sandwood Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Anyone know which high performance summer tires have the best rim protectors? Especially for a 225-40-18 size? If memory serves the Toyo t1-s, for example does not have great rim protection... any input appreciated.... getting out of the legacy game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwood Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 anybody? Keefe? getting out of the legacy game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kanoswrx Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I know the Goodyear F1-GSD3 tires have them. I sure hope though that you don't base which tire you get on how good the rim protector is though I ran the GSD3's on my WRX for two summers, great tire. But for my legacy I am trying the Toyo T1's as they are a lighter tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 The SO-3's have a good size band. The Yokohama's are supposed to be good for that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Kumho Ecsta 711 have a decent size, but smaller than S0-3's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Both pics are 225/40/18's, BTW (the LE37T's were mine and the LE28N's are Kharne's that are currently for sale) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 That can vary not only from tire model to tire model, but as well from tire size to tire size within that model.. From my experience, the Toyo T1-S have a soft sidewall anyways.. Are you just looking for just protection? Because you can go a little bit wider on the tire and have properly inflated tires to protect from rim lip damage. Most of cheaper and older generation models [tires] had a metal bead that is fairly visable from the exterior (the stock RE92s for example). If you are running a 7" wide rim, a 225/40 is plenty wide enough where the face of the rim doesnt sit flush with the tire's sidewall. But this will cause some sloppiness in the driving experience later. Same goes for a 7.5" wide rim with a 245/35/18.. Not many tires out there do a good job on rim protection in terms of driving into potholes. The rim protector is there from curbing. Sidewalls of a reinforced tire prevents from the face and lip of the rim from rubbing accidently with the curb.. so the tire would take the abrasion. A wider tire on a narrow rim usually fixes this problem far better than just a tire with a rim protector. If you go with the wider route, expect to have a little bit of sloppy/slow steering input. It's form over function and a few sacrifices and trade-offs. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 The other issue to keep in mind is the profile of the rim itself - a rim protector bead on the tire only protects the lip. Some wheels have a profile where the spokes extend beyond the lip, when viewed from the side.. Both my P1's and the Volk's fell into that category, and parking by 'feel' would mean scraped wheel faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edvig Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 The sidewall rubber on the Toyo T1s are so soft that what little rim protector is there is pretty useless. Trust me...I know. They are an awesome summer tire though. Don't park next to a curb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFGR415 Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 The SO-3's have a good size band. The Yokohama's are supposed to be good for that too. +1 for S-03's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwood Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 Yeah, I had t1s on 17x8 oettinger rims on my old audi and those rims took a big beating, though I really loved those tires. my sole real concern here is curbage. no, it won't determine which tire I end up getting, but it is a consideration. the rims I'm looking at are 18x7.5, so 225 or 235 is likely the tire size I will end up getting. S-03s always get high ratings too, though they aren't cheap. hmm. thanks guys getting out of the legacy game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 After having SO-3's in 225/40/18 on my LGT wagon with 20mm RSB, I wouldn't go out of my way to buy them when I get new tires. They get good write-ups, but I felt they ruined the character of the car. Way too harsh on the high-freq/low impact stuff. The Kumho ASX I have now in the same size are 95% of stock regarding ride quality. With my mostly stock suspension, the tires are not the weak point in the equation - the suspension gets upset before the loss of grip. Given Pirelli's have a rep for a softer sidewall and still positive write-ups, I am going that way for replacements, if not the Toyo's. I had P7000 summer tires on my last car and really liked them (not the horrible P7000SS version). YMMV. What rims are you leaning towards now?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 The sidewall rubber on the Toyo T1s are so soft that what little rim protector is there is pretty useless. Trust me...I know. They are an awesome summer tire though. Don't park next to a curb. Or just learn how to park a car? You guys dont want to know what I do on the track with the gators then... I am sure most of you guys cringe as drop a wheel RIGHT AT the apex of the tire and leaving possibly 2 wheels in the grass/dirt. