replacing tires for accord

Hello all,
In a few weeks, I may get my tires replaced.
Previously, I had bought tires at Walmart.

I'm considering heading over to Firestone or Goodyear.
Are they good at balancing and alignment work at these
places?

My current tires's tread is worn out well before the
expected mileage, it's only at 12,000 miles (2.5 years), but
Walmart says I can't get any prorations.

Any other recommendations on chains that
install/balance/rotate/align tires?

btw, Tirerack recommends bridgestone potenza as a good
tire. I'm looking for good handling in wet weather. Any other
advice?

THANKS

 

A few months back, Consumer Reports tested auto tires and concluded that the
Goodyear Assurance TripleTred was its top recommended tire. My reading of
the Tire Rack website shows results that agree with this rating.
Accordingly, we put a set on my wife's '97 Odyssey and have been very happy
with the results (at least here in Southern California where snow is not a
concern but wet weather handling is.) Good luck with your choice!

 

We put the T/Ts on my wife's '03 Accord, and have been very happy with
them here in the NE where all weather is a concern...

--Gene

 

'Tirerack' (http://www.tirerack.com)

Check it out... all aspect review on tires... hope it helps!

 

Had the Bridgestone Potenza RE950s on an old Prelude. Best tires I've ever
used in the rain. Dry was also excellent but snow was nothing to brag
about. Light snow is ok but you still gotta be wary. For the Accord, they
rated the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S highly too. Another thing to think
about - looks the potenza RE950s are being discontinued.

-Dave

 

We put Goodyear Assurance ComforTreds onto a 2004 Accord EX to smooth
out its choppy highway ride and improve traction, especially wet road
traction, over the OEM Michelins. The Goodyears are excellent. The
ComforTreds ride a little softer than the TripleTreds and they are not
directional so I can maximize tire tread life by rotating the tires all
around the car. I find best tire tread life at tire pressures
considerably higher than the Honda recommendation. Your local Goodyear
shop should be able to offer you prices competitive with The Tire Rack.

 

"I find best tire tread life at tire pressures
considerably higher than the Honda recommendation."

How high do you go - I keep my accord's tires at 32-33. Do you go
higher than that?

 

Yeah, I've been setting the Goodyears to 36 front, 33 rear and getting
good, even tire wear (measured with a gauge). But the best tire
pressure for even wear is dependent upon individual driving so what
works best for me may not work as well for you.

 

i have to agree with other posts.

i have goodyear TT on my 99 Accord and they work great.
Hello all,
In a few weeks, I may get my tires replaced.
Previously, I had bought tires at Walmart.

I'm considering heading over to Firestone or Goodyear.
Are they good at balancing and alignment work at these
places?

My current tires's tread is worn out well before the
expected mileage, it's only at 12,000 miles (2.5 years), but
Walmart says I can't get any prorations.

Any other recommendations on chains that
install/balance/rotate/align tires?

btw, Tirerack recommends bridgestone potenza as a good
tire. I'm looking for good handling in wet weather. Any other
advice?

THANKS

 

Firestone makes about the worst tires you can get. Don't be surprised
if you don't get even one year out of a set.

 

From my experiences, Uniroyal is just as bad if not worse. I had a set of
TigerPaw AWP's on my '93 Accord that were so bad on wet pavement. I ditched
them after about 7000 miles. I've got Goodyear Regatta 2's on it now and
they have been pretty good so far.

 

Bridgestone's bottom is as bad as firestone or uniroyal. Had a set come
with a japanese econobox I bought new and they didn't last 12K miles.

 

The recommended tire inflation pressure for my 1988 Accord LXi is 26 psi,
and some years ago, shortly after the purchase of new tires (Michelin) all
around, I decided to run higher inflation pressure (32 psi) in order to
improve fuel economy. Returning to the tire dealer 5,000 miles later for a
routine balance and rotation, I was absolutely astonished when the dealer's
technician pointed out that all four tires had developed flat spots around
their full circumference. I immediately reverted back to the recommended
inflation pressure (26 psi), but the damage was done and less than 5,000
miles later, when I couldn't stand the road noise any more, I trashed all
four tires and reskinned with another set of Michelins, which (at 26 psi)
have worn uniformly and are still very serviceable at almost 60,000 miles.

