As some of you know, I picked up a very nice set of Fondmetal 9A's for my 2000 9-5 Aero, to replace the stock Klingons.
The dilemma is what do I do with the rubber on the Klingons. I have some BF Goodrich g-force KDW's, which have only about 7-8 thousand miles on them. They have *awesome* grip, and are great in the rain.
So why not just swap them over to the Fondmetals? Because the KDWs howl like banshees at freeway speed.
Do I spend the 100-120 to dismount the old tires and get them remounted and balanced on the Fondmetals? Thereby just living with the noise until the KDWs wear out, or . . .
Or do I bite the bullet and spend 400, 600, or more for new tires?
If it were me, I'd use the rest of the Goodriches, but I don't care about road noise. All that money would probably be well spent on your SPG, but then again I'm not sure of your financial situation. But everyone likes free money
The other option would be to sell them.
And who the heck is charging you that much to mount tires?? I pay ~16 a corner, for mounting.
I had KDW's so I'm all to familiar with the horrid noise, but amazing grip.
I say run the KDWs and run them hard, they'll last 10K at best.
My solution to this problem was upgrade my suspension so I don't need the amazing grip of the KDWs. I've got Eibach springs, Bilstein Sports, and Fuzion HRi's. The HRi's are very good for an $80 tire, but they're no KDW's. I still have plenty of grip with good all seasons and no howl at 45 mph.
It is very much a question of where do I spend my Saab dollars - on the tires or on the SPG. Could I do both? Yes. If I did both, would she-who-must-be-obeyed object? Probably.
I'm leaning towards re-mounting the KDWs. I can live with the noise, I have for two summers. And to the extent I'm doing long highway trips this summer, it'll be in the SPG.
How much would a set of 1/3 used KDWs go for, were I to sell them?
Buy new tires. I recently got a set of BF Goodrich G-Force Super Sports for $530 including installation, etc. The tires have been great so far with not too much noise.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Saab Link Forums
953K posts
26.9K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to Saab owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!