Nexen Tires

Just got some new tires and thought I'd mention specifics since it is a brand I do not recall hearing here before.

Looking for some reasonably priced 165/80/15s I found the brand Nexen. Mostly positive comments from non-Britcar users I found on the web. Like Kuhmos they are made in China and inexpensive:




Came to about $220 for a set of 4 delivered. Ordered late Tuesday, tires arrived Friday morning -- this is the place:

https://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?ds...p;nichtweiter=1

Got to try out Harbor Freight tire equipment: a tire changer and a bubble balancer -- both worked great. For the changer I mounted it to some 2x3s and used the lift to clamp it down -- many other options are also possible for securing it:



The bubble balancer seems to have produced a good result -- I have never been satisfied with the tire shop efforts as they seem precise but not necessarily accurate. In particular, their results do not seem repeatable inasmuch as each subsequent effort on their machine produces a different result. With the simple HF unit I was able to consistently get the same answer.

Hi Geo,

The PO of my parts car TR3A had installed them on 60 spoke painted wires as well. This car was in a bad accident and written off, so I have never driven the car to test out the tires but the PO really liked them.

Look forward to hearing more about them after you have tested them out for awhile.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd

I have these same tires on my TR4, (perhaps a slightly different size) but I have put about 1600 miles on them, most miles were rather spirited mountain miles, and I have no problems with them. Good traction, even in wet. My local tire shop got them for me.. I think I paid about 250.00, installed, with the road hazard warranty... They have a very retro looking tread pattern, which I like...

Oh my, Geo. That site has some great prices.

Hats off to you for doing this all yourself, too. I guess it is really not that hard...

If you're saying 'It can't be that hard if Geo did it'... you are exactly right.

If they are made in China, the price will go up shortly!

Geo Hahn said:

If you're saying 'It can't be that hard if Geo did it'... you are exactly right.

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Not really. More like "Geo is setting a great example to emulate..." I appreciate your humility, but this is seriously cool stuff and self-sufficiency is great to see. I hope to get there myself in the long run.

It will be interesting to see how long these Chinese tire prices hold up. There was a big article in yesterday's newspaper about our slapping a tariff onto Chinese tires. They have jumped from 5% of our imports to 17% in one year, and we cannot compete.

It is a tough one: do we allow these countries that pay "coolie wages" run every one of our domestic industries out of business?

Back to the tire issue, the Chinese response seems to be "you do NOT want to get into a pissing contest with us!!!"

Let's see how it goes...

TR3BGeorge said:

...It is a tough one: do we allow these countries that pay "coolie wages" run every one of our domestic industries out of business?...

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Good question. Hate to see the tire industry go the way of steel, electronics, etc. I, for one, would have been willing to pay more for a US made tire -- but I couldn't find one in the 165/15 size (other than Coker).

I will pay anything to buy a product made in America or at least a country that is a friend of ours. That is why I tend to avoid WalMart like the plague. Know this subject is taboo, but gotta say it.

Heck, many dentists now use Chinese dental labs. The work is nice, and very, very cheap. If your dentist is doing a crown or denture on you, good chance it comes from China! Kid you not.

I may be a liberal, but we are selling ourselves down the river.

Geo Hahn said:

Got to try out Harbor Freight tire equipment: a tire changer and a bubble balancer -- both worked great. For the changer I mounted it to some 2x3s and used the lift to clamp it down -- many other options are also possible for securing it:

The bubble balancer seems to have produced a good result -- I have never been satisfied with the tire shop efforts as they seem precise but not necessarily accurate. In particular, their results do not seem repeatable inasmuch as each subsequent effort on their machine produces a different result. With the simple HF unit I was able to consistently get the same answer.

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I'm very interested in hearing how the balancing worked for you. Have you had the car and new tires out on the road at various speeds?

I had toyed with this back in the 80's with a mini bubble balancer from JC Whitney (and it appears that HF sells one almost exactly like it as the mini wheel balancer) but wasn't happy with getting the wire wheel to sit uniformly on it every time. I'm assuming you have the portable wheel balancer that's $59.99?

My thoughts were that they only had bubble balancers when the cars were new so why wouldn't it work as well today. Also, when I had my car on the road, I was never comfortable that they had the wheel properly centered using the spin balancers.

Scott

HerronScott said:

...assuming you have the portable wheel balancer that's $59.99?...

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That's the one. I mounted the wheel to a hub using a knock-off with a hole machined in the middle (for viewing in this case).



I greased the back of the hub and the center piece of the balancer so the thing would settle easily into the correct spot.

I realize this is not a perfect method but removing and remounting the wheel on the hub in different positions convinced me that I was getting a pretty true result.

Have only driven in town but up to 65 w/o any vibration. Can't say the same for my disc wheels that were balanced on one of those expensive machines.

How did I get up to 65 in town? -- it's Tucson.

BTW I don't have a lathe so to machine that hole in the knock-off I mounted it to the right rear hub, jacked up the rear, adjusted the left rear drum to lock up and started the engine in 2nd. Then used a jack stand as a tool holder and a triangular file as a cutting tool. I looked like a candidate for a Darwin award but it worked great.

Interesting, as not far off from my idea of taking a wire wheel hub and cutting it down so it was flush when a wire wheel was mounted on it and using that with a spin balancer. Never did it though as I didn't want to waste a good hub...

Scott

I'm done talking about tires. Geo, that drive on lift, ramp, or whatever you show in Royal Blue in that photo, with the Acrylic Floor painted with speckles, is all I care about. I'm incapacited by a gripping envy at the moment. That's way cool. What is all that? A hydraulic lift? Electric lift?

Come clean. I need to discuss the issue with my wife.

))

This 35% tariff is only on Chinese tires. Kumho is a South Korean tire manufacturer.

3798j said:

This 35% tariff is only on Chinese tires. Kumho is a South Korean tire manufacturer.

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So the Kuhmos which are made in China will be unaffected?

Kentvillehound: Just order all the stuff and have it done. The wife will love the clean garage. She might even let you sleep in it. My garage looks like a bomb went off in it most of the time, and my wife thinks I should sleep in it sometimes. You could go one up on Geo and put a flat screen and a recliner in. Second thought just sit in the car.