So, what happened? Well, here's my read. The 1988 Honda Accord LXi has a
fully independent suspension with McPherson struts, and I believe that the
harmonics (the 'tuning', if you will) for this suspension demand that the
tires provide a certain level of damping to suppress harmonic resonance that
may otherwise develop on jointed concrete driving surfaces at freeway
speeds. Increasing the inflation pressure to 32 psi substantially reduced
the damping provided by the tires, altering the harmonic response of the
suspension, and predisposing the system (suspension + tires) to
high-amplitude vibration modes that gave rise to the flat spots.

There's really no other way to explain what happened ... at the time the
unusual wear was detected, the suspension and frame alignment were checked
and found to be normal, all four worn tires were found to be in perfect
balance on a spin-balancing machine that had been recalibrated on a couple
of days before, and a visit to my Honda dealer revealed nothing unusual in
any of the suspension components, let alone all of them at all four corners.
So, I won't dispute the satisfactory experiences of others who are running
higher-than-recommended inflation pressures, but my experience convinced me
that the recommended inflation pressures may be more than just a number
pulled out of a hat.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

snip

How many miles were on the shocks when you mounted the Michelins? How
many sets of suspension components have you gone thru in the 19 years
this car has been on the road? Or am I misreading your post?

 

Hi,

I have a question to those of you that have Goodyear tires. I tried
Goodyear tires twice and was very unhappy with them for the same reason.
The first time was on an old Accord, I put a set of Aquatreads on but hated
them because what had been very precise and rapid steering response became
quite sluggish. It made my Accord's steering feel like an old American
car's steering (turn the wheel and about a half-hour later the car finally
decides to turn). It probably wasn't really quite that bad, but the
degradation of the steering response was very noticeable. I thought it was
attributable to the fact that the Accord had rather small tires and the
Aquatreads had about .5" of groove in the center of the tread missing. I
thought that since it had little rubber on the road, its response was
sluggish.

Later, I very foolishly bought a Dodge Intrepid (NEVER AGAIN!!!) and when it
needed new tires I tried a set of Goodyears again. Well the same darned
thing happened to the steering - sluggish again. I hated it so much, I had
the tire dealer remove the tires and put something else on.

I'm back to an Accord and will need new tires soon (gad, those OEM Michelins
have no traction, but they have responsive steering). I rejected buying a
Camry because its steering response was slightly sluggish compared to the
Accord.)

Since a number of you are recommending Goodyears, but I'm VERY leery of that
brand after being burned twice. Anyway, to you Goodyear owners, how is
their steering after putting the tires on? Maybe it is just the models I've
tried.

 

I was sure that version of Accord had a double wishbone setup (with shocks
and springs) in front and back?

 

It seems that every tire manufacturer has good and bad models. As far as
Goodyear is concerned, the Assurance ComforTred and TripleTred get very good
reviews, and the Regatta 2 is a decent tire as well (my Accord has Regatta's
on it).

 

The Tire Rack's Survey Results rates (scale of 1 to 10, best is 10)
steering response for the Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds at 9.0,
ComforTreds at 8.1 and the OEM Michelins at 7.3 (although the Michelins
are a slightly higher performance level). The TripleTreds have a high
steering response rating for an all seasons tire but none of these
tires is razor sharp. See www.tirerack.com for more info.

snip

Yup, Camry's steering geometry and crappy tires are just no fun.
(Toyota claims the new Camry is better than the old one but...)

I like the Goodyears for what they are. A high performance tire they
are not. Try a set of Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S Ultra High Performance
All-Season for that. But watch out for snow.

 

Steering response is usually a function of sidewall stiffness. So the tread
has little to do with it. YOu also need to keep in mind that a stiffer
sidewall will give you better response, but the ride will deteriorate too.
So it is a trade off. Goodyear makes performance tires with stiff sidewalls
as well as other tires with a comfort bias with less stiff sidewalls. Your
dealer should be able to tell you which tires would work for your needs.

 

Regatta 2's on my Accord, quick steering response, good dry and wet
traction.

The only thing I don't like about them is they have a lot of road
noise. Sound like truck tires.