Helicoil Sav A Thread Problem?

"Pete" wrote

Cornering, YES, in a FWD car.

FloydR

"Floyd Rogers" wrote

Well, I've driven many other FWD cars with different tires and they haven't exhibited that behavior. Well, maybe apart from my dad's Nissan Primera which coincidentally also had some long-wearing Michelins on.

Pete

You're being simplistic to blame his observation of tires squealing a lot once they start to wear on the design of the car. I've observed this in lots of different types of cars, and the progressive worsening of the tire squeal as the tires age should not be broad-brushed away because it's a FWD car.

-Russ.

"Pete" wrote

Actually, this is getting pretty silly. My original comments on Honda was more of a dig at FWD cars (which understeer more, hence howl more than any RWD car). I don't believe that the MXV4's howled more than the OEM Dunlops that they replaced (in either the 225/60 or

205/65 size). They wore very well. The MX4's that I put on our Chrysler minivan were excellent - no howling and were far superior to the OEM and other Goodyears that I had on it. They were excellent in the rain up here in Seattle.

The 525i currently has XGT-H4 in 225/65R16 size on it, which is slightly noisier, and about as good in rain.

FloydR

Pirelli P6000 are a good bet, a bit cheaper than Michelin Energy and just as good, no idea why previous posters have had squealing problems the Michelins. P6000's are/were factory fit on most Mercedes, Jaguar, Audi and BMW models (at least over the last 5-10 years). I used to get

40-50,000 miles on these tyres with mostly open road driving.

I sort of agree, tirerack.com *is* a great resource. You can check out models and prices and get a lot of anecdotal experience info, but do

*not* take the reviews and ratings as gospel, especially the positive ones. A large percentage of the reviews are done after very little mileage on the purchaser's new tires. Of course he thinks he made the smartest decision and just loves them. 10-20k miles later the story may be different. But you can pay attention to the negative responses as it may indicate issues with that particular tire model.

I have bought three different sets of tires from them based on positive (or rather a lack of negative) reviews that I later regretted. One set was some Kumhos that got incredibly noisey after only 12k miles. Another model of Kumhos that were Z rated but turned out to be very slick with poor traction. The third (and possibly worst) were some continental extreme contacts that were highly regarded at the time, but which turned out to have a horrible tendency to flat spot when left for even a short time. This led to them being misbalanced (while they were still cold). The only way that I was finally able to get them balanced was to go out and drive around on them for a half an hour and drive right into the tire shop and have them lift it right away. What a PITA...

anyway... caveat emptor.

Nonsense. All FWD cars corner horribly. The tires you are talking about are passenger touring tires made for comfort not performance. If you want performance tires you have to get the pilot sports.

"Fred W" wrote

I'll just ignore this generalization.

Of course. And that's why I wrote "they may be OK for "grandma" type driving," in my initial response.

Cheers,

Pete

Why? I have never driven a FWD car (and I've driven a lot of them) that did not have excessive understeer. Add in a healthy dose of torque steering that inevitably occurs in any of them that that have a decent amount of horsepower and we're talking some really fine cornering...

As in most things in life, tire selection is a huge compromise. Some (perhaps the majority of) drivers prefer to for-go the responsive turn-in of high performance tires for a smoother, quieter ride. That does not mean that they drive like a "grandma", just they do not value that aspect of driving as much.

As for myself, I prefer different types of tires on different cars. For instance, on my Z3 I use the stickiest, Z rated tires I can find. OTOH, on my 325i I like to use a higher-performance tire but in the stock (relatively high) 205/60x15 profile for middle of the road trade-off on handling and comfort and on my 540i (heavy highway cruiser) I prefer a touring class of tire but in a lower than stock profile for the same general trade-off.

BTW - any of those cars (even the 5'er with the "touring" tires) will out corner just about any production FWD car in their respective classes.

It may be a generalization, but it happens to be true. FWD can be tweaked to give acceptable handling, but never great handling.

Maybe I should have asked for *constructive* feedback only - apart from Chris who at least had the courtesy to explain he was making a long shot of a suggestion that it may be *me* at fault - all this thread seemed to attract was those who call into question their own competence by making ridiculous claims as if they *must be* statements of fact.

Here's an update: By chance we had a mechanical engineer in my place of work on a visit for a couple of days. Told him the above and after showing him the helicoil insert tool and the knurled solid type inserts, he confirmed that the insert tool was faulty (it's now on its way back to manufacturers for refund!), the burred edge at the top would, he stated, cause the problem I described with the coil type inserts! As for the solid inserts, he couldn't be so definite; he said either (a) The newly cut thread had failed or (b) The washer of the old sparkplug I had used as an installation tool had caused premature widening of the knurled top of the solid insert. The manufacturer's instructions I was given made no mention of removing the sparkplug washer when using it as an insert tool, though I have seen this advice elsewhere - the washer on this particular type of plug won't come off at all easily so I proceeded with it in place. After showing the guy a new sparkplug of the same type, he said his money was heavily on option (b); it really does look like this design of washer would get inside the insert and open it up before it had fully entered the sparkplug aperture. The car's running fine with no apparent loss of power, misfiring, or leaking gases. I haven't pulled the plug yet, but the guy tells me if, when I do, the internal thread on the insert is intact, it should be sound.

The above just for the record - it may prove useful to someone else in the future

Rob