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Bridgestone Tyres for VX Calais & Variatronic Steering Issues

VFCalais2017

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Hi all,

I'm looking to replace the tyres on my VX Calais at the moment. I have Toyo Proxes 100's fitted at the moment which are extremely poor in the wet. The car has slipped a few times in wet weather. I'm not a fast driver or a heavy braker so I'm not sure if this is the tyres or the car is too light in the back end.

I'm looking at either the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus or the Turanza T001. Bridgestone are recommending the Serenity Plus as they believe these are better than the T001. The T001's are $1 cheaper each, but the Serenity Plus are on sale at the moment. I'm not sure if they're giving this advice because the dealer makes more money via Bridgestone during the special offer. I just fitted four Serenity Plus to my wife's Hyundai i30 though and they seem to handle very well with low road noise. Obviously these are lighter cars so it might be a different case with the VX Calais.

I have T001's as factory equipment on my 2017 VF Calais which handle exceptionally well in wet and dry. Great fuel economy, comfort and low road noise. So I'm inclined to pay the extra to get these instead.

It's difficult to compare between different vehicles which is why I tend not to rely on Product Review opinions. Not many reviews based on the VX sedans.

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for these tyres fitted to a VT/VX or if anyone has fitted these to their own car.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 

PeterVX2

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I have had 3 sets of the T001's on my VX II Equipe since 2012. The original Japanese set was the best, lasted 60,000 klm. The recent sets have been the Thai made ones. These are still good but you are looking at 50,000 off these. I have not tried the Serenitys. I have a second car, a 2009 XR6 Falcon. I was going to fit a set of the T001's to this but after some research, I went for the Dunlop FM 800's. They are a bit cheaper. I thought the T001 was a quiet tyre, these Dunlops are better. The Falcon is a difficult car on tyres, but these have transformed it into a classy ride. Only downside to the Dunlops, appears to be higher wear.
 

krusing

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I have just put a set of T001's on my [stock] 2002 VY L67 Calais, and they seem to be ok so far, I find they are quiet on the road, but that's not to say the old tyres were not to well.
I also bought a complete set of bushes and replaced all the control arm bushes, Radial Control Arm Bushes to Nolathane, as they were "Well Worn, and Worn Well" ;), So with new Tyres, Full Front Brush replacement & Wheel Alignment, It dives like new.
I did a bit or research on them [T001] before I bought them, and they had a good write up, hence the reason I bought them.
Probably done approx. 3,000 k's on them so far. [Being its the Wife's Car, doesn't get driven much now, probably to the Shops and Back, Quickest Shopping Trolley in the Bayside Area :)].
In all honesty, it a great car to drive now, and a ton of fun too sometimes ;).
On anther note, I noticed the speedo it more accurate now, 100km/h on the speedo, is 100km/h road speed, where before it was approx. 3 k's my favour.
 
Last edited:

VFCalais2017

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Hi PeterVX2 and krusing,

Thanks for your advice and input on this. I've been leaning towards the T001's. From the experience with my VF Calais they are a great handling and low noise tyre. Not too concerned about losing 10,000kms on wear as I'm only going to be using the car for another 2 years after which it should be eligible for historic plates. I just don't want to buy the wrong tyres for the sake of a special offer and regret it down on the track.

I've done all the front suspension on this car too. New radius arms and bushes, new lower control arms, new front shocks and new steering rack and pump too. Having an issue with the variatronic at the moment but that's for another thread...

It's approaching 19 years old now but I still find the VX Calais to be a smooth, responsive and pleasurable drive... as good as the day it was built

Once I have the steering issue resolved and the tyres fitted I will update you with my new tyre experience!

