General AltiMAX RT43

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I have 8,000 miles on my General Rt43s and they are keepers for sure. Best tires I've had on the Dodge Caravan.
 
I just put a set on my wife's Toyota Echo; 175/65R14. Not a large selection in this size and the Generals seemed the best of the bunch; especially when cost is factored in. Nice ride, quiet and I wanted good tires before winter. Less than 2,000 miles on them so far. The only complaint so far is that this size is made in Romania. After 5 weeks I'm still waiting on the rebate but they say 6-8 weeks so that is expected.
 
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Well, add me to the RT43 group!

I put them on my wife's RX-300(Only "T" rated available in this size). Thus far they're smooth riding and absorb rut/bumps nicely. Heavy rain goes unnoticed and we're looking forward to their winter capabilities(not looking forward to winter!)

In the "T" rating, the RT43 is labeled as a standard touring tire, the RT43's seem to handling on par with known, highly regarded tires in this category or even some tires in the next category, Grand Touring!

Need lots more time with the RT43's to make a real judgement on them. Only had'em on the car for a few weeks. They also seem to handle higher PSI w/o sacrificing ride quality.
 
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Originally Posted By: The Critic
Not to rain on the parade, but did you investigate the rolling resistance of these tires, compared to the Defender or the OE tire?

Usually there's a 3-5% penalty in fuel economy, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of the tires.


This is completely untrue. It is actually more like 1/2% - 1%. It has been proven quite a few times that the rolling resistance of "properly inflated" tires is virtually negligible.
 
Originally Posted By: SeventhReign
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Not to rain on the parade, but did you investigate the rolling resistance of these tires, compared to the Defender or the OE tire?

Usually there's a 3-5% penalty in fuel economy, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of the tires.


This is completely untrue. It is actually more like 1/2% - 1%. It has been proven quite a few times that the rolling resistance of "properly inflated" tires is virtually negligible.


There goes mention of the Michelin brand again.
 
Originally Posted By: SeventhReign
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Not to rain on the parade, but did you investigate the rolling resistance of these tires, compared to the Defender or the OE tire?

Usually there's a 3-5% penalty in fuel economy, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of the tires.


This is completely untrue. It is actually more like 1/2% - 1%. It has been proven quite a few times that the rolling resistance of "properly inflated" tires is virtually negligible.


It really depends on how carefully you track your fuel economy, and how consistent your driving pattern is. Some vehicles are affected more than others - the hybrids are a good example of this. Take a look over on Priuschat.com and you will find many, many threads regarding this matter. It is not uncommon to see a 5-10% loss in fuel economy with certain aftermarket tires (compared to the OE tires) on hybrids. And within aftermarket tires, users have found that "LRR" is a very generic term and may not always deliver the same results.

Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: SeventhReign
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Not to rain on the parade, but did you investigate the rolling resistance of these tires, compared to the Defender or the OE tire?

Usually there's a 3-5% penalty in fuel economy, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of the tires.


This is completely untrue. It is actually more like 1/2% - 1%. It has been proven quite a few times that the rolling resistance of "properly inflated" tires is virtually negligible.


There goes mention of the Michelin brand again.


And your point is?
 
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Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: SeventhReign
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Not to rain on the parade, but did you investigate the rolling resistance of these tires, compared to the Defender or the OE tire?

Usually there's a 3-5% penalty in fuel economy, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of the tires.


This is completely untrue. It is actually more like 1/2% - 1%. It has been proven quite a few times that the rolling resistance of "properly inflated" tires is virtually negligible.


It really depends on how carefully you track your fuel economy, and how consistent your driving pattern is. Some vehicles are affected more than others - the hybrids are a good example of this. Take a look over on Priuschat.com and you will find many, many threads regarding this matter. It is not uncommon to see a 5-10% loss in fuel economy with certain aftermarket tires (compared to the OE tires) on hybrids. And within aftermarket tires, users have found that "LRR" is a very generic term and may not always deliver the same results.

Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: SeventhReign
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Not to rain on the parade, but did you investigate the rolling resistance of these tires, compared to the Defender or the OE tire?

Usually there's a 3-5% penalty in fuel economy, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of the tires.


This is completely untrue. It is actually more like 1/2% - 1%. It has been proven quite a few times that the rolling resistance of "properly inflated" tires is virtually negligible.


There goes mention of the Michelin brand again.


And your point is?


The point being the Godlike status held by some in regards to the Michelin brands. Any time a tire thread pops up there is no objectivity in regards to tires. Let's all Hail to the Mighty Michelin brand. You could have mentioned a dozen other tires. I guess the Michelin fans boys don't like it that General has come up with what seems a darn good product at a very competitive price.
 
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Originally Posted By: SeventhReign
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Not to rain on the parade, but did you investigate the rolling resistance of these tires, compared to the Defender or the OE tire?

Usually there's a 3-5% penalty in fuel economy, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of the tires.


This is completely untrue. It is actually more like 1/2% - 1%. It has been proven quite a few times that the rolling resistance of "properly inflated" tires is virtually negligible.


I cover rolling resistance of tires on 2 different webpages:

Barry's Tire Tech - Rolling Resistance and Fuel Economy

Barry's Tire Tech - Rolling Resistance 2

Bottomline: There can be considerable difference in tire rolling resistance - and that can affect fuel economy. But this is so very highly dependent on driving conditions.

