[SAAB67]

I recently bought a 2007 SAAB 9-3 convertible for my sister, the owner said it needs new tires. She will be flying with me to pick up the car. I was wondering if some tires I saw online will fit the Car. They are 205/65R/16, they have the regular size tires on them now.

 

[EdT]

No, those are 17" rims. Tire size will be 225/45-17 or 235/45-17

 

[SAAB67]

Thanks. It is 235/45/17. I see they have 2 different sizes listed for that vehicle.

 

[EdT]

Thanks. It is 235/45/17. I see they have 2 different sizes listed for that vehicle.

Earlier Aeros came with 17x7 rims, and if you go by tire manufacturers' guidelines, 225/45 is the widest that will fit. The rims in the picture are 17x7.5, and 235/45 will fit. I have a set of those rims and plan to put the 235/45 tires on them, because rubber band tires make no sense on the roads in and around Toronto (and trying to claim for pothole damage probably won't do you much good).

 

[SAAB67]

I see all kinds of brands on the internet, and makes me all the more confused. I know from experience that General Tires are a bad choice due to road noise. Is {off brands} recommended ?

 

[EdT]

I see all kinds of brands on the internet, and makes me all the more confused. I know from experience that General Tires are a bad choice due to road noise. Is {off brands} recommended ?

I don't think it's possible to generalize too broadly about various tire lines from one manufacturer; they may make good ones (for you) and bad ones (for you).

You also need to know what's important to you. There is no way to get an ideal tire--there are always tradeoffs. "Choose wisely," is that Yoda?

Even with a good off-brand, you get what you pay for.

There are a number of places that review tires. TireRack does that. I'm not saying to look at user reviews, look at the TireRack tests where they take four tires and do various tests with measuring equipment.

I find the user reviews to be close to useless. One person says their tires were perfect after 145,00 miles and let their car climb Mt. Everest, while another person says that the tires skidded off the road, overturned, and caught fire on a warm summer day two weeks after installing them.

 

[BobSaabit]

I find the user reviews to be close to useless. One person says their tires were perfect after 145,00 miles and let their car climb Mt. Everest, while another person says that the tires skidded off the road, overturned, and caught fire on a warm summer day two weeks after installing them.

I DO find Tirerack reviews useful. But they are unscientific statistically, so they only make sense when there are many of them so that the averages actually have meaning in the summary chart. I don't like any tire that has under 1,000,000 miles reported. After 1M miles, they start to be a good indication of a tire's features. I'm not suggesting that you take a tire that rates 8.6 as a better peformer than an 8.4, but a tire that's a 8.0 is definitely better than a 7.0 in a specific category.

On individual reviews, disrefard any reviews of less than 10K miles... 20K or more is about the point where the reviews start to matter. Also look for similar cars and driving styles by the reviewer. As you note, there will always be great divergence, but if a number of folks say something in particular about a tire, it's probably true to some extent.

 

[BobSaabit]

I see all kinds of brands on the internet, and makes me all the more confused. I know from experience that General Tires are a bad choice due to road noise. Is {off brands} recommended ?

If you tell us a little more about where she drives and how she drives, that would help direct you to specific tires.

 

[SAAB67]

Ok My sister lives in a busy part of Shelby Township, MI. Her routine is usually shopping and running errands. She only drives a Stick not save gas but to race to the next light. lol. She needs to slow down or have the best grip. This is her 3rd SAAB. Now she is SAAB for life.

 

[EdT]

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?zip-code=12345&width=235/&ratio=45&diameter=17&rearWidth=255/&rearRatio=40&rearDiameter=17

None of those will really do in winter if she likes to push the car; she will need winter tires also.

 

[Jssaab]

I have been putting Sumitomo tires on my saabs for the last 5 years and can say I am quite impressed for the cost.

Great wet and dry and snow traction ( had ice today and car handled great. )

I paid $280 for 4

Only issue is they are a little soft in the sidewalls so you feel that whipping aroudn corners and a bit softer ride (Which is nice) they are quiet and smooth..

Love them and the shop I go to ( Saab only indy), uses them all the time 65 K mile (H&V rated) and 45k W rated tire warranty...$93 on tire rack now

 

[BobSaabit]

Yeah, you can go all season, but you might want winter snows up there. I've gone through some fairly deep snow (8") with good all seasons on my OG9-3's, but snows were even better when I fell into a set. I usually choose a HP or UHP tire with at least a V speed rating. Higher speed tires will generally have stiffer sidewalls and be better all around IME.

I've had good luck with Michelin A/S 3, 3+, etc as an all around tire. They aren't cheap but they are very round (important with a Saab) and they last. Cost wise it seems to work out about the same in the long run. I've used Conti Extreme DWS in the past but I had the belt/round issues that some report and short life. That was a couple generations ago so it would be worth checking reviews.

If you drop down to the 225 you get some additional selections and lower costs, but you'd have to decide if you want the lower profile. I'd lean to the 235 in general, but 225 is fine. I see they have some Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S on sale $35 off - that's a nice deal and they rate well.

