New Tires Mounted and Balanced at Prince Wheels

[BobsElise]

I had some new tires mounted and balanced at Prince Wheels in Monroe today.  I was trying to be cheap and put some 245/45-17 RE-01Rs which were on closeout at Tirerack.  They were a little too big for the car and rubbed occasionally in hard cornering so I decided to try to get some 235/45-17 rears.  I ended up choosing the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Specs.  There was a $60 rebate if you bought 4 so I just bought a set of 4 tires (total of $440 shipped after rebate for my sizes).  I got them mounted today at Prince Wheels, which I consider to be the best at road force balancing in the greater Charlotte area (semi-reasonable price too at $25/wheel).  When they tried to balance one the fronts, they found that the wheel itself was slightly out of round, which I had suspected from day one.  Since they do wheel straightening there, I went ahead and had them fix it.  I probably wouldn’t have wasted the money on any other car, but knowing how sensitive the Lotus is and that I had the notorious steering wheel shimmy, I figured I’d give it a shot.  The car feels great now!  No more steering wheel shimmy.  The steering feel is enhanced too over the aging RE-01Rs.  The Dunlops ride a little rougher, but they also feel a little more crisp turning in.  They seem to be a little noisier at certain speeds, but honestly the Elise is so noisy it's hard to tell.  I don’t really care much about ride quality or noise in the Lotus so I would say they are a good fit for the car, especially considering the price.

Anyway, I just wanted to share one of the few positive experiences I have had lately with automotive service.  I would highly recommend Prince Wheels!

[talon]

I've had Prince repair some road rash on my rear wheels - they did an perfect job.

I've had a great experience with PAS downtown for mounting tires. They generally deal with Porsche, but did a great job on my last set of tires.

Bob - I wish I could pick up tires that cheap. Tirerack wants $650 for just my rear tires

[BobsElise]

One thing that made me very happy going from a C5 Z06 to the Elise was the reduced cost of tires.  Actually, I put so few miles on my car now it's almost irrelevant.  I need to get out and drive it more!

[talon]

I wish I could get more than 5K miles out of a set of rears