Tire Tip

[AHKai@aol.com]

All this talk about blow-outs and so forth reminded of something from this
summer:

Just a tip to any of you who mail order your tires.  Watch out when you take
them to have them installed at a tire shop.  I ordered a set of Sumitomo HTR
4's (205/60-15) from the Tire Rack for my sister's Saab 900 while I was
visiting her and called a few tire shops when they arrived to check prices
and see if they would install them or had a problem with that.  The local
Goodyear Service Center in Covington, KY sounded pretty decent and the price
was fair.  So I took the car over for her and told them I had a set of tires
that I would like installed.  They said no problem and proceeded to get to
work on the car after a while.  The guy seemed pretty decent and they were
doing a decent job installing the tires, they actually used a torque wrench
on the wheels instead of the airgun (amazed they did, I forgot to tell them).
 No probs, put the car down, checked pressures and backed it out.  The guy
brought out the bill, commented about the condition of the old A378's (pretty
bald) on the car and started to pitch his lifetime alignment, I politely
declined and told him I'd keep them in mind.  I flipped him the bills for the
work and went out to admire the new tires, nice (The guy thought I was
strange for having Armor All'd them before taking them in!!).  I took it out
for a test drive and the car felt really nice, I noticed that the car felt a
little stiffer going over bumps, but just attributed it to the tires being
stiffer than the Yoko's.  Well, to get the point, I should have checked the
pressures when I got home that day because when I finally did 2 days later,
all the tires were inflated to almost 55psi, yes, 55psi!!  I forget what the
max tire inflation was, but it was way over that.  I set them all at
recomended inflation and then drove the car some more.  The car obviously
handled better.  I was pretty angry at the Goodyear people and at myself for
not checking their work when I got home like I normally do (sorry sis).  I
called the Tire Rack and explained what happened and they said that since it
was only a few days and not driven far, it shouldn't affect the tires.
 Still, the point is that I think the Goodyear guys might have been a little
peeved (?) at me not buying tires from them and over-inflated them on purpose
(how many tires have a max inflation near 55psi??), just my opinion though.
 I didn't bother to go back to Goodyear and tell them about it because I
didn't think it would be worth it.  I will try to use a familiar shop in the
future.  All is well now and she is happy and safe with her new tires.  Just
a word on the Sumitomo HTR 4's, I picked them over the D60 A2's after
considering price and performance.  They handle really well on dry pavement,
have a 60,000 mile treadwear warranty (didn't know when I bought them, not a
major selling point for me, but nice for my sister), didn't get a chance to
test them in the wet though.  All in all, I am impressed with the Sumo's
(Sumitomo owns Dunlop), a great tire at a great price.  So if any of you are
considering Dunlop D60 A2's, you might want to give the HTR 4's a look as
well.  Kai.