My fiance drives a stock 94 Civic coupe. I picked up a set of 14" Integra LS web wheels which currently have 195/70/14 tires mounted on them. I put them on her civic a few months ago but I never really took it for a test drive. So after driving it the other day I realize that although the ride is comfortable with all the extra meat on the tires it also seems that her car suffers from a loss of steering response to the point it almost doesnt feel safe.

This has me concerned about her saftey since she drives 80 miles a day commuting to and from Chicago. So now Im looking for an affordable but safe and reliable all season 185/60/14 tire that has a decent tread life and that will also perform well in the snow.

Please throw me some suggestions




Modified by inkedup at 1:13 PM 1/16/2007

 

What is your budget?

Jon

 

Yes, those tires are too big for her car.

She would be better off getting a second set of wheels (steelies are fine) and getting winter tires for the winter, and swapping them to summer tires for the rest of the year. I assume you already know this, and she wants to stick to the same tires all year round anyway.

The best all-season tire available in 185/60-14 - BY FAR - is the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position, which is $65/tire at the Tire Rack. It's as good as it gets in all-season tires. It is comparable to the other best, top-of-the-line all-season tires (I can name them if you like) but none of the others are available in 14" sizes. Highly recommended. (Again, if you have to use the same tires in Chicago winters as the rest of the year here.)

 

It would be nice to have a seperate set of wheels/tires for the summer and winter but unfortunately there isnt much storage space left in our townhome as it is. Plus I have to save garage space for my OEM wheels/tires after I get my new setup for my tsx this spring

I was looking into the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions this morning on tirerack. They are definetly at the top of my list of options. How do the Falken Ziex 512's hold up in the snow?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HondaF1Fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What is your budget?

Jon</TD></TR></TABLE>

Around $60 per tire

 

I would get the Bridgestone RE960AS if you are willing to spend the money, and from what I have found in that size it is about the only option I would be happy with anyways. The Falken Ziex 512 is a poor choice in both snow and dry weather, there is nothing it does better, or even close to, the RE960AS.

Jon

 

Do you think there would be a fairly noticable difference in ride comfort if I got her a set of 15s with 195 or 205/50/15s as opposed to the 14s ?

Would the wider tires and stiffer sidewalls substantially improve the cars handling and if so is it worth the loss in ride comfort?

 

Also would I be able to go with a 195/60/14 tire on those LS webs?

I was looking at these, whats your opinion about them?
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...ce=13

 

yes the 195/60r14 will fit on the webs, but i would stick with the stock size... then your speedo won't be off... the bri 960 a/s is a very good choice...

 

I don't think there would be much difference in ride comfort if you got a set of 15" wheels. What they WOULD allow you to do is to get separate sets of tires (winter and summer), if you could find space to put them. But basically, a 195/50-15 all-season tire (which would be the proper 15" size for her car) won't be much different from a 185/60-14 one. The handling won't be all that different, either. If you're really interested in handling, though, then the answer is to get separate tires, since good summer tires will give you much better handling (outside of winter) than all-seasons. (Sorry to keep repeating it, but it's worth mentioning that that's where you have the biggest opportunity for improvement.)

As others have already noted, the RE960AS is much better than the ZE-512. And like vtecsi00 said, stick with the stock size, 185/60-14.

 

Thanks for the input everybody

 

Well I had the tires mounted this morning. Got them from tirerack for $309 shipped. Took her civic for a little test drive afterwards and Im VERY HAPPY with the way they perform. She even gave me a call on her way to work just to tell me what a big difference she can feel with her new tires