Team-BHP - Toyota Corolla : Tyre & wheel upgrade thread

I finally settled for Bridgestone Turanza ER60 195/60/15 88H.
Keeping the air pressure to 30psi, don't know whether its the right pressure!

Done ~150km on the new set:
- Steering effort has decreased, could be due to the contact patch reducing from 205 to 195.
- Handling was better in previous tyres.
- No difference in ride quality, rather previous performance oriented tyres gave a better ride.
- Noise has significantly reduced.

Existing tyre treads were in a bad shape and after spate of punctures I decided to change tyres @ 45000kms.

My enquiry for Bridgstone Turanza ER60 with about 4-6 dealers resulted in zero availability (Price Rs.4550/tyre). Called up Bridgetone office in Mumbai, but the sales extension line kept ringing...
I enquired for Michelin Primacy LC (Price Rs.5325~5500) and Yokohama V550 AVS dB (Price Rs.4600~4900).

After reading the reviews on this site and elsewhere I thought of Yokohama to be of better fit for my needs and value product overall. Availability of this type was a problem, as dealers offered other Yokohama tyres and some dissuaded me from going for Yokohama citing aftersales nightmare (probably to push preferred brands).

Found in-stock and purchased Yokohama V550 AVS dB @Rs.4700/tyre from Car Care, Chembur, Mumbai (Mr.Hanosh Patel) Tel:25272588, got good service. - Credit

My initial experience, compared to Bridgestore Potenza RE88 (OEM):-

Excellent Grip and Handling, the drive gives confident turns, smooth ride and sure braking. The steering feels slightly heavier & better (may be due to additional grip).
Noise levels are mildly lower. I always found corolla ride comfortable so did not notice much difference on comfort levels.

I noticed that these tyres had imprinted on them 'Made in Japan'. Don't know if that makes any difference in quality. I am told that the tyre comes with 35000kms/5yr warranty.

Thanks to all the discussion which helped me make an informed decision.

I am in the market to replace the set of tyres for Toyota Corolla [2004 Model - Old]. These are 195/60 R15 Alloy Wheel - Tubeless

I am looking for durable / long lasting tyres; excellent ride quality & comfort and fuel efficiency. I have shortlisted Goodyear, Bridgestone & Michelin. Which of these are the best that will meet my requirements of durable / long lasting tyres; excellent ride quality & comfort and fuel efficiency. Budget is not a major contraint for the right tyre

Shall appreciate receiving suggestions from users in this forum

KRISHNAN

Try Bridgestones in 205/60 R15 size. Should give you good Ride & handling. Would not really recommend Goodyears as have prior bad experience with them, plus they tend to be noisy.

Michelins are good if you want a soft ride & low noise & good handling but would be considerably more expensive than the Bridgestones & generally have a low durability owing to the softer rubber.

You may go in for Yokohama also.

Cheers!!

I had browsed through this thread and the one by FlyingSpur, which helped me choose the right tyres.
I replaced my original Bridgestone RE88 (at 55k) with Bridgestone Turanza ER60. Ofcourse, as mentioned by fellow BHPians, this was not easy to procure in Bangalore, what with some having limited and old stock. Finally, spoke to a contact in Bridgestone Corporate in Bombay, who directed the stock to a dealer in Udupi (Sri Ram). I finally had to drive 440kms (x2) to fit these, and I can certainly vouch for a fact that it was all worth it ! Have so far driven 4k kms on "smooth" bangalore tarmac, concrete roads between Bangalore and Hassan and the most "adventurous" Shiradi Ghats enroute Mangalore. All in All a worth buy.

Corolla has very soft set-up, springs are soft and tall, good for good roads, not so good roads at low speeds in the city, but not so good for handling and high speed highway ride, so it needs wider tyres if not low-profile. I decided to keep the 60 profile just to make sure it handles bad roads, but wider it has to be. No intention of changing the 15 inch alloys. Upgrade it to 205/60 R15 is what I have decided, the old set may last another 6000 kms or so. Since BS ER60 is just not there in the market and also it is not available in the upgrade size. I am back to search which one?

There are some new kids on the block; In Bridgestone - MY-01, MY-02, old one is GIII. In yoko- ES100, DB V550, S-drive. Goodyear- Excellence, Mich- PP2, XM1+ (but I am not looking at Michelin), I know they are very good (I am running PLC now) but too expensive & PLC is not very grippy, I'd rather spend the same money on Pirelies - if I can get them.

What I am looking at is excellent handling, grip and breaking, mainly to inspire confidence beyond 140 kms/hr, low noise & steering comfort could be preferred, I am not looking at is comfort and life, the suspension is comfortable enough. Any other VFM brand is welcome, but it has to be good on handling, grip & breaking. So help me guys.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zulfi hansi (Post 2991998)

I have personally used Potenza GIIIs on my corolla i.e. the 205/60 setup , perfect upsize i say. But now i suppose you stick to the new tread MY 01/MY 02 (these are "sports touring" spec) in 205/60 upgrade.

In yokohama go in for ES 100 as its a great tyre you'l be more than happy with the performance, grip, comfort. The only negative is that the life of the tyre is about 30k kms & thats about it ( recently in my punto i got frequent punctures post 30k kms so saying so)

Do check out Continental Premium contact 2 as well :thumbs up