Cheers ☺️
 

lout

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i am going to throw the pirelli P1 centurato in for consideration
i have these on my wifes vx, daughters vx and another daughters mazda 3
as you can tell i am very happy with them
 

gohrdrgomad

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i am going to throw the pirelli P1 centurato in for consideration
i have these on my wifes vx, daughters vx and another daughters mazda 3
as you can tell i am very happy with them
hmmmm I've got the p7 version and all is good. 225 55 16.
 

krusing

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Hi PeterVX2 and krusing,

Thanks for your advice and input on this. I've been leaning towards the T001's. From the experience with my VF Calais they are a great handling and low noise tyre. Not too concerned about losing 10,000kms on wear as I'm only going to be using the car for another 2 years after which it should be eligible for historic plates. I just don't want to buy the wrong tyres for the sake of a special offer and regret it down on the track.

I've done all the front suspension on this car too. New radius arms and bushes, new lower control arms, new front shocks and new steering rack and pump too. Having an issue with the variatronic at the moment but that's for another thread...

It's approaching 19 years old now but I still find the VX Calais to be a smooth, responsive and pleasurable drive... as good as the day it was built

Once I have the steering issue resolved and the tyres fitted I will update you with my new tyre experience!

Cheers ☺️

Hi VFCalais2017,

Where you say "the variatronic", Can I assume that the steering vibrates [like a shuddering] at low speed when parking or driving in around the Car parks or similar ?

Not sure if this is related to your Car, but approx. 8 years ago my VY 2002 L67 Calais had a steering issue for some time, and it was driving me crazy to what cause of it, It was like a steering a truck, really heavy and vibrate, so I did some research and resolved it.
I had the Rack Replaced and a Wheel alignment done at Pedder's, thought of doing it myself, but decided didn't have the time, at the time, the Rack was weeping oil anyway.
After that was done, it was ok for about 6 months, and its started to do the same thing [vibrating when parking or low speed],
I took it back to them, and they said its because of the Tyres, ye right, in actual fact I did ask them to replace the PS Pump also, but they said it didn't need to be replaced, however I was willing to pay for them to do it, so one would think they know what they are talking about, to them I am just a dumb customer, little did they know that I could see through their smoke screen.
After being told its the tyres, I search on the web for some time and found a fix for the VX / VY steering vibration issue, I found out there was a GM recall for the VT/ VX / VY for that same very reason "Steering Vibration at Low Speed", however I did contact Holden and asked was there any reason to why my car wasn't done with the recall, their answer was, "I was not the original owner" "as it should of been done in the 3 years of warranty. by this time it was only 6 years old.
So that then pushed me to fix it myself, so I found that the original High Pressure Power Steering plumbing hose/pipes were changed to a larger and longer fittings to buffer the vibration in the recall, I found the part number on here [Just Commodores], and ordered the replacement high pressure pipe [not cheap from GM, as I didn't know anywhere else to get it at the time], and purchased a New replacement Power Steering Pump, and New Oil Reservoir on eBay, and installed all 3 items, and has been silky smooth ever since.
[I used some low pressure compressed air to blow all the old PS oil out existing pipes and refilled it with all now oil]
Part number below for the replacement Power steering hose.
However, the pipe doe's double back on itself, and mounts to the square tube located at the back, and bottom of the radiator, as there are already 2 mounting holes in it.
Here is a quote from another thread on here I found -

"To fix VY steering shudder at low speed ( parking ) just fit genuine GM hose part number 92174786 .
It is longer & is mounted along front of engine between engine & radiator on the square tube which all ready has holes in it for mounting the hose brackets on to. cost of hose $218 at holden dealer or $188 at coventys in perth. FIXED MINE & MATES ALSO"

sorry for the banter,

hope this helps. cheers
 

krusing

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Hi PeterVX2 and krusing,

Thanks for your advice and input on this. I've been leaning towards the T001's. From the experience with my VF Calais they are a great handling and low noise tyre. Not too concerned about losing 10,000kms on wear as I'm only going to be using the car for another 2 years after which it should be eligible for historic plates. I just don't want to buy the wrong tyres for the sake of a special offer and regret it down on the track.

