Tyres and rear end

[WestieVYLS1]

Gents,

Just a couple of Q's I need answers to....

1. what are the best tyres (or good ones for a decent price) in everyones opinion (based on 17 inch rim)?

2. Whenever i go around a medium sized roundabout (say on a 2 lane each way road)(turning right) the rear of my car feels a little loose....it feels like there is a point where it is slipping but it doesnt actually slip out.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Sean880]

W

You need to read up on the tyre tests that some of the Australian motor mags do annually. However they only do a limited range of tyres but it gives you some idea of which tyres do better in different conditions.

Each to his own but I like to stick with Bridgestone products because from the many sets I have run I have found that they build a good quality tyre. The Adrenalin Re001 is a good performance tyre in all conditions as I recently fitted a set and am very happy with the performance in all conditions -wet and dry. They are also very quiet at regular round town speeds and, at fast highway speeds, about the same in noise as the OE factory fitted Bridgstones I previously had. Know the size you want and shop around on price.

2. If your car feels a little loose I would check 2 things at least:

- Your front and rear wheel alignment after you have the new tyres fitted. At least the fronts are likely to be out. Has the rear alignment ever been checked?
- Your shock absorbers. (Many people ignore the shocks because they don't want to spend the money replacing them).

Also check the pressures in your tyres. You should be running around 36 psi front and 34/35 psi rear - set COLD. I would not run lower than this as a rule. If you don't set the pressures high enough your car will handle badly. For highway driving I take it a fraction higher - about 37/38 front and about 36 rear - set COLD.

Cheers

[jazza15]

I was told by someone with 30 years of experience in tyres to go for Kumho's, Hankooks or Firestone/firelli, I can't quite remmeber which one of the two it was.
He showed me a firestone...or firelli, whatever it was and this particular tyre had a good water dispersing tread pattern.
I got into this discussion after asking him if pirelli's were the way to go for my car (VT with 17's) and despite what I had heard about them ("excellent grip", "awesome tyre") he said while they are a good tyre for some cars, they are not quite suited best for commodores. He said it comes down to load ratings etc. You might find that pirelli's will wear way to quick in your car, where you would get just as good performance out of the Kumho or Hankook, with much better tyre life.
I'm personally no expert on the issue, but have found that the Kumho KU25's i think? i have on the back are quite good.
The firestone firehawks I have don't have as much of an agressive tread pattern as the Kumho's and I found that their grip was not quite as good, but the outer edges are more worn on them in saying that.

As for the rear end, before I got all my camber issues sorted out, i was running the car on stockies and let me tell you, it was a scary drive in the wet. Now that the rears sit much better on the road, due to a proper wheel alignment and putting a VY IRS in, it grips the road and handles a lot better (respectively).
The rear shocks play a big part as well because the commodore (VT - VZ) suffers quite a bit of body roll in the rear IMO, so you have to do what you can to settle that.

[wortus]

I had a set of Yokohama C Drive on my VN check them out to see if they are in the size that you want. Excellent wet weather tyre even when well worn giving a bit of an extra margin over the run of the mill tyres. My VY is still running the Turanza ER30's that were factory fitted haven't been game to see how they hang on in the wet but in the dry they are fine.