racerdave Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Any publicity is good publicity... It absolutely KILLS me that they say: Oh, the Spec B wears blue chip 18" potenzas for 196 a piece, so contrary, we are going to use cheap 17" summer tires. Some nice 18" wheels, or even just some 225/40-17 nice summer tires, like T1-R, or Goodyear FD-3S (or whatever the acronym is..) or even Pirellis (with an ADVERT on the same page!) You can go cheaper than 200/tire without going for the 80$ bargain special. New lighter 17" or modest-weight 18" wheels and nicer tires, along with more modest struts and springs, with sways, and stage one would be a great starter package, and probably more in line with what Legacygt.com would suggest. (Hey, I am learning about this stuff here... ) I am not saying the Kumhos are bad, I don't know. But trying to create a comparison of opposites is kinda stupid. My hunch is they just wanted to try the Kumhos. For the price, they seem good. BUT... they are not in the same league as the tires you mention... I totally agree. They should've went with a better tire... even the Hankook Z212 is only like $99 each and would've clearly been better in the dry. The other thing that was annoying was that they did not do their lane change (or slalom... whichever one they do in the comparision tests) test, as I think there would've been a bigger difference in favor of the Tein'd car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team23jordan Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 i personally like my kumho ecsta spt they are great tire and will out perform most tires except like the best ones anyways, they shoulda went with like megan racin coilover and put front and rear sway bars with endlinks for sure. that's a killer setup and that's what i have for my suspension Perrin BIG maf intake Perrin Turbo Inlet HKS SSQV BOV Megan Racing header with UP (ceramic coated) HKS DP (WRX) DMH E-cutout Custom 3" catback UTEC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfxdave99 Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Too bad the long term review on the previous page wasnt as kind. If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. - Mario Andretti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boostjunkie Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 The Kumho's were a good budget concious choice. I have the Ecsta SPT's and they are very good tire, especially considering the price. As many of you know, I have a loose affiliation with Megan Racing, and think that the MR coilovers would have been a better choice than the Teins. In all honesty, if C&D was trying to out Spec-B Subaru, I think the best choice might have been KW Variant 2. They are supposed to retain a more stock like ride, while signifigantly upping the handling ante. I guess I'll find out for sure, since I just picked up a set today As for C&D, given that the article was likely written a couple of months ago, the only readily available option was the Teins, so I really can't fault them there. For their budget, they could easily have had coilovers, sways, tires and an AP. That is a true Spec-B beater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tantal Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 i personally like my kumho ecsta spt they are great tire and will out perform most tires except like the best ones anyways, they shoulda went with like megan racin coilover and put front and rear sway bars with endlinks for sure. that's a killer setup and that's what i have for my suspension I don't agree about the tires. They may be fine for you AND represent a good bang for the buck, but they will not out perform "most excepting the best". This is a mid-range tire at best, and you will tend to see performance drop off more quickly as the tire ages compared to a higher quality tire. ANY new tire will feel great in the rain and most in the dry for the first 1000 miles. What happens after that is where it is worth spending the money for a good tire. ok, off soap box. And don't get me wrong, I really hope you love these tires the whole time you own them. My experience with cheap tires (several sets) is that they just aren't worth it. That's me. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Condor Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 But I would have gone another way. Either other coil overs, or Bilsteins and Ions or pinks, and sway bars, and at least stage one AP, and Cobb Short shifter. In C&D's defense they are simply attempting outperform a Spec B, in the handling category, by using the cost diffence between that and a regular GT as their budget. With that said, an AP really doesn't apply in this situation. But since they did have several hunder bucks leftover I am curious as to why the didn't install sway bars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team23jordan Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 I don't agree about the tires. They may be fine for you AND represent a good bang for the buck, but they will not out perform "most excepting the best". This is a mid-range tire at best, and you will tend to see performance drop off more quickly as the tire ages compared to a higher quality tire. ANY new tire will feel great in the rain and most in the dry for the first 1000 miles. What happens after that is where it is worth spending the