Matt Liggett wrote:
> I've got a 2001 Honda Civic LX Sedan. The car supposedly weighs 2465
> lbs and has the factory all-season Firestones in 185-70-14. I have
> been sorely disappointed at how easy it is to get them locked up in
> the ice, snow and even plain old rain. My old SAAB (89 900 Turbo SPG)
> was never this bad. Admittedly, the SAAB had all-season performance
> tires, but can this be ALL the difference?
Seriously, try different tires before you go narrower. Narrower tires
will compromise the dry handling, and that's probably what you do most
of. I've seen Civics and Integras running 205 width tires that stop
quite nice in the rain because of the good tires. I'm sure someone will
disagree, but it ain't my experience that Firestone (at least in Civic
sizes) qualifies as a good tire.
Randall Young wrote:
> 165/65-14 is not too uncommon, it shouldn't be too hard to find some in a
> decent performance tire. Purely as an example, Tire Rack has Bridgestone
> Potenza RE92 in that size, $47/tire.
Hoo boy, all the guys I know (autocrossers/hard drivers, though) swear
AT (not by) the RE92. (David Hillman agrees) Oh, and BTW, a 165/65-14
tire would have a diameter of 22.4", 1.75" smaller than the stock
185/70-14. The car would accelerate great, but the speedo would read
way low (by about 7% if I got the math right) and the motor would be
singing on the highway!
David Hillman wrote:
> There is no excuse for skimping on tires; they are the only thing
> between you and whatever afterlife you happen to believe in.
>
> Unless you can afford to stay home when it snows, get snow tires. They
Hear, hear! (on both counts)
> make all the difference in the world. Then buy high performance tires
> that are good in the rain ( I like Yokohama A032R competition tires which
> were excellent in the rain on my Mazda, but there are many other choices )
> for the other three seasons.
Great googily moogily, that's a competition tire. Sure, it works
*great* on the road (ran them last year) but the NOISE! There are
plenty decent all-around tires in that size range.
My suggestion... depending on what you want out of the tires, I would
stick with the stock size and look at a performance all-season tire from
Dunlop or Michelin. The D60A2 was a great tire, as is the D65 Touring,
lots of experience with both. The D60 has been replaced with the SP
Sport M2 (think that's the one) which is probably good but don't know
(although two friends just bought them.)
cmh
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