Boy what a differance tires make in handling and ride
08-02-2015, 12:06 PM
#21
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
KnappAttack is 100% correct about this issue. I and many of my friends work for one the largest tire manufactures. Just because all the 1st rate tires go to the car manufactures doesn't mean the other tires going to the internet sellers are 3rd rate; however, it does mean they don't meet the same standards as the tires that are sent to the auto manufactures.
The quality for the 3rd party sellers are very good and will last as long as the 1st rate tires, but they may not provide the same ride quality. The ride quality can vary with car model and style of driving.
The reason the 1st tier tires going to the auto manufactures should be obvious. They want the cars, especially while under warranty, to have the best ride possible.
And to whomever mentioned above about sorting manually, this is not the case. The tire plants are automated and this is done by the machinery to keep the cost down and reduce the possibility of mistakes.
The quality for the 3rd party sellers are very good and will last as long as the 1st rate tires, but they may not provide the same ride quality. The ride quality can vary with car model and style of driving.
The reason the 1st tier tires going to the auto manufactures should be obvious. They want the cars, especially while under warranty, to have the best ride possible.
And to whomever mentioned above about sorting manually, this is not the case. The tire plants are automated and this is done by the machinery to keep the cost down and reduce the possibility of mistakes.
It seems that I'd be better off getting a local GoodYear store to try and get two replacements.
I've been told that the local tire franchise shop such as GoodYear is going to have the next best tires next to the OEM's. Is this true based on what you know?
Some of us that have had Audi's for many, many years know that the road force must be very low to provide a good ride, or we pay the price with shakes that just can't be cured no matter where you put the weights and try to change things up.
The only tires I've had success with in remaining shake free on my old A6 are factory Audi takeoff Michelin tires and wheels, and I just can't imagine this has to be this way. So far my "AO" Conti 3's are shake free on the A8, but they are factory installed also.
I have had two instances where I've installed new tires and they are shake free, (and I mean glass smooth ) for only one day after a Audi dealer road force balance and installs, the next day they started shaking and only got worse with time and miles. This tells me something is moving inside the tire. Belts can't hold shape or something of the sort.
IMO Audi or German vehicles in general are the worst for needing low road force numbers!!! My old Sport A6's would and did kill tires in just a short period of time.
08-02-2015, 02:55 PM
#22
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The manufacture stores such as Goodyear and others do get the next best tires; however, this is still no guarantee. Even when purchasing tires from the dealer doesn't mean the tire will be perfect and never have issues with vibrations. You just have a better chance that it does. Today's tires with being such low profile seem to transmit any vibration throughout the car.
In fact my wife's A4 started getting a vibration with only 25K miles on OEM tires. I don't think anyone could be more easy on tie than my wife. All easy driving and still the tires didn't last. They were fine in town but on the highway when running 70 MPH I would get a slight vibration. I hated to change out the tires so soon, but the vibration was really bugging me. I think the those tires were Perelli P6. Luckily the Audi dealer in my area has low rates on their tires and I was able to put OEM Continentals on them for $800 installed. I shopped around and couldn't find a better price installed and also my dealer gave me a loaner car while mine was in the shop. so I opted for the dealer.
In fact my wife's A4 started getting a vibration with only 25K miles on OEM tires. I don't think anyone could be more easy on tie than my wife. All easy driving and still the tires didn't last. They were fine in town but on the highway when running 70 MPH I would get a slight vibration. I hated to change out the tires so soon, but the vibration was really bugging me. I think the those tires were Perelli P6. Luckily the Audi dealer in my area has low rates on their tires and I was able to put OEM Continentals on them for $800 installed. I shopped around and couldn't find a better price installed and also my dealer gave me a loaner car while mine was in the shop. so I opted for the dealer.
08-12-2015, 06:39 AM
#23
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
Goodyear dealer replaced two tires, they came with no dots on them whatsoever. Goodyear balanced them and they have only minimal weights on the rims for what looks like a very slight bit of lateral balance. Tells me the tires are perfect.
The tires that came from Tire rack had two or three colored dots on them which tells me they have both run out and imbalance to them. Also, the Tire Rack tires had mega weights on them surrounding the wheel trying to correct them. UGGGG!
