[woywitka]

so i have had enough! my saab has a lot going for it now, i have poured my heart and sould into her and now its time to go the next step! the car came with a set of t-rated michlin tires that i wore 70% of the treat in about 11,000kms . they were old, soft, and didn't do well vs. h-rated i had on my 84 900sport. so here is what i want to do and i want opinions please:

-replace other 3 balljoints with good quality ones (allready did one that was shot a few months back), i figure this will improve the handling on the car and allow for a nice even tire wear.
-my car vibrates when i accelerate above 100km/h on the freeway, so i think the inner driver is shot right? my outer has a collapsed (not torn) boot. i can get a replacement axle from my parts job for $60-70 thanks to my discount:cheesy: .
-get an allignment done. (wheel not quite center and drifts a bit)
-new h-rated tyres, looking at a set of Falcon all season h-rated. comes with a 30 day trial period, so if i don't like them i get full purchase credit towards different tires and mounting and balancing again is free. my other choice would be a set of h-yokahamas.

any opinions on either tires, balljoints and the vibrations would be great prior to dropping all this money (i'm only 17, seems like a fortune). i gather from all the recent posts i have read i'm on the right track, however tires vary from country to country and the tire place i want to go with (kal-tire) has a very good reputation and offers free puncture repair on thier tyres, as well as many other perks, the guys reccomended these tyres for my saab. also i wanted to go wide as possible without rubbing, guy at kal tire said this will make for worse rain traction but better dry traction and said to stick with stock size, but for a few more $ i want to go wider to improve the look, how wide can i go without issues. i wil also be putting these tyres on a set of aero 3 spokes and getting rid of my 15 spokes.

 

[jetman]

I always buy used tires. For 15 inch its usually $25-30 installed and they usually have 75% or so life left on them. Are they as good as brand spanking new tires? No. Can you do all 4 for the price of one new tire? Yes.

 

[Matt88S]

-my car vibrates when i accelerate above 100km/h on the freeway, so i think the inner driver is shot right?

I would wait on this until after you replace your tires. A lot of shakes and shimmies disappear when you put new tires on. I had a bad vibration on the highway and it turned out the inside of my right front tire had been scraped badly, (wires exposed etc, etc) and this was causing the vibration, but wasn't noticeable until the tire was off. This all cleared up with new tires.

also i wanted to go wide as possible without rubbing, guy at kal tire said this will make for worse rain traction but better dry traction and said to stick with stock size

It will also make it handle worse on snow. The improvement would be little and you may end up with rubbing issues. Some of the other guys on the board can tell you more about that.

Make sure you do your ball joints before your get the allignment, which, by the way is a smart thing to do after getting new tires. And you might also check the tie rod ends as well.

cheers,

 

[JonV]

I've been using pirelli 205/55s with good results.....regarding the traction issue for rain or snow.....just drive in a manner that is proper for the conditions....no matter what tire your using, to fast is to fast.

J

 

[Basre]

from hard learned lessons:.. Do not go for used tires.. unless they are off of yr Father's car... or somewhere equally trustworthy, but the odds are against you.
Reminds me of one of the Local Saab Indie Fools.. told me he didn't like Michelins.. after spotting a fresh set on my 900.. sed he had lotsa trouble with them, vibration poor traction, leaks.. Asked how old his tires were, trying to determine what exactly had gone wrong.. Claimed he didn't know cuz they were 3rd hand tires.!
Never gone back to that Fool's shop.

 

[jetman]

I've had about 8 sets and never had a problem! Although you should definately inspect them pretty good before choosing them. If I had a mint car, I would definately put on new tires. But I'd feel pretty silly putting $600 worth of tires on a $150 car.

 

[woywitka]

I've had about 8 sets and never had a problem! Although you should definately inspect them pretty good before choosing them. If I had a mint car, I would definately put on new tires. But I'd feel pretty silly putting $600 worth of tires on a $150 car.

-i do a lot of driving, two driving related jobs, i want a good amount of safety, peace of mind, and the nice look of new tires is awsome!
-my car is also worth way more than $150, after new tires and this work i'm sure it could go for $4,000-$5,000 here on the westcoast. i'm also planning on dooing new paint, new windscreen, turbo, and trans all within the next two years. i plan on keeping this reliable beast for a long while.

 

[BAGGY]

Tires

Hi I Put A Set Of Goodyear Tripletread On My 9oos , Cant Say Enough Good Stuff About Them. Stick To The Road Like Poop To A Blanket,wet Or Dry.
Baggy

 

[jetman]

I do 500km min a week too. But nonetheless, I wasn't my intention to hijack this thread on you! I'd stick with the stock tire size whatever you buy.

