rx1900
1981 X1/9
Here we go again....
As most of you know.....finding decent tires lately for our X1/9s has become difficult.
In 13"....current offerings in a 185/60R13 seems to be ( well aside from racing type tires ) limited to some Federal SS595 (look at first glance to be okay but real life feedback is mostly terrible ), some Achilles 122 ( decent quality but really more suitable to a Corolla ), and some other Chinese low end tires. Only decent option seems be a Yokohama A539, still available but only in England. Expensive to have shipped over here to North America with high shipping costs, duties, brokerage, etc.. And they are not DOT approved.
In 14".....not much better. Most suitable size is a 185/55R14. The more popular 185/60R14 is too large diameter. Not much around these days either. Again the Federal SS595 and some other low end Chinese tires. Yes, also a Vredstein, but just an all season tire more suited to a Camry.
By far the best option - well at least here in North America - has been the Yokohama S Drive 185/55R14. Was available in the USA but strangely never in Canada. This is Yokohama's "ultra performance summer tire". But still a "street tire" and not a road legal race tire. Just the ticket for most X1/9 owners who seek good performance. Great reviews from those that have tried them.
It was....well was....widely available a year or 2 ago from Tire Rack, Tires Easy, Ebay, etc. And about $90 per tire, very reasonably priced.
But....it seems a year or so ago....Yokohama USA discontinued this tire. In fact...it appears that Yokohama discontinued it world-wide. Tire Rack stopped offering them. From time to time some would appear - i'm guessing leftover stock - on Ebay and from various other sources. Back last fall you could still find some if you looked hard enough. But then those sources dried up and for the last few months ...nothing nowhere....
But then... a couple of weeks ago...a casual search of Tire Rack found this:
Holy crap !!!! Available on a special clearout.....at the time for $57 per tire. A couple of days later at $59 per tire. And now at $60 per tire.
As i possess a nice set of Maserati Biturbo 14" x 6" wheels.......I couldn't resist and ordered a set !!!
Some strange goings-on Tire Rack though......note the listing says the tires are in-stock...but shown as delivery in 4 to 10 weeks !!! And stock is only shown in their Wisconsin warehouse. But my tires were shipped to me all the way to Canada in only 3 days !! And note the price that seems to fluctuate almost daily.....
Even stranger was the shipping cost. Usually for stuff i get from the USA, I have it shipped to a drop facility in Niagara Falls, New York. That is only an hour away for me. Quite often ( and i think it is in this case ) that is free shipping. I've learned the hard way that shipping to me in Canada is VERY pricey with shipping cost and duties and brokerage fees, etc. But with of course the border being still closed that is not possible at this time. I feared that Tire Rack would run out of stock by the time the border opened again.
So what to do ?? Tire Rack would indeed ship directly to me in Canada. And prepay all the duties, HST, etc.. Punched in my postal code and ouch.....$85 US for shipping, $20 for brokerage, $16 duty, and HST. That was to my work address at a business address in Mississauga ( a suburb of Toronto ). Just for a joke I entered my home address postal code (still in Mississauga close to my work ). Expected the shipping to be somewhat higher as all the couriers charge more for a residential delivery. But....the shipping charge was now only $25 US for all 4 tires !!!!. Not bad as the drop facility in New York charges $11 per tire. And I would likely still have to the HST when crossing the border with them.
So yeah....I ordered them shipped directly to me. Even with the pandemic slowdowns, I had them at my front door in 3 days....Told you all this so if you are thinking of ordering tires from Tire Rack...try a few different postal codes to see the result !!!!
Some various thoughts. I am quite happy with tires after seeing them in person
I was concerned about the age of them. But all were date coded as being made in 15th week of 2018. so fairly fresh.
Very nice tread pattern. Looks quite sporty and suitable. Quite a deep tread with decent grooves for wet roads.
Nicely rounded at the tread edges. Should be good with an X1/9's not ideal camber change.
I mounted one up and it spins nicely on the balancer with no run-out. Required very little weight to balance.
Seems a bit wider than I expected. When mounted on a 6" wide wheel, the section width actually measured as a bit over 195mm !!! And a diameter of about 560mm ( 22.0" )
total weight of tire and wheel was only 28 lbs.
Tires made in Japan. That should be good from a quality and performance standpoint.
If you have been wavering on getting some new 14" tires.......perhaps now is the time !!! Now i certainly realize that even at only $60 each, that is well above the price point most of you folks are willing to pay for tires. But if you have thinking about getting some S Drives...something tells me this just might be your last chance.....
Some pics for your viewing pleasure. Even my cat approves of them........
