tom boggiano wrote:
>It is time to replace the tires on my TR4. the tires on it were put on in
>1986, they seem perfectly fine but given they are going on 18 years old they
>probably are not all that safe any longer.
>
>So my question. They are Good Year G-Metric 165sr15. on steel rims. What are
>people putting on their car for street use. In particular I am looking for
>size, manufacture, model and where is the best deal out there. I need to do
>this slightly under the spousal radar.
>
Tom, given the safety factor I think you ought to be able to replace
your tires above the radar unless your spouse recently took out a large
life insurance policy on you. If you missed my recent post about a
serious old tire failure in a TR7 here in Colorado, let me know and I'll
send it to you direct.
AFA 165R15's, I'm running Dunlop SP20's on my TR4 and Cooper Sportmaster
GLT's on my Volvo 122S estate (same tire size). I ran Vredestein Snow+
165SR15's on the TR4 the last couple winters but now that I have the
Volvo the TR4 is happily in the garage during snow -- and the snow tires
are on the old wagon. The Dunlop SP20 is NLA so that's out, but Coopers
are just about everywhere as they're a common tire for old VW bugs (same
tire size). I bought my Dunlops from Tire Rack and had them shipped but
I found a local large tire shop that can get anything I want and has
comparable prices factoring shipping from Tire Rack. Kumho has a tire
that compares in price and has good availability; it's had good reviews
on the list although personally stick with old school brands where the
cost is the same. The "classic" tire selections like Michelin X or XZX
reissues will definitely come in on the radar for price, wouldn't want
to drop that money just before the holidays unless I ordered something
from Jewelry Rack too.
Both cars are regular daily drivers and I put about 8000 miles on the
Dunlops the first year. Now I split that mileage between the two. Given
I plan to faithfully replace my tires at least every 5 years, I don't
look for long treadlife guarantees. If your mileage is less I suppose
you could go with a softer performance tire that wears faster -- if you
can find one in this size. Best luck.
--
Steven Newell
Littleton, CO
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