Cruised on down to Discount Tire today and had them mount up and balance a set of Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires. The people on the Jeep and Grand Cherokee forums rave about these, so I figure they should be pretty good. I was going to have them mount and balance my fairly new "summer" tires on the rims I ordered only to find out that the rims are discontinued, and no longer available.
Then why have them on the website, saying "Available in 3~5 Days"? The young guy helping me apologized profusely, saying the company still had them listed "for warranty reasons", and he didn't understand it either. I said I'd have to send them an email requesting that they at least put some kind of notice up about it, and he said that's what he's been advising people, saying he felt awkward having explaining it to an upset/disappointed/screaming mad customer.
The Jeep seems to steer a bit easier (these are 245/65 tires vs the 275/60 tires I had on it), and I'm interested to see if the gas mileage increases any, as it took a 2+MPG hit when I put the wider than OEM tires on it. I went with that size because I wanted something wider that was the same diameter so it wouldn't throw off the speedo, and the combination of 30mm wider and going to 60-series vs 65-series made all that come out OK. Sure corners good, though!
So we'll see if these make a difference in my winter traction. I really didn't have any problems last year, and the full-time 4WD helps, but I'd rather have the peace of mind knowing I have some winter-specific tires on the car.
So that leaves me with my "summer" tires bagged up in the car, with no wheels for them. The young guy at the store showed me what they had in stock, and said they'd honor the lower price I had expected on any of the in-stock wheels, which were $30~$50 more per wheel, to make up for the inconvenience.
Well.....the only wheels they had in stock would make the Jeep look either Ghetto Bling or Mad Max Wannabe. Uh....no, thanks.
So since I have several months to worry about this, I'll peruse the various automotive sites that have wheels available to find something I like.
Being a low rent guy, I would get my name in front of a few junk yards, excuse me, auto parts salvage emporiums, for rims off a totaled.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I could always find what else fits the car in 17", and put my name in. I know there's a gigantic wrecking yard on the 25 towards the airport, and I've found half a dozen other ones on Google Maps.
DeleteI'd like something wider than the 7" rim that came with it, and that's what set off this quest.
I'm a higher rent guy. Sometimes the junk yard rims have bends and annoying micro fractures that only manifest themselves later. Been there, bought the t-shirt in the past. Of course, you're not into it much money.
ReplyDeleteI know that's a problem on rims from high-performance stuff, and it makes sense that hard off-road use knots the snot out of them, too.
DeleteMaybe I'll just get a set of classic American Racing Equipment "Torq Thrust 70" rims like I had on my '73 T/A?
Already priced them at $144 per wheel, and they have the correct offset so as to not screw up the steering and AWD stuff.
Be careful about going up in wheel diameter, as the resulting tire gets shorter between rim and rocks/potholes. Handling might get more precise, but utility gets restricted. Ride will also get worse, as tire compliance is part of the design. Not just hard on the butt/spine, but wear/tear on the vehicle escalates.
ReplyDeleteIf it's not a sports car, don't equip it like one.
It's really more the aspect ratio of the tire than the wheel diameter.
ReplyDeleteA "30 series" tire will get destroyed by a bad pothole hit, while a "70 series" tire will glide over it.
It came with 65 series tires on 17" rims. I'm keeping 17", but want a WIDER rim.
Buy new, junkyard rims tend to bite you in the ass... Just like Discount tire! :-(
ReplyDelete