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Old 07-23-2002, 04:06 PM   #1
keystone
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 9807
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Saint Louis, MO
Vehicle:
2002 WRX
BLUE

Lightbulb Important tire sizing information--I learned the hard way...

This information may only apply to the "Michelin Pilot Sport" tire, but in any case you should read this. Tire sizing is a very important thing when it comes to fast cars, fast turns, and reliability/predictability. I recently had a serious accident in my WRX, it was sudden and unpredictable. If you read current reviews of the "Michelin Pilot Sport" you will find most people find that they produce a slight over-steer when pushed to their limits. Now this over-steer, is not unpredictable, but just an aspect of that particular tire. The main problem with these tires only really appear if you miss-size or oversize. For instance I was running on 17x7 wheels with 235-45-17 pilots. I also had the SPT suspension... Now I never had any problems with reliability in or out of turns for 5 to 6 thousand miles. I noticed something odd, but didn't really think much of it, this was a few weeks before my accident. What I saw was discoloration/oxidation of my sidewall, these marks went well up my side wall (about 20-30%). I just thought it was normal tire wear, and like I said didn't think much of it. Another thing that caught me off guard was how my car sat on the tires. I saw a noticeable increase in sidewall flex. I thought it was nothing, I mean I was like ohh well, I was planning on getting new tires in the next couple weeks anyways... Well about a week before my accident I installed strut-tower bars (cusco front, cusco carbon rear). First I would like to say how much strut-bars help handling, they are great! With the strut bars installed my car sat completely flat into and out of turns, for the most part. Now back to the whole tire deal. Now that predictable over-steer I was talking about before, well I entered a turn, a turn I have done many times before (without the strut-bars), the tires gave a little around the turn, but nothing unusual. But as I left the turn my car started to over-steer, no big deal just give it some gas, straiten it out... Thats when my tire rolled (side-wall temporarily collapsed), my steering wheel dipped to the right a bit, and i felt the car dip as well. Immediately after I spun out...thats that... I can not blame the car for what happened, if I would have taken the turn slower everything would have been fine. I will say that my oversized tires with already weakened sidewalls, made this incident completely unpredictable. This is definitely something I will never forget, and I would suggest that you take GREAT care in selecting a tire, and size it accordingly to your wheel specs. Also if something looks odd, as in weird discoloration or wear, don't push it off. As far as my car is concerned, the body shop already deemed it a total, and I'm just waiting for the insurance. I'll be back driving again...
Drive safe,
-Dan

ps- for the record I am not saying anything bad about the pilot tire...
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