[Bharath Solomon]

Hi

Baleno comes with Bridgestone 165/80/R13

What would be the best for Baleno

and what would be the price difference between the above and your suggestion

Is Tubeless Tire a good option - what would be the cost

thanks & regards

Bharath

[Rehaan]

Hi Bharat,

A couple of questions>
1> does your car currently have alloy wheels?
2> do you want your new tires to be ultra-high performance (but expensive and a bit noisy) or do you want tires which are better than the 165s in terms of grip (but still provide good comfort and a decent price) ?

I would strongly suggest tubeless tires either way.

If you want good grip/comfort/noiselevels might i suggest the MICHELIN CERTIS. They are tubeless. I have them on one of my cars, no complaints whatsoever. Im sure Dippy and Revv will also give you their opinion of the certis as they have them too.

I think they should cost less than 3,200Rs per tire (i bought 185/70R14" for my car so balenos are smaller so they should be cheaper.)

I would suggest going for a 175 or 185 width tire.
175 - if you are concerned about average and dont do much high speed cornering
185 - your car will feel slightly more stable at high speeds and through fast corners and may yeild a SLIGHTLY lower average..

Hope that helped,
let us know...
cya
Rehaan.

[Revvmaster]

Hey Bharath

Regarding wider tyres on Baleno.. go for 185/70 R-13s if u wanna stick to the rim size. Beware of 175s cuz they cud reduce ground clearance and foul with the wheel wells. One piece of advise, if u wanna go tubeless go for alloys cuz the performance of tubeless is best with alloys. Rims if bent will lose air very fast due to tubeless tyres. Alloy wheels tend to hold tubeless tyres better therefore reducing air-loss due to bent rims. My current car has stock rims with tubeless.. but three of my tyres already have tubes, 2 cuz of bent rims.

As Rehaan said, it depends if u even wanna upsize ur rim then 185/14s are the best. For tubeless tyres, Michelin Certis are definitely a good choice. They have terrific grip levels and are excellent handlers. Ride quality too is decent. Word of caution though, they do tend to make some noise while cornering hard even when new.

Alternatively Goodyears tubeless have good grip levels and have the best ride quality among tyres in its class. The handling though is a lil' lower than Michelins and removing goodyears needs a lot of care, the rubber around the rim cud easily tear while removing, a common problem among goodyears.

Whatever be the rubber ensure that with wider rubber the tyres wud become heavier. Compensate that with alloys if possible. If putting alloys, check if the weight with tyre is lower than weight of tyre with rim. O/wise alloys lose some of its benefit. My point for reduced weight is that fatter tyres tend to put more pressure on suspension componentry making suspensions weaker and steering heavier. Get ur job done by someone who does it regularly.. a big tyre shop makes sense.

Your tyres 185/R13 shud come for around 2300-2900 depending whether its tube type or tubeless and make(give or take a 100 bucks here and there)

Revvmaster

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Revvmaster @ April 08 2004,03:24)]Beware of 175s cuz they cud reduce ground clearance and foul with the wheel wells.

Not really Revv,

there is LESS of a chance that the 175s will foul with the wheel wells (as upposed to 185s)...but neither will.

and in terms of clearance 175/80R13 (as opposed to 175/70R13) might be a possibility wihtout any problems and will actually increase the clearance by 0.8cms


Bharat i guess what we are saying is that get 185s if you like driving your car hard regularly, and 175 if you are more of a "mature" driver but still want good performance.

cheers
Rehaan

[GTO]

Revv and Rehaan have pretty much covered everything there is to say about upsizing in the Baleno. Buttttttttttttttttt you have got such a good deal on the Baleno, and saved almost 2.0 lacs on the original pricing of the car in the year 2000. If it was me, I would go for 5 spoke 14" alloy wheels with 195/60/14 Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres. Not only would they greatly improve the handling to support the awesome power that the Baleno offers, but their compound is also pretty soft...Amazing ride quality! I have friends who have opted for this combo in Lancers, City's and Balenos alike, and not one of them is complaining. The tyre expert at Overdrive himself has recommended this size to a very recent inquiry in the magazine.

