Ownership Verified: Viper's 2001 Ford Mustang GT

thevictor390 said:
Yep, seems that most experts say the good tires always go at the back, regardless of drivetrain.
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:nod: this is related to braking / cornering, not accelerating, and mostly comes into effect in the wet with lower tread. Best thing to do would be to swap regularly but once one pair is ruined a swap might be fatal, literally.


Viper007Bond said:
Tons of tread left, etc. I'll post pics and let you guys decide.
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This is what the ADAC thinks of your brand of tyres:

http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/test...85_60_R14_details.aspx?testId=12&recordId=157 tl;dr: bad in the dry, bad in the wet, bad on fuel
http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/test...75_65_R14_details.aspx?testId=18&recordId=248 tl;dr: bad on snow, bad in the wet

They wouldn't recommend them with full tread.
 
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Do keep in mind that they sell different tires in the two markets. Maxxis is actually very well regarded (and reviewed) for truck and offroad tires here, for example. Their scooter and bike tires aren't considered to be too bad, either.

Also, even with outfits like Michelin and Pirelli, the same name and model on the side of the tire does NOT mean you're getting the same thing in different markets. As the bikers that got stuck with the 1980s US-market Pirelli Fantoms found out; well, those that didn't get killed - things got rave reviews in the Euro press back then, turned out to have seemingly negative grip in the wet over here, lots of bikers got killed before Pirelli admitted there was a problem and recalled them. You can have different compounds in different markets; in fact, come to think of it, the German tire company Continental has recently been forced to recall tons of truck and SUV tires for tread separation, something Maxxis hasn't had a problem with.

Remember also that there are certain minimum standards a tire has to meet before it can go on sale in the US, and the DOT does have the UTQG which the Maxxis does decently at. I wouldn't call them high performance or sporting tires by any stretch of the imagination, but they're not going to cause you to spin out crash and die on a dry straight at street speeds either.
 
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A dry street at low speeds in a straight line should be no problem for any tyre. Wet and corners is where it's at.


One thing to note about your Continental bashing, the tread separation may happen when overloaded or underinflated. Just don't do that :dunno:
 
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That seems to have been an excuse used by Conti. Ford dealers were selling those tires (among others) and they were not noting any tire pressure events (TPMS is mandatory on newer vehicles, and they do record to the ECU now so any underinflation would have been noted by the computer.) As for overloading, that's certainly debatable - but unlikely, given the number of complaints registered by people who claimed they'd just used their truck or SUV for commuting and hadn't been hauling yet had tread separation.

Also not the first time Conti's been busted for this either. These weren't underinflation or overloading.
http://www.tiredefects.com/continental/contitrac-aw-tire-recall.cfm
http://www.tiredefects.com/continental/31580r22-5-hsr1-tire-recall.cfm
http://www.tiredefects.com/continental/contitrac-bsw-tire-recall.cfm

I'll admit to deliberately singling out the largest German tire maker, but the point I am making is that performance and ratings in one market do not automatically translate to another. I understand that Conti is highly regarded there, but over here they've got issues.

The only reviews that actually matter for this sort of thing is same-market reviews of the specific tire model. To use an example close to home, the Pirelli P-Zero for my XJR that we get here is emphatically not the same P-Zero sold in Europe. Reviews of one should not automatically be applied to the other. (US P-Zeros are very, very prone to belt shift.)
 
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I've looked at every ADAC review of the brand I could find. Every single model failed. Now, it may entirely be possible they're only delivering their good rubber to the US and purposefully give bad rubber to the EU, however I doubt that. If every model fails over here I'd be careful over there as well.
 
Bloody car nerds!

Back on topic have you had the tail out yet? Can't wait to hear the details of your first experience of oversteer, intentional or otherwise. The former in safe and somewhat controlled conditions is preferable but also hooooooooge amounts of fun.
 
narf said:
I've looked at every ADAC review of the brand I could find. Every single model failed. Now, it may entirely be possible they're only delivering their good rubber to the US and purposefully give bad rubber to the EU, however I doubt that. If every model fails over here I'd be careful over there as well.
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More likely it's "The EU has lower barriers to entry so we'll just ship whatever over there." See: Brilliance SB6, which cannot pass US safety requirements and therefore was barred from our market, but was actually permitted to be sold in Europe.
 
Spectre said:
More likely it's "The EU has lower barriers to entry so we'll just ship whatever over there." See: Brilliance SB6, which cannot pass US safety requirements and therefore was barred from our market, but was actually permitted to be sold in Europe.
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Why should they deliberately make worse tyres only to receive flamingly bad reviews and not sell any? Doesn't make economic sense.
 
Pushrod engines and LOLsprings suck.


:p
 
Who said anything about deliberately worse tires specifically for the EU? Maxxis, in their Asian home markets, has a wide range of tires just like other makers. And just like other makers, some are crap and some are good - or at least decent.

But in badge-obsessed Europe, who's going to buy a premium tire from someone who isn't a 'top name' there already? So they ship the lower grade stuff there and compete on price alone, and ship the higher end of the range to the US (because the bottom end won't get in at all) as we're more willing to give it a try. Another maker, Kumho, has done extremely well in the US because of consumer experimentation, whereas of last report they're still struggling to get any attention in Europe. In some cases, their products rival or exceed those of Pirelli and Michelin - and many track drivers love their R-compounds and drag tires, especially the billion-horsepower Supra crowd.

But in Europe? Crickets.
 
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IceBone said:
narf: I found my own tyres on ADAC's site. Can you explain to me the scoring? http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/test...05_55_R16_details.aspx?testId=13&recordId=164
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:nod:

Most importantly at the bottom the green plus means it's "good". There are two plusses possible in theory, but I've yet to see a model get them.

The individual ratings are based on the German school grades, 1.0 being very good, 2.0 being good, 3.0 being meh, 4.0 being bad, 5.0 being cooler, zree veeks.
The percentages are their weight, ie they value dry performance as 20% of the overall score, and braking in the dry as 30% of the dry sub-score. Very German, ja!
Under the table they highlight strengths or weaknesses in text, in your case best in the dry and overall very balanced.

Another thing to look at is how they compare to the competition: http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/reifen/sommerreifen/2009_Sommerreifen_Test_205_55_R16.aspx
Yours is in the top third, quite alright then. Side-note: Kumho in the bottom third :dunno: weak in the dry, high wear, problems at high speeds.
 
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Ah, ok. I could figure out the percentages, just needed the numbers sorting out.
 
That's a really good driving road, assuming no traffic. As far as the mic, I've always wanted to put it hanging out of the boot (securely of course). :D

And if tires and brake fluid are the only issues you've done very well!

Now, answer the tail out question already!
 
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