Ignoring the best advice

richardferguson · #1 (**permalink**) 12-03-2006, 12:44 AM

Despite being advised by Yokohama Australia that American tyres would be unsuitable for Australian cars as we drive on the left, I went and got me some Yokohama Avid S/T's. 255/60/15 and 275/60/15. Emailed the friendly types at Tirerack, handed over the Visa Card number and delivery address, and 5 days later, 4 tyres arrive. $AUD659 total (=tyres and shipping to your door). No duty, as it's less than the $1000 threshold. $60 to fit the 4 tyres and we're done.

I wasn't after a flat out performance tyre (I've got some 17's), but something a little better than the Sumitomos and the 352s for the street. Time will tell

Well, so far, so good. 200k cruise. Quiet tyre. Stayed on the Aussie side of the road

Performance rating pending

Richard

stefanog · #2 (**permalink**) 12-03-2006, 03:20 AM

Hey Rich, this option is what I have been thinking about, these tyres seem to rate very well against the other brands. How do they look? When weather permits we should catch up for a short cruise. The Goodyears are pigs! not made for our crap roads. Went to historic races at Eastern creek to watch a mate of mine race his SHELBY GT 350, lots of cool cars and plenty of history behind them! had a fun day however, I am all car'd out! If your tyres stack up, I will get me some of those!

Stef

Tommy · #3 (**permalink**) 12-03-2006, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richardferguson

Despite being advised by Yokohama Australia that American tyres would be unsuitable for Australian cars as we drive on the left .....
Richard

Please forgive this intruder from America, but I have to ask. Do the Yokohama Australia folks think you never move over into the right passing lane, or were they just trying to get you to buy from one of their local tire dealers?

EvilBert · #4 (**permalink**) 12-03-2006, 12:55 PM

Hi Richard,

I had been thinking of getting the Avids too, based largely on a number of positive recommendations here at CC. The 15" tyre choice in NZ (like Aussie I guess) is feeble and what's more, they're damn expensive. The Tirerack price seems very reasonable. I was worried that shipping costs would be astronomical. Did you arrange the shipping, or did Tirerack do the whole bit?

Cheers,
Mark

richardferguson · #5 (**permalink**) 12-03-2006, 05:50 PM

Tommy,
the advice came from Yokohama PR. I posted my amazement on an earlier thread! Some folks figured it was valid advice and that tyres were made differently depending on which side of the road you drove on!
Mark,
TireRack did the lot. Door-to-door!
Stef,
Putty Road beckons this Saturday. Send me a PM. Hope the fires are out!
Richard

Leeroy · #6 (**permalink**) 12-03-2006, 08:25 PM

Richard

I want a dedicated set of 17" track tyres/wheels, rather than currently changing over the road & track tyres all the time. I will definately look at using them for the tyres, so any feedback on how the perform in the coming months would very interesting. Need to now look at wheel choices (wish I didnt have the AU rear end which means no nice deep dish like yours)

Leeroy

Excaliber · #7 (**permalink**) 12-03-2006, 09:45 PM

I don't know about this, sounds fishy. What is the logic behind having special tires for driving on the other side of the road?

richardferguson · #8 (**permalink**) 12-04-2006, 12:53 AM

Fishy, very fishy.
They look like this Stef:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic...del=AVID+S%2FT
Richard

Gav · #9 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 12:38 AM

Can you ask the Yokohama PR guys if they know if you require a right hand drive steering wheel for Australia too?
I havn't bought mine yet and wouldn't want to make THAT mistake.

Gav

Anthony · #10 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richardferguson

Despite being advised by Yokohama Australia that American tyres would be unsuitable for Australian cars as we drive on the left, I went and got me some Yokohama Avid S/T's. 255/60/15 and 275/60/15.

I had thought that you only had to reverse mount them, blackwall out, then they'll be fine.

JBCOBRA · #11 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 07:03 AM

You can run these tires either direction.....white letters out or black side out. On my car I am running them black side out. Maybe that is way the car likes the passing lane??? LOL
They are great tires for the street. Quiet, true/round, and hook up pretty darn well

richardferguson · #12 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 01:31 PM

Gav.
I have one of these in stock.
Yours for $99.99, gift wrapped, of course.
Richard

Gav · #13 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 10:43 PM

Does that include steak knives?

richardferguson · #14 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 12:57 AM

Right or left handed knives, Gav?

cameron02 · #15 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 02:05 AM

We spoke about this in an earlier thread.

Some of us assumed the tyres were directional and sloped. ie. tyres slopped from side to side to make the right hand side of the car lower (in Australia) so that the car travels flatter on a road that cambers down to the left. I had a friend who cut the springs on the RHS of his car to do the same thing. Never seen these tyres before but just assumed thats what they were on about. If thats what they are then Amercian ones would be unsuitable here as the road cambers the other way (we drive on the other side of the road).

EvilBert · #16 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 02:29 PM

Quote:

...then Amercian ones would be unsuitable here as the road cambers the other way...

I figured the camber could be the only explanation too.

Can anybody confirm one way or another? Unless there's a real problem with using the Avids on the LHS, I'm planning to follow Richard's lead.

EvilBert · #17 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 02:36 PM

Responding to my own question: even the camber theory still seems fishy. My experience in driving in the US is that lots of roads - the freeways, at least - have little to nil camber. Maybe I could accept that in general the right wheels will be lower than the left (or vice versa) but with the potential range of camber angles it seems pointless to me to create a camber-specific tyre.

Still interested in others' views.

Burgs · #18 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 02:51 PM

I say it's a big load of bull sheet!

Sniper · #19 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 09:43 PM

ya sounds like crap, tyres are black and round, end of story

PCC · #20 (**permalink**) 12-06-2006, 10:07 PM

If all roads were smooth and with a constant camber then I would agree that a tyre needs to be developed for such a situation.

However they are not - we have centre camber, left camber and right camber at a variety of falls.

On top of that we have surface irregularities, pot holes, uneven wear and other contributing factors that influence any design intentions.

I build roads and I can say that the finished product never is as per the design and has a multitude of variations.

I'm with Burgs and Sniper - well summed up!