Re: stock tires do not suck ( but they ain't great either)

[mpcripps <mpcripps@mediaone.net>]

Can't stand on the sidelines forever, so here's my 2 cents:

Both my wife and I have the same model A3 Jetta Wolfsburg Editions. As
she doesn't put nearly as much mileage on her's as I do, she still has 
the original
GA's. Mine were getting a bit short on tread with the rainy season 
coming, so I replaced
them with Michelin X-one's. Why X-one's? Because their wet and dry 
ratings are identical.
And they come with an 80K treadlife warranty. They grip like claws in the 
wet. Where the GA's would lock-up or slide on slick roads, the X-ones 
hang in there. They're an all around great performer. I can't say how 
they'd be Auto-X'ing, cause I don't. But I am on call 7X24 most weeks and 
have to go out under all conditions, so the X-ones made sense to me. I 
think they're quieter than the GA's, and I can definitely feel the 
difference when I use the wife's Jetta. I say VW should use X-one's as 
the factory tire. Once I can justify replacing the tires on her car, 
X-ones are the ones I'll buy again. Price? $415./4; mounted, balanced, 
etc...

Regards to all.

Mike
 

>At 6:31 PM -0500 1/30/2000, Bill Hussey wrote:
>
>>  > In other words, these crummy, shitty tires can't grip the fricking
>>  > pavement in a simple, every day circumstance.
>>
>>Welcome to the world of front-wheel drive, you want to really be able to take
>>off from the hill, buy something that powers the rear wheels not the front.
>>Will stickier tires get you better traction off the line?  Sure. 
>>Will there be
>>a drastic and tremendous improvement ... no.
>
>I'll let you know when I go out and buy some Toyo's. Regardless of 
>whether you happen to be right or wrong, my GA's are wearing out, and 
>I'm not about to buy GA's again.
>
>I expect the Toyo's to perform better, and if the addition of the 
>Toyos drastically changes my experience on the hill, I'll let you 
>know that too.
>
>>  > Now I've never driven a Jetta with better tires on it, but I can ONLY
>>  > imagine that the kind of comments we get about the GA's has a LOT to
>>  > do with this pathetic handling.
>>
>>Pathetic handling??  Pathetic handling??  I have had the priveledge to drive
>>quite a few cars in my short life thus far, and aside from a dated 
>>chassis, this car is brilliant.  My Jetta (with an auto I might add) 
>>is completely stock, so what I'm about to say has not been hindered 
>>by the aftermarket.
>
>Again, I think you're glomming on to two words in a phrase and taking 
>it out of context. I consider my daily experience on this one hill to 
>be due to the crummy GA's. I'll soon have an opportunity to guage it 
>with different tires... so, I'll be the first to admit if my 
>expectations are off, or if the GA's truly do contribute to the 
>pathetic handling I get going up this hill.
>
>>The stock tires on my '98 are absoltely the best tires VW could have used on
>>this car.  Do they have limitless grip?  No.  Do they have exceptional wear
>>characteristics?  No.  Do they have incredibly low levels of noise?  No.  But
>>they do everything as a package very very well.
>
>The GA's are more like touring tires than they are performance tires. 
>Put the touring tires on the GL. Put performance tires on the GLX. 
>For goodness sake, in some time trials, these cars go 0-60 under six 
>seconds! We didn't buy the GLX's because they're the cheapest Jetta's 
>out there. We bought them because they're the fastest Jettas out 
>there.
>
>>What the hell is this bullshit about this car having bad wet weather 
traction?
>
>Maybe the rain in Washington is more slippery than it is in NJ? ;)
>
>
>>It's all in predictability and feedback ... these tires have gobs of 
>>both of those which is more important than anything on the street.
>
>And predictably, the feedback I get is major slippage. I've got 
>30,000 miles on them, and maybe it's simply time to get them 
>replaced, altough it looks like it has at least 50% tread, but I'm no 
>expert on tires.
>
>>Forgive me for saying this, I'm not trying to insult you, but you 
>>need to attend a driving school of some sort.
>
>I'm no professional driver, but clearly the problem with the wheels 
>losing traction has much less to do with me and more to do with the 
>tires. I'm not trying to gun it up the hill, I'm just trying to get 
>from 0-30 mph quicker than a Winnebago.
>
>>wheel, it takes them less than 5 turns to get familiar with the car and
>>appreciate the predictability these tires display.
>
>Like I said, the tires are predictable, sure, they're just slippery.
>
>>And going back to dry performance, havent' any of you noticed that 
>>it's not the tires but the chassis that caves in first when the 
>>speeds increase?  Four-wheel drifting above 75mph is so easy it's 
>>funny .. an incredible rush.  The stocks shocks and springs do an 
>>impecible job of settling the car when you introduce bumps at these 
>>speeds, but the chassis can take up to two seconds (more or less 
>>depending on speed and size of bump) to settle back into place. 
>>This is the third of three gripes I have with the car.  My best 
>>friend's 14 year old 325e has a better chassis.
>
>With my Neuspeed/Bilstein setup, the ride is far less mushy, so I 
>have no complaints there.
>
>>For those of you out there who are gonna flame me back (I know there will be 
a
>>lot, you should see what I go through on the VFR list), please don't 
>>hit me with the, "Well you've never tried some of today's better 
>>tires", because I have.
>
>Darn, you took away my only flame material. I guess I'm going to have 
>to write a civil response. Jerk. Just when the list was going to get 
>interesting... ;)
>>
>>Some stickier tires, while providing more grip, provide less 
>>feedback (I'll take feedback to grip any day).  Some stickier tires, 
>>while providing more grip, and only slightly less feedback ... wear 
>>away WAY too quickly.  The
>
>[snip]
>
>Like I said, I'll post here when I get my Toyo's.
>
>>For those of you that want more grip .. get a set of camber plates and give
>
>I rarely (like once in the past 3 years) go on the track, so I'll 
>keep my road settings, thanks.
>
>I still maintain that the GA's are not the performance tires that I'm 
>looking for in this car. If the Toyo's don't fix the problem, and the 
>problem is with 2WD like you suggest, I'll be selling my Jetta faster 
>than you can say "Quattro".
>
>-Khan
>
>
>Khan Klatt                                         khan@mediaaccess.com
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Media Access Internet Solutions, Inc.		      888.750.0777 tel
>http://www.mediaaccess.com			      425.519.3741 fax
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>