretty close to the top of the heap. --DD Let's see...hmmm dry grip,...Yup rain...nope mileage...nope unsprung weight...nope r-compound...nope Quiet...nope ride...? Greasy...yup Why do you like these again...? The wonderful thing about technology is that it lessens the compromise you must make by raising the level of each characteristic...and different models of tires lean the compromises toward different areas...ride and comfort vs. pure performance for example.... Do you think for your hard earned $$$ that you could find a tire that did more than your Azenis? Would it be worth it if they cost a little more but performed in more of the mentioned categories? Maybe 8-12 months ago these were the grippiest hard compound you could find for forty bucks...but I doubt they are on a true performance/value top 10 list of available products. I think if you look a bit you'll surprise yourself. Then again if you're happy with this product why switch? Some people actually like driving Hyundai Accents... BTW: round, black and holds air describes a commodity...it's the performance characteristics, value and yes, style that discerns one tire from another. Because these are all different tires are never "just like any other tire" and are not a commodoty. Cheers, Sean |
Dave_Darling |
![]()
Post
#5
|
914 Idiot ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 15,000 Joined: 9-January 03 From: Silicon Valley / Kailua-Kona Member No.: 121 Region Association: Northern California ![]() ![]() |
dry grip,...Yup rain...nope mileage...nope unsprung weight...nope r-compound...nope Quiet...nope ride...? Greasy...yup Why do you like these again...? Dry-pavement grip--as stated. No other hard-compound tire beat it. Remember, the Azenis spent the first couple of years of the "street-tire" autoX class existance completely dominating at all levels. It's not a perfect tire by any means, but there is no such thing as a perfect tire. That one happened to be designed to do one particular thing, and do it very well indeed! Better, in fact, than any other comparable (hard-compound) tire. It didn't hurt that, at the time, they were about $50 each in 205/50-15. QUOTE Do you think for your hard earned $$$ that you could find a tire that did more than your Azenis? Would it be worth it if they cost a little more but performed in more of the mentioned categories? Maybe 8-12 months ago these were the grippiest hard compound you could find for forty bucks...but I doubt they are on a true performance/value top 10 list of available products. Doubling the price certainly didn't help their value quotient, that's for sure! But they are still near the top of the hard-compound tire pile. In fact, less than six months ago Grassroots Motorsports did a street-tire autoX test, and the Azenis came out on top again. The difference was much smaller than it had been, and apparently some of the "amost as grippy" tires were better in some of the other categories I mentioned. If I were willing to accept less grip, I could have some of those other things. But that's not what I am interested in. QUOTE Because these are all different tires are never "just like any other tire" and are not a commodoty. Very true indeed!! Tires are, as most things are, a set of compromises. Do you want long life, or high grip? Do you want low noise, or superior water evacuation? Do you want feedback from the road, or a comfortable ride? Do you want to drive in the desert, or in snow? They all have different trade-offs that have been made in the designs. With time and research, they do get better. You can get longer life for the same grip, or more grip with an equivalent lifespan. And so on. But there are always other ways to trade things off... And the biggest companies don't necessarily make the best tires for each specific application, because there are so many possible applications. Making a blanket statement like "all XXX tires are bad" is nonsense--especially when you have people with first-hand experience that at least some XXX tires are good for some particular purpose. Most especially when that purpose has an easily-measured metric (e.g., lap times) and the XXX tire has consistently been the best. --DD |
![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 28th June 2024 - 12:51 AM |
All rights reserved 914World.com © since 2002 |
914World.com is the fastest growing online 914 community! We have it all, classifieds, events, forums, vendors, parts, autocross, racing, technical articles, events calendar, newsletter, restoration, gallery, archives, history and more for your Porsche 914 ... |