Well I finally had to break down and get some new tires. $450 later with a 4-wheel alignment I ended up with the Cooper Xeon ZPT's. I have to say that those things are awsome. They make the focus feel like its bolted to the road. Some of which Im sure is just from driving on tires that were pretty worn out. So to make sure it just wasnt all that I did a little 'testing'.
There is a curved off ramp I use going to work that even when the old tires were good I could do only around 40 maybe 45 mph around. I decided that I would come off the highway and not touch the brakes until I had to. Doing 75 I disengaged the cruise control and when I hit the start of the curve I was doing about 60 mph and never once felt any sliding or indicating that she was about to let go. Of course Im sure the SVT suspension in the rear helps that some. I did several more 'test' like that around other curves and on/off ramps and all were the same. Much higher speed capability with no indication that I needed to bleed off the speed. They have really bumped up the confidence level in handling.
They are directional tires too. Storm season will be here soon so I weighed what my needs were against what the weather is like here and decided that we have WAY more rain that snow and I definately want better traction in the rain. Chasing down a storm or tornado in torrential down pours doing 70+ in many cases I definately need some assurance Im going to have adequate traction. Several times this last storm season I had to seriously slow down because the tires just werent up to the task. So when it starts pouring down here we'll see how they do when I get to put them through a torture test then. You ever want to know what a good wet weather tire is, ask someone that chases storms, they'll speak up I assure you cause they all depend heavily on them.
They have a treadwear of 380 which I found a bit surprising for a high performance tire classification. We'll see how that all pans out. I think if I could get 40k miles out of them, Id be pretty happy about that. I have to say, and this is probably a guy thing, but I think they're pretty sexy tires too.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
I'm back in snow country. On ramp at 5mph is kind of the limit right now.
Enjoy them for the rest of us poor sots, we'll be smiling right along with you.
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A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams...John Barrymore
Codger wrote: Looks like a very effective tread pattern.
I'm back in snow country. On ramp at 5mph is kind of the limit right now.
Enjoy them for the rest of us poor sots, we'll be smiling right along with you. What!?? You didn't take the Busa?
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
Mr. Versatile wrote: Codger wrote: Looks like a very effective tread pattern.
I'm back in snow country. On ramp at 5mph is kind of the limit right now.
Enjoy them for the rest of us poor sots, we'll be smiling right along with you. What!?? You didn't take the Busa?
No knobbies available for it
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A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams...John Barrymore
TXFO wrote: 450 WITH an alignment??!! WTF size tires were you buying, 12s? !
thats the best price EVAR!
Nope, got low profile 16's. I had a co-worker recommend the place to me after buying the same tires for his Mustang GT, though his werent as cheap for some reason.
Come to find out, though, when I went there they sponsor one of the local Amsoil dealers that is very heavy into circle track racing. However, I got no discount being an Amsoil dealer .
I told the guy I wanted a 4-wheel alignment also so he totaled up the order and it came out $454 and some change. The other great news is that when they did the alignment, the guy came and told me that the thing was still in spec. 5 year old car, never had an alignment done that I know of and its still in spec. The guy did say that the front was on the extreme end of that range, toe I believe he said, whatever would cause the tires to wear on the outside. The 4-wheel alignment was like $60 I believe so the tires with tax, mounted and balanced were $394, which I thought was a pretty good deal for a high performance tire.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
WTF size tires were you buying, 12s? !
.