J E E - R A H L

tires

Alright boys and girls, pull up a chair, grab your pens and notepads - here's how I made buying a set of tires REALLY difficult.

It all started when I recently was involved in an accident. My tire was damaged and replaced by the insurance company, but in doing so, I now have one new tire and 3 worn tires. This may be ok in some situations, but the 3 original tires are ready to be replaced and hence the difference between the worn tires and new tire is too great and produces a wierd ride.

Time to get new tires. A normal person would probably say "oh, I have one new tire, I should get three more to match it" and all would be dandy. Unfortunately, I'm not one to leave things at face value and decided to fiddle. Ever since I started driving my Accord, I've really noticed how poor the tires are at gripping the road. To me, the suspension feels very capable (although the car is very heavy). The stock tires are Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus. Although it is a very expensive tire (retail price around $180/tire), it has poor handling characteristics and even worse wet performance (keep in mind the weather this year - DOH!). So, I decided not to get 3 more Michelins and look for something different. I finally decided on 2 different tires, and 3 different tire sizes. The two tires in question are both made by Yokohama, specifically, the AVS db S2's and the AVS ES100's. The AVS db S2's are considered Ultra High Performance, yet rated All Season, meaning I COULD drive in the snow if it came to it and still limp home. This tire had 2 sizes that fit my car and wheel combination, 205/65-VR15 and 225/60-VR15's. The AVS ES100's are a Summer Only, Ultra High Performance tire. This is they type of tire you would see on a serious sports car. This tire came in 215/60-VR15's that fit my car as well. Apart from the sizes (we'll get to that later), the two tires have some distinct differences. The AVS db S2's are definitely more for performance sedans. They are All Season and are rated not to wear as quickly as the ES100's. The ES100's on the other hand are constructed and designed to stick to the road. Both are great in the rain and surprisingly, both generate minimal road nose, although the AVS db S2's are better in this respect. Winner: AVS db S2's. Going on features alone, it's the tire to get. Decent wear, low noise, good performance, and I could still limp through the snow if I happen to be caught in some. Now for sizes. first let me explain how tire sizes work. Lets start with the stock tire size - 205/65-VR15. the 205 denotes tire width measured in mm. Apparently, tire manufacturers have a lot of leeway on this measurement and therefore a 205 is not necessarily a 205. Moving on. The next number, 65 is what's called the aspect ratio. It denotes the hight of the tire, but the nubmer itself is a percentage. The actual hight is that percentage multiplied by the width of the tire. So just because you have a low aspect ratio dosent mean you have skinny little tires. The last blurb is VR15. V is a speed rating. R means radial design (most modern tires are radials). 15 is the size of my wheel. So back to the three sizes:

205/65-VR15 in the AVS db S2's (also OEM size)
215/60-VR15 AVS ES100's
225/65-VR15 AVS db S2's

The price of the tires were about the same so that wasn't an issue. So, do I go wider or not, and if I do, how wide. Off the bat, I wanted the 225 db S2's. It had all the advantages, and was the widest biggest tire I could get. Much to my disappointment, it's out of stock.... EVERYWHERE. At first I was gonna wait for them to get back in stock, but after some thought I changed my mind. I figured, these tires would probably have abilities greater than my car and therefore a wider tire just wouldn't benefit me much. The ES100's were out due to treadwear. In the end, I ordered the AVS db S2's in the stock size. Oh well, maybe in another 30,000 miles I'll go wider.