after much deliberation, i finally got off my ass and bought some 17" 'Race Laces' ... they came with falken ziex tyres :D

for some reason ride comfort has seriously improved and i can sense much less vibration when driving over f*cked up sydney roads

here are a few rushed pics ... doesnt do it justice... but i will snap some more later
;)

good stuff bud. congrats. how much/where from?

Do you get better grip now?

I'm finding my normal 16" I loose traction on take offs, and tight+fast cornering :)

from tempetyres... man they r busy as hell.... waited around for like 2 hrs or so ... for $1800.... dunno if it is a bit steep but i got them to put my old alloys onto my sis's car....

driver, i cannot tell whether i have more grip as of now... coz i didnt get the chance to push my car after putting them on! but i am sure there is better grip... becoz now my front tyres actually protrude out the front wheel arches

those falkens are huge .... :p

driver, i cannot tell whether i have more grip as of now... coz i didnt get the chance to push my car after putting them on! but i am sure there is better grip... becoz now my front tyres actually protrude out the front wheel arches

those falkens are huge .... :p

illegal to have tyres protrude the wheel arches. did you get the correct offset wheels? you can change the offset by 25mm legally.

driver: I deffinately noticed an increase in grip when I went from 16's to 17's (also lowered at same time) It's harder to spin the wheels from a stand still. I really don't feel safe in my dads verada with 16's and fairly worn rubber they spin at any touch of the throttle. My original 16's still had new tyres so the new found grip is probably due to the sportier tread and increased tyre width

congrats on the rims sola|2a your new tyres are probably 235/45/17 which is what I have. They don't quite overhand my arches although killer across the road has the same spec tyres but 17x8 rims compared to my 17x7 and his seem to overhang a little

its actually illegal to have ya wheels outside the arches

my 18x8's are just wide on the front
so wen they sold them too me they just put on the receipt that they were sold as loose items

illegal to have tyres protrude the wheel arches. did you get the correct offset wheels? you can change the offset by 25mm legally.

yea....i probably overstated it... they only protrude by 2mm at most :p

so what offset should it be anyway?

slayer: i do have 235/45/17 !! what kinda tyres do u have mate?

yeah tempetyres are damn busy everyday!!! everytime i drive past it it is packed!!!!!

my 16" wheels/rubber is ~18months old, and my front ones are worn down twice as much as the ones on the back! :D

They spin real easy now. Getting a bit annoying cause I chirp the tires everytime I take off quick.

sola|2a yeah thought you would have that size it's a good size for general price/performance. When I selected my rims picking the tyres was the most important factor for me after much research I picked the firenza st-03 tyres and booked them in to get installed. However when I got there after they pulled my old tyres off they told me there was no firenza's left in the country grrr I ended up with a set of marshalls (american version of kumho) They seems to be a good tyre they have a nice tread pattern and when me and killer took each others car for a hammer there really wasn't any difference between his falkens and my tyres (i also had the choice of falkens) but I think in that price range there all pretty similar until you jump to the $300+/tyre range.

driver- how many k's you clocked up in 18months? might also be worth rotating the tyres if it's that bad

so y did u choose ur marshalls over falkens if u dun mind me asking? and wat was the price for each?

i really need to get my sola lowered though.... it kinda looks like a 4wd! :?

About 20k.

In another 2-3k my car is due back at the lowering shop so they can do some 10k wheel alignment / check, so I might get them to swap the back & front around then.

I have a feeling my current tyres are pretty shit. THey have "steel radials" written on them - they are like entry level grade isn't it?

of course I don't mind you asking just from the shopping around I'd done the falkens I was offered were the cheapest of the bunch (why they are thrown on most wheel/tyre packages) and a few different joints told me to be wary of them as they don't hold up as well in the wet. Now this is purely taking what the tyre shops (would of gone to atleast 10 different places) are telling me and I have no experience except for the sping in killers car on falkens. I honustly don't think there is a whole lot of difference in between all the tyres in this price range $150-$200. As I said if I could of gotten the firenza's I would of and the seconds best in the group I was offered were a set of dunlops but they were the last stock in australia so if I blew a tyre I wouldn't be able to get a replacement so I avoided them so it came down to the marshalls, falken, nankang, silverstone and a couple of others and I took the marshalls and havn't regretted it although i havn't had much experience on other "sports" tyres so they may be shocking without me knowing it :)

driver you probably have another 10k left on the tyres however it all depends on your driving style. On the 16's they are probably more of a family car cruising tyre with a more subdued tread pattern. If you go a sportier pattern you will probably find an increase in grip although I did find my road noise went up slightly (although this was with lowering and 17" rims put on at same time so any of them could be a factor)

you should try to rotate every 5-10k if possible and tyre pressure is also important. I got my tyres filled with nitrogen and personally think it's up there with the best $20 I've spent on my car :)

Just found out that my tire pressure had been lower than what I thought it was. The pump at the normal petrol station I use must be dodgy - I used one of those new digital air pumps at another petrol station and it said my my pressure was lower. Sure enough, don't get any where near as much chirping now when cornering hard & fast.

