New Used Tires

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 1, 2004
Messages
419
Location
Va
I got a great deal on a set of used tires and rims for my camaro. The rims are like new and so are the tires. They are Bridgestone Potenza 245/50R16. They a W speed rated to 168 mph I think. My car is now the worst riding and driving car in town. The steering is very twichy and the car seems ton wonder all over the place. The camaro is a 98 and the rims came off a 99 Firebird so the backspacing seems right. What can I do? The max pressure for these tires is 51 pounds and Ihave them at 43 pounds now. Is that close or should I put more of less in them. Maybe I just need to but a less of a high performance tire would that help? Please help me with this Thanks>
 
Did you install the tires in proper direction (if they're directional)?

Are the tires evenly worn?

When was the last time you had your alignment checked?

Not sure which potenzas you got. I had a set of Potenza S03 some time ago. While they offered incredible amount of dry grip, they would tramline like crazy (follow road irregularities), so that you ended up fighting with your steering wheel all the time. The less perfect the pavement, the more you'll notice them tramline. That is because their sidewalls are very stiff - helps improve steering response, but kills comfort and everything else - you gotta choose what's more important for you.
That 245-width isn't helping either.

You can play around with the pressure somewhat, but I doubt you'll see a huge difference.
 
Thanks for the reply. Yes they are directional and i got them going the right way. Your exactly right about the Tramline thing. It hooks on the cracks and breaks in the road and follows them. So am i stuck with the handling of these tires now. They look real good and Corner Great. I can now take those 45 MPH corners Much faster then the legal speed limit. But normal highway driving is a Bear.. Thanks
 
Agree with the observations above.

I assume the wheels are true...none are bent.

These are some of the tradeoffs with very high performance tires.

I suspect less pressure will be more helpful than more pressure.
 
Certain tires are very prone to tramlining.

I have 245/50R16s on my mustang. Futura Ultra Zs would follow every rut, and I was fighting to stay in lane on washboard surfaces. Since then, I have used General XP2000Z4s, and I am currently running Kumho ASX. All tires were the same size, on the same rims, and the tramlining was MUCH worse with the Ultra Zs. The Generals and Kumhos only do this on the worst of surfaces, and even then it is not bad.
 
A couple of points.

1. I am not sure what the last set of tires and rims that you are comparing it against. So what tires/rims did you have?

2. Again, I am not sure what your owners manual calls for for TP.

3. On my Z06 I use 38 fronts and 36 psi rears with the owners manual recommending 30 psi. I have been doing this for over 60k miles (68k on the clock) Good handling and other performance: such as longer lasting tread life. I would recommend going down in 2# increments to see how that works or start with 38/36 and work your way up.

4. From your response I am guess you did not have higher performance tires!? Higher performance tires almost always suffer in ride quality.

5. My experiences has been with Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar's (56,000 miles), Toyo Proxes T1S's (12,000 miles), 265-40-17, 295-35-18.

6. So on good roads: performance is phenomenal and the tires stick like proverbial glue. On less than good roads, it does tend to twitch as a response to the roadway irregularities.

[ February 18, 2005, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: ruking77 ]
 
43psi sounds high. Is that what you were running before? How wide are the rims?

Is it possible that those are OEM tires? If so, that could be your problem. They're usually garbage. Maybe the tires are old and hard and that's contributing too.
 
heh, i run Yokohama A046's which are even more extreme (and wear faster, d'oh!)... it's gone from easy to drive, to a true workout.

All the idiots around seattle with their studded tires (we get 1.5" of snow per year in the metro, and people run studs for 6 months) and dig huge ruts. I run a 235/45/17 and it tramlines pretty bad.

It's definitely better since i got an alignment (positive camber is NOT your friend).

I'm considering dialing in a bit of negative camber, which while wearing the fronts a bit faster, should make the car a bit less twitchy.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top