Got a flat tire on Sunday, the hole was in the side wall so no patch. They didn't have the kind of tires my car came with (Dunlop SP20 FE) so they had to order one, while we're waiting for the new tire I've got the donut on. I just wanted to say I hate it. It's really noisy and it feels sticky, I can't coast as far with it. Anyone else who has had to use their dnut notice this? I can't wait to get my new tire... though I was reading some reviews of the stock tires online... all the reviews said in addition to being prone to skiding on corners and hydroplaning, they only last 20k miles and then gets holes in them (and wouldn't you know, I've got 20k miles on my car and my tire got a hole in it!). I'm starting to think I maybe should have gotten something else. Maybe some Bridgestone b381s?

 

The donut sucks, I didn't drive anywhere with that POS on except to Discount tire. I ended up getting a full set of Kumho Powerstar 758. They ended up keeping my mpg at the same level and they are cheap with a warranty. I've heard some say the bridgestones hurt mpg.

 

The dunlops are realy realy bad tires. However, I found since I increased the pressure in my tires the handling and stuff improved at least in rain and dry. I know it will be bad in snow though.

My first set lasted till 42k (They still had a little more life in them, but they were looking pretty ragged after 3 1/2 years of freezing winters and scorching summers.)

The tires plusses are they are great for mileage. So if you want as much mileage as you can get then get another set of these (and pump them up to max sidewall ).

 

ahh the good old dunlops SP20FE's I couldn't believe it myself when these were on par agaist the potenzas RE92's! The magic is just more air, my tire accident was from pumping really high pressure (which i won't tell you because iam extremely sick of all the flames believe me...) and I ran over something? I heard plastic that's all, and by the time I got home I heard this hissing sound... so if I had low pressure to begin with... it could have gone boom sooner!

But lucky the tire flatted itself out, got it fixed and now I'm back on the road! But now the pressure is not as high just because, I dunno I don't trust this fixed tire, maybe when I get four new dunlops I"ll make high pressure a top priority. Until then want more roll, more air that's for sure! Keep increasing until you get a level that you feel comfortable with, that's the best advice I can give you.

As for me I'm down back to sidewall, I used to have it 15% over but now that tire accident just shows these tires are aging (still on the same set!). Now I don't know if a tire with less air would be more immune to puncture or more likely to do so in my situation even though I do not get to see what really I ran over (when going over that same road that it happened, all I see is this tiny ... i don't even know what it is! but it is part of the street that's for sure) but one thing for sure, the extra air in the tires allowed me to get home safely before I realized what really happened to my tires. By I getting out of my car and hearing the hissing the first thing I did was "Oh no its going to blow! High tire pressure!! (Yes i've seen this with my eyes happened being a passenger in a friend's car)" but an hour later reveals air just leaked out, air that allowed me to get home!!!


So right now about high tire pressure, I honestly don't know what I believe. You got 90% of the population saying overinflation blah blah and you got this 10% saying overinflation is awesome. And where I lie well, I'm still deciding, but you can't decide if you don't try for yourself

edit: now that i've given them one more thought, maybe dunlops FE20 really do suck, could be just the tire

 

One thing you may want to do is check the tire pressure on your Donut. In the past, I would forget to check that when filling my tires, since it's a pain to unload the trunk to reach it. That tire is rated at 60 PSI. Last time I filled them, they were at 30 PSI. The donut, since it is so small compared to a normal tire, will need to have much higher pressure to maintain its shape with all the weight of the car on top of it -- a larger volume tire won't deform as much at the same pressure. While an underinflated donut will feel rock-solid with no load on it, if you pile the weight of the car onto it, it will compress a lot donuts are made extra sticky to compenate for their small contact area as it so, so running flat could lead to huge rolling resistance.

I found the OEM tires offered the best tradeoff of performance and comfort at around 45 psi cold, up to that point the MPG, handling, and steering-feel improved dramatically. Above that I saw diminishing MPG improvement, but an increasinginly noisy and rough ride. 30 psi (stock) feels like a boat.

Once it got into the last rainy season, I knew it was time to switch tires after a particular incident. I stopped at a stop-sign to make a right onto a busy street. I hit the gas to go immediately after stopping as I had an opening to turn. Auto-stop kicked in, and I had to wait for the engine to wind down AND back up. By that time, I had the gas pedal depressed so the engine started to rev before the transmission re-engaged. Once that finally re-engaged, the engine was revving fast enough to make the crappy tires spin in place (damp road), the loss in traction caused the engine to rev up to almost 5000 rpm, so I instinctively backed off the gas pedal, at which point the tires found traction and pulled me into the intersection. I had to floor it to avoid making the cross-traffic slam their brakes.

I found a good deal on some 16" chrome wheels with Kumho 711 tires. Even as a summer tire, the Kumhos handle better in pouring rain than the stock tires did on dry ground. I saw more than a milage hit than I would have liked, but the handling feels like a high-end sports car compared to before. It feels as if the car would flip over before the tires would slide around tight turns, and the wider tread means that the tires no longer tramline (follow grooves in the road).

I run max sidewall on those (44psi), the same pressure as my previous tires, though the ride is a bit softer as the lower-profile tire (less air volume) compresses more at the same pressure.

 

aha that donut tire, i forgot about that! when i checked mine it was at 50 psi, so i pumped it back to 60 and it lasted me in a week of driving! I put at least 300 miles on the donut in pure city driving and lets just say I got away with it dispite the odds agaist me and those telling me that its dangerous to continue driving on your spare

but hey then again my driving style is extremely radical than anyone I've known the only ones that drive like me are the ones that are online after all I did learned it from somewhere. hehe

although everytime i touch the other tires they are cool, but the donut is a bit warm :O so it is going through a lot of stress indeed.

 

Yep. My HCH's ultimate downfall was a tire blowout and the donut - and the replacement, don't even remember what that was - was worthless and irritating. My fault though. Bad driving activities, tires at 51 pounds, not so good. Ended up cheaper for me to trade it in than repair the body and electrical damage done.

 

Yes I hate the donuts. I rather let the tow guys get my car. I did it last year when I blown a tire. I will not use my car until I get the new tires. I will call up my boss to let him know I will work from home. lol..



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