Is driving with summer tires possible year-round in Texas?

[richs]

Post a pic of the car with the new wheels/tires , when you can.

Sure! The wheels are supposed to arrive by Wednesday, so I'll have them on the car later this week, assuming everything goes smoothly.

 

[richs]

Got the Rial X10-I wheels today:

Took the new wheels and tires for a test drive with my daughter, and these are our observations:

Good:
1. Wow, it's even quieter than before! Less road noise. This was a pleasant surprise.
2. So much smoother ride. We found the difference to be pretty dramatic. It's a much more comfortable car now.
3. Going over railroad tracks isn't a painful kidney-punching, teeth-rattling, ordeal any more.
4. Far less anxiety knowing that there's a reasonable amount of rubber and air between the wheels and the road.
5. Acceleration is still great and no tire spinning or anything like that (on dry pavement).
6. All-season tires! I don't have to worry about driving around in cold weather and light snow any more!
7. We really like the matte black rims. We just think that they make the car look much cooler.

Neutral:
1. Steering is slightly less responsive. I thought it was too twitchy on the highway with the sport wheels, so this is a positive for me, but could see it being a negative for others.
2. We felt slightly higher off the ground, somehow? That makes no sense, but we both felt it. Again, good for some people, bad for others.

Bad:
1. Cornering clearly suffers a little bit, but this isn't a sports car even with "sport wheels" on it. It forces you to take corners a little slower.
2. Slightly "floatier" driving feel. (OK, this is really a side-effect of it being a more comfortable ride, so this is on the "Good" list, too.)


Overall, I love the new wheels since I'm mostly concerned about comfort, all-season utility, and avoiding flat tires.


On a happy side-note, my OEM 20" rims are in perfect condition and three out of my four tires are in great shape, too. Only the right front tire was destroyed by the pothole I hit. No idea if I can sell the sport wheels, but they're already posted on the Austin Craigslist if anyone wants them.

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, it takes maybe as much as 200-miles or so to wear through the smooth surface caused in the molding process...IOW, the grip will improve fairly shortly. The tread pattern and depth is different between the summer and all-season tires, and the all-seasons will squirm a bit more.

Make sure your tire pressure is right...slight changes can make a big difference.

 

[richs]

FWIW, it takes maybe as much as 200-miles or so to wear through the smooth surface caused in the molding process...IOW, the grip will improve fairly shortly. The tread pattern and depth is different between the summer and all-season tires, and the all-seasons will squirm a bit more.

Thanks for the information about the 200 mile wear-in period on new tires. I never thought about that before, but it makes perfect sense. And I expect that there have to be SOME advantages to summer tires or there wouldn't be a market for them.

Oh, one other thing I just thought of for anyone considering ordering the Rial wheels from TireRack and getting a local installer. On the TireRack web site, they quoted/estimated that the local Firestone place would charge me $156 for installation, which sounded pretty high, but was one of the lower installer prices in my area. I was pleasantly surprised that Firestone only changed me about $85, which seems pretty fair for their time.

But my favorite thing about TireRack? They offer "free shipping". Of course, if you pick up your merchandise at their distribution center (which is in LA in my case) they give you a "discount". Isn't that the same as charging for shipping? :lol:

 

[jadnashuanh]

Interesting...when I've bought a new set of tires/wheels from them, they came mounted and balanced, ready to bolt onto the car. But, if you needed to transfer your TPMS and didn't get a new set, they couldn't do that, which is probably what you had to have done.

 

[richs]

Interesting...when I've bought a new set of tires/wheels from them, they came mounted and balanced, ready to bolt onto the car. But, if you needed to transfer your TPMS and didn't get a new set, they couldn't do that, which is probably what you had to have done.

Correct. I ordered the wheels/tires from TireRack unmounted and without TPMS sensors, so Firestone did the mounting and balancing, as well as transferring the sensors from my old wheels. It was cheaper to do it that way than buying four new sensors (not to mention the fact that my apartment doesn't have a garage to work in).

 

[Fisher99]

Thanks for the update and posting the pics. Definitely taller sidewalls than the "rubber bands" on my 20" wheels. But, it doesn't look like they fill out the wheel wells like my 20's do. Makes me wonder, is the rolling diameter the same between the 20's you took off and these 19's with the taller tires?

 

[jadnashuanh]

If I calculate it properly, the 20" version is all of about 0.3" larger in diameter than the 19" option.

Take the width * aspect_ratio to get the height of the tire sidewall. Multiply that by 2 to get the amount of rubber on each side, then add the wheel diameter. That will give you the total diameter of the assembly. If the optional sizes were significantly different, that would change the gear ratio and the speedometer/odometer accuracy.

The black tire carcass seems to blend in when looking at the opening. What you see is the wheel, so a bigger one tricks the eye into thinking it fills the opening more.

If you run that math for any vehicle, you'll find that the OD of the assembly is very close for any of the optional tire/wheel assemblies offered.

 

[richs]

If I calculate it properly, the 20" version is all of about 0.3" larger in diameter than the 19" option.

Take the width * aspect_ratio to get the height of the tire sidewall. Multiply that by 2 to get the amount of rubber on each side, then add the wheel diameter. That will give you the total diameter of the assembly. If the optional sizes were significantly different, that would change the gear ratio and the speedometer/odometer accuracy.

Yes, exactly. While these aren't OEM wheels, they are the same size as the 19" OEM wheels, and take the same tires as the OEM wheels, so they are exactly the same outer diameter as 19" OEM wheels.

The black tire carcass seems to blend in when looking at the opening. What you see is the wheel, so a bigger one tricks the eye into thinking it fills the opening more.

Yes, I agree, and I'd add that the angle that I took the picture is probably making the separation between the tire and wheel well seem larger that it is, too. You're seeing the car from a lower perspective that you'd see it in person.

The all-black wheel color is possibly enhancing this visual effect, too. (The Rials also come in silver for a more "stock" look.)