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwood Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 hey, you try parallel parking everyday (or your wife doing it every now and then). it's virtually impossible not to curb them eventually. I'm thinking about those LE28Ns someone is selling. very tempting, despite the major cash outlay..... parking on the street with $500 rims is not so appealing. I've been struggling over what rims to upgrade to for months now. getting out of the legacy game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 but I do parallel park from day to day.. try paralleling on a curved (50' ft.) section of a road.. that gets decieving... but I do practice reversing a lot and driving through my neigborhood in reverse gear to practice manuevers from time to time.. most of my friends say "wow, that was cool, I could never do that". I try to be "equal opportunistic" with reverse gears as I do with forward gears. Mirrors are helpful, but it's more helpful to know how big your car really is... Back when I was learning how to drive, I use to teach myself with traffic cones (see picture of my cones in the garage) to know how "close" was too close.. I would set the cones only 1' wider apart than the car and I would drive through a series of gates. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/xenonk2828/GT-WHEELS/DCAM0222.jpg Just practice.. it's all about precision driving.. autox helps a lot in terms of knowing how wide your car really is.. tapping a cone is a lot less pain than tapping a curb.. learn from the cones, not the curb If you need to barrow some cones for practice, let me know, I have a lot of challenging skills for driving forward is hard enough.. trying doing a slalom at 30+mph in reverse, it's not easy to get use to having the "rear" wheels able to steer instead. Here's a link of precision driving at one of it's finest. http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4887&highlight=gymkhana http://www.akamoto.co.uk/street-racing-dvd.asp Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 More videos for precision driving: http://www.sportbilen.se/e_movies.php?go=100 To get back on the subject, run a 7.5" rim with 225/40/18s and you should be ok. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 hey, you try parallel parking everyday (or your wife doing it every now and then). it's virtually impossible not to curb them eventually. I'm thinking about those LE28Ns someone is selling. very tempting, despite the major cash outlay..... parking on the street with $500 rims is not so appealing. I've been struggling over what rims to upgrade to for months now. I love those wheels and thought about buying them but the guy took a month to get back to me and I had already bought the other set by then. IMHO, his price is a little high considering the tires on them are not that expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwood Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 yeah, I really don't want those kumhos, so that's one issue. but the rims themselves are supposedly pristine. I'm gonna take a look at them anyway. keefe - thanks for the input. I've been parallel parking in NY and DC since I first got my license. it's not a skill thing (and I haven't scratched the oem rims yet, knock on wood). in fact this car - being a wagon, partly - is once of the easiest parallel parkers I've ever owned. but sooner or later - especially with rims whose face is entirely toward the outer edge of the wheel as a whole - something's gonna get scraped, chipped, scratched, what have you. so I just want to minimize the risk. I'm still learning to be more careful of curbs with the lip spoiler too! it's all good, tho. can't keep a city car pristine forever. already have some scratches on the rear bumper from people who go bumper to bumper parking on the street. c'est la vie. getting out of the legacy game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Those rims went for about $575/each new from Volk dealers.....not that they are current models anymore though. I think they were special editions for 2003. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwood Posted March 4, 2005 Author Share Posted March 4, 2005 Those rims went for about $575/each new from Volk dealers.....not that they are current models anymore though. I think they were special editions for 2003. yep, seen them new for $525-600. my original choice were these (CE28NF), but the LEs wd do. I cd live with his old kumhos if only bc then I cd postpone spending $600-1,000 on new rubber until probably next year. still thinking. what do you think about polished lip with the anthracite spokes on a regal blue? I'm thinking it wd look pretty good.... getting out of the legacy game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 The CE28's would look sweet, in a bright silver. You made the point to me previously that the anthracite of the LE series goes better with the ABP on my car vs. the dark Regal Blue on yours. The more I see cars that color, I tend to agree with you. I like the dark blue and bright wet-look silver combo better than anthracite. The ABP on my car has some grayness to it, where the RB has a brighter tone. I doubt you could talk the price down much on that used set, but worth a shot (he has tried to sell on NASIOC since Nov). Almost like picking them up new but you have tires to roll on until you get what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 it's all good, tho. can't keep a city car pristine forever. already have some scratches on the rear bumper from people who go bumper to bumper parking on the street. c'est la vie. You're telling me!! I-495 is a dirt rally interstate. I gave up keeping the car that nice since the city here is brutal starting with more salt on the roads in the winter than a large order of McD's fries. The only thing I wipe off are cone markings from autox.. I probably have a shadow casting/fading from leaving the decals on my car too long.. just one more season/year for autox and they will come off. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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