I keep seeing people post about the "crappy" Firestone tires that come stock on the Caliber. Mine came with a set of Dunlop SP50 tires. My Caliber is U.S. spec and purchased through a U.S.supplier (AAFES), why would I have Dunlops when everyone else is getting Firestones?
Firestone tires?
Michael K.
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I keep seeing people post about the "crappy" Firestone tires that come stock on the Caliber. Mine came with a set of Dunlop SP50 tires. My Caliber is U.S. spec and purchased through a U.S.supplier (AAFES), why would I have Dunlops when everyone else is getting Firestones?
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Did you get 15" or 17"? I think I saw Dunlops on the 15" here at my dealer but I think all of the 17" come with "crappy" Firestone tires.
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I believe only the R/T has Firestone tires (mine does). SXT (and maybe SE?) have Dunlop tires.
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The 15" Dunlop SP50's seem to have a way better thread pattern on them than the 17" Firestones. They have a more aggresive thread with wide water dispersement channels to stop aquaplaning. The Firestones underperform in all conditions and I took them off at the first sign of snow and replaced them with "H" rated Continental snow tires on the factory alloys. I'll try to pick up some 17 or 18" rims and "H" or "V" rated for next summer. With the thread pattern on the Dunlops you could probably do the first winter with them. Anyway, basic new car factory tires are designed with only one criteria in mind and that is to give the highest EPA MPG rating with no concern for quiet ride or handling or safety.
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My SXT has 17" Firestone Affinity's. They're junk. Almost feels like I have 3 radials and 1 bias-ply. If anyone has ever driven a car with a mismatch you'll know what I mean. Feels like the back end wanders at highway speeds. I'm positive it's the tires thats causing it.
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I agree, these Affinity's are junk, I can't want to burn these buns off and get some Michelins. I have felt the rear end wander under hard braking conditions on the freeway. Kinda creepy.Huff said:
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You wouldn't think that putting snow tires on a car would improve the handling of a car on dry pavement, but with the high profile of the 60 series tire moving up to higher speed rating gives the tire a stiffer sidewall. I've noticed over the years that even changing the factory "Q" rated Michelins on a Lincoln Town Car to "H" rated Michelin Pilot Alpin snows changed the handling and response dramatically.
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The 17" Firestones on North American Calibers are "T" rated. 118 mph-190 kph and a "H" speed rated tire is 130 mph-210 kph. I'm sure the European Calibers have Continentals. ps-amazon, can you confirm? Check http://tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tiretech.jsp
yes, my SE 2.0 CRD has Continetals, H rated; I don't like Continental (noisy, no comfort) and I prefer Michelin Alpin wintertires (I use wintertires summer and winter). But the Caliber dimension, 215/60R17 is a dimension that hardly exits in Europe, so I need a 17 inch dimension that has almost the same diameterxlimodriver said:
Look for a 235/55/17 tire. Same diamter as stock, will fit the stock rims, and should increase handling and performance as well. Lots of options on Tire Rack in that size. For some reason, I've noticed Dodge has a tendancy to use oddball sizes for it's stock tires, which make it hard for most to find affordable tirs since a lot of people don't know to look for different sizes in the same diameter. Or just don't know how to decipher tire sizes to know what would be a comparable diameter.
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