Somebody teach me about tires!
 

OK, I have a 2000 TL and I need new front tires. I don't want them to be too nice because I'm not looking to spend too much. I have another car too that I work on, so this will be the ride with OK tires. I don't want them to be shitty, but I just need new tires cuz my fronts are balding on the outside and rotating them won't help. So I'm looking for good treadlife. I was on tirerack.com and it had this size: Original Equipment 205/60-16 listed for our cars. I have no idea what these numbers mean, can anyone enlighten me? Also, I was hoping for a little bit wider tires for some handling...I only need the front two and I'm not looking to spend more than 125 or so. I currently have mastercraft tires, and even though there are WAY better tires out there...I was actually happy with the way this handled (prolly cuz I was coming from a 93 camry daily driver before this and that car handled pretty shitty by comparison...) So can anyone give me a quick layman's terms schooling on tire sizes and numbers and how to look? :ponder: Thank you all very much for reading!!!

the 205 stands for the width in mm. the 60 is the percentage of the width that equals the sidewall height. the last number 16 is the diameter of the wheel.

A good read on tires http://auto.howstuffworks.com/tire.htm

nicee, thanks :) some good reading

Also remember the traction, temperature, and treadwear grades.

For traction, the highest grade is now AA, then A, B, and C. You want an A or AA.

For temperature it's A, B, or C. Here you want an A as well.

On treadwear, it will depends on the type of tire you're buying (and rim size in some cases). Here's what I've seen in general terms that you should expect:

Rating
200 - sporty, sticky summer tires (higher performance)
300 - general all-season tires
400 - higher mileage touring tires

I just bought 4 Continental extreme contact tires (they are currently sitting in my garage :D) that have the following ratings:

Traction AA
Temp A
Treadwear 400

They were less than $100, but I don't know if they're available in your size (I have a Type S).

If you're looking for general tires, look for A's in traction and temp and 300 or better in treadwear. I would also advise you to read the reviews of the tire on the tire rack. If the review is from a driver with less than 10,000 miles on them don't put much weight on it. You want to know how the tires last over time.

You can save a good deal of money by buying you tires online and mounting them yourself. Check out Kuhmo they pretty inexpensive and preform just as well as Toyo's. I know I will get some crap for saying that but it's true. Kuhmo's are great values and have great high preformance all season tires that fit your specs perfectly. You can get 16" Kuhmo's for close to 125.00 on-line easy. :uzi: :ecstatic:

Also, Remebmer to look at the "DOT" number stamped on them. The DOT number is only stamped on one of the tyres sidewall so you may have to turn the tyre over to see it. After the "DOT" will be a series of numbers. THe last four (4) are when the tyre was produced. The first two are the week, and the last two are the year.

Example: DOT 9878 098 0604 The last four would indicate it was made in the sixth week of 2004. I never buy tyres that are more than 4-6 months old. Most discounted tyres have been laying around the shop for a while and are old. Thus the weather/environment has already started to degrade them.

Don't cheapen out on tires. It's like a bad pair of shoes you saw on sale and hated it after you bought it. Go to tirerack and input your tire size/ model. Read on the reviews about the tires and won't go wrong. If you're gonna use it all year round in PA, I suggest you get good tires with good "wet" traction, that may help you when the snow comes down.

Also, buy a set of 4 and don't buy 2 at a time, the tire wear won't be even and you're asking for trouble when the bad weather arrives.

You'll find that your ride/ cornering/ handling will all improve dramatically with better graded tires than what you got used to.

I guess with stock TL-P rims, you can go as far as 225/55/ 16. You can also use H-rated and above.

I second that. Just bought a set of the Kumho ASX from the local discount tires. They were around $100/each mounted and balanced. They perform very well and very quiet. check out the ratings from Tirerack.com

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....odel=Ecsta+ASX

They were rated very well as you can see.

Good luck

Don't buy 2 tires especially if they're not the same as the other 2. Having mismatched tires on a car is just plain dangerous. If money is an issue, get 4 lower priced tires and you'll still have better performance than 2 new tires, and 2 half worn out tires.

JetJock...I thought that too, but my mechanic said since my rears look almost like new, that gettingonly the front wouldn't be so bad. The tread on my rear is much more plentiful than the front, where they are balding. I wish I could take some pics so I can get everyone's advice...but I've heard it is an OK thing to do if you have enough tread on the other tires...

You can mix tires, as long as you do it in pairs. The fronts should always match, and the backs should always match.