New Tires Tomorrow!

Trixie said:
Well, I think I love them. So hard to tell right now. First off, I'll never go back to that Firestone shop: they never called me this AM to tell me they got the chrome sleeves, the sleeves slip around and look rather cheesy if you ask me, not like how they used to be (he says they'll settle in or some crap), and they left the paper on the tires, causing a slip and a lot of noise. However, I ran the car quite a bit, and I love the traction. No snow yet, but maybe I'll try later, although I hate weekend traffic.
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What a crappy shop. I believe there are chrome valve stems and then chrome sleeves. They probably just threw on the chrome sleeves after they realized they made a mistake and didn't want to go install the new stems.

Good to hear you like the tires though. I've had 3 sets of Bridgestones, various models, and have no complaints.
 
I saw this post about the Potenza RE960 tires.

I bought a set of these about 4k miles ago for my '99 Monte Carlo to replace the RE950 tires I had. I was amazed that I got 62k miles out of the 950's (and they could have gone about 5k more).

I will say I'm a little disapointed with the RE960's though. They are A LOT noiser that the previous 950's and they don't quite feel as good either.

I will say that both are SUPREMELY better than the Goodyear GAs that came on the Monte. Those were balony skins after 32k miles.

Anyway, if I get another 62k out of the 960's I'll be happy.

Let me know how you feel about them because I might do a swap. The Mark we're about to get (only 10 more days!) has some Michelin MXV4's on it, and I haven't seen many good reviews on them...
 
I'm so angry about these valve stems now. We'll see how they last through the winter.

Anyway, I still LOVE these tires. As for road noise, I wouldn't be able to hear it over my exhaust anyway, so I can't say. These are the grippiest tires I've ever had.
 
I would go with the "full metal" valve stems.

There have been problems with the "metal sleeves", cutting the valve stem when the rotational force, coupled with the added weight of the metal sleeves...

the rubber valve stem manufactures never intended to have additional weight added to the rubber stem.

And if you've ever seen how a rubber valve stem is "REMOVED" you'd clearly see why you dont want to "add" stuff to a rubber valve stem.

When they are removing the stems they pull them outwards and away from the center of the rim, which is what they will be doing on EVERY REVOLUTION as you go down the road....
pulling in the direction that would/could pull the valve stem out.

If one of these aftermarket sleeves CUT your valve stem your gonna have a hard time with "warranty" in regards to the tires..

I'd go someplace else and have REAL TRUE metal valve stems put on, and make sure you get the "little short ones" rather than the big long ones.

The real metal stems have a NUT on the backside that holds then INTO the rim, unlike the rubber stems that depend on an "interference fit" to hold them in place.

If you dont want to have to have the rubber stems replaced, then at a MINIMUM I would go out there to pull those crappy metal sleeves off your rubber stems.
 
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