Just found out that my tire pressure had been lower than what I thought it was. The pump at the normal petrol station I use must be dodgy - I used one of those new digital air pumps at another petrol station and it said my my pressure was lower. Sure enough, don't get any where near as much chirping now when cornering hard & fast.

go get nitro in your tyres bob janes do all 5 tyres for 20 bucks and 6 month free top up if required (which is isnt because nitro stays in the tyres longer than air)

[quote:fd678fb4d5="vlad"]illegal to have tyres protrude the wheel arches. did you get the correct offset wheels? you can change the offset by 25mm legally.

yea....i probably overstated it... they only protrude by 2mm at most :p

so what offset should it be anyway?

slayer: i do have 235/45/17 !! what kinda tyres do u have mate?[/quote:fd678fb4d5]

If they protrude by 2mm then you should be able to get wheels that have
say 5mm more positive offset than what you've got at the moment.
When I went to get my 16x7 alloys, they gave me wheels which had the
same offset as that of the 15x6.5 factory alloys. This offcourse means that
the wheels protrude outside the arch and also the tyres were rubbing on
the splash guards during turns. So I went back and asked them to give me
new ones with adjusted offsets.

If they protrude by 2mm then you should be able to get wheels that have say 5mm more positive offset than what you've got at the moment.
When I went to get my 16x7 alloys, they gave me wheels which had the
same offset as that of the 15x6.5 factory alloys. This offcourse means that
the wheels protrude outside the arch and also the tyres were rubbing on
the splash guards during turns. So I went back and asked them to give me
new ones with adjusted offsets.

vlad, i dun seem to have a problem with the steering at all.... after taking another look... i guess it is only the tyre wall that protrudes out slightly...mayb only 1mm ... (i am looking down vertical at the ground standing over the wheelarch) ... i guess the reason for this is because there is a ring all the way around the tyre wall

i dun think it is a problem ... but i thank u for ur concern... much appreciate ur help :D

I definitely agree that the falkens aren't that great in the wet...

I bought my 17's from tempe tyres in january for 1800 bucks and they came with the falkens and yeah they are a billion times better than what I had but my car is still pretty slidy in the wet...even though it is way lowered.

ahh well...what can you do

I definitely agree that the falkens aren't that great in the wet...

I bought my 17's from tempe tyres in january for 1800 bucks and they came with the falkens and yeah they are a billion times better than what I had but my car is still pretty slidy in the wet...even though it is way lowered.

ahh well...what can you do

any pics of ur car mate? did u lower it by 2 inches? ;)

Here it is.

go get nitro in your tyres bob janes do all 5 tyres for 20 bucks and 6 month free top up if required (which is isnt because nitro stays in the tyres longer than air)
I just got my 235/45 R 17's about 3 weeks ago.
I got quotes from probably 8 or 9 tyre places and every single one said the nitrogen is a wank. Nothing more than a ploy to get you back into the store for regular top-ups.

For racing, nitrogen has it's benifits, no doubt. But on the road.. hmm

-Dan

[quote:bc375ff273="fysh"]go get nitro in your tyres bob janes do all 5 tyres for 20 bucks and 6 month free top up if required (which is isnt because nitro stays in the tyres longer than air)
I just got my 235/45 R 17's about 3 weeks ago.
I got quotes from probably 8 or 9 tyre places and every single one said the nitrogen is a wank. Nothing more than a ploy to get you back into the store for regular top-ups.

For racing, nitrogen has it's benifits, no doubt. But on the road.. hmm

-Dan[/quote:bc375ff273]

and did any of them actually have the nitrogen to try to sell you? Yeah I thought it was a wank as well and had been told that but I had also heard from third party users such as myself who have no reason to say it's good if its not so thought what the heck for $20 I'll give it a shot. My findings were the ride quality felt a whole lot smoother with higher pressures in there and my pressures basically havn't moved in 3 months (I've done a few checks with killers air pressure reader) Plus for all the ricers out there you get red caps and nitrogen stickers :)

In the end I've spend over $20.000 on a car $20 didn't seem like a huge ammount to have the best stuff in my tires. I wouldn't hesitate to fill my next set of tyres with nitrogen either but thats about all I would buy from bob jane!

and did any of them actually have the nitrogen to try to sell you? Yeah I thought it was a wank as well and had been told that but I had also heard from third party users such as myself who have no reason to say it's good if its not so thought what the heck for $20 I'll give it a shot. My findings were the ride quality felt a whole lot smoother with higher pressures in there and my pressures basically havn't moved in 3 months (I've done a few checks with killers air pressure reader) Plus for all the ricers out there you get red caps and nitrogen stickers :)

In the end I've spend over $20.000 on a car $20 didn't seem like a huge ammount to have the best stuff in my tires. I wouldn't hesitate to fill my next set of tyres with nitrogen either but thats about all I would buy from bob jane!

Yep. They pretty much all had the nitrogen to sell.
Wow, I'm really interested that you find it that much better. I also thought that for $20 I may as well get it, but I often drive places where it simply wouldn't be an option (middle of nowhere) and I like to be the one in control of my tyre pressures (as in, I can top them up whenever I like)
Maybe next time.

-Dan

ahh ok thats interesting

yeah mate i honustly did notice differences and i doubt it was purely placebo. Before nitrogen I also kept my pressure pretty stable with air so it wasn't an unfair comparison. A big point of the nitrogen is you really shouldn't lose pressure so don't have to worry about it as much on your trips (however you would be stupid not to check) and there is no problem putting air into the tyres if they absolutely need it you will just lose the benefits of a pure nitrogen filled tyre which you can get fixed for $5 if you need. And I must say again $20 is like a third of a tank of petrol which I'm willing to pay for something that should be a one off for the 30,000km or so I will use these tyres for :)