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, Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:14:15
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I guess the answer depends on what you are driving. 16 or 17" rims? Aero suspension or other.
The Aero suspension with 17" tires will tend to transmit tire harshness to a greater degree then some other configurations.
It depends what your goals are. For me, I look for the best performance tire that I can find, with the objective of maximizing wet and try braking. When you do that the turn-in response and other things come along with it.
I read and study the tirerack test reports. And I also listen to what others on SaabNet have to say. I think that the opinions of the folks on the NG900, 9-3 and performance BB's who do suspention mods are quite good, as these folks are very critical about how things work. I get the impression that the 9-5 community is substantially more relaxed about things. The 9-5 is perhaps a bit heavy to be in the same catagory, but I will see how I change my mind this spring with the performance tires back on.
Given my preferences, I feel that the Potenza S-03 is the best performance tires that you can get these days. And the Michelin products are not in the same class and are over priced. The pricing for the S-03 seems quite decent for what you get.
I do prefer soft tire compounds and I get good milage from these. Others go through a set of such tires very quickly. All tread will continue to harden up when in service. If you allow a tire to age harden before you wear it out, it will last a long time. Many tire treads are too hard and get very hard over time. These will not perform well with wet or dry braking. Many 'all-season' tires are sold to 'value' seeking customers. They last a long time, but perhaps 1/2 way through the useful tread life, these tires can be life threatening in the wet. This will be worse in a climate with hotter and longer summers. I put S-03s on a 97Passat TDI. The all-seasons just would not stop the vehilce properly. Now it stops very aggressively wet or dry with these tires. The vehicle has good brakes. The tires just would not deliver the braking effort to the pavement. You don't usually put max performance tires on a vehicle rated for 90HP!
I am a bit extreme about tires and brakes. If they let you down, you might not have a Saab to talk about, or be around to say anything. If someone else is the driver, I want them to have the best tires to make up for their less than perfect braking technique etc. I think that brakes can be improved with better brake pads. But the brakes are no better than the tire contact patch performance. Slotted brakes and very expensive brake hardare upgrades are a waste of money if you don't have the right tires to deliver the traction. For normal driving where you do not have repeated hot braking, slotted and drilled rotors probably reduce your overall braking performance. (At least this would be true for the NG900's where the brake capacity was marginal. With the Aero, the performance with new EBC pads suggests that there is a very strong reserve in braking capacity.)
posted by 208.24.179...
, Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:14:15
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