Grant: help w/ wheels on tirerack please!!

[UncleBen]

I should have emailed you, sorry, but there are some Borbet Type E wheels that I am midly interested in. Can you tell me the offset of these wheels? The size I want is the 17x8's. Thanks man.

[Grant@tirerack]

No problem, the 5 lug wheels are set up with a 35mm offset and the lip is about 1" wide. I'm assuming this is for the SE. They make a nice wheel. I'm running the Type T on my daily beater VW :hiding:

[UncleBen]

35mm would be optimal for me I think. This is the first wheel that I relatively like and has the right offset! I needed at least like a 38 or 37mm offset to clear my brakes, so I 35mm would be great. Plus, these wheels aren't that expensive either, and they are wide!!!! Yummy!

[UncleBen]

And about the Kumho Ecsta's. I've heard the 712's wear fast and have a bad tendancy to bubble up on the wall. And I have heard the 711's wear not as fast and dont bubble. The 711's have "grand touring summer" and "high perforamce summer." I am guessing the grand touring would be better for say winter and stuff? Do they still hook up pretty well on dry roads?

[Grant@tirerack]

Neither tire model is all-season, mud and snow rated. They both work well in three season use but not for Winter. I have the Ecsta Supra 712 on my daily beater and even in cold wet weather they do not grip nearly as well. Once Fall got here it was a clear difference in grip and traction. With the temps below 50 F they get pretty hard and very loose on wet pavement. If you don't plan on running snow tires in the Winter, stick with an all-season tire. I've run the 712s on three vehicles now and have never had a bubble on the sidewall. We've tested these here at least 5 times on our test track (over 80 of us running per test ) where we beat the %*#* out of the cars and tires and have never had a sidewall problem with these tires. Of course we are running the correct load rating tires for the vehicles and are not driving sideways :rolleyes . Any tire can get sidewall bubbles if you hit something or are overworking the tire by running too low of an air pressure or are running tires with too low of a load rating. They are caused by two things, impact damage where the inner liner of the tire is cracked or torn by pinching the tire and wheel when you hit something, or by over heating of the sidewall ply layers. When you run too low of an air pressure (think Explorer) or run tires that do not have enough load rating, you are going to get more 'bulge' on the lower sidewall of the tire. As the tire rotates, that bulge flattens out at the top of the tire. You can see this very clearly on trucks and SUVs when you follow them on the road. Check it out sometime. This flexing is just like bending a paperclip back and forth. It heats up the sidewall of the tire and if it's in the middle of the Summer, it doesn't take long for that sidewall to reach the temp range they used to cure the layers together:eek:

[UncleBen]

So you're saying that neither the 711's or the 712's are all season tires?? At least two of my friends run 712's I'm pretty sure all year....I know they are some type of Ecsta, and I'm sure they are 712's. Maybe not though ?

[Grant@tirerack]

Yep, both would be very lousy for Winter driving if you are anywhere near snow or ice. Even in dry cold conditions they will not grip very well. They are both three season tires only.

[UncleBen]

Strange. At least two of my friends have 712's on their car as a yearlong tire. I rode in one of their cars in the rain, and they seemed to grip pretty well, at least well enough for me. I dont need any hardcore snow tires, just as long as they will grip pretty decently in rain, etc. We don't have that much snow around here, and when we do, they get it cleared up quick.

[Grant@tirerack]

Rain traction is great for both tires, it's just snow and very cold conditions that will be iffy. Even at that, I have noticed the 712 gets quite a bit looser in colder temps (below 50 F) and my beater is a very light car.

[UncleBen]

I'll have to consider this, heh. What about the MX's or whatever they are. They are the more expensive of all the Ecsta's, so I assume they are an all weather tire?

[Grant@tirerack]

The MX is also Summer only.

[UncleBen]

ahhhhhh. *sigh* I might go ahead and get some 712's. I duno, i'll look for some others then decide. Thanks for all your help. I hate being ignorant about things like this