Tires BFGoodrich or GENERAL TIRE
I just moved back to the northeast and purchased a set of General Altimax Artic. Apparently they are Gislaved NF3's which is a Scandinavian tire rebranded by their parent company (Continental) and sold as Generals in the US. So far they have been good but no major snow storms but some ice and slush. I got them studded. Once the warm up they are fairly quite. Not to mention they are pretty inexpensive ($99 each). I got wheels, tires with studs, mounted/balanced and shipped for under $1K from Tire Rack. Pretty good if you ask me. -Ron
From what I have read these are great tires.
If you're looking for cheap performance summer tires I'd recomment the General Exclaim UHP or the Sumitomo HTRZ III, you'd be VERY surprised they handle and grip about 90% as well as a tire double it's cost, VERY well worth the money at about $80-$100/tire. I bought a set of the Exclaims and was very surprised, and 3 of my friends are running the HTRZ's and both tires are amazing for that pricepoint.
generally i buy BFG or Michelin, as when i worked in a garage, they were the best wearing, least problematic, and best performing tires for my needs.... Falkens/goodyears/bridgestones wear great tires (assuming they bought the correct tire for their application) but each had their troubles... often times it was customer maintinence, people never aligned, checked pressure, or other random issues... other times it was the tires generally wearing out too damned fast, as seen with most of the newer goodyears, and on a trip to test drive for goodyear, they even told me that they were having some issues with wear... bridgestones just never impressed me for the price, as there was a BFG G-force in the mix that was always as good...
Enkei Raijin 18x8, BF Goodrich g-force comp AS 2 plus
Well, the 235-45 tires arrived from Tire Rack mounted on forged rim aftermarket 17 inch wheels, these were installed yesterday. Steering feel and feed back are really good, little or no compromise of comfort. The Z-rated General tires, German-made, are actually a bit lighter than the 225-45 Goodyear R-SA's they replaced. No clearance problems, the three tenths of an inch increase in overall tire diameter isn't all that noticeable. The design of the wheel and the tire sidewall as well as the wider tire section width all give a lot more rim protection. The original VW wheels and OE tires left the outer rim and spokes protruding beyond the sidewall, very vulnerable to damage. Any change from OEM is invariably a compromise, no buyer's remorse on this one.
Recently upgraded a W8 wagon to 17 inch wheels and General Exclaim UHP Z-rated tires from Tire Rack. So far delighted. General is a Continental subsidiary, tires are mfg in Germany. Amazing level of comfort for a Z-rated tire.
The Generals are great, i had a set of falkens on the car and my new wheels i put the generals on and the handling in the rain was way better, dry they might be a little sticker but i really don't push my car that hard so i really cant say.
I run KDW2s on an 8" wide wheel, which are one of the widest tires you can get in a 235. Prior to doing the fender screw mod and a very light fender rolling, I'd rub fairly often on rough pavement.
I have had this problem too after I got my car back from the shop and had almost new BFGoodrich KDW2's put on. Ever since, the car instantly pulls over to the right to a point where I was always holding the steering wheel a little left everyplace I went. I set the PSI on both sides equally and that helped some, but it still does it so I hope this thread comes up with something. I was just about to go back to the shop and have them re-align it but the guy swears they already did it. Maybe the steering wheel isn't on correctly, they installed a new airbag as well. It makes the car difficult to control around twisties too.
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