RE: stock tires do not suck

["Bill Risch" <rischwr@muohio.edu>]

I just got the Pilot XGT h4's and love those tires, they are a step above
the tires that VW puts on the car.  I thought I saw a new A4 GLX with
Michelin MXV4 Energy's on it....do you know if those are one of the OE tires
that they are putting on???  If i had 180 bucks a tire to throw away, I
would spend it on the MXX3's, but my budget is a little more limited than
that, so at 93 bucks a tire, the XGT h4's were good.  Unless you are driving
a high-performance car like a m3 or a s4 (a lot of power at the wheels) you
really don't need 200 dollar tires for your car. I have lots of fun driving
my car, and i've even driven ones with  the V4's and they are fine.  I wish
i was back in high school, on the near unlimited (parents) budget)
hehe....those were the days.

Bill
97 GLX "Thank you NYSE for helping me buy this car" Edition

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-jettaglx@igtc.com [mailto:owner-jettaglx@igtc.com]On Behalf
Of Bill Hussey
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2000 2:40 PM
To: jettaglx@igtc.com
Subject: Re: stock tires do not suck


Khan Klatt wrote:

> 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.

No doubt you will get better performance, my argument is simply that the
stock
tires are very good at what they do.  Show me a tire that is as predictable,
has as
much grip (not much granted, but this is a comparison so bear with me),
lasts as
long, and is equal or less than the GA's in cost.  Personally, I'm a
Michelin fan,
and the MXX3's do it for me.  When these GA's die, if I haven't traded in
the Jetta
yet, I'll probably throw on the Michelins.  For me, more grip is in order,
but the
stock GA's do not "suck", that is my whole argument.

> 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.

But again .. enthusiasts make up a very small percentage of Jetta owners.
For VW
to spend A LOT more money on sportier tires would be a waste.

> Maybe the rain in Washington is more slippery than it is in NJ? ;)

I will say this.  Metro-area roads have considerably more oil and residue
than
country roads in the middle of nowhere.  Most of my poor-weather thrashing
has been
in Vermont, New Hampshire, and upstate NY.  Roads in my area (13 miles from
Manhattan) are absolutely crap when they get wet, but that's the road's
fault, not
the tire's.

> 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... ;)

Sorry .. I'll consider these points next time.

> 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".

A little FYI, front wheel drive is the least optimal of all configurations
for
really going fast.

Bill
'98 GLX