OK, Time to Buy New Tires for My 07 NA

[MidniteBlues]

Yup, sure enough.. Mama picked up a flat 2 weeks ago at the cleaners picking up our dry cleaning (she waz pissed), I had to run over there and be her hero ...again..

What was surprising was 3 things.. 1.. The tire got punctured by some type of "wood debris" that looked like fell from a tree.. In all my years I have never seen a flat "by a piece of wood".. 2... Our little pump with the Sky works well, did ya'll know it has 2 air thingies to hook up to pump up your tires? I didn't, initially I hooked up the one with that goop stuff, pumped, pumped and pumped.(didn't know it waz the one with the goop, I just wanted air to find the leak).. nada.. tire no go up...Oh-Oh.. and Ima an expert at these things.. I finally decided after the mess, that I better take the tire off (luckily I drove over with my H2 and my jack, already have the hockey pucks ) I needed it, but my jack is an oldie, I told mama to "push the jack under the puck when I lift up the sky" that went well.(whew). Took the tire off.. OK now to find the "culprit".. Lord and behold..

There's a piece of wood in the doggone thing. BIG hole. WTF.. OK, at the that time my daughter waz screwing around with the sky pump and said, "hey dad look, this pump has another air thingie on the bottom?" I said shlt, that's what I wanted from the git go.....LOL.. (we all laughed at this point cause the tire was off already).. I said mama don't worry, I'll fix this... So I start puttin air the thing, but now with all of goop in da dang gun tire, the thing starts to fill.. I was impressed.. BUT.. I hear this "hissssssssssss" noise.. ah shlt, this goop crap ain't that good, or the hole is to big...

So I said to "my ladies" don't worry, I am ready for this, so I russle about my Sky trunk and Ta-Da.. I pull up my handy dandy wal mart "special 10 dollar "tire repair kit" with plugs and all.. well the rest is history, I reamed out the piece of wood, and plugged the tire RR btw still going strong..

Finally what I need to know from yawl is, I have narrowed my tire choices down to 3 tires.. I have basically already made my decision, HOWEVER, I am looking to see if I picked a good one...AND looking for opinions, remember this is a stock 07 na.. not a racer..comfort, reliability and better mileage is the goal (BTW current mileage on my RSA is over 31K and can go more, perhaps another 5K if I push it..)

1-Michelin Pilot Sport PS2
2-Good Year F1 GS-D3
3-Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus

There are others I might consider.. But one of those above is the very best as far high performance, wet etc etc, I'm in Florida AND most important, mainly women drive my sky 90+ percent of the time, SAFETY #1 priority, etc, pretend you are putting these tires on for your wife & or girlfriend and YOUR family will be in the vehicle.. Money is NOT a consideration.. only the best..
Opinions please..

(hope you enjoyed my little story)..

[SaturnSkyDude]

For what its worth here is a test that Car And Driver did. I am personally going with the Hankook tires when I am ready to purchase.

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec - Comparison Tests - Car and Driver

[ggccg]

I just put a set of Sumitomos (Tire Kingdom) on mine and am very happy with the wet road performance. I no longer feel like the car is about to careen out of control on wet expressways like I did with the stock tires from day one.

[Bogie]

Originally Posted by MidniteBlues

women drive.......SAFETY #1 priority

Two mutually exclusive conditions, I believe.

[MidniteBlues]

Originally Posted by ggccg

I just put a set of Sumitomos (Tire Kingdom) on mine and am very happy with the wet road performance. I no longer feel like the car is about to careen out of control on wet expressways like I did with the stock tires from day one.

Originally Posted by SaturnSkyDude

For what its worth here is a test that Car And Driver did. I am personally going with the Hankook tires when I am ready to purchase.

I agree with all 3 of your recommendations. The new hankook wasn't rated yet in tirerack, but got a good write from Car/Driver and that Sumitomos HTR Z III look good also.. The Dunlap Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec got excellent specs also.. I guess this is basically boiling down to "how much do I want to spend".. AND, what kind of mileage will these tires give. Of course, in our roadster handling and comfort have to come into play... Hmm I'll do some more research and reading today before I make a final decision.. Thanks for the feed back guys..

[MRSSKY]

I will be watching this tread..I never had so many issues with these stock tire..and so many so leaks, ...seriously..please let us know what you decided..

m.

[marlboromike]

I love my vogues..they say 60K on them and u can have them pro rated at any time u want to put new shoes on...what company does that? I am talking pro rated without anything going wrong. Just wanting to change to a new tire.

[GaryH]

Originally Posted by SaturnSkyDude

For what its worth here is a test that Car And Driver did. I am personally going with the Hankook tires when I am ready to purchase.

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec - Comparison Tests - Car and Driver

I bought the Dunlop Direzza DZ101. I'm really happy with the performance on wet roads. It's about $100 a tire less that the sport Z1 star spec. On the Dunlop web site it rates the DZ101 high for dry traction, wet traction etc, except for snow. We don't have much snow here in south Alabama, so it was my choice. The Dunlop web site dosen't have a rating for the star spec. When I replace the stock tires on my wife's Sky, I'm going with the DZ101s.

[RedHeaded RedLine]

Originally Posted by MidniteBlues

2-Good Year F1 GS-D3

Money is NOT a consideration.. only the best..
Opinions please..

(hope you enjoyed my little story)..

