dave@ihu1h.UUCP (Dave Miller) (07/07/84)
~~~
In 1976 I purchased a new car with Firestone 500 tires. At the time,
there was news on the radio about these tires killing people and some
organization was calling for a recall. After about 2 or 3 years, I was
notified by mail that they had been recalled. For $88.00 I got new
Firestone 721 tires installed with balancing and valves. The tires
were much better with regard to handling, ride, and quiteness.
As luck would have it, 1978 I purchased a second new car with Uniroyal
tires. I again heard on the radio that some organization was calling
for a recall of these Uniroyal tires. I never received a letter.
Today, I have 23,000 miles on these Uniroyal tires Just like Scott W.
Collins mentioned in another article, they shimmy at most speeds and
wobbles slightly up and down at a crawl and seems out-of-round when spun
up on a jack. The tread seams too good to replace them, but they are
poor tires compared to the Firestone 500 tires for handling, ride, and
quiteness.
I have not yet contacted a Uniroyal dealer, but plan to. Before I do, If
any other net news people have had experience with these tires or dealer
adjustments, I would appreciate any information.
Thank you, Dave Miller IH x3791 ihu1h!davemayer@rochester.UUCP (08/06/85)
From: Jim Mayer <mayer>
I have another question about auto tires (responses are still filtering
in on my previous 'Tire Question'). One of the tire dealers I talked to
suggested that it probably wouldn't be worth upgrading to a better tire
of the same size, and that I should look at a wider tire. He claimed that
a wider tire would give me better handling at no penalty in gas milage.
Another dealer said going to a wider tire would give me negligible
handling improvements and a 5 to 10 percent drop in gas milage.
To complicate things further, the car I'm talking about has 165/80R13
tires. Apparently the only suitable wider tire is a 175/80R13 (this
number comes from the second dealer), which is not only wider but
taller as well. My intuition suggests that a wider tire should give
more friction (and lower gas milage), and that a taller tire should
effectively lower the final drive ratio giving better gas milage (and
worse acceleration).
Alas, I am confused.
-- Jim Mayer University of Rochester
(arpa) mayer@Rochester.ARPA Department of Computer Science
(uucp) rochester!mayer Ray P. Hylan Building
(via allegra, decvax, or seismo) Rochester, New York 14627