2001 Accent Tire Replacement

Time for new rubber. Any brand/model recommendations appreciated. Also
considering wheel/tire size change. Good idea?

 

For a cheap little car, does it really make a difference? Why not just roll
into Sears and pick whatever's cheap? This is not a troll: I have a 2001
Accent too, and would like to be realistic about throwing money at the
thing. After all, I bought it for its price tag.

Chris

 

I just replaced the front tires on my 03 Accent at 40K miles. Unless
you are getting rid of the car in the next few months or live
somewhere where it never rains or snows, buy good tires. They don't
cost that much more than the cheapest ones and you will notice the
difference.

I paid $160 installed/balanced/road hazard warranted for a pair of BF
Goodrich Traction T/As at NTB. An intersection I go through daily has
a stop on a hill. When there was any moisture on the road the original
tires would slip unless I applied gas very gently. Not now. Sudden
stops also feel a whole lot better.

 

Tell you what... I found in my last little econobox that it is a good idea
to look into the type of rubber you get.... I got one set of 4 General tires
and the car acted like a toboggan... but the pavment was dry... they didn't
stop the car at ALL! Fortunately the place from which I purchased them
allowed an exchange... I bought Yokohamas... they worked GREAT! It stopped
better than the original Dunlops, stuck to the road better, and still got
great economy. (definitely better than the General tires I had gotten
before...) Now this was a number of years ago, and your car probably takes
different sized tires, and technology marches on... so I am not certain what
would work best on your Accent... but I would suggest you not just get the
cheapest tires out there or you may live to regret it (if you live)...
Regards,
--
KWW

 

That depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you want to improve
the handling without getting into low profile tires that are expensive
and problematic on rough roads, a "plus 1" configuration should do the
trick. Your car came with 175/70-13 tires. Moving up to 14" wheels with
185/60-14 tires will dramatically improve the handling, without
compromising gas mileage significantly. Anything wider and/or lower
profile than that (such as 195/50-15) tends to get quite expensive and
compromise ride quality.

When you get into 60 series tires, you don't find a lot of junk on the
market, so choose your tires according to what kind of driving you do.
If you need winter tires, you now have 13" wheels that are ideal for
mounting snow tires on, so you can choose summer tires that perform
better and have separate wheels and tires for increased safety in
winter. Specialty snow tires are VASTLY superior in snow to the "all
season, M&S rated" junk that most cars come with.

If you don't need winter tires, you can either keep the old wheels and
tires as spares or sell them to help pay for your upgrade purchase.

 

195X50 15" Fuldas on steel Saturn rims. I've got over 40K miles on mine and
they still look like new.

 

Question:
Doesn't a size change alter the distance the tread travels in one rotation,
and wouldn't that alter odometer/speedometer accuracy? If that's the case,
don't you need to have it recalibrated so it's accurate? (And at what cost?)

 

cost?)

A 195X50 15" is approximately the same diameter tire as the stock 175X70
13".

The increased width provides a lot more footprint.

 

I did the math and your replacement tires are ~3% smaller. That's better
than being larger. Your indicated speed will be slightly more than your true
speed. (That also means your calculated MPG will be slightly less than you
true MPG.)

 

That's pretty much what I did. But Wal-mart had better prices.

Kevin

 

Considering 185/65 14's. Will stock steel Elantra wheels fit? Other stock rims?
My Accent rims are 4 hole 100 mm spacing. Too cheap to go aftermarket.

 

OOps. My last posting should have read 185/60(!) 14's, as per Brian
Nystrom's Sept 27 reply. 185/65's would be too large for this
application. Thanks, Brian. Great "Tire/Wheel Size Calculator" at
www.1010.com .

 

No. The Elantra wheels use a 4 x 114.3 hole pattern.

Sure, it's just a matter of figuring out which ones.

Check with local junkyards. They're bound to have plenty of suitable
wheels. You need to find the offset of the stock wheels, so you know
what you need to look for. It may be stamped on your wheels somewhere
and it's probably a number between 35 and 45. What offset you need on
replacement wheels will depend on their width. If it's the same as your
13" wheels, the offset will be the same. If the wheels are wider than
your stock wheels, the offset will change, too. If you go to
www.tirerack.com, they have explanations of wheel width, offset, plus
sizing, etc.

 

Cheap little car? I think not I have a 96 Accent that came with tiger paw
tires, they work fine. If you want to find a car to call a cheap little car,
it is my old car a 1990 Geo Metro.