I live in the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina. Trying to figure out several things:

1. Should I order from tirerack or find a good local dealer?

2. What brand of tire to get?

Anyone in central north carolina got any recommendations for a tire dealer / tirerack instaler? I have dealt with Merchants Tire in Durham for my Maxima but don't think I want them touching my 2005 Crossfire Covertible.

Also what brands of tires have you guys had luck with? I am not at all happy with the OEM Conti's.

I am considering these brands:

Yokohama ADVAN S.4.

Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season

General Exclaim UHP

Kumho Ecsta SPT


The Yokos and Goodyear are much more expensive than the Generals and the Kumhos. I have heard good things about all of these tires.

Just curious about experiences of people on this board.

 

Just purchased Eagle's F1 all season. I really like the ride and look. At the end of the day I purchased them from a Goodyear dealer who was $50 more than Tire Rack.

 

I bought mine from a local dealer.
If you purchase through tirerack you have to have the new shoes fitted at an additional cost - and I don't know if you can fit all 4 tires in the Xfire - I know you can get both rears in the trunk.
You may want to rebuild the TPMS - most tire places have the kits.
I used Discount Tire - they did me good.

 

I'm going with the Vredesteins-- price and performance in the wet tipped the scale. Mine are being shipped in from LA direct to the dealer.

 

I picked up a pair of Nankang Ultra Sports from a dealer on eBay.
$264 for both rears with $50 shipping.
Great looking all-season tire. Had them mounted yesterday and they seem to hold the road much better than my Contis.

 

Hey buddy- I orldered my General Excliams from Tirerack.com This site is great! the value is unbeatable!! my 2 front tires were 87 bucks , and the back ones were like 150 a peice. it was just 20 bucks for them to be delivered on thursday- i ordered them on monday. The sites prices are unbeatable. This is the only way i recommend getting most things for the Xfire.

 

Got the Eagle F1 A/S from a local Goodyear dealer. They were running a special if you opened a Goodyear credit card account so I took advantage of it. Closed the account after it was all done. Love the tires they've been on nearly a year.

 

Didn't go with the Vreds-- there was an issue with delivery times so went with Plan B: General Exclaim UHPs. A full report will follow. Eventually. Once I get me front wheel.

 

I also need new tires and also live in NC....

I have been looking at getting the Contis again, but no one seems to carry local and when I mention buying them the local merchants get that look of greed and a SMILE, I don't want to buy from internet and have to try to beg someone to install and then if I have a problem- it could be a big problem.

I live in a small town, I do have a Discount Tire 30 miles away, having said alll of this-

The General Exclaim UHP's:
Are they an all season tire? We do get cold weather here and I want to be able to drive the Xfire yr round, I don't want to hop in the car and lose my tire bead.

Please advise.

Thanks

 

I reciently drove my XF coupe from Minnesota to Denver. I'll be returning to Minnesota next week but I had one rear Michelin Sport SP with a cut side wall. I found what appears to be the only tire that size in Colorado and installed it was over $400. The 18" front wheels offer no problem finding tires but the rears are another thing. They aren't on anyones shelves. I went to Discount Tire and they located one that someone ordered and didn't buy. My only other option was ordering one and waiting a week. Anyhow, this got me thinking about going with 18" wheels all around to make tire selection easier. With computer controls on just about everything on todays cars it's important to keep tire diameters the same as the original. I thought about buying two original XF 18" front wheels but there's a problem with that. The bolt pattern for front and rear wheels are the same, 5-112mm, but the offset and back space are both different. The front wheels have an offset of 23mm and the rears are 34mm. The front backspace is 5.78 and the rear is 6.61. Ok, using stock front wheels won't work for the rear. After market wheels using the stock demensions for front and rear with front tire size original and 255/40/18 tires on the rear will give the same tire patch on the ground and the exact same diameter/revs per mile as the stock 255/35/19 original setup. For now I'm ok wih my tires but looking down the road switching to 18" all around looks to be a way to reduce costs, keep handling as good as original, make finding tires easier and offer a chance to do some customizing.

Bruce

 

Wow 8 months ago and I still have not gotten my new tires,,,, I must confess I haven't driven my baby too much. But now I can't delay any longer- I am leaning towards the Generals- I can get all installed, tax total for $700 from local tire shop. I am having him price the Goodyears F1 all season tires to compare.

Any new words on the Generals from the group?

Thanks and Happy New Year belated.

Don

 

i have the goodyear f/1 a/s for about 15,000m iles now.. they are great tires, they do not hydro plane (i drive through lakes on the road for fun) and they handle really well..

cept, they are screaming through the roof right now, so loud i can barely stand it...

 

Tire Rack has good prices.
I had to call about 15 tire shops to find one that would beat their price; $20 a tire less.

 

Tirerack has the Hankook Ventus on closeout for $89 fronts and $129 rears. That's cheap if you just need tires bad.

 

Hey, I'm in Cary Discount tire has the cheapest price around me but Tire rack is still cheaper I found a tire rack auth installer in downtown cary the place is called wheels and things (i think) I can drive by there and make sure but when i went in wen you order from tire rack there name should be there where you can send the tires to be installed

 

I would go with the Goodyear F1 AS

 

I bought Vredesteins Sportrac 3's (195/45R15) for my 1993 SSGT (Suzuki Swift GT) - my "pocket rocket" and BMW Mini "stomper". I wrote Vredestein and asked for a nearby dealer. Got a call from a firm in Florida that sold me an entire set really cheap, including S&H costs. I'll probably use them to buy a set of Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta's for my 07 XFire Cpe when the time comes.

Oh, BTW, I got the Sportrac 3's next day delivery UPS.

 

I bought the Generals from Tire Rack. Had them shipped directly to their recommended installer a mile from home. Great service from both.

Haven't had them on long, but they are much better in the wet than the Contis.

 

Don:

I put General Exclaim UHP's on my son's 1999 ZX2 when we upgraded to 17" rims. Tires so far perform well and the car's grip is much better. Now these tires have an all-weather rating, but General will tell you real quick that the tire's grip will decrease substantially in frigid weather conditions.

As far as fearing purchase from Tire Rack with install at a local shop, I've never had that as an issue wherever I've lived (and I've lived in either NC, SC, VA for the past 35 years). All you have to do is check Tire Rack's website for authorized installers in your locale and you'll most likely get a list of several. You can even arrange for Tire Rack to drop ship the tires to the installer and then just go by to have them mounted. Saves from having to worry about transporting the tires in your XFire for installation. For S&G's, being in Greenville, SC area now, I order tires from Tire Rack and have local Discount Tire store mount them!

Good luck with your tire purchase,

 

UHP's - I've not been disappointed though I only have about 3k on them. I ran them at the Dragon and it went very well. Shark067 was in front of me for a while and I saw no issues nor has he ever expressed a problem with them. While they are not touted as a four season tire, Shark has expressed to me a couple of times he doesn't understand why not.