Will be interesting to run them, wish I had bought all four from the local Goodyear dealer with what I know now.
The tires that came from Tire rack had two or three colored dots on them which tells me they have both run out and imbalance to them. Also, the Tire Rack tires had mega weights on them surrounding the wheel trying to correct them. UGGGG!
Will be interesting to run them, wish I had bought all four from the local Goodyear dealer with what I know now.
08-13-2015, 05:01 PM
#25
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
No dots would be fantastic! At least in the case of the Goodyears.
Yellow dots = tire out of balance
Red dots = out of round.
Red and Yellow = out of balance and out of round.
I want tires without dots! My last set from Tire rack had both red and yellow. No wonder they were so awful between 60-80 MPH!
Seems to be lots to know about tires with out Audi's in regards to shaking and ride disturbance problems.
Good read here.
http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/...rkings-serve-a
Yellow dots = tire out of balance
Red dots = out of round.
Red and Yellow = out of balance and out of round.
I want tires without dots! My last set from Tire rack had both red and yellow. No wonder they were so awful between 60-80 MPH!
Seems to be lots to know about tires with out Audi's in regards to shaking and ride disturbance problems.
Good read here.
http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/...rkings-serve-a
08-13-2015, 07:08 PM
#26
AudiWorld Super User
No dots would be fantastic! At least in the case of the Goodyears.
Yellow dots = tire out of balance
Red dots = out of round.
Red and Yellow = out of balance and out of round.
I want tires without dots! My last set from Tire rack had both red and yellow. No wonder they were so awful between 60-80 MPH!
Seems to be lots to know about tires with out Audi's in regards to shaking and ride disturbance problems.
Good read here.
http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/...rkings-serve-a
Yellow dots = tire out of balance
Red dots = out of round.
Red and Yellow = out of balance and out of round.
I want tires without dots! My last set from Tire rack had both red and yellow. No wonder they were so awful between 60-80 MPH!
Seems to be lots to know about tires with out Audi's in regards to shaking and ride disturbance problems.
Good read here.
http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/...rkings-serve-a
No tires are perfect.
Many companies use different color dots to help the installer mount the tires correctly to account for high spots and valve stems which can affect the balance with any tire.
Not all colored dots mean the same thing between manf..
Not all tires use dots therefore indicating nothing or at the least, not providing the marks to aid an installer to know if or where the tire shouldd be located on the rim for mounting.
My takeaway is that you can't assume having dots will end up being a bad thing, necessarily knowing which dots mean what or being assured that having no dots is a good thing.
Since we can't usually go through a manf. warehouse and pick out the ones we want (or even know if any dots will indicate a "good" or "bad tire), we can only order them, have them mounted and hope the installer did a good job in mounting and balancing.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've a very few bad tires on my new car from the factory as well as from retailers like TireRack that couldn't be properly balanced. Never had a problem getting them remounted/rebalanced if that corrected the issue or replaced if not.
At the end of the day, there is no guaranty that dots in any color, present or otherwise, will be good or bad, especially if the installer isn't skilled. All we can do is buy them, have them installed by someone who knows what they're doing and deal with any issues if vibrations occur. No matter where the tires are sourced.
Last edited by snagitseven; 08-13-2015 at 07:11 PM.
08-13-2015, 07:44 PM
#27
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
Here's my take based on my experience. 2 Tires from the local Goodyear tire dealer have no dots. Same Goodyears from Tire Rack, all four tires had yellow and red dots.
Tire Rack has third tier tires. Local franchise shops have first class top tier tires. And based on what I have had from Tire Rack with ALL the sets I have purchased from them, they ALL have been poor for me either from the start, or after a week of use.
When not purchased from Tire Rack they have been much-much smoother and shake free for the life of the tires. Tells me the tires from the internet are more out of round and balance, thus the reason for the cheaper pricing.
From now on, I'll shy away from the third tier tires from Tire Rack based on the extremely poor luck I have had there. At least now after a little research and a few talks with a retired tire engineer I know why. Maybe fine for a pickup truck or some one that does not mind or even notice a little shaking, but does not work for me anymore.
Bridgestone Commercial Truck Tires
Performance Tire Mounting | Yokohama Tire Corp.
