Are YOU a Member of the "I Can Rotate My Tires Club"?

[drjoe]

I just installed Rial 15x6 with 195-50 Michellin Pilot Exalto AS's at all 4 corners. I would echo rfernatt's post. Looks and drives great. No interference at full lock or over bumps. Got the wheel/tire/TPS package from Tire Rack. Good price/fast service.

[riversidesmart]

I'm joining the Club, just ordered four Rial 15X6 wheels and four General Exclaim UHP tires in 195/50 size.

Based on positive reviews here (and my prior good experience with General UHP tires on other vehicles), I'm anticipating enhanced comfort and road feel. To me, the appearance of the Rials and the new tires should be an improvement. I'm pleased that there isn't a big increase in unsprung weight with these changes. The ability to rotate the tires (front to back only, they are directional designs) is just a bonus. I've found that there are tires with a bit less rolling resistance than these, but I doubt the change in mpg will be noticeable.

Should have the new shoes by first of the week.

Gil

[Dan1776]

I have purchased and had mounted tow alloy rear OE wheels for use as soon as I can remove my snow tires. The snows are on a separate set of OE rims and are also OE size tires.
Dan Hall

[SmartDigger]

I have a set of rears for sale if anyone wants to join this club.send me a pm

[riversidesmart]

Originally Posted by riversidesmart

I'm joining the Club, just ordered four Rial 15X6 wheels and four General Exclaim UHP tires in 195/50 size.

Based on positive reviews here (and my prior good experience with General UHP tires on other vehicles), I'm anticipating enhanced comfort and road feel. To me, the appearance of the Rials and the new tires should be an improvement...

Gil

Everything installed a couple of days ago, so far met all my expectations. Slightly odd feel of car on short drive home from tire shop was (as I suspected) due to total disregard of my instructions for tire pressure. (8 psi difference between right and left rear, 6 psi difference between right and left front tires). They had apparently reset the pressure sensors as well! And this was one of Tire Rack's better local installers. For now, using about 26-27 psi front, 32-33 psi rear. From VW experience, these UHP tires usually don't respond happily to over-inflation. Rial six-spoke wheels are beautifully finished, lookin' good after a coat of WheelWax. I've seen Big Panda's gallery photos with the factory rear alloys on the front, also look fine. Tire Rack's price and customer service for the wheels were great (as usual). They had none of these tires in stock in Nevada, so I bought from discounttires.com ... great price ($54 each), not quite the same level of customer communication.

[ulflyer]

Put a set of rears that just came from Smart Madness on front this PM and it surely does ride better. Only drove 13 mi home from shop and the steering on interstate is more "sensitive" but seemed less affected by truck turbulance. Installer insisted that air pressure be what it says on the door (29), so I'll go with that for awhile. I much prefer comfort over milage or longevity of the tires.

Edited 11-22-09: Have dropped the pressure to
24 front 30 rear to get softer more comfortable ride with no loss of handling for my old man style of driving. More than anything, I really like the decrease in turbulance on interstates.

[NCC1701]

..

[SmartDigger]

Side to side for me.

[fortow]

Originally Posted by ulflyer

... I much prefer comfort over milage or longevity of the tires.

That sort of strategy can get you in trouble. Tire pressures should not be adjusted for comfort. It's important that correct pressures be used both for safety in traction, braking, handling but also for safety in tire reliability.

One of the reasons for TPMS being mandated was the Firestone/Ford fiasco that was partly created by underinflated tires on Ford SUV's. Firestone blamed Ford for recommending underinflation and Ford blamed Firestone for defective tires.
Ford Explorer Rollover Rate, Tire Failure, Tire Problem, Ford Explorer Rolls Recall, Explorer Stability Design Problem NHTSA Believes, Tires Defect and Rollovers

Who's to blame Ford or Firestore? - Firestone Special Buy Truck/SUV Tire - Epinions.com

Low tire pressures create heat, internal tire wear, excessive tread wear, unpredictable handling, poor braking. Tires can suddenly fail. It's safer, in fact, to slightly overinflate than to slightly underinflate.
Ride comfort comes from spring rates, damping, chassis design, seat design, and from tire design as well.
Unless you know what you're doing and have the capability to be able to determine proper tire pressures for the type of driving you mainly do then don't take it upon yourself to simply reduce pressures for the sake of a smoother ride. Proper tire pressures are intended to keep the tread flat on the road surface for traction and to produce even wear across the tread surface. It is also dependent on the load they have to carry and the speeds driven.

[ulflyer]

Fortow: you're saying 29lbs in the front on a 175/15 tire is underinflated?