Ok so I just got my new tires put on a couple hours ago. I bought them through TireRack, first time doing that, and had them sent to a local installer. Big thanks to @Rudy@tirerack for the help in deciding.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza RE-11A
The process was really surprisingly painless. Tires shipped, the place called, I drove over, they installed for the price quoted. Amazing. They did get a couple extras but I was counting on that so I was not surprised. I paid for lifetime balance/rotate which was $8/tire. I felt it wasn't a bad price and now if I throw a wheel weight or just feel like they need to be redone, its covered. Also, I love being able to pull in and have someone else do the rotations for me, whenever I feel like it. Hahahah not bad for $32 extra. I also sprang for new TPMS seal kit thingies. $5/wheel. Fine with me. Mine were a couple years old and had been subjected to some rough conditions. I thought another $20 for no issues is a deal. Ok enough rambling. ($60 for tire install, $52 add-ons, $112 total)
The first 50 miles:
So far this is a great tire. It is very quiet. Rides really nice. I have gotten no tramlining or pulling. I used to get that from my old summer tires and thought it was just normal. Nope. These are so far superior it's not even funny. Also I did hit some, erm, I wanted to make sure they were balanced well at speed so I hit the highway for some "safety testing." Either the guy balanced them damn near perfect or they just won't shake or transmit vibrations. Smooth all the way so far.
It is going to rain here in the next couple days so I can update as I drive more and give my initial wet impressions as well.
TL/DR - Initial impression: Awesome. Buy some.
Update 5/11/14: 700 miles
So I'm up to about 700 miles on these tires so far. I am liking them more and more everyday. They ride great and having broken in a little I've been trying to find the limits of traction with them. I have not found it yet. Hahahah. That said, they definitely communicate what is going on very very early. You can definitely hear the tires "talking" when you start pushing them. I have not had a lot of noise but as you start pushing harder and harder they being making a "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" noise that gets louder the faster you go. I have not noticed any sliding or looseness in the steering wheel so I suspect that they are still providing full traction.
I had read that these tires would do that, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to buy them. I wanted a tire that would let me know I was pushing it before it completely breaks free. My old tires were silent until it was too late. I took a go-pro video the other day but you couldn't hear it on the video. I'll try and get another one with a different camera position and hopefully you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.
One thing I have noticed is that these tires run slightly wider than stated. I will try and measure them and get an accurate number in mm. I know they run wider because one of them is rubbing my rear passenger side fender! It's very slight but it definitely says that the tire is a few mm wider than the old ones I had in the same size. But, yea, it only rubs when the car is under some serious cornering force causing the suspension to compress quite a bit. Ok thats the update for now. Pics, vid, measurements to come.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza RE-11A
The process was really surprisingly painless. Tires shipped, the place called, I drove over, they installed for the price quoted. Amazing. They did get a couple extras but I was counting on that so I was not surprised. I paid for lifetime balance/rotate which was $8/tire. I felt it wasn't a bad price and now if I throw a wheel weight or just feel like they need to be redone, its covered. Also, I love being able to pull in and have someone else do the rotations for me, whenever I feel like it. Hahahah not bad for $32 extra. I also sprang for new TPMS seal kit thingies. $5/wheel. Fine with me. Mine were a couple years old and had been subjected to some rough conditions. I thought another $20 for no issues is a deal. Ok enough rambling. ($60 for tire install, $52 add-ons, $112 total)
The first 50 miles:
So far this is a great tire. It is very quiet. Rides really nice. I have gotten no tramlining or pulling. I used to get that from my old summer tires and thought it was just normal. Nope. These are so far superior it's not even funny. Also I did hit some, erm, I wanted to make sure they were balanced well at speed so I hit the highway for some "safety testing." Either the guy balanced them damn near perfect or they just won't shake or transmit vibrations. Smooth all the way so far.
It is going to rain here in the next couple days so I can update as I drive more and give my initial wet impressions as well.
TL/DR - Initial impression: Awesome. Buy some.
Update 5/11/14: 700 miles
So I'm up to about 700 miles on these tires so far. I am liking them more and more everyday. They ride great and having broken in a little I've been trying to find the limits of traction with them. I have not found it yet. Hahahah. That said, they definitely communicate what is going on very very early. You can definitely hear the tires "talking" when you start pushing them. I have not had a lot of noise but as you start pushing harder and harder they being making a "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" noise that gets louder the faster you go. I have not noticed any sliding or looseness in the steering wheel so I suspect that they are still providing full traction.
I had read that these tires would do that, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to buy them. I wanted a tire that would let me know I was pushing it before it completely breaks free. My old tires were silent until it was too late. I took a go-pro video the other day but you couldn't hear it on the video. I'll try and get another one with a different camera position and hopefully you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.
One thing I have noticed is that these tires run slightly wider than stated. I will try and measure them and get an accurate number in mm. I know they run wider because one of them is rubbing my rear passenger side fender! It's very slight but it definitely says that the tire is a few mm wider than the old ones I had in the same size. But, yea, it only rubs when the car is under some serious cornering force causing the suspension to compress quite a bit. Ok thats the update for now. Pics, vid, measurements to come.
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