As most of you know.....finding decent tires lately for our X1/9s has become difficult.
In 13"....current offerings in a 185/60R13 seems to be ( well aside from racing type tires ) limited to some Federal SS595 (look at first glance to be okay but real life feedback is mostly terrible ), some Achilles 122 ( decent quality but really more suitable to a Corolla ), and some other Chinese low end tires. Only decent option seems be a Yokohama A539, still available but only in England. Expensive to have shipped over here to North America with high shipping costs, duties, brokerage, etc.. And they are not DOT approved.
In 14".....not much better. Most suitable size is a 185/55R14. The more popular 185/60R14 is too large diameter. Not much around these days either. Again the Federal SS595 and some other low end Chinese tires. Yes, also a Vredstein, but just an all season tire more suited to a Camry.
By far the best option - well at least here in North America - has been the Yokohama S Drive 185/55R14. Was available in the USA but strangely never in Canada. This is Yokohama's "ultra performance summer tire". But still a "street tire" and not a road legal race tire. Just the ticket for most X1/9 owners who seek good performance. Great reviews from those that have tried them.
It was....well was....widely available a year or 2 ago from Tire Rack, Tires Easy, Ebay, etc. And about $90 per tire, very reasonably priced.
But....it seems a year or so ago....Yokohama USA discontinued this tire. In fact...it appears that Yokohama discontinued it world-wide. Tire Rack stopped offering them. From time to time some would appear - i'm guessing leftover stock - on Ebay and from various other sources. Back last fall you could still find some if you looked hard enough. But then those sources dried up and for the last few months ...nothing nowhere....
But then... a couple of weeks ago...a casual search of Tire Rack found this:
Holy crap !!!! Available on a special clearout.....at the time for $57 per tire. A couple of days later at $59 per tire. And now at $60 per tire.
As i possess a nice set of Maserati Biturbo 14" x 6" wheels.......I couldn't resist and ordered a set !!!
Some strange goings-on Tire Rack though......note the listing says the tires are in-stock...but shown as delivery in 4 to 10 weeks !!! And stock is only shown in their Wisconsin warehouse. But my tires were shipped to me all the way to Canada in only 3 days !! And note the price that seems to fluctuate almost daily.....
Even stranger was the shipping cost. Usually for stuff i get from the USA, I have it shipped to a drop facility in Niagara Falls, New York. That is only an hour away for me. Quite often ( and i think it is in this case ) that is free shipping. I've learned the hard way that shipping to me in Canada is VERY pricey with shipping cost and duties and brokerage fees, etc. But with of course the border being still closed that is not possible at this time. I feared that Tire Rack would run out of stock by the time the border opened again.
So what to do ?? Tire Rack would indeed ship directly to me in Canada. And prepay all the duties, HST, etc.. Punched in my postal code and ouch.....$85 US for shipping, $20 for brokerage, $16 duty, and HST. That was to my work address at a business address in Mississauga ( a suburb of Toronto ). Just for a joke I entered my home address postal code (still in Mississauga close to my work ). Expected the shipping to be somewhat higher as all the couriers charge more for a residential delivery. But....the shipping charge was now only $25 US for all 4 tires !!!!. Not bad as the drop facility in New York charges $11 per tire. And I would likely still have to the HST when crossing the border with them.
So yeah....I ordered them shipped directly to me. Even with the pandemic slowdowns, I had them at my front door in 3 days....Told you all this so if you are thinking of ordering tires from Tire Rack...try a few different postal codes to see the result !!!!
Some various thoughts. I am quite happy with tires after seeing them in person
I was concerned about the age of them. But all were date coded as being made in 15th week of 2018. so fairly fresh.
Very nice tread pattern. Looks quite sporty and suitable. Quite a deep tread with decent grooves for wet roads.
Nicely rounded at the tread edges. Should be good with an X1/9's not ideal camber change.
I mounted one up and it spins nicely on the balancer with no run-out. Required very little weight to balance.
Seems a bit wider than I expected. When mounted on a 6" wide wheel, the section width actually measured as a bit over 195mm !!! And a diameter of about 560mm ( 22.0" )
total weight of tire and wheel was only 28 lbs.
Tires made in Japan. That should be good from a quality and performance standpoint.
If you have been wavering on getting some new 14" tires.......perhaps now is the time !!! Now i certainly realize that even at only $60 each, that is well above the price point most of you folks are willing to pay for tires. But if you have thinking about getting some S Drives...something tells me this just might be your last chance.....
Some pics for your viewing pleasure. Even my cat approves of them........
