I just put two brand new rear tires on my car, but the car doesn't feel the same. My first thought was that they overinflated the tires, as the ride was more rough. I checked and the rears were a touch under 40. I lowered them to my normal 35-ish and the ride felt better, but it still feels "off". I checked my lugs and all are tightened properly. I thought maybe that it was just handling difference in the tire treads or some such, but then I started looking through old pictures.

The old tires had weights labeled 1.75 (ounces I would assume)
Of the 3 tires that I had rebalanced, one has a .75, and the other 2 have 1.00 weights. Would the difference in weights have a describable "feel"? Sears did the work, (they were the only place in town that had one of my 4 most wanted tire brands in the needed size). Should I take them back to Sears to have them rebalanced, take their word that it was done properly, or should I take them to some place else to have them checked and/or rebalanced?
Maybe these Sumitomo HTR+ tires just drive differently?

 

Each tire/wheel combination is different, so it doesn't matter how much weight you had with your old tires.

Most likely it's just the tires and that they feel different than your old ones. Not that I personally would even pick Sumitomos...

TS

 

Well, I'd beg to differ on the brand (as would a lot of the ratings on TireRack.com). The HTR+ are amongthe top rated M+S tires available, and from what I've seen going from a few rainy days, these tires are FANTASTIC. I can barely get them to break loose in the rain, compared to my old tires that were, predictable but poor in the rain, the g-Force KDWS.

Anyway, I considered that new tires would need to be weighted differently, but I had a rotational off the rear end, pulled off turned and remounted to the front, and it went from a 1.75 weight to a .75.

It's just strange. Post tire change my car seems to track the road ruts more (it did it before too, just not as severely), and it seems like the rear end has more "hop" to it. Highway driving used to be fairly quiet, now my louver lightly taps the window going down the highway.

 

Different tires make a huge difference in a car, I like the Sumitomos, I can break them loose pretty easy still, but they have nice cornering characteristics and they let you know their limits. They are a noisy tire though and differnt tires will track differently, I would guess that what you are feeling is normal, but there is no way to know for sure

 

I ordered Sumitomo HTR+ tires for my wife's Camaro from www.tirerack.com

The installation information from their (Sumitomo's) web site indicated that there are two colored spots on the sidewall of the tire. They (Sumitomo) recommend mounting the tire so that one spot is lined up with the valve, they say that if you get excessive vibration that way, to move the tire on the rim so that the other dot is where it needs to be (can't remember off hand where), and try again...

That might be what's happening to you...

I can't find that info right now though, it's not on their site (www.sumitomotire.com) any more that I can find.

 

Thanks, that might be it.

http://www.sumitomotire.com/catalogs...alBulletin.pdf

Yellow dot lined up to valve stem. If excess vibration, mount with red dot match to the dimple in the OE spec rim heel.

Now I'm left wondering:
Do our rims have these dimples? If so where? Where is the rim "heel"?

 

Just got some Sumitomo 315's the other day. I was alittle skeptical at the name and price. After a couple of days of driving I think they are pretty good. When cold I think they spin easily but once they are warmed up they grip real good. It has been raining today and I tested the wet traction and I must say they are better than alot of tires I have run. For the price I think they are great. I will most likely buy them when I need some more.

 

I believe that the dimple they speak of is the GM logo mark on the rim..

So did that help?

 

I believe LWillmann is correct about the GM logo being the mark. I am running a set of the Sumitomo HTR+ tires at the advice of my cousin, who owns a tire company.....he told me to let him put a set on & just try them out on my '99. That was about 6 mos ago, and they are very good tires so far........I have had no vibration, they hook fairly well & do nicely in the rain so far.......
Just my .02.

Jeff