Tire situation

[raul]

Originally Posted by jarviz

I thought alignments were pretty much implied when 4 tires are replaced. I don't plan on driving in the snow though... unless for fun

You shouldn't have to align anything when replacing 4 tires. The wheel and hub don't change angle. That's just wasting money.

[raul]

Originally Posted by jarviz

why are our OEM tires $200 a piece on tire rack when all i hear are bad reviews about them?

Low rolling resistance. They're used to maximize MPG and part of the design to hit MPG goals.

[Ralph Spoilsport]

Many OEM tires are priced much higher than their quality would justify. RE 92s (early wrx, other Subies) are another example. You see this on pure passenger cars & suvs too. Just the way the industry chooses to do things.

[thill]

If you cannot find some cheap OEM's then I would replace all four with some good Dunlop Sport's. Last time I checked Tirerack is selling them for under $100 apiece and I have found several tire stores near me will try and match TireRack's prices.

[campy]

Join local ft86 facebook groups and buy them there. I got a whole set of oem wheels/tires with most of the tread left for less than the price of one new tire.

People don't know what these wheels are actually worth, so the prices you'll see range from $100-$1000.

[White64Goat]

Originally Posted by jarviz

why are our OEM tires $200 a piece on tire rack when all i hear are bad reviews about them?

I just finished a weekend HPDE 1 driving experience (first time) at Summit Point and was on the stock tires. For stock tires, I can't complain for how they performed. Would grippier tires be better? Certainly, but this wasn't about racing, it's about learning and I certainly have a much better understanding of how this car handles on stock tires. Some of the back roads around me have phone poles, trees and rock outcroppings basically within 2 feet of the edge of the road and been hesitant to push the car on these roads. Now that I know what these tires do it will at least add confidence as to how far these tires will go and how much more I can do with them.

If you've never done an HPDE event, it was WELL worth the money and time. We had 4 sessions on track Saturday and 4 on Sunday. Each session was about 27 minutes and I had about 236 total miles of on-track driving along with 4 classroom sessions. (2 mile track, 118 laps)

Check to see if there is a NASA region in your area (www.nasaproracing.com) as this is who I did the event with.

[wlwarfield]

Originally Posted by raul

The car is RWD so your rears will wear faster. If your tires are non-directional, rotate the front and put the new set in the rear. Rotate side to side every 5k until the rear catches up to the front and then you can rotate normally. If you put the new tires in the front you'll have to buy another 2 tires a lot sooner. If you put them on the rear you'll have to wait longer and then will be able to purchase a full set.

However you mentioned you like the rear end to come out, so putting the new ones in the front will give you that, but you'll have to buy 2 tires more often and will never really buy a full set. Newer tires in the front are safer, especially in the wet. It depends on what you want.
I'm not a tire expert but that's the best I can tell you from my experience.

It's actually the exact opposite of what you said. New tires should always be mounted on the rear axle not the front axle.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=52

[jarviz]

Ah Low Rolling Resistance. That makes sense. Does anybody know of real world tests comparing our car's MPG on the stock tires vs Non LRR tires?

[raul]

Originally Posted by wlwarfield

It's actually the exact opposite of what you said. New tires should always be mounted on the rear axle not the front axle.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=52

The linked article is for FWD cars, so I'm not quite sure about it's validity when it comes to our cars.

There's pros and cons to both setups. My statement about putting the new ones in the front being safer is questionable, but if you read my entire post I did recommend the new ones in the rear in the first place. I was just taking the OP's taste into consideration. Installing the new pair in the front does have some advantages like better braking performance and in the OP's case, being a bit loose in the back.

[wlwarfield]

Originally Posted by raul

The linked article is for FWD cars, so I'm not quite sure about it's validity when it comes to our cars.

There's pros and cons to both setups. My statement about putting the new ones in the front being safer is questionable, but if you read my entire post I did recommend the new ones in the rear in the first place. I was just taking the OP's taste into consideration. Installing the new pair in the front does have some advantages like better braking performance and in the OP's case, being a bit loose in the back.

The linked article is about two new tires in general and isn't about FWD or RWD. Further down it states that Michelin tested both FWD & RWD cars with new tires mounted on the rear and front on each vehicle and the result is the same.

Either way, I don't know why anyone with a RWD would want the newer tires on the front? More grip on the back=better traction, especially going into winter when weather can be ugly in some locations.

[raul]

Originally Posted by wlwarfield

The linked article is about two new tires in general and isn't about FWD or RWD. Further down it states that Michelin tested both FWD & RWD cars with new tires mounted on the rear and front on each vehicle and the result is the same.

Either way, I don't know why anyone with a RWD would want the newer tires on the front? More grip on the back=better traction, especially going into winter when weather can be ugly in some locations.

Agreed, they should be mounted in the back. He just mentioned he wanted the back end to be looser so I threw that option out there.

From what I read in the article it said they tested new tires in both axles. RWD is never really mentioned in the article. Anyway, rear it is!