I've done all the front suspension on this car too. New radius arms and bushes, new lower control arms, new front shocks and new steering rack and pump too. Having an issue with the variatronic at the moment but that's for another thread...

It's approaching 19 years old now but I still find the VX Calais to be a smooth, responsive and pleasurable drive... as good as the day it was built

Once I have the steering issue resolved and the tyres fitted I will update you with my new tyre experience!

Cheers ☺️

On another note, I did search for prices for the T001's, and found I could save heaps to what Bridgestone Quoted me
Bridgestone Quoted me $239ea F&B [$956 for 4 + $80 for a wheel alignment ],
where I searched on tyresales.com.au [which is a part of carsales.com.au] and got a quote for the same tyre for $179ea F&B [$716 for 4 + $70 for a wheel alignment], so I very happy with the savings.
hope this helps, cheers.
 

VFCalais2017

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Hi krusing,

Thanks for your response. Banter is good! Every piece of information and advice on these forums is useful. I hope my experiences are assisting other users too. It's strange to hear about the recall issue for the shuddering with your VY. I replaced the PS hose on my Calais last year and didn't have that issue. Unfortunately that's not the problem I'm experiencing at the moment although I did have a steering shudder issue last year. It turned out to be warped front discs. I ended up replacing with high end DBA discs and pads and the problem disappeared

The issue I'm having with the variatronic power steering at the moment is that the power assist is constant and not variable. It's very hard to steer at low 'parking' speeds but comfortable above 50kms. I personally fitteda recinditioned rack and power steering pump 2 years ago and a brand new solenoid fitted only last weekend. The solenoid did not fix the problem though but at least I'm confident with the new part as the wires on the old one had perished.

Last year though, I hit a kerb during wet weather. The car lost control coming out of a roundabout - the rear end fishtailed (rear tyres were Toyos and poor quality in my opinion) and this was at low speed too. Thankfully I regained some control of the car and was fortunate enough to get away with just hitting the kerb. No damage to my car (body wise) or any one else's. Only damage to my car was that the front left tyre blew out (no rim damage fortunately) and threw the steering wheel off centre by about 15 degrees.

After that I had the front tyres replaced and the wheel alignment redone. Steering was fine after that although the steering rack had developed its original knocking sound when racking the wheel whilst stationary. I'm not sure if this is what has caused the variatronic to fail over time since then.

When I first noticed it failing, a simple remedy was to turn the ignition off and then on again to reset itself. Over time the problem was more consistent until finally... no more variable power assist but I did notice that my biceps were becoming more prominent ☺️

I'm determined to resolve the problem though. A very good friend of mine in my car club has a workshop and he is going to run some tests with the Tech2 this weekend. He wants to check for a signal from the variatronic solenoid supply which comes from the BCM. I did a test using a multimeter and there is power between the two supply terminals of the plug. Not sure if this is sufficient diagnosis though. Apparently if the wires on the solenoid arc out, it can damage the circuitry in the BCM. Hoping that isn't the problem in my case.

I'll keep you updated after the tests are done. Could be that I've damaged the internals of the rack after hitting the kerb and broken the plastic valve in the rack housing.

As for the tyre prices you were quoted that seems quite expensive! My local Bridgestone quoted me $137 each for T001's in 215/60/16. They're $1 cheaper per tyre than the Serenity Plus. They're recommending the Serenity Plus over the Turanza but similar to your experience at Pedders, I'm doubtful of this advice. I believe they make more money from the Serenity Plus via Bridgestone when they are on special.

First task is to get the steering issue resolved and then I'll get the new tyres. I don't want to pour any more money into the car if this can't be resolved.

Thanks for your advice, I'll keep you updated.

Cheers ☺️
 

bigdealbaby

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I have a set of the serenity plus on my girlfriends car (kia rio) so the results may vary as far as wear etc, however they've been fantastic so far.

Absolutely fantastic wear characteristics.
 
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