money for a good tire. ok, off soap box. And don't get me wrong, I really hope you love these tires the whole time you own them. My experience with cheap tires (several sets) is that they just aren't worth it. That's me. LOL i put about 10000miles on'em already i'm not gonna argue with you if you wanna spend 180 per tire go ahead you are not gonna get that much better performance from spending another 100 bucks per tire Perrin BIG maf intake Perrin Turbo Inlet HKS SSQV BOV Megan Racing header with UP (ceramic coated) HKS DP (WRX) DMH E-cutout Custom 3" catback UTEC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tantal Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 i put about 10000miles on'em already i'm not gonna argue with you if you wanna spend 180 per tire go ahead you are not gonna get that much better performance from spending another 100 bucks per tire It's great that you're happy with them. I don't spend 180 per tire, either. That's the thing. There are a number of great summer, a/s, and winter tires inthe 225/45/17 +/- size range that can be had for from 100 to 150 per tire. Dropping below 100 is IMO not worth it. My experience with kumhos is that after about 15-20 k mi, they develop a number of hard spots, and while they'll balance, they are out of round. A road force balance will tell you they are out. I had two sets and both felt like I was driving on rocks, and I even had a braking vibration. Replacing the tires completely solved the problem, which was particularly bad on my 98 A4, which is more sensitive with 17 in wheels than my other car with kumhos. With my new tires, after 5 k mi, the car is as smooth as new, whether cruising at any speed or under braking. Huge difference under braking. I'm currently running avon 500's summer tires, and very nearly passed on them after my experience with cheap kumhos. The reviews and the age of my car made my decision for me, and I feel lucky so far. We'll see after 15 k mi. For my GT, I'm getting the contisportcontact 2, a similar tire with a far better track record. No chances being taken on my new GT. These are only 140 per, and I'm actually waiting for a sale. There've been a couple recently - you could have had the Dunlop SP sport Maxx for $98 each if you wanted it, but that's a summer only tire. Anyway, wish you continued good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rexster Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 a Limited GT can be purchased for 6 or 7k less than a spec B, so they have another 3 - 4k in mods to do before making a comparison based on dollars spent. but it's nice to see that coilovers are all it takes to handle as well as the spec B. if they had spent a little more on tires they would have beat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDpower Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 I think they blew it on the tires. With a 3k budget, most of the performance gain will come from the tires. The Kumhos are okay, great price and much better then stock. But there is a huge list of better performing tires for not much more- Goodyear F1's, BFG KDW, BFG KD, Falkens, etc. I thought C&D just recently did a great summer tire comparo, why didn't they follow their own advise.? They handicapped themselves with the tires. Then they go and spend way more then needed on the suspension, and overlook one of the biggest, and cheapest changes they could have made- they reset the car to the stock alignment settings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rexster Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 if they had altered the alignment it wouldn't really have told us anything. after all, you could make the same alignment changes to the spec B and get the same improvement. it would have been cool if they had sprung for the RE050A tires. then we would have seen that coilovers (for less money) work better than all the spec B suspension parts (aluminum control arms, bilstein shocks and spec b springs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxiboy Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Here is how I would have spent the $3200: Kumho Ecsta MX - $408 Cusco Zero2 - $1900 Cusco F&R sway bars - $450 Endless SSM - $400 ...that will still leave me a little extra for pizza :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tronix Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 I agree 100% absolutely you can build a better LGT with the same cash as going for the Spec-B. because not only do you have the price tag difference, but you also have the interest. You can make all the suspension upgrades plus you can also free up the exhaust and go with stage 1 tuning and outperform the spec-b all day long. But there are other reasons for buying a spec-b. some want all those mods and a warranty on all of it. some just want them since they are rare. This is usually the case for any car though not just a legacy. Its always going to cost more for performance from the factory than doing it yourself with aftermarket. for more pics and info... http://angevine.org/legacy/legacy.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epicbard Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Is it possible to make an even better setup? Meaning better coilovers? I am curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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