[ds968]

I do use a real good local installer, they're expensive as hell but the bargain price of these tires might help overlook that. The only PITA is they don't accept direct deliveries from Tire Rack or anyone else, I have to bring the tires in, which means I have to receive the shipment at home.. not a big deal but just annoying. I'll see what price they can get these tires from their distributor, if it's only another $ 10 or so each, I might go for that to spare me from the inconvenience ..

As I was searching for some additional sources online just to see what prices others have for this, some link came up on a Bimmerforums thread re these tires ; seems everyone is very happy with their performance / grip for the first 4k or 5k miles or so after which there is some consistency to the opinion / experience their grip drops dramatically .. as opposed to the PS2 where it keeps top notch performance for may be three times the longevity of the HRTZs .. then again, who knows what to believe anymore - on several different forums, ALL posts about the Ultrac Sessantas raved about them as if they were the new holy grail.

In any event, even if they only last 5k miles, for about $ 500 installed I think I'll give them a try

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[wiseman]

In Tire Business Today. Russian Company, No money, Might go under.

AMSTERDAM (Sept. 4, 2009) — Russian tire maker Amtel Vredestein N.V. is dropping Vredestein from its name, has appointed a single-member board and approved a set of proposals for financial restructuring.

The actions came at an extraordinary meeting of shareholders held earlier this week in Amsterdam. Day to day management is in the hands of its main creditor and shareholder, Alfa Bank.

The company is to be renamed Amtel N.V., following the sale of Vredestein Banden B.V. to India’s Apollo Tyres Ltd. earlier this year.

Former Directors Petr Zolotarev and Vadim Pesochinskiy were dismissed, with Alexander Fain, a senior executive with Amtel’s main shareholder, ABH Holding (Alfa Bank), replacing Mr. Zolotarev as chief executive. Mr. Fain is now the sole member of the management board.

Creditors to Amtel likely will face a choice of either converting their debts into equity in a new company and then be faced with further cash calls to fund a resurrection, or to suffer from discounted debts and extended payment terms with no long-term guarantee they will get all their money back.

The company´s troubles have been made significantly worse by the global economic downturn. Sales of tires in Russia fell roughly by half in the first half of this year, and this substantially affected the already limited financial viability of Amtel.

Amtel reported a net loss of $35 million in the three months ended March 31 on 47 percent lower sales, due to the economic downturn and production stoppages at its Voronezh and Kirov, Russia, plants. Production at Voronezh is still idled and output from Kirov from Kirov is irregular at best, according to Alfa Bank.

In a presentation to shareholders, Alfa Bank said previous attempts to rescue Amtel have failed, leaving every main associated and affiliate company in bankruptcy proceedings and senior management who want to leave immediately.

Furthermore, working capital and investment capital are severely restricted. That situation is made worse by a sharp decline in demand for tires in Russia, combined with aggressive competition from other tire makers in Russia, such as Sibur-Russian Tyres, according to Alfa Bank’s administrator, J.A. Daniels.

Alfa estimates Amtel needs around $30 milion in working capital to get it going once more. Though it has to be noted that over the last 18 months or so, this amount of capital has been injected, yet it was not enough to kickstart the company, which remains almost frozen.

Alfa further estimates that the Voronezh II plant needs $50 million to get it operational. This seems high, in comparison with similar new build projects, given that the factory is built, all machinery except the mixing room is installed and the mixing room equipment has been purchased, and is awaiting installation.

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[cosimo]

As we are speaking of tires, I was talking with a very experienced driver at the VIR DE this weekend. He raved about the Falken tire AZENIS RT-615. His claim was that as a "street" tire it as close to slick for the track. The performance did not go away as the tires heated up. I didn't check the prices but he said they were inexpensive. Will have to give them a try for my next set of tires.

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[wiseman]

Might want to try the Sumitomo ZIII's. Falcon is a private brand of Sumitomo. Always a bit more "stuff" in the flag brand tire.

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[ds968]

I'm afraid the problem with tires is similar to buying electronics: six months after you buy a particular brand which may very well be the best deal at the moment, a better product ( and several choices of them ) inevitably comes out, and at an even cheaper price than its predecessor. Of course if you had to buy something because the old set was worn, then it's much easier to live with that. Otherwise you regret rushing into things... which is what I'm doing [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

But the ZIIIs sound too good to pass up, so if I buy them and a few thousand miles later they don't hold up, I will
regret throwing away $ 500 and it will be just another lesson learned, but at least , not a terribly expensive one .

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[ds968]

I was planning to list these tires ( the Ultrac Sessantas ) for sale on eBay or/and Craigslist, but then I thought in case someone here might want them for another car ( or even for the 968 if you tend to drive in a civilized manner ) I may as well post on the forum first ... so I'll do that later on today.

Again, these tires are excellent for daily driving and even "spirited driving", but if you have a tendency to take very sharp turns at the car's full potential, gas pedal to the floor, clutch popping, tire smokin' , turning into 25mph curves going 70mph, well...the compound on these tires is simply too hard ( good news is that they'll last you probably for a good 30-40k miles ) so the car fishtails under those extremes..

The for sale post will have details, but they're less than half a year old, under 3 k miles on them ( I'll ckeck that to make sure ) and the sizes are 255 40 17 rear and 235 45 17 fronts - again the fronts are 235 45 17 , not 225/45.

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[ds968]

I was looking at the Tire Rack noise ratings of the Sumis HTR Z III vs the Dunlop Z1 Star which I bought : the
Sumis rank at 8.2 , with the Z1 at 7.8. What a a bunch of B.S. ! The Sumis are confirmed to be completely silent
at just about any speed, while my tires howl so loudly the moment you get close to 80mph, you need ear plugs.
How can there be only a 0.4 diff on a 1-10 scale between these two ?! Now I'm thinking the tire rack tests are all performed below 65mph [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img]

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[banditsc]

I was going to go with the Dunlops that you got till I heard you were having noise issues. So I kept looking and figured I would go with the Sumi's, but I kept looking. I finally bought the Conti Extreme Contact DW's. There rated 3rd this year at Tire Rack, they rated 7.46 and the number 1 was 7.48 (Tire Rack test rank not the customer rank). The Conti's were cheaper then the 1st and 2nd, but what finally settled it for me was the weight of the tires. The Contis were the lighest tire I could find on there, the 225/17's were 20lbs and the 255/17's were 23lbs. The other tires ranged from 23 to 28 lbs. I figured dropping 5 to 6 lbs per tires was a good thing, since I'm going heavier moving from 16 to 17's. The Dunlops weigh in at 26 and 28lbs, and the Sumi's at 23 and 25lbs.

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[flash]

i went for a ride in the car - they are indeed silly loud - not good

i can't wait to get rid of the contis i have on the M3 for the same reason - they don't grab well either - good luck

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[banditsc]

These are the newest ones on the market, they came out somewhere around June. They are in the Max Performance Summer category. The Michelin PS2's scored 7.48 and these 7.46, so I figured they can't be all that bad.

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[gryphon]

<!--quoteo(post=81256:date=Oct 5 2009, 12:16 PM:name=flash)-->QUOTE (flash @ Oct 5 2009, 12:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->i went for a ride in the car - they are indeed silly loud - not good<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

It would be more clear if you quoted the previous text that you are commenting on. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

Tom

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[flash]

ha ha

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