Good Year F1 GS-D3
These are the tires you are looking for. We have them on the SKY, we have them on the Volvo wagon.
As long as your temperature stays above 45*F these tires are unstoppable. There wet performance isn't approachable by anything else out there, including Michelin Hydroedge. -J

[LE Chief]

Went with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus.

Great looking tires and handle well. There's $70 off through Sunday the 20th. Rated #1 for Ultra High Performance All Season Tires on Tire Rack with lots of good reviews. Also has 6 year and 45,000 mile warranty.

My OEM's on the Red Line lasted 47,500 miles and still had about 500 - 1000 miles left before full wear-bar lineup.

For Florida the others will work well for you, unless you head up the east coast during the winter and get into really cold and snowy weather.

[MidniteBlues]

OK folks, after carefully doing tire reviews for the last week, checking all of the posts in here regarding what others have purchased, and after carefully looking at each and every tires specifications and where the Sky might be traveling to in the next 3-5 years, I have decided to go with..... Taa-Daaa

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus.

Here's tireracks side by side comparisons on those listed here..
(this site has gone to pot, can't even post the tirerack url without it being redirected) also slow as molasses again..another reason I hardly come in and post in here..

Back On Topic..

I like all the tires discussed, and was initially considering the GY F1-GS-D3, and is very much comparable with the Michelin tire.. Several minor factors made me pick the Michelin, #1 $4 cheaper per, max performance tire summer only, vs Ultra high performance ALL season and the final decision maker was when I contacted my tire kingdom place that I do business with, they will match the tire rack price of 229+ installation.. BTW, their list price for the Michelin is a whopping $287.99 per copy.. By matching TR prices, it is almost like buying 3 tires and getting the fourth one free n some.. My kind of deal.. Plus I have always used Michelin tires in all of my cars, you do get what you pay for and each and every one has exceeded there tread wear guarantee, I don't see that this will be any different..

Also, I didn't mention this on the OP, but I was also shopping for a tire for my young daughters Pontiac G6 GT, which have these horrible good year LS 2 tires, they are worn out and did NOT even reach 20K miles, by far the worse I have seen on a GY copy.. For her car I ordered the Michelin Hydroedge w/ Green X... BTW, anyone know what the green X is?? TK also is matching the price.. So in the next 2 days, I am buying 8 tires for 2 of our cars..

Let me tell you all something, this has been a most difficult decision with all high quality of the different tires to choose from it took awhile.. What a PITA, and after 2 weeks or so of reading, reading reviews, specs, comparing each, and studying, it certainly is a relief after the decision, I only hope I picked the right ones... Reports to follow after installations... for BOTH cars..

[MRSSKY]

very good! was leaning towards Michelins...thanks for the info!

M.

[MidniteBlues]

First the EXCELLENT News.. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus IS on the Sky!!.

WOW

What a major major difference it makes on a sports car (or any car really) to have "the right" tire on.. First right off the bat, instantly I can "feel" the difference on the steering wheel.. The bumps on the road have more than triple factor been minimized, the tires takes impacts super well vs those horrible RSA's.. (I should of replaced those suckers off the bat). I Ramped her up to 100+ to make sure they be balanced.. whoa baby..whoa.. EXCELLENT.., very pleased with my decision. Better feel, better grip, softer and quieter ride, extended wear.. Just over all a very impressive tire..

Those that chose this tire will NOT be disappointed.. I highly recommend it for the NA Sky and even more so for the R/L.. May the RSA's RIP.. end result 30,300+ miles and they still have thread left, no regrets dumping them however..

Now the BAD news.. As I was instructing these guys "on how to lift the Sky with my foursome hockey pucks".. We found BLASPHEMY!!!! my right quarter front panel cracked.. I was shocked and highly pissed when this was pointed out.. I told the tire kingdom guy, and this is why I have THESE!!... Lucky for them that I decided to "install" ALL the hockey pucks BEFORE they drove the Sky into the low profile bay.. I wanted to Just make sure the pucks were there. It was the TK manager with me that found the crack AND damage along the whole right side.. Another words this Saturn dealer tech did a number on my Sky.. Just called the dealer, my adviser is off until Monday.. Probably just as well that I cool off before I speak with them.. Imagine this deal, just bought new tires, discovered damage from the dealer (until today, that car has ALWAYS been lifted by the dealer..until today..)... Imagine the problem IF I had not detected this damage before TK rolled her up and into the bay.. The problem then becomes, was it or was it not damage by the tire place?..

Any ways, I'll be taking my Sky in Monday AM, hopefully by then I will not be so angry as I am now.. Saturn just Ruined a love affair with my new rubber wheels.. It will be an interesting interchange since I just received a letter from them stating that they are now a "Cadillac, Buick, GMC, & Hummer dealer" FROM what they were a "Cadillac, Hummer, Saab & Saturn dealer"... Saab & Saturn is out, Buick & GMC is in.. Should be an interesting adventure.. (whata way to start off the new year..

[Bogie]

Originally Posted by MidniteBlues

each and every one has exceeded there tread wear guarantee, I don't see that this will be any different..

If your SKY tires exceed the tread wear guarantee then you are not driving your SKY "properly".


That said, congrats on your tires.

[RedHeaded RedLine]

Originally Posted by Bogie

If your SKY tires exceed the tread wear guarantee then you are not driving your SKY "properly".

That said, congrats on your tires.

Rodger that. We have yet to get more than 20k miles out of any tire on either the SKY or the R. Next summer will even see the slicks on the street in August. -J