Tire Rack has third tier tires. Local franchise shops have first class top tier tires. And based on what I have had from Tire Rack with ALL the sets I have purchased from them, they ALL have been poor for me either from the start, or after a week of use.
When not purchased from Tire Rack they have been much-much smoother and shake free for the life of the tires. Tells me the tires from the internet are more out of round and balance, thus the reason for the cheaper pricing.
From now on, I'll shy away from the third tier tires from Tire Rack based on the extremely poor luck I have had there. At least now after a little research and a few talks with a retired tire engineer I know why. Maybe fine for a pickup truck or some one that does not mind or even notice a little shaking, but does not work for me anymore.
Bridgestone Commercial Truck Tires
Performance Tire Mounting | Yokohama Tire Corp.
08-14-2015, 03:49 AM
#28
AudiWorld Super User
1) those two articles and the one from the previous post all say the same thing: no tire is perfect and dots are used (sometimes) to aid in the installer matching the tire to the wheel for best balance 2) nothing about Tirerack selling "third tier" tires.
My experience with TireRack has been the opposite of yours - my last 6 sets of tires from them were fine with no problems. I can think of only one tire out of 25 was an issue due to improper mounting/balancing which was easily corrected. I've had more issues with bent wheels from potholes than tires.
1 have two more data points; I had nothing but grief with a set of tires from my brand new 2001 A6 straight from the factory that could never be properly match balanced. And another set in from a brick and mortar national tire retailer with a similar experience.
I have 35K on my current set of 3 year old Bridgestone RE970AS from Tirerack on my 13 A6 which only now are getting replaced - they have been great. So, while you are entitled to your opinion based on your experience, mine is equally valid in the small samplings we each have to offer.
My experience with TireRack has been the opposite of yours - my last 6 sets of tires from them were fine with no problems. I can think of only one tire out of 25 was an issue due to improper mounting/balancing which was easily corrected. I've had more issues with bent wheels from potholes than tires.
1 have two more data points; I had nothing but grief with a set of tires from my brand new 2001 A6 straight from the factory that could never be properly match balanced. And another set in from a brick and mortar national tire retailer with a similar experience.
I have 35K on my current set of 3 year old Bridgestone RE970AS from Tirerack on my 13 A6 which only now are getting replaced - they have been great. So, while you are entitled to your opinion based on your experience, mine is equally valid in the small samplings we each have to offer.
Last edited by snagitseven; 08-14-2015 at 03:53 AM.
08-14-2015, 08:07 AM
#29
And in trashing TireRack, KnappAttack continues to ignore the fact that I have purchased tires (in this case a Porsche dealer) and when I picked up the car the new tires still had Tire Rack stickers on them. I for one remain unconvinced that tires from Tire Rack are inferior.
As I said earlier, I happen to live where there is a Tire Rack warehouse. Just last week I was out there picking up a new tire for my LX 570 (I cut a sidewall roaming around a pasture) and there were trucks from two allegedly name brand outlets backed up to the dock picking up tires.
Lots of folks post opinions on the internet. I have yet to see anything that satisfies the definition of proof that Tire Rack sell third tier tires.
As I said earlier, I happen to live where there is a Tire Rack warehouse. Just last week I was out there picking up a new tire for my LX 570 (I cut a sidewall roaming around a pasture) and there were trucks from two allegedly name brand outlets backed up to the dock picking up tires.
Lots of folks post opinions on the internet. I have yet to see anything that satisfies the definition of proof that Tire Rack sell third tier tires.
08-14-2015, 08:48 AM
#30
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
Glad you both have had good experiences with the Tire Rack. Mine has been the complete opposite for years and I have been blaming the Audi vehicle itself, until now when I figured out its who I have been getting the tires from.
I was so close to never getting another Audi because the shake issues have been so bad.
I'm just happy I figured this out now so I can move forward shake free, and without so many trips to the dealer for so many dang road force balances only to be disappointed time and time again.
I was so close to never getting another Audi because the shake issues have been so bad.
I'm just happy I figured this out now so I can move forward shake free, and without so many trips to the dealer for so many dang road force balances only to be disappointed time and time again.