Beside they would do wonders to the look of a Baleno

GTO

[Rehaan]

Oh! new car..... didnt realise you were the same guy who posted about buying the baleno...sorry ! ;-]

GTO has covered the option 2 of if you are looking for ultra high perfromance tires (eagle F1s) as opposed to the comfort (certis etc)

Also, have you got the car yet? coz some maruti dealers may have the option of upgrading you to 175s (the same bridgestones but in 175 i guess) when u get the new car. Try and work it into the deal, coz if they charge the difference it usually means u can get it cheaper elsewhere (at a tireshop)

Cheers,
Rehaan

[Dippy]

Io really dont know bout Bridgestones but like Rehaan said I'd def recommend the tubeless tyres. They are much safer and do not flatten as soon as they are punctured. Also the tubeless and alloy wheel combination is very good. Take note of GTOs advice that should surely help you..

All the best for your new car

Cheers

[GTO]

Oops, forgot to add...the 195/60/14 Tubeless Goodyear Eagle F1's should cost you around 3200-3500/tyre. You can get up to 2000 for your stock UNUSED tyres. Do what I do, just change the tyres before you even drive your car out of the showroom.

GTO

[Bharath Solomon]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (GTO @ April 08 2004,11:08)]Oops, forgot to add...the 195/60/14 Tubeless Goodyear Eagle F1's should cost you around 3200-3500/tyre. You can get up to 2000 for your stock UNUSED tyres. Do what I do, just change the tyres before you even drive your car out of the showroom.

GTO

HI GTO

Will this addition reduce mileage significantly

[GTO]

The Baleno, being light and Japanese, already boasts of respectable mileage figures. But yes, expect the mileage to probably drop by 5-8%.

GTO

[Bharath Solomon]

Hi everybody

Thanks for all ur inputs

Regarding Alloy - The car i am buying has 13 inch alloys

Should i upgrade it to 14 inches or the same can accomodate the

R14 series
-----------------------------------------------
Also is artificial leather seats a good option (over hide leather)

Artificial is costing me on 3K whereas the original is costing 18 k


thanks once again


Bharath

[Dippy]

Hey

Maybe you could upgrade to 14 inches just ensure the tyre doesnt touch

Cheers

[Revvmaster]

Well pal, artificial leather is quite good. I had my zen fitted with artificial leather for around 4k. It does make the car look real good, and can be cleaned with water. But it does tend to crack with time.

BTW does anyone have any idea what to do with cracking artificial leather? Is there any solution or paste that can be applied to keep the seats shining. Any particular make?

Revv

[Rehaan]

Bharat,

GTO prediction is similar to what i would predict - a MAX of 1kmpl drop in milage.

Regarding Other alloys, i guess u have to consider what you will do with the ones that come with the car, and what the price difference is.

the 13" vs 14" question also depends on your driving style and requirements.
The 14" will give u more immediate steering response, better line holding through corners and slightly better steering feedback, but the ride quality will suffer a tiny bit.
The Eagle F1s should also be available in R13 should you choose to keep the original alloys.

If you are goin for the all out sporty package then id suggest the 14".

Cant say much about the leather!

cheers
Rehaan

ps - dippy "Maybe you could upgrade to 14 inches just ensure the tyre doesnt touch" that is not really correct, i dont see which way you are thinking of this, but the overall dia. stays the same no matter what size rims u have on, and going up from 13" to 14" also usually means a .5" wider wheel. The rubbing/touching issue mostly depends on the tire width chosen. cya...

[revtech]

i got 195/50 R 14 with eagle F1
and they work fine for me .... not much of a prob with average and amazin grip at high speeds and while cornering ...u can actually feel ur car stickin to the road...

i think thts the best combination