Gran Prix Tour RS tires

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

HangFire

Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
4,466
Location
Central Maryland
My new-to-me 2010 Camry V6 will be ready this evening or tomorrow, depending on how fast the we-owe's of alignment shop and detailing guys are. Shoeing on this exciting piece of high performance commuting appliance is... (wait for it)...

Gran Prix Tour RS
500AB 215/60R16 95T
DOT YJKA CAH3 3018

If I decode that correctly, they are less than one year old, mfg by "DAYTON TIRE & RUBBER CO" though my cell phone pics don't tell me if it's made in USA or not.

Googling these defied almost all attempts until I switched to Shopping search, then the flood came. Apparently these brandless tires are sold under many brands.

Sigma Delta Eldorado Telstar Cordovan etc.

Telstar sends a shiver up my spine, first time I ever replaced tires with 1/32 worth of wear was Telstar Weatherizers. Just like these, they came on a used Toyota. They were IMHO DANGEROUS when wet, even with low mileage. But that was a different tire.

My current plan is to run them for the summer and fall seasons, buy a second set of wheels with Winter tires, then re-think what to do with them next year this time. I reserve the right to re-evaluate if they turn out to be great, or awful.

Actual experiences most appreciated, even if they're second-hand.
 
They sound like a TBC brand, with which I have had good luck. Totally boring tire.
 
If the tires are in good condition, I'd run them. I usually take that approach on new-to-me vehicles that I buy; more often than not they come with junk (to me, any off-brand Chinese tires qualifies as junk) but no sense throwing money away if they perform satisifactory. If they're in almost-new condition, you might be able to sell them for a decent price, but that's an extra hassle I'd only take if I didn't like the performance/ride quality of them.

I think you'll find exactly what the above poster suggested-- a totally boring tire with very average wear/ride/performance characteristics.
 
Thanks guys! I never heard of TBC Brands before, I have heard of a couple of their brand tires like Sailun. I can tolerate a boring tire. With 500 treadwear and my commute, it won't last forever anyway. They appear nearly new.

I'll run it until I form an opinion, if it's only boring I can run them until I get my money's worth out of them.
 
Drove it in the rain today; it did OK. Did a panic stop (with no traffic around) enough to get into ABS and they stayed in control. It's quiet on smooth surfaces and noisier than need be on rough surfaces, but not obnoxious.

They say the first 10K miles are the best miles you get out of a tire, these seem good enough for at least that. Will monitor treadwear as usual and run them until 4-5/32 thin or until problematic (noisier, rain traction, etc.) Snow is not an issue. I can work from home on snow days, and I have a 4x4 truck.
 
An update in case anyone is looking for info on these tires. Actual name is "Grand Prix Tour RS" I left off the "d" in "Grand" in the thread title.

I now have 6 months and 16K miles on these tires (yes I drive a lot). They have a manufacture date code of 30th week 2018 and looked almost brand new when I bought them on the car in March of this year. I just rotated them this week for the first time. The fronts were at 7/32 and the rears at 8/32. Sorry, I did not record original tread depth. Wear was even, with no cupping feathering or tread block degradation. Tires were run at 38PSI and I never lowered the pressure because a.) fuel economy and b.) the ride is already soft. After rotation I am trying 35PSI, so far at 400 miles of 35PSI they feel the exactly same.

In 6 months I never had to top off the air pressure in the tires, and they have maintained their balance, ride and low noise level.

Tires feel planted and have good directional stability (don't cause the car to wander). They do not tramline (follow ridges on the road). Ride is their best quality, that is if you like a soft, comfortable "Grand Touring" ride.

These tires are very good at pumping water and avoiding hydroplaning. Wet cornering and braking traction are between good and very good. With 268HP I can squeak the tires in each gear on dry pavement and spin endlessly on wet. Tires do not squeal, they remain quiet or build a scrubbing noise when pushed to the cornering limits, and give gradually and recover well. I have to accelerate hard while throwing the wheel over hard to get them to squeak.

Unknowns. I do not know exactly how many miles these tires had when I got them with the used car. Since I have been driving them Spring through Late Summer, I have no snow traction to report, nor is it likely I ever will, since I purchased a set of Nokian Winter tires on new rims I'll be using soon. Ultimate treadware and life remains to be seen. They are rated 500AB and different sizes have either a 50K or 60K mile warranty, my size is 60K. Mileage warranties are down to the treadwear bar of 2/32 and most people replace tires at 4-5/32 so I do not expect to get 60K out of them or even 50K as I don't run tires down to the tread bars.

I plan to run them again next Spring (after the Winter Tire season), until they give me problems like wet traction, noise or hydroplaning, or get down to 4/32. I'll update this thread when there is more news.

This is the best set of off-brand/second tier brand tires I've ever owned, but I don't buy many tires in that category. I will not buy them again for this car because they are "T" rated tires and the vehicle requires "H" rated tires (previous owner or dealer mistake). Whether they are a great value for you depends on what you pay for them, your expectations, and the quality of mounting and balancing you get for them.
 
Well, forget everything I wrote above about soft sidewalls and air pressure. My inflator gage is bad, so I really have no idea what pressure I was running at, it certainly wasn't 40SPI. I now have them at 35PSI (for real) and after one drive, I can say they're a lot more sporty feeling then the first 17K miles.

I tried to reverse engineer the previous air pressure, but the bad gage is not consistent. Everything falls into 37-40PSI, so I can't calculate a reliable offset. I'd like to warn everyone off of it, but I can't remember the brand. It's not marked. Had it for several years, never dropped it, it used to agree with my more expensive non-inflator gages.
 
Have some Telstar tires on my 70 Chevelle. Some of the best tires I have ever had when compared to BF Goodrich and Cooper!
 
Every brand has its winners and losers, it seems. So far these are doing OK. They may not please the most discriminating tire afficianados here, but notice I never rated them "excellent" in any category.
 
End of the line for the Grand Prix Tour RS, I promised myself a tire upgrade when I got a bonus, so that happened this week.

Final thoughts. Put exactly 25,005 miles on them. Had between 6/32 and 7/32 tread, so good treadwear. Still avoided hydroplaning well. Wet braking traction was starting to fall off a bit. Once I put at a true 32 or 30PSI (I had a bad inflator/gauge) these tires have a very good ride, OK turn-in, really resisted squealing noises in tight turns. For a slightly sportier ride 35PSI still offered a smooth ride, but these are touring tires, don't buy them for spirited cornering.

They will live on, for a while, on a friend's beater that uses the same size as my Camry.

I replaced them with Continental Pure Contact LS tires, V speed rated. I'll make a separate report on them some time, but it will have to wait. I'm running my Winter tires right now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
  • Locked
Some Tires I've Owned...
2
Replies
28
Views
18K
ryster
Back
Top