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1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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I thought it would be useful to add my experience with brake & tire upgrades to the board's data base.
Brakes:
At 60K mi all four corners were replaced inc new EBC Green pads in front, stock rears & new rotors front & rear.
Tirerack had the front EBC pads for $97 including shipping. This is a very good company. The EBC Green box noted they fit "all 9-5." To make sure they fit the Aero too I sent an E-mail to TireRack to please double-check before I had things apart. A prompt reply was sent saying they would contact the mfg for me. Within the hour they wrote again sure the part was correct. It is.
Autohaus AZ had the rotors & rear pads for $60 ea front rotor, $30 ea rear rotor & $38 rear pads, free shipping. Despite careful car description at ordering time, the front rotors were not for the Aero. Cust service was unhelpful if not surly. They did not carry any other part #, but would accept return of the rotors if I shipped them. not a good company
Trollhatten Auto Parts did have the absolutely-positively-for-sure right rotors for $115 each + shipping ( tot=$260). They did arrive & are correct. A good company.
Intallation was pretty straight forward. Getting the caliper mounting brackets off wasn't nearly as difficult as someone here described & no Loctite was found on the bolts. The rotors were stamped "made in Sweden" and "SAAB". the calipers marked "GM"
The brakes have worked fine with good feel & very little running-in period. It's early but the power & feel seem as good or better than new stock. I have not yet tested max deceleratrion. Dust is much less but not zero.
Tires:
The constant reader will have noted my previous experience with Continental Sports. they were initially vastly superior to the stock Michelins in ride, noise & handling. At 10k mi a thump-whine developed and got progressively worse to the point they had to go with ony 15k mi & lots of rubber left on them. This seems to be a common fate as noted on the TireRack tire coment section. These were ca $825 installed.
These were replaced from Tirerack with Sumitmo HTRZ II @ $ 470 delived to a local tire store & $50 mount and balance. Tirerack called me the day after placing the on-line order to make sure I knew the tires ordered were different from stock (235 vs 225). I liked that; as above, a very good company.
The Sumitomo (235-17-45) are interesting to look at and are much quieter than the Michelins & Contis. The ride is better on both average pavement & Botts dots. Ultimate cornering power seems comparable to the Contis although the Sumitomos tend to howl a bit on hard cornering. That's not a bad thing, more a message of what's going on. Interestingly, the occaisional tire rub heard with the 235 Contis on hard up-down-turn is not heard on the same corner with the Sumitomos.
Sum: TireRack= very good company; Autohaus AZ =weak; Trollhatten = good company; Sumitomo HRTZ II= good tire & value (long term pending); new brakes =rewarding & not too hard to do. EBG Greens good initial, long term pending
posted by 209.79.182...
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