 

[First SAAB]

I would not recomend increasing the tire size. I have done it on a number of cars, and it only makes it look better. The bigger tires reduce fuel economy, can be louder, impact suspension tuning by increasing weight, Make the power steering work harder when turning at slow speed and can cost a bit more. A set of standard sized H-rated tires will be handle much better than the A/T tires you have now. I have Michlin A/T tires on my Elantra GT and have 50K+ on them with almost no wear so you may have an alignmet issue.

If you are going to keep the car and you have already had one ball joint failure than I would finsh the job, get an alingment, replace the tires and then reevluate changing there drive shafts. On one side you will save some time replacing them when you do the ball joints, on the other, if the boots are good, they do not tick when you turn sharp, they should be OK.

 

[jetman]

This is like a great big pan-Canadian party today!

 

[900t]

Sorry, just needed to complete the picture.

 

[900t]

As for tires, I like the Falken Ziex 512, plus they are very inexpensive via www.tirerack.com

That said used tires I've had many and no complaints, for the most part.

One thing that will eat up your tires fast is driving at or beyond the speed rating. If you've been past 190km/h on your T tires many times, or you do hard cornering, or braking etc the tires will wear noticeably faster. An H tire I feel much safer on because I know I can go 30km/h's faster

I get fair milage from my pneus. I drive too fast

 

[REDTURBO84]

Hi, I run Kumho tires in the summer . They are cheap , wear like iron ,ride smooth , great ratings and reviews.About the same price as used ones and they have a great warrentee. I also bought mine at www.tirerack.com. I run used Gislaved nord frost in the wet and snow. I would do the ball joints and allignment at this time .Along with a set of 195/60/15 Kumho ECSTA HP4 716 at $41.00 each .I think you could reduce your out of pocket expenses to under $500.00 . Spend the other $500 on a road trip!:cheesy: Pat

 

[Fakie]

Personally I have this thing about second hand or cheap tyres.

It is only those 4 bits of rubber that hold you to the road when doing 70mph, so why compromise ?

It is not really a matter of economics as surely your life is worth more than $600 ?? or maybe it isn't

 

[jetman]

Personally I have this thing about second hand or cheap tyres.

It is only those 4 bits of rubber that hold you to the road when doing 70mph, so why compromise ?

It is not really a matter of economics as surely your life is worth more than $600 ?? or maybe it isn't

I think that your chances of encountering death because of a blow out are pretty slim. I've had blow outs (only with new tires, interestingly) and its just not that big of a deal. I've even shredded the front tire of a motor bike mid turn and it was only a matter of standing the bike up and riding off the turn.
Sometimes I think maybe you guys take your cars a touch too serious. Not that that's a bad thing though. I don't know, I guess I'm a little too cavalier as well.

 

[Fakie]

I think that your chances of encountering death because of a blow out are pretty slim

Not really talking about blow outs, just the general wear and tear a tyre suffers and cause over time rubber degrades. Some economies are just not worth it..

Sometimes I think maybe you guys take your cars a touch too serious

You wouldnt say that if you saw me drive

Just why take risks for the sake of only a bit of cash. Especially as these cars are essentailly high performance motors... and then we tune em ....

Each to their own though

 

[Jezzadee]

I'd never buy second hand tyres either. Just don't trust them, especially given how the rubber gets brittle with age. I also get new ones well before the tread gets to the legal minimum of 1.2mm.

 

[woywitka]

so got all the balljoints done, WOW AMAZING HANDLING!

anywho, guys at the tire place are ordering in a set of falken h-rated 195/60 r15's, but they have in stock : flaken v-rated 205-55-15, what do you think? what would you guys go for? $300 price jump

 

[SAABotaged900S]

I'm also in the market for tires, I posted earlier (c900 tires) and had a question of tire sizes. My car already had H rated 190/60R15s, but now I noticed they are well below the legal limit. I was over at tirerack.com this even and found a set of tires I may purchase. I'm looking at the Fuzion HRi, considering theyre only $41 each, and I only need the front ones, the rear tires are in good condition.
They seem to be fairly decent tires for the price and have a 4 and a half star rating, outside of the snow traction rating. Like you Woywitka, I am also on a tight budget, and its cheaper to get these things off tirerack.com than go to a place like Mavis and pay for worse rated tires for more money and pay for installation, mounting and balancing, when I can get all of that done for nothing at one of the body shops I know.
I used to get used tires if I were in a pinch. No spare tire came with my 900 (anyone got one for sale :lol and I've put them on the 900 before. As for blowouts, I've never had one, but I've had the front driver's side rim fly off my 87 Cutlass Supreme while making a right turn, to this day you can see the groove left in the street from the rotor. ;oops:
But I really wouldn't trust used tires all that much, that's why I'm springing for the extra money.