celenztah

I don't think I've ever been happy with an OEM tire on any car I've ever driven. Too "average" for reliable handling under strenuous circumstances. When a potentially dangerous situation arises on the road, sometimes "powering" out of it with a quick maneuver is the answer. And if slowing or stopping quickly is the necessary answer, I like to be able to do that with confdence as well.

Bottom line, I found the OEM 16" BFG's just plain too unsafe for my driving style. And I'm not particularly aggresive, I'm just not afraid to make maneuvers as needed. So I traded them in at Discount Tire (got $30 a pop for them with around 15k miles on them... heck, they sell for $55 new).

I had once considered going 17", but I personally kind of like the stock 16" wheels and the overall balanced look and feel with the 16"ers. So.... after reading a good number of reviews on a variety of tires matching the same size as stock, I wound up settling on the Yokohama YK520's (60,000 mile tires). A close runner-up was the Pirelli P3000.

I've been running them now about 2 weeks and have covered rainy road conditions, sustained highway speeds (sometimes upwards of 85-90 a few times just to test balance and such) and stop-n-go city traffic with them. I haven't really "pushed" them to test stressed handling, but I can say that they stick to the road both in dry and wet conditions noticeably more than the BFG's did.

I've also had (so far) no issues with them going out of balance oraltering my alignment. The ride and noise level to me are about the same. Some have said that the tires felt a bit "floaty" to them, but I think the weight of our cars keeps that feeling in check. They are perhaps a tad soft feeling, but that is due to the shorter tread life than a harder, 80,000+ mile tire... and this slight softness actually enhances grip which is what I was after. But again, it is only a tad andbarely perceivable at that.

I know I can't push my luck with the power in our cars and the rear wheel drive, but I can say that I feel notably safer with these tires and that I feel as though I could push the car more than before if needed. Oh... and I paid $101 each for them and they had to be ordered from out of state.

They're only made for and sold through Discount Tire (interesting?). But I just thought I'd share my experience with this particular tire here becuase I think some folks were curious about them. And I had a few minutes to spare. [8D]

Here's an info link at the Yokohama site: YK520