175-65 13s at Tires-Easy.com...

Based on the poor experience folks have had with the Federal 595, I would be loathe to take a chance on a set of any Federal tires.

I have to think that you have at least considered importing a set or two of name brand tires in 185/60-13 to have as store stock. Someone posted right before the outage that they recently imported some top quality 13" tires from Great Britain, so they are available. Not sure if you would want to tie up inventory $$$, though.
 
Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
Based on the poor experience folks have had with the Federal 595, I would be loathe to take a chance on a set of any Federal tires.

I have to think that you have at least considered importing a set or two of name brand tires in 185/60-13 to have as store stock. Someone posted right before the outage that they recently imported some top quality 13" tires from Great Britain, so they are available. Not sure if you would want to tie up inventory $$$, though.
Click to expand...

Are 13" tires harder to get in the states? I use Nankang NS2R and they are really great.
 
13" tires are going the way of the dodo bird here in the USA. There are only a couple of off-brand choices in 185/60-13 and a few more in other, taller and skinnier sizes from both name- and off-brands, and all are of the "rim-protector" ho-hum all-season variety, not a performance tire in the lot.
 
Federal Tires

Last week I took the X into the Acura dealership to have them Road Force balance my tires. Three of the Federal 595s were able to get within spec for Road Force, but not good according to the tech. The 4th tire he says he could not get to meet spec. I still have a wobble that drives me nuts. I think the only way is to suck it up and get the Toyo's at over 4x the cost, but I bet they will balance:) Wish we had more choices on this side of the pond.
 
As mentioned in a different thread I just got a set of nexen n'blue hd plus in 185/60/13. Very cheap and superb steering feel. Highly recommended, totally transformed my car.


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Demon Tweeks in the UK

Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
Based on the poor experience folks have had with the Federal 595, I would be loathe to take a chance on a set of any Federal tires.

I have to think that you have at least considered importing a set or two of name brand tires in 185/60-13 to have as store stock. Someone posted right before the outage that they recently imported some top quality 13" tires from Great Britain, so they are available. Not sure if you would want to tie up inventory $$$, though.
Click to expand...

Demon Tweeks is where I got mine.
Email Carl Hughes at carlH*demon-tweeks.co.uk
I bought 4 Yokohama A539, $69.92USD each, so $279.68USD for 4 tires. Shipping was $183.00USD. Total was $462.68USD
Expensive? I don't think so for 4 YoKohamas, I'm gonna get four more in September.
 
I actually run 175/60-13

And have been doing so for as long as I have been able to get them. Tires easy has three to four brands in stock most times I have ordered. I much prefer them to the 185s on a 5.5" rim. I have my X lowered and there is no issue with clearance ever! My son works at a dealership, so he mounts all our tires and has had very good results balancing them. I currently have Nexan CP621 it is "all season/performance" and it is very quiet with no problems to date. H rated so I am not expecting them to peel off any time soon. To me they make a better OEM tire than the 165/70-13 these cars came with. I can buy a whole set for about the same price as one tire for my wife's daily driver. Just talked to my son and he had a set of Federals and thought they wore quite fast... he is running Nexan as well now.
Regards
 
NHTSA/FMVSS compliance

Once consideration (especially for a business owner like Matt) is the legality of importing a tire not manufactured for the US market and then selling or installing them for use on US highways. The FMVSS (federal motor vehicle safety standards) require manufacturers to mark their tires for traceability (in the event of a safety recall) and to indicate that they have been manufactured to meet US regulations. I know tires manufactured for the european market should be as good or better than those in the US, but if you do have an accident and some astute investigator notes that your tires are missing the requisite "DOT" or similar markings, what are the ramifications? Can a police officer cite you for faulty equipment if they notice? I've spent a fair amount of time reading up on the regs from the manufacturer's side of things for work (producing aftermarket equipment to sell) but not so much on the consumer side of things (purchasing and installing them yourself. Time to start digging again...

I know some folks would say, "who cares? what are the chances?" but as an engineer I'm always thinking about what happens when the "what-if" actually does :)
 
I had mine balanced on a Hoffman laser balancer.. very costly procedure but sooo smooth compared to the Road Force IMHO. I had a Fiat dealer install and balance my tires, several tries on the RF and i gave up. Now the Hoffman cured my vibration!

Yay!
 
The Yokohama are Ecode and not DOT compliant :( Customs may prevent their import into the US, but so far I have imported three sets into Canada without any issue. Funny thing is, there are US/Canada safety markings on the tires.. but no DOT mark.

I have no worries about safety though. Had a set of Yokos for 10 years and they still "looked" new, drove like new but I replaced them with fresh rubber. I had A509s before that, loved 'em. I hope Yokohama keeps making these!!

Fingers crossed.
 
I mounted my own tires

Gee Myron, I could have mounted those for you. I mounted a set of Achilles 122s for my 124 sedan with a HF tire changer and bubble balancer. They run smooth. No need for fancy pants machines. ;)
 
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