Tires

[enjenjo]

When I buy tires, I generally buy Coopers, I have had real good luck with them. My daily, a 2001 Excape, has Douglas tires on it, did when I got it. No real problem with them, but traction in the snow, or wet, really sucks. Years ago, I had a set of Michelins with the same problem. they would hydroplane on fog.  I replaced them with Coopers, and no more problems. I have owned other Michelins that were fine, and never had problems with Douglas tires  before.

So my question is, is it the tires, or just the particulr vehicle they are installed on? I would say the vehicle, except a different brand of tire usually cures it.

[sirstude]

What I have noticed over the years, the longer the life of the tires, the worse they are in the wet/snow.  I use coopers on most everything I have also.  I go for the 30k life, rather than the 70k tires.  Seems like to get th long life out of the tires, they have to make them really hard.

Doug

[Brother Love]

The tires on Enjenjo's Escape are 30,000 mile tires.  I know, because I bought them.  There were BF Goodrich 70,000 mile tires on it before that had the same gripping problem.

I never had a huge issue with it in Las Vegas, but the few times we had rain or snow out here, I could tell that the traction was not great.  I am not sure if it is how the car is designed(weight distribution and so on), but I had issues irregardless of tires I put on it.

[phat46]

I always look at the tread pattern before i buy tires, I pick a very open type tread and have never had a vehicle hydroplane on me. My '02 Doge truck came with Goodyears on it, they hooked really well when dry, even with the 5.9 engine and a 3:90 gear they would barely spin. On wet however they would spin forever, it was kinda fun, i could fishtail the thing for a block in the rain, kinda like in the snow. I replaced the Goodyears when they were about half gone. I could not drive the truck in the snow. I got stuck in my own driveway backing out of the garage! The truck has posi and with the Goodyears it was by far the worst winter vehicle i have driven. I replaced the Goodyears with Pirellis when they finally came out with tires for my truck; it has the 20' wheels and up till a month before i got the Pirellis you could only get  Goodyears for that size. The Pirrellis made all the difference, the truck will now actually go through snow; the tread is much more aggresive whereas the Goodyears were a very tight tread pattern. The Pirellis don't hook as good on dry pavement, but that's kinda fun too. I would say the tread pattern has more to do with hydroplaning than hardness although I'm sure that has an effect too.

[Carnut]

One of my biggest complaints in life was when Cooper stopped building the 'Performance GT' brand of tires.

I'm much more concerned about tire aesthetics than performance, the Cooper made 'Performance  GT' tires were my perfect tire.

I've had the 'Performance GTs' on both my 67 Charger and 61 Chrysler since the mid 90's.

I recently replaced the front tires on my Charger because they had worn unevenly because I had failed to get the front aligned back when I had first put them on and no longer trusted them on the road.

I had thought of trying to find some NOS 'Performance GTs' but decided I better not.

So I bought a couple of BF Goodrich T/A's for the front.

Cooper went and made a new performance line of tires with directional tread and a funky name on the sidewall so they were not a consideration.

Guess I am a bit of rat rodder, being more concerned on tire aesthetics than performance.

[C9]

BF Goodrich guy here.

They do well and wear well.

No issues with rain or snow on the dailys.
In fact, the 4x4 Ranger did well during our recent snowstorm.
A little slipping around when it got icy, but in 4wd not a problem.
Tires are standard looking, think they call them "Long Trail".

I've ran a couple different BFG off-road styles and about the only thing that works on sogged out SoCal adobe roads is the mud tire.
Sings a touch on the highway though.

The roadster did surprisingly well at the airport drags November 2007.
BFG's on the back of it and it hung in there at half throttle launches and I was keeping up with slick shod doorslammers.

Gotta admit, if the launch area would have been prepared like a real dragstrip or even like they do for the September street drags on Beale St. the doorslammers would have killed me.
No big advantage with a slick on the street.

Looks like a lot of guys are going to Kumho's.
I got a pair of 28" tall ones to try on the roadster and they did ok in the dry and accelleration traction seemed ok when crossing wet intersections.

A pair of Douglas 24" tall narrow whites were tried on the front in conjunction with the Kumho rears, but nothing to report there.
They seem ok and I'm just getting some wear out of them before I swap to a new pair of front tires for my 4 1/2" x 15" slot mags.

The Kumho's will be used up if I ever find a pair of slot mags with the right backspace and width.

Got one....

[Mikej]

I put a set of Bridgestones on my 4x4 Ranger and they're crap. Side wall flex is terrible. Should have taken them back the first bump I hit. Half the tread gone in 6 months. Its has slowed down on wear now. Fronts wore off on insides. Had Goodyears on before and got 50000 miles. As you can tell I won't be buying another set of these. :x

[Mac]

This fall I bought a Geo Tracker for a winter beater. Decent shape but needed tires. In keeping with the beater theme I shopped Craigslist for tires and found a set of Douglas virtually new. Seller said she had tried them and decided she couldn't do without her favorite Cooper Weathermasters.
These Douglas tires are sold as all seasons but the tread is on the aggressive side. I've seen genuine snow tires that were less aggressive. They fill the bill just fine for my needs. No hydoplanning experienced so far and they've handled the snow well. Douglas seems to be the entry level brand at my local Wal-mart so I won't be surprised by short lifespan.
...on the tires I mean  

[jaybee]

I've had Coopers on several cars I've owned and never been disappointed.  And yes, I believe the brand of tire makes a BIG difference in how a car feels and performs.  Any number of times I've seen a car really wake up with the right tire.

[unklian]

I forget what was on my car when it was new,
but they must have bee made of Teflon.
Wouldn't stick to anything.


I've had real good luck with Toyo snow tires, they work VERY well.

The tread pattern is what i look for first.

[river1]

I've had real good luck with Toyo snow tires, they work VERY well.

what is this snow everyone is speaking of? :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:

[unklian]

It's the cold white stuff, they don't plow off the roads, in Michigan.    

[Charlie Chops 1940]

It's that cold white stuff I shoveled  of the driveway for a half hour this morning.

Charlie

[enjenjo]

It's the cold white stuff, that falls in the mountains north of you, melts, and runs down in the valley where you can drink it, because it doesn't rain there. Pray for snow.

[58Apache]

BF Goodrich fan here. Seem to  be very good tires at reasonable price. No complaints on traction.

While I understand they are now owned by the French, I did some research on Khumo's as my son-in-law wanted to put them on my daughter's camaro.

I was buying two tires for her anyway, so I found out the Khumo's are a Korean company that moved the manufacturing plant to mainland China.

I have never tried Coopers but with these testimonies I just might try them.

By the way, I always buy my tires from Sam's club. I can't beat their prices anywhere. The only issue I have is I can't get an alignment there.

                                   Steve