For example, city driving, with its starting and stopping, results in differences in fuel economy that are hardly measurable, since most of the fuel is used to accelerate the vehicle. But country driving, especially interstate driving, can result in measurable differences between tires, because most of the fuel is used to keep the car rolling against wind resistance and rolling friction (such as tire rolling resistance.)

So both a 1% change and a 5% change are reasonable numbers, depending on the situation.
 
I put a set of these onto my Camry and onto my Jetta on or about begining of Sept. Both cars got about 13kmiles since then, bioth had 10/32 new and now are at 7/32. I expect (hope?) the wear will slow down, but ultimately I probably won't run past 4/32. I guess I won't be getting the 40k I had hoped for.

On the good side, snow traction was good, at least new (will see next winter). Wife has no complaints. I think wet traction in my Jetta might be worse than the enTyres I had last time, but not horrible by any means.

I paid $300 for the set on my Jetta, and $400 plus $80 mnt/bal for the Camry. If they make 30k I will be ok, 40k and I will be happy. [Jetta usually only does 40k on tires, Camry only 30k. Although the enTyres did make 50k but they probably cost 2x, so about the same cost.] If they go on sale this fall I might just buy another set and store them for when I need them.

Oh, I did cheap out and put T rated tires on the Camry. No change in ride or handling.
 
I am absolutely amazed by the vast improvement in ride quality from the RT43s. The Michelin HydroEdges I had on there before rode like Fred Flintstone's concrete wheels. I'll be staying with RT43s from here on out as long as they keep making the tire.
 
Still liking our RT43 on the Lexus in sig!
As good of ride compared with the G/Y ACT's I had previously. With better bump absorption and cornering. Not as quiet as the G/Y ACT's but, not loud either!
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Different tread life warranty, H rated has shorter warranty than T rated ?


Yeah, think it is like 55 instead of 70.....
 
Will be having a set of (4) RT43's 205/55R16 91H installed on my son's newer 2010 Honda Civic EX next week. Hopefully these will be better then the Bridgestone Turanza EL400's that they are replacing.

Oh yea, the 2003 Monte Carlo SS (Jeff Gordon edition) is for sale. $5500. LOL...
 
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Now have about 3000 miles on them on the Oldsmobile beater. 205/70/15 in the stock T rating.

They handle bumps well, are great in the wet. Fairly quiet (or I can't hear them over the noisy driver's front wheel bearing and exhaust leak). Handling is what I would expect for a T rated 15 inch tire with a 70 profile series in service duty on a rolling couch with a shot suspension.

Only complaints are a minor MPG hit and they seem to enjoy eating every pebble they find on the road.

Bang for the buck, I cannot complain. Might not be my first choice for the Subaru, but would have no qualms running them if I ended up with them.
 
I just made an appointment at Pep Boys to install 4 AltimaxRT43's on my 2003 Grand Marquis. Right now special buy 3 get one free, so total installed with tax will be $452.74 I think for the price I cannot go wrong, but time will tell.
 
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I bought a set of these (195 60 R 15) for a 2006 Kia Spectra EX in July. They now have 4000 miles. They replaced a set of Michelin Primacy tires. The Michelins lasted 49,000 miles. I would have replaced them with Michelins except they always had a slight shake to them from new. Not really an annoying shake but just enough to irritate you. So I decided to look for another brand and according to Tire Rack, the General Altimax RT 43s were among the top in every category. I decided to go with them based on that. And they ride great, are nice and quiet, handle and brake well. I see virtually no difference in gas mileage either. And on top of that, I bought the Michelins in 2009 and they cost $500. The Generals, six years later, cost $348.80. From what I've seen so far, the Michelins were NOT worth the difference in price. Oh yeah, the Generals don't have any shake in them!
 
Originally Posted by Cooper
Just got a new set of General AltiMAX RT43 tires put on the Forester.

Resurrecting an old thread, with a lot of love for RT43s.
Now it's been 5 years since you installed RT43s. If you already replaced, how did they perform overall? Noticed some recent posts where the author claimed that winter traction went down significantly after a year or two. So curious about that.
Plus, you are a mid-westerner, I appreciate your comment about its winter performance at 4 or 5-year mark.
 
Older thread, but I see this is about when I started buying RT43's.

On my Jetta: I sold it shortly after posting. I was dismayed at the change in handling on that car with RT43's compared to anything else I had on it prior. But on my Camry's I've never noticed an issue. Anyhow, no idea on tire life on that car. It usually was done with tires in about 40k.

On my Camry's: I get about 40k out of a set. I try to replace around 3-4 32's of tread left, time them for a tire sale. That seems like buying tires every 2 years for each Camry at the moment. The 2011 Camry got 30k out of Michelin's so I'm happy with a 40k General; the 1999 Camry was bought well used so I have no idea what previous tire life was like.

It's an all season, so its best snow tread is in the first half--that's true for any tire but moreso on an A/S. If money is tight, buy a set, then buy a set of snows the following year. Keep an eye out for rims on CL that would work for your car; they can pop up randomly. All three of my cars have spare sets of rims, and each set was $100 or less for their set of steel rims.

Anyhow. I keep buying them as they meet my needs and I don't have to keep wondering if some newer tire will work for me--these simply work and are cheap enough. Lather rinse repeat.
 
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