18" tyres for a BA - a short review - Ford Forums

ianmcginley · 01-28-2004, 06:08

If you are like me your BA XR is over 12 months old and has done the regular 25,000+ km and if you optioned up to the 18" wheels you are likely to be looking for a new set of rubber.

Well anywhere here is my experience, i'm not advertising anything but I figure that some people might like to know. Your mileage might vary, different people drive differently, take it or leave it ;-) My car is a December '02 BA XR6 (non-turbo) manual with 18" wheels and no LSD or Traction Control.

The Dunlop SP9000A that are shipped as OEM tyres are nice looking uni-directional "high-performance" tyres. However through my experience of 25,000km with these tyres i've found they were not all that they cracked up to be. They were noisy and tended to "tramline" BADLY under acceleration/braking as they wore on about half way through their life span. On the road they required delicate throttle mid corner as they were an all or nothing kind of tyre. Plenty of grip to be had (possibly enhancing the BA's understeer characteristics) however lack of communication in the rear end meant that slip was only moments away and you didn't know it.

In the dry they were quite good at maintaining grip in the straight line drag - but what really impressed me was the mid corner handling. This was really quite impressive, I could take corners faster and faster than I had previously thought. At a Hi-Po drive day at Calder Park with the John Bowe Institute of Driving these tyres were great at mid corner balance - and never seem to go off during the day. Handy were the sweeping corners and the smooth power delivery required by the track.

In the wet however they proved an interesting experience. From new they were poor off the line for traction and worse around bends, often making it easy for the ass end of the car to hang out to dry if I was over confident mid corner.

Looking for new tyres because the old set or buggered, i priced the SP9000A at 4 shops. All wanted $600 a corner. *OUCH*

After a bit of reading around and judging myself about how i'm really going to be driving the next 25,000 I settled and bought a collection of Falken ZE-326. These tyres are a omni-directional pattern and they look really neat too. I've since done about 1000km on them (2 weeks) and here is my report from street driving only.

First thing I noticed was the lack of road noise. No more buzzing from the tyres transmitted in the cabin. Not at low speeds (40km/h) or high speeds (110km/h). Next thing I noticed is that they squeal a little around the corners if you give it the same stick as the SP9000A's - not too much of an issue, could just be that the tyres were still shiny when that happened as I can't recall it happening in the past 48 hours.

So driving them in the dry they seem great - mid corner might not be as confident as the SP9K's, but they aren't bad at all for a tyre thats 1/2 the price. Off the line, far better than the Dunlops.

Tonight I got to drive in the wet. Now it hasn't rained too recently on the Melbourne roads and we all know how they get after a few days of dry and then rain, slippy as all get-out. The Falkens gripped like champions off the line and around corners. In mid corner acceleration where the SP9k's would be hanging the end out, these were beautifully refined and no-fuss about the acceleration from stop to 70km/h around a corner in the wet.

It will be interesting to see how these tyres fair as the km's pile on and I will attempt to keep this thread updated with my feelings of them as I go - but at the moment they look like a good buy to me!!

4 x 245/40/18 Falken ZE-326 tyres and i'm liking them on price and performance.

Blurter · 01-28-2004, 14:19

Nice post Ian, thanks. I have a AU2 XR6 that was fitted with the Dunlop Bathursts (16in rims). These were my first exposure to Dunlops and directional tyres. My experiences were exactly the same as you. I couldn't wait to get them off though due to the noise and the bad tram tracking. I did get 50k out of the set (forgive me I drive sedately) however.

I seriously looked at the Falkens as many on here have been very complimentary of them, but after much research and cost comparison I fitted Bridgestone Tauranzas. These are directional tyres and are the equal of the OEM tyres but oh so much quieter. Wear also looks like it will be excellent. With nearly 30k on the clock though I have begun to notice a tad of tram tracking on less than good roads.

philbie · 01-28-2004, 14:57

about to go to work so I'll be quick, I've had ze-326 on my XR8 for nearly 6 months now, and must say your pretty much on the dial for your responce.

I find they break traction a little easier - but with an 8 under bonnet, that makes sense.

Otherwise, they hold the road wonderful in the dry, and I've been very happy with the results!

Given the cost difference - (i gather they cost you half the price) they hold there own for value, and performance in my opinion

cheers,

philbie

Noboss · 01-28-2004, 16:33

Have to agree Ian, the dunlops are a good tyre but are no way the best, Ford have done a deal with dunlop but that cauld change at anytime, I went for Yokohamas on my T3 and the performance was streets ahead, Well worth shopping around.....

Bluedriver · 01-28-2004, 17:53

Agree as well Ian, the Dunlop's are a good tyre but there is so much available now at nearly half the price.
I'm running Hankook Ventus now and they far out perform the Dunlop's.
Just check out Russell's tyre test comparison in the Tech section.

HOTDBZ · 01-28-2004, 19:47

Very informative read...thanks Ian!

TwinPiston · 01-29-2004, 04:16

Well after getting less than 20000k's out of my original 9000's (235/45/17) I did a fair bit of investigation. And found out that the Dunlop tyres that Ford put on OEM are from Japan. I discovered that Germany also make a 9000 and when I was offered 4 for a price I couldn't refuse (try $1100 with Nitro and unlimited life servicing) I took them. Now these have been the best tyres out of any 17" tyre I have ever had (and I have had a few) I have now done 25000k's on these tyres and they have been very hard kays as well with several visits to the drags and just getting more general fun out of the car. I keep looking at the edges waiting for them to wear out and they just havn't. If you can find them try and buy the german version of the Dunlop 9000's, I highly recommend them in all weather conditions.

Corey

ianmcginley · 01-29-2004, 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwinPiston

Well after getting less than 20000k's out of my original 9000's (235/45/17) I did a fair bit of investigation. And found out that the Dunlop tyres that Ford put on OEM are from Japan. I discovered that Germany also make a 9000 and when I was offered 4 for a price I couldn't refuse (try $1100 with Nitro and unlimited life servicing) I took them. Now these have been the best tyres out of any 17" tyre I have ever had (and I have had a few) I have now done 25000k's on these tyres and they have been very hard kays as well with several visits to the drags and just getting more general fun out of the car. I keep looking at the edges waiting for them to wear out and they just havn't. If you can find them try and buy the german version of the Dunlop 9000's, I highly recommend them in all weather conditions.

Corey

Okay how did you get german imported variants over the japanese? A little more info in regards to shop name, city, other details would be nice.

TwinPiston · 01-29-2004, 17:54

The last batch of these tyres apparently came from germany and were not imported especially for me. The shop was Bob Jane T-Marts in Macgregor (Brisbane) He is affiliated with our XR club up here in QLD, so it was a slightly good deal.