For pure snows, you might want to drop back to an optional 16" tire and wheel.

 

[BobSaabit]

Reviews:

FYI - you can read user reviews of any Tire Rack tire right in the listings... but I usually prefer the summary chart to rough out how tires are. FWIW, ALL tires seem to rate very well when new, so I tend to treat any ratings under 1 million or so miles reported as of marginal accuracy. After that I might read some individual reviews but treat them all as very subjective. A lot of reviewers are jackhats. It's when I find a number of people reporting something like "found out of round be tire dealer" by multiple users that I might toss a tire from the competition.

225 HP & UHP All Seasons: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=UHPAS&width=225/&ratio=45&diameter=17&tireSearch=true&filter=y

235 HP & UHP All Seasons: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=UHPAS&width=235/&ratio=45&diameter=17&tireSearch=true&filter=y

 

[EdT]

I wish that TireRack had some way of me selecting "I don't care about winter/snow performance" from the ratings of the HP and UHP all-season tires. I'd trank the "all season" tires on their non-winter performance only, and maybe look to see if the snow performance isn't totally ghastly. I don't plan to drive those kind of tires in winter--I have winter tires--but in Ontario, you might have wintry conditions in April, or even May, and October snowstorms are not unknown. Since I don't want to put on summer tires on Victoria Day and pull them Thanksgiving Day (Canadian versions of both), I do need the contingency of "won't be as bad as Gatorbacks on an '86 IROC Camaro on a dusting of snow". (That's a pretty low bar to exceed, mind you.)

 

[Mimmi]

Here in Finland we have to use winter and summer tires (according to law).
In my opinion, you can not drive summer tires in winter (we have ice and snow every f***ing winter). All season tires are just "re-branded" summer tires in terms of driveability and traction in winter.

And yes, I have drove 1/2 winter all season tires and they were just horrible.

 

[BobSaabit]

Here in Finland we have to use winter and summer tires (according to law).
In my opinion, you can not drive summer tires in winter (we have ice and snow every f***ing winter). All season tires are just "re-branded" summer tires in terms of driveability and traction in winter.

And yes, I have drove 1/2 winter all season tires and they were just horrible.

In USA-MA, we have serious Winter for a few months. I've driven both A/S and snows in the winter on my Saab. No question, snows were better. But, I went almost 20 years in Saabs without them. Its also worth noting that people with normal cars using A/S tires get stopped long before a Saab will.When other folks are crying "stay home, it's dangerous", I'd head out to the store. A/S tires were fine if they were only a year or two old unless you went out in deep snow (Winter is the first season to wear off A/S tires). I did up to about 8" on a good set of A/S tires and had no issues. On snows, I wouldn't fear 6" snow in the least and I dealt with 11" with some care to driving (at some point it's just too deep to push the front end through/above although you still have some good wheel traction).

Best/Only recent test I have: Up until a couple weeks ago, my car was stored on a dirt/gravel road on a slight downgrade, maybe a foot decline in 10' of road and 30' in. It had snowed about 12" and the car had been sitting there for a week since. There were two cars behind it, a Subaru, and a Lexus. We snowblew the big snow out but the road was still snow packed. The Subaru (4WD) backed out with no issues. The Lexus is RWD and with one guy driving and the other pushing, we couldn't move the Lexus more than a few feet. It was hopeless. We ended up putting a chain on the tow hooks of the Lexus and pulling it out with a pickup while backing the car. It was still a struggle but it came out. My Saab came out with no difficulty. I was careful not to spin the wheels, but it backed out without pushing or tow. Not a fair test since the Lexus was RWD, but some testimony to A/S tires performance (relatively full tread Michelin A/S 3's) as the Lexus would not even move.

 

[mjollnir81]

Has anyone run or knows someone who uses "Road Hugger" tires? I've read that they are made by Nitto and they are Discount Tire's house brand. Hard to find quality reviews on them.

 

[SAAB67]

I just purchased tires through Costco's Website. They are BF Goodrich 235/45/17XL with a good tread pattern. After pouring over discounted tires on sites like Simple Tire n Tire Rack, eBay I decided you can't go cheap and expect something great. Costco has some advantages like free rotation & Roadside assistance to name a few.

 

[BobSaabit]

Has anyone run or knows someone who uses "Road Hugger" tires? I've read that they are made by Nitto and they are Discount Tire's house brand. Hard to find quality reviews on them.

NO, but be careful with that. A tire company will make tires to the quality/cost-point level required by the customer. If it's not a tire they make elsewhere, check specs and standard ratings as well as reviews.

 

[SAAB67]

I decided on BF Goodrich 23/45r/17 from Costco, to be clear my Sister complained about losing grip on old her car 2003 9-3. Now she only has to wonder what it be like to own a 2008 or newer model. But for now she has all the conviences of Open Air n' GPS|Backup Camera that most SAABs don't. Picking up the car on the 26th. But there is a little Snag, Costco schedules appointments times so far out in advance, like Jan. 5th would be the (earliest), the Best we can Hope for is an early walk-in n hangout all day so they can squeeze us in. Thank you for your thoughtful input.