Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires Got me some 225 50 16 KDWSs. Comments within

With winter around the corner I broke down and replaced my KDWs with KDWSs in the 225 50 16 size. Just can't be careful enough when you're hauling around the kids. I wanted to share my impressions with the group so here it goes:

1) Looks - looking more at the side of the car, the tires definitely look more "poofy" than the stock size as it is wider. It does seem to fill up the fenderwell a tiny bit better than stock. Looking at the car from the rear, the tires don't look that much wider than stock. This is probably because the car sits so high. All in all, I'm not sure whether I like or dislike the look.

2) Ride quality - The thing I like the most is that most of the tire noise seems to be gone. Definitely much quieter than stock. The ride definitely feels softer than with the stock KDW tires too. Once again I'm not sure what to make of this. At times softness is a welcome thing but other times a nice firm ride is what make the car half the fun it is.

3) Handling - With these tires I can't hit the cornering limits that I could with the stock KDW tires and I expected this. The interesting thing to me is that I have a 22mm SP Motorsorts rear sway bar and before the tire swap, I considered the car somewhat "twitchy" when making quick side to side movements like going through a tight S-curve or somewhat rapid lane changes. After the tire swap, the "twitchiness" has to a large extent been negated. Yet another area where my feelings are ambiguous.

4) Wet traction - Unfortunately I haven't had them in the rain or snow yet so I don't have any experience yet in these conditions.

In summary, with the change of tire type and size, I feel like I've transformed my car from one "feel" to another and I don't know which one I like better. At least I have about 30K miles to figure it out.

For those of you thinking about the BAT suspension kit but are worried about ride height and scraping our ground effects (as I am) I think the 225 50 16 size raises the car ~.3 inches over the standard size for my E1. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Good stuff.. I was just complaining to myself that Tire Rack doesn't have the survey results for the KDWS up for some reason. I'm interested in seeing how people rate the snow traction compared to the VR4's that I have on there now.

We all benefit from sharing this kind of detail. Great report.

About the difference in vehicle height. Were you comparing that to a new KDW 215/50R16 or to the old one that you removed? The usable tread on a tire (8/32", that would be 10/32 tread depth less the 2/32 remaining when worn to the tread wear indicators) would add 1/4" to the ride height of a car by itself (8/32=1/4).

It is possible also for the actual tire diameter to be slightly more than published specs because the rim width may not be optimal for the larger tire. A slighlty narrow rim (but still within the appropriate range) would tend to make the tire a little taller.

I just wonder if the difference in ride height you saw may have been mostly due to new tires with full tread. Something to think about.

Rain and snow traction, I think that has been the point of many discussions around here.
I would like to hear your impressions when you've had the chance to run them in inclement weather.

Jim,

You're correct I was measuring the old 215 50 rather than new ones. That along with parallax when looking at the ruler probably put me at that .3". If I do the calculations, the difference should be almost .2". That is (225*0.5)-(215*0.5)= 0.197

I just had the "fortune" of driving through two rainstorms. The parking lot at my place of employment has two sharp curves that you have to go through to leave the parking lot that allows you to test the limits of tracking without having to travel too fast. I wasn't able to get the tires to break loose but because of the feel of the car now I don't feel comfortable pushing it as much as I could before the new tires. I guess I'm still learning the limits.

There's a possibility of snow in the next couple of days so I'll file a report as soon as I can hit some of that powdery stuff.

Any updates now that many areas have had snow?

Doug,

I've been eagerly awaiting snow here in Columbus, OH but not look. What am I saying. Snow is bad. When it does happen though I will be sure to post a detailed report.

ghodge

You are lucky. We had 4 inches here in NH last weekend, but alas, it is now gone.