Best tires for the money?

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kitchman
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Best tires for the money?

Post by kitchman »

Hello again, Walmart has many tire options for 175/70R13 size and was curious if the board has a recommendation?
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irowiki
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by irowiki »

Find the cheapest, then find the most expensive, and settle somewhere in the middle.
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splatterdog
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by splatterdog »

First, figure out what you want in a tire. Tread designs/compounds vary greatly. In my opinion M+S means maybe snow, mountain peak/snowflake means better winter tire. That is about the second cheapest tire size made, splurge a little. I've seen some cheapo tires at Walmart that were very questionable. They were brown and hard enough for forklift duty! I will give you one guess where they originated.

My go to tires for overall value are General and Kumho. The latter is as low grade as I will sell. Avoid generic weird China tires. Remember, you have to live with a tire decision until they are done.

Maybe show us specific tires, again, after you figure out what you want out of the tires.
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Mattel
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by Mattel »

If you change to 14" wheels you will have much greater options.

Really depends on your budget and conditions where driving. Highway or back road? Personally I try not to skimp of tyres or shoes. Anything that gives you grip

I've been impressed by some of the Korean brands of late.
Previous: 83 Tercel SR5 4wd, 84 Tercel SR5 4wd
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Petros
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by Petros »

if you stay with the 13" wheels, get the cheapest. up grade and than consider something better.

One thing I noticed, the lowest cost tire is not necessarily the lowest cost per mile. I needed tires and just bought some cheapies when I still had 13" steel wheels, they kept failing and they would replace one or the other underwarranty, but it was neusance and i wanted to switch to 14" alloys, but I could never seem to wear out a set of 4 cheapies. So I just switched.

Another time I bought less costly Faulken lower profile/wider tires for the 14" wheels, and they seemed to wear out faster than I expected. Next time I bought more expensive Michelines, and discovered several years later I got almost twice the number of miles out of them. the per mile cost was much lower.
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Petros
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by Petros »

that being said, I have found the "Discount Tire" store chain had by far the best prices ever on good tires. I think in California the same chain is called "American Tire".
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
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splatterdog
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by splatterdog »

Their house brand Arizonian looks decent, I see many. Despite the arid name, they look like they would do OK in snow.

Forgot to mention to call around. Sometimes stores have good pulloffs. When my friends T4 was still rolling he got a very near new set of blizzaks for $200 at Discount. Like new is the ONLY time used is a good idea, check the build date too. Worn out happens well before wear bars. 5/32nds is the minimum, if rain/snow performance is important to you.

Falken's get filtered out of all my tire searches.

Only get Michelins if you put miles on. Tire manufacturers have scaled back to 8 years old on a tire, some car makers say 6 now! Usually high treadwear compromises traction with harder rubber too. Michelin's zigzag sipes helps offset that.
teranfirbt
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by teranfirbt »

Avoid anything that's not a big name tire. General or Uniroyal are about the cheapest I go. Peter's experience with Michelin is pretty typical. Goodyear/BFG/Michelin/Bridgestone will all last longer than cheaper tires, and generally will have more grip and better ride characteristics as well. You (generally) get what you pay for with tires.
jimcrazy
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by jimcrazy »

I would not recommend Michelin harmony tires ,,I put a set on last spring 195-70-14 and they are coming off this spring,,they are scary hydroplaning in the rain on the highway
kitchman
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by kitchman »

Decided to go with Walmart's Solar 175/70R/13 4xs tires priced @$34.41. They are apparently made by Sumitomo rubber company. The car rides very nicely and appears to be quieter/stable than the Michelins being replaced. They give a 45,000 limited warrantee. The total cost with tax and balancing was $184.65 less $35 for opening a Walmart credit card, so $149.65 for all four! Can't complain.
cars-guy
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by cars-guy »

Hey all, new to the forum and tercels but not new to tires and cars. I would say the best tire for the money hands down is the hancook optimo. Here in socal you can get them for about 45 bucks each from pretty much anywhere. Thats only 5-10 bucks more then the cheapest no name brand Chinese tire. I just put a set on my Mk1 Golf and they handle and grip as good or better then a tire twice its price. It also has decent snow and dirt traction too. They also come with a 70,000 mile, no questions asked warranty. If you want a video showing what these tires can do here is a youtube video from my golf on a mountain road. If you don't want to watch the whole thing the driving footage starts at 5:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHa-aX27dYA&t=191s
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Petros
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by Petros »

hey Cars-guy,

welcome to the forum! you have confirmed my suspicion that all Golf drivers are BMW wanabies. At least the Golf is fun to drive and has decent handling, and lots of fun after market parts are available for them. Unlike the Tercel4wd. do not expect the T4wd to ever handle as good as either of those cars in your video (nice production quality BTW, been thinking of making some DIY repair guides myself but need to polish my film making skills). Handling and performance can be improved, just do not expect it to ever handle as well as a Golf. There are lots great threads to improve just about all aspects of the t4wd on this forum.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
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cars-guy
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Re: Best tires for the money?

Post by cars-guy »

Thanks Petros, I'm not a BMW driver wanna be at all lol, There fun to drive but way too much of a money pit. My goal is to crush BMWs with the crappiest car I can find. In any case, I wasn't trying to compare handling, just showing more or less that tire is pretty damn good. and film making isn't too bad. if you have any newer smart phone the camera and mic should be plenty good
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