OT tires... for a compact car

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by EPIC! Stratton

Another +1 on Tire Rack. The other suggestion is get a quote from them and see if your local place will match/beat it. Always nice to support local businesses when you can.

I can see you've never been in retail. Give the local place a chance to lose money!! Local business' that see the need to 'match' are often the first ones to go OOB.

[zennmotion]

Originally Posted by yngpunk

Nitrogen, not hydrogen... think Hindenburg

Hydrogen would reduce rotating weight, and anyway both are available free. And a catastrophe like the Hindenburg has happened, like, once in history?

[zennmotion]

Originally Posted by JStonebarger

Michelin Premier A/S on my Honda Fit. They're very nice. Pricey, but not a whole lot more than the Dunlops they replaced, probably because they're an odd small size. Much more quiet than the Dunlops, rated at 60,000 miles, and they don't lose grip when worn. Check them out.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...=Premier+A%2FS

Thanks these look good, but don't fit the Scion. However, we also have a 2015 Fit, so I'll keep these in mind, the Fit does travel far- with tandem INSIDE

[carpediemracing]

+another for Tire Rack. I've been using them since I think the 80s, when we had to mail them a check before they'd send the tires (I bought tires for my parents in high school). At one point, between my brother, his wife, me, my wife, my other brother, his wife, my dad, and snows for many of them, we had maybe 15-16 sets of Tire Rack tires mounted on either factory or Tire Rack sourced steel rims. In our 3 vehicle family right now we have 2 sets of factory tires and 3 sets of Tire Rack tires (the 3 are snows, and one vehicle only wears snows).

A good friend (former leadout man, teammate, roommate, etc, known him for 25-30 years at this point), had worked at a local tire install place. He told me stories, and just to make things clear, told me never to go to that place.

Tire Rack has a warehouse about 5-10 minutes from the house. I now go pick up the tires myself, local garage installs them. Interesting to see the local tire chain's trucks picking up loads of tires.

The garages get 15% discount on the tires if they order them so it's not huge. Since I want to shop the tire the garage tells me to buy the tire, it's just simpler for them. For a while, when I lived 90 minutes further south, I used my friend's garage to install/balance tires. Now it's too inconvenient to do that.

Read the reviews. The things that get me are tire noise, tread life, and traction in inclement weather. With dedicated snows I don't care about snow traction for the "regular" tires. Right now we have factory all seasons but I'll probably replace them with summer tires. Having had the noisiest tires and the quieter ones, I prefer quiet ones. Treadlife is nice. Traction in the wet really gets me. Obviously a worn tire will be worse, but it's bad when a new tire feels like it's about to hydroplane.

Install is important also. If the machine catches the tire you can break/damage a cord. This makes for a noisy tire that eventually develops a lump. I ruined a couple tires like this.

The thing that I look at is tire weight. It's amazing how heavy a tire can get. Factory spec tires tend to be very light. Installing a heavy tire deadens the feel of the car so I try to stay close to the factory tire weight, at least for the 3 season tires. For winter tires I don't care, and the weight shows, huge difference in weight. I have one car that wears the same size tire for both winter/summer, 225/45-17, and I think the summer rim/tire is 36 lbs, the winter is 44 lbs or something like that. I just checked pictures I took, 35.8 lbs vs 46.9 lbs. Rim is some of that difference but still, it's only a 17" rim.

When I chose snows for the Expedition (we drive it maybe 1000 miles a year, for sure in March/April and it might snow therefore I decided on snows only) I chose a tire I trusted (Blizzak). Ended up lighter I think, definitely quieter, and obviously much better in snow than the factory tires on it (which may or may not have been th original tires - they were so hard the thing slipped in the rain like it was oil).

[George Ab]

Discount Tire is quite competitive and is easy, little hassle. Tire rack is likely the cheapest if you can deal with the hassle. For a Scion XB which tends to be noisy, get a quiet tire. I really like Continental Extreme Contact DSW; quiet, last a long time, and handle well. When I wore out a set after 80K, just put on the same thing. I also use the Pirelli P Zero as they came on my GTI and I really like them also. Review of performance tires here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....emeContact+DWS

[sjbraun]

I'm always amazed at the quality of the people who work for Discount Tire. Everyone is friendly and they hustle like crazy. I never see anyone walk from job to job, they're always running.

I wonder how they screen for new hires?

[mktng]

Tire Rack - even from Canada (when the dollar isnt complete shyte) its a good deal.

Michelin Pilot's are great tires. Look into those. Great balance of performance and comfort. Great thing about 15's?....tires are affordable !

But to address the main issue...

Id definitely crack down on which contracting company is leaving junk around. Keep note of companies in your area on the daily. Contact those companies and put out a general "heads up" complaint about someone leaving crap around.

[zennmotion]

Originally Posted by mktng

Tire Rack - even from Canada (when the dollar isnt complete shyte) its a good deal.

Michelin Pilot's are great tires. Look into those. Great balance of performance and comfort. Great thing about 15's?....tires are affordable !

But to address the main issue...

Id definitely crack down on which contracting company is leaving junk around. Keep note of companies in your area on the daily. Contact those companies and put out a general "heads up" complaint about someone leaving crap around.

Heh. I get the point but I can just imagine how far I'd get calling probably dozens of contractors and tracking down the subcontractors and just how those conversations would go, in several languages. Not to mention all the individual unlicensed guys who illegally avail themselves of the demolition debris containers parked on the street at job sites saving a trip to the dump. Tire life is short, but so is life, price of admission living in the DC burbs.

[JStonebarger]

Originally Posted by zennmotion

Thanks these look good, but don't fit the Scion...

Sorry about that -- at a glance I thought I saw your size (185/55 or 65 yes, but no 185/60!)

You may want to look into what other sizes will work. Yeah, it may sound risky, but at least with the Fit you can find plenty of first-hand accounts of folks riding other (usually wider) sizes without issue.

[deechee]

Someone with more experience can chime in, but I know in the past, I've ridden different sized winter tires when options were low or I was able to get some free tires.

The Premier A/S are available as 195/55R15's which are unfortunately wider (might pick up MORE nails) but the diameter diff is only 0.3". They're quiet and I've been stuck doing long drives in the rain lately and they're very confident. Nothing special here, just driving a 2010 Corolla.

That said, I've been having a lousy year too, and picked up a nail maybe a week or two after I had these tires installed. The tire sensors picked it up tho, so I was able to keep pumping air into them (with my bike pump haha) until I made it to my usual garage. I have to admit, this is the 2nd time at least that the tire pressure sensors noticed a puncture before it was too late, and I was able to have my tire repaired. (I also got two flats during the winter, destroying some expensive Nokian tires. )

Does your Scion support TPMS? I've been told you can pick up used sets cheaper, and at one point I was looking for my winter tires, but got bored of looking.

[NHAero]

I put Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum on my Fit Sport 4 years ago and I'm happy. Supposed to be a very long wearing tire, so far they look great. Paid $392 from Tire Rack, who drop ships them to the local Midas dealer, who mounted and balanced them for $82. Local (only) tire place on MV was rude on the phone, and wanted $50 per tire mounted and balanced.