Taikonaut

Alright well I am in the market for a new set of tires and am probably going to get them at America's Tire. They offer a plan in which they will replace your tire if anything happens to it; I've listed their description of it below. The cost of it is $13 per tire and the tires I'm looking at are $93 a peice, so the plan is about 14% of the price. You guys think this is a worthwhile buy?

Also anyone have anything good or bad to say about the General Exclaim UHP? I looked at the reviews on Tirerack.com and the America's Tire site and
the reviews looked pretty good there, just wondering if anyone here has had experiances with them.


Here’s there little description of the plan:

Ever had a blowout on the freeway? How about a run-in with a pothole? You've no doubt seen debris in the road such as broken glass and nails. Our Certificates for Free Replacement eliminate the financial burden of replacing these damaged tires.
Your spare tire is a temporary solution. Unfortunately, more often than not, the tire cannot be repaired and must be replaced. Now imagine this happening while there is still plenty of life left in the tire. Having to pay for a tire twice would frustrate anyone.

How am I Covered?
In the event one or more of your tires fail due to defect, or incurs damage that cannot be repaired, Discount Tire will replace it absolutely FREE. Regardless of the number of miles you put on the tires, you will be covered for the life of the original tread down to 3/32" remaining, or 3 years from the date of purchase. We have been offering this warranty for over 30 years. This Certificate for Free Replacement is unbeatable in the tire industry!

nsxtasy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Taikonaut &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Alright well I am in the market for a new set of tires and am probably going to get them at America's Tire. They offer a plan in which they will replace your tire if anything happens to it; I've listed their description of it below. The cost of it is $13 per tire and the tires I'm looking at are $93 a peice, so the plan is about 14% of the price. You guys think this is a worthwhile buy?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The Tire Rack has a similar plan. Whether to get it is up to you. However, keep in mind that most tires come with a manufacturer's warranty that will pay for the tire if it fails due to a manufacturing defect. So the additional replacement coverage really only applies to causes (e.g. abuse, road debris) not covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

You're spending $52 (more than half the cost of a tire) for covering the set of tires for the next three years. Just to simplify the numbers - If there's a fifty percent chance that you need to replace a tire under this plan, and a zero percent chance that you would need to replace more than one tire, then it's not worth it. I think the chances that you would have a tire need replacement under this plan are far, far less than the 56 percent that would make you break even. (I've driven several hundred thousand miles and have only had two tire failures, neither of which would have been covered under this plan, since one was over 3 years old and the other was a track tire.)

Your money though.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Taikonaut &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also anyone have anything good or bad to say about the General Exclaim UHP?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's a budget performance tire, offering decent performance at a bargain price. It's in the same segment as the Yokohama ES100 and Kumho Ecsta SPT, which are the best tires in this segment. The performance of the General Exclaim UHP isn't quite as good as the ES100 or SPT (as you can see in the test here), but it usually costs less. So if you can't (or prefer not to) spend as much as the SPT or ES100 cost, and you don't mind a very small step down in performance, it's not a bad choice.

2000GSR

I was also looking at the General uhp's for a summer tire. It was rated #1 in its class on tirerack.com. I'm debating between the kuhmo 712($500, all 4 tires installed) or general uhp's($375). These tires both seem equal performance wise but price and review seem better on uhp's. Has anybody had any personal experience with these tires?

nsxtasy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2000GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was also looking at the General uhp's for a summer tire. It was rated #1 in its class on tirerack.com.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Those ratings (from user surveys) are very misleading. Users are not trying the tires out side by side against other tires, and there is a built-in bias based on expectations. (For example, if unsophisticated buyers tend to buy tire X, they may be very happy with it because it exceeds their expectations, whereas knowledgeable buyers may tend to buy tire Y, whose performance is better than tire X, but it may simply meet their expectations.) For a great example, look at the mediocre Kumho Ecsta Supra 712, whose user survey results are higher than the Yokohama ES100 - yet, in a side-by-side comparison test, the ES100 killed the 712, with higher ratings in all 23 out of the 23 characteristics tested.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2000GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm debating between the kuhmo 712($500, all 4 tires installed) or general uhp's($375). These tires both seem equal performance wise but price and review seem better on uhp's. Has anybody had any personal experience with these tires?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup. The General UHP is okay, although not as good as the Yoko ES100 or Kumho Ecsta SPT. The Kumho 712 is really crap compared with the best tires in this class (as the comparison testing proves). All of these tires are roughly the same price, but the differences in performance are huge. For example, in 195/55-15 (the best 15" size for your 2000 GS-R), here are the prices (in USD from the Tire Rack):

Kumho Ecsta SPT $63
Yokohama AVS ES100 $61
General Exclaim UHP (not available)
Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 $61

Get the Kumho Ecsta SPT (best) or the Yokohama ES100 (second best). If you can't afford either of these, then get the General UHP. Don't get the Kumho 712; it doesn't make any sense to buy a tire with crappy performance that costs just as much as other tires that are much better.