Found some good cheap tires

[Uber_Otter]

I have 127k miles on my 06 Xa now. I buy tires online and install them myself with a harbor freight manual tire changer (good for steelies only without mods). I drive aggressively, daily. After going through a lot of cheap tires (49$-70$) I usually find out why they are cheap, weak sidewalls, hard compounds, noisy, some would show up with not much tread depth. But I mount them, grind them down and order different. These I happy enough with to post about.

Achilles ATR sports
http://www.onlinetires.com/products/vehicle/tires/achilles/195%252F55-15+achilles+atr+sport+85v+bw.html

Strong sidwalls, quiet, great tread pattern and depth. Verry grippy, the coumpound is soft, They may only last 25k but at $52 bucks I'm good with that.

I normally buy the stock size 185/60 15 but I went with 195/55 15s this time. 10mm wider and radius decrease of less that 2%. You don't want to increase your diameter and lose torque. I tried 195/60 15s once and the car felt like I was carrying lead in the back.

[Uber_Otter]

This is what I do to tires, its bad when you can change them yourself It makes you too brave. These had me hydroplaning the front at 60mph. These tires sucked when I installed them.

[Uber_Otter]

This is my motorcycle tire balancer, i bought a Xa hub to use between the cones. I can balance any 4x100 wheel.. i balanced my rim first, then the tire. With the stock bearings it comes with you can get down to 1/18th of an ounce, I'm going to order either ABEC or ceramic bearings to make it even more sensitive. A standard spin balancer is only good to 1/10 of an ounce, assuming its been calibrated.

Link to balancer $59.94 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorcycle-Wheel-Rim-Balancer-Tire-Balancing-Street-MX-Spin-Static-Truing-Stand-/380554316924?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item589ace0c7c&vxp=mtr

[Uber_Otter]

You can get the hub from rock auto, or if you need wheel bearings just pull it out of you old assembly when you replace it.

[Uber_Otter]

Here's a instructional link to using a MC balancer. It's by no-mar. They make good stuff. I'm going to be buying one of there Tire changing bars so I can change tire on aluminum rims. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBzviKTPMrg

[kwkshft]

That's a nice looking tire, too bad shipping to me is like $79 for 4. What's the country of origin?

[Uber_Otter]

That's a nice looking tire, too bad shipping to me is like $79 for 4. What's the country of origin?

Sorry for the late reply. Country of origin is indonesia, shipping was $32 for 2 for me in Texas. I've put a few thousand miles on them and they are holding up great. They do good in the rain as well. I just finished my alignment so that should help.

[Thirty-Nine]

I had a terrible experience with hard, nasty, cheap Chinese tires (Nankang). Would never do it again. Interesting that you found a good, cheep tire.

[Uber_Otter]

I had a terrible experience with hard, nasty, cheap Chinese tires (Nankang). Would never do it again. Interesting that you found a good, cheep tire.

Yep, lots of bad cheap tires out there. I started researching tires after discount tire suggested 195/60 15s. "10mm wider!...we have them in stock!.." I left happy until I felt all my torque had dissapeared. So I read up and found out the taller tires ate the torque.

After spending 2 hours waiting for these guys to install the low quality wrong sized tires for $115 per corner i decided I was done. I was determined to do it all myself. I haven't been back.

The manual tire changer was a beating until I figured it out. Took 6 hours to install the first pair, now it takes about 30 minutes a tire, that includes balancing. So in the same 2 hour window it took to have Discount change 2 tires, I can now do 4. I drive a lot more aggressively now, tires are practically free. I've gone through about 10 tires since then. These are the only ones out of the 10 I would recommend.

:burnrubber:

[kwkshft]

I'm currently looking at these:
http://www.vulcantire.com/cgi-bin/tiresearch.cgi?stock=1245&f=fp7000uhp_t.cst

[47_MasoN_47]

Kuhmo Ecsta ASX are $70/ea here. I put about 25k on one set then sold the wheels/tires and have about 25k on my current ones. They are getting a little bit low but still hold to the road just fine.

[Uber_Otter]

Hello again
Update on tires. My Scion Xa now has 202,000 miles on it and Ive been using these achilles ATR sports since I found them. I ussually get 18k-20k miles out of them. Not bad for the price and the fact they are AA traction rated. I use them on my 350z as well and they are holding up good there too.
http://www.onlinetires.com/search/vehicle/tires/achilles/6193/all_prices/all_sizes/all_tires/all_speeds/page_1.html

[kimona]

Glad they worked out well for you. The tread pattern of the Achilles is great for straight line tracking on the Yaris.

You can get tyres MUCH cheaper if you buy from discounttiredirect.com during one of their sales.

[bronsin]

Yes I got $307 worth of tires from them with $185 in rebates = $122.Hankook H727.