Need tire advice

[haux]

Towards the end of this year and the beginning of next year I will be traveling to the Northwest. I am aware that the region can get pretty bad during the winter, so I'm looking to buy a set of winter tires that will also work well in dry conditions.

Yesterday, my front left tire went flat on the highway shortly after making a sharp turn onto the ramp and sliding a little bit. It actually wasn't much of a sharp turn, but the tread if warn down quite a bit. I'm running on Goodyear tires right now, and I'm nearing their 60k lifetime.

I pay about $225 at Wal-Mart for 4 tires installed. I'm looking to pay approx. the same amont for new ones. I hear Yokohama tires are good and inexpensive. I need some opinions.

[Tom 2000]

I live in the Seattle area and the winters here aren't bad. It snows maybe a couple of times a year and the rest is rain. All-season tires are just fine.

Yokohama, Falken, Bridgestone, Good Year, BF Goodrich and Michelin are the brands I've had good experiences with. General was so so.

What size are you looking for? Unless your car has 185/70R14s or 195/70R14s, 4 tires will cost a lot more than $225.

[haux]

Well, it's on a 2000 Toyota Camry. I'm not exactly sure what size tire it is without checking. It's not Seattle I'm concerned about, it's the trip there. I will be in Denver, Salt Late City, etc. I'll be going through the mountains, which supposedly get pretty rough in the winter.

I normally get Good Year tires, and with a 10% discount, it comes to about $225 after tax, I believe. Maybe it's 250-275, but either way, it's around that amount. I don't think I want to get Good Year anymore. They slide on turns in the rain, and they wear down before their 60k mile lifetime. The last wiper blades I've purchased were Michelin, and I absultely love them. The last two pairs I've used were other brands and have sucked major ass. So at the moment I've gotten a very good impression of Michelin products. If their tires are anything like their wiper blades, then they must be pretty good.

I was also wanting some help with picking out which Yokohama winter tires would be good to look into, just so I can get a quote from Wal-Mart.

[JMSinMD]

Yokohama Avid H4. Available on tirerack.com. Most likely on an I4 (4 cylinder) engine with a 14" wheel you are running a 195/70 14, if you have a 15" wheel then most likely you are running a 205/65 15. I believe starting in 2000, all Camry came with 15" wheels. Most places will match tirerack prices. Michelin makes decent tires but overpriced for what they are. Jon.

[Tom 2000]

For 2000, 4-cyl Camry LE and XLE models were upgraded to 15" wheels, but the CE still had 14"s. For 2001, all 4-cylinder Camrys (CE,LE & XLE) came standard with 15" wheels.

I've had good luck with Michelin tires in the past on my older cars. They ride well, wear well and handle well. I had Michelin Rainforce MX4s on my '88 Camry LE and Michelin XH-4s on my 92 Maxima. I am running Falken ZE-512 on my 2000 Camry LE and Falken ZE-328s on my 92 Nissan Maxima.

I had 15" tires on my Camry, but I have upgraded to 16".

The only thing I didn't like about Michelins are that they were pricey. I heard good things about Falken tires and tried them and have been very happy.

Go to the http://www.walmart.com You can price tires to fit your car on line.

I lived in Fort Collins, CO for 7 years before I moved to WA. Most of the snowfall is after the new year. Wyoming was worse as I've driven through too many snow storms there in the winter. I did fine with all-season tires for the most part. I just carried tire-chains in the trunk in case the weather turned really bad.

[haux]

Right now I have GoodYear Viva 2. They're $60 a tire. Very good price, very bad tire. I've put 50,000 out of 60,000 miles on them thus far. The front tires are 50% worn out, the rears are 60%. A few weeks ago I was in West Virginia and it was raining pretty heavily. I felt that my car couldn't go faster than about 50mph without sliding a bit. The speed limit was 70 and every car on the highway was passing me. This has nothing to do with my vehicle or my driving, it's simply that I felt my life was at risk if I went any faster because my tires weren't gripping the road worth shit.

I'm not sure if this could have anything to do with my wheels being out of alignment. The wear on the outer edges of the tires is pretty heavy. An asst. manager in the tire dept. at Wal-Mart told me that given the current edge wear, the belt underneath will soon be exposed. Would this have any affect on traction?

From the replies thus far, it looks like I may end up paying closer to $350 for more decent tires.

[Tom 2000]

If your car is out of alignment, then it will handle poorly and will definitely affect traction. The grooves on the tire tread are designed to channel water out so that you can get traction when the road is covered with water. When your tires are worn (shallower grooves or no grooves), then the tires cannot evacuate the water quickly enough and you end up hydroplaning (your tires float on water).

Get an alignment done and install a good set of tires.

[solidg]

I have michelin hydroedge, now for 3 years. there alot better then the american general. I have not had a flat yet. with the generals I had them all the time.

So if you can afford the $400 by michelins.

[thoughthard]

What size tires are we looking at?

I live in Fort Collins, CO. The same place Tom 2000 mentioned. Yes, the mountains get really crappy during the winter. If you know you will be travelling through them, I would not skimp on tires. Maybe consider a set of dedicated now tires. Alot cheaper to buy some killer snow tires now, then to pay for damages and towing later. I have never drove through the mountains during the winter, but I have seen enough on the news, so consider my advice as just my 2¢.

On my 92 Paseo during the winter, I run Yokohama Guardex 600 snow tires on the fronts, and Kumho ECSTA HP4 716 on the rears.

On my g/f's 05 Accord LXSE coupe, I put a set of Goodyear Assurance Tripletreds on. Great all season tire. Great in the winter. She commutes about 80 miles total daily to and from work, and has had no problems in winter.

[haux]

The size I'm looking for is 205-65-15.

I think I'm just going to get a set of BF Goodrich All-Season tires.

I don't think I want to get snow tires because I'm not only going to be driving in the snow. I'm definitely gonna be driving through the mountains, and most likely it will be through snow, but I need good rain and dry traction too. I'll probably get some chains for a worst case scenario.