People, plese, can anyone explain why car enthusiasts don't just buy cars that are faster from factory? Like an old Nissan GTR instead of building a slightly newer Corvette
One thing I like about the classic car scene is that tires DO make a huge difference in how your car looks, because we have so many options. Whitewall tires, redline tires, raised white letter tires, piecrust tires, blueline tires, goldline tires… tires have more obvious aesthetic differences for old cars, and thanks to companies like Coker Tire, we can get modern radial tires that look like iconic bias-ply tires. It’s especially noticeable on hot rods since they tend to be open-wheel cars, so you want to select a cool looking tire with good tread.
Man I have a holden rodeo with steelies they had regular car tyres on them I changed to light truck so the only difference is the sidewall is stronger and omg is it so much nicer
thats not even slightly a joke i meant to upgrade my entire pc, delayed the PSU, bought a gpu ram and a cpu before the motherboard and the PSU, shit was crashing literally every second. got a new psu and it has never ran better
@@yurilopes420first thing I bought for my PC was 700w power supply, way over spec’d with what else I was ran it with. Same thing with my car, I’m only pushing 280hp but I’m running pilot sports lol
@@gbizzle201 I ain't even lying, buying the best power supply available is just always gonna be good, never a waste. they have better short circuit protection, are more reliable, don't fry your shit, and are way more efficient
@@gbizzle201it's not about wattage it's about rating and reliability No one tells you to get 1000 watts for a 500 watt build they tell you to get a decent psu atleast c tier psu, more expensive if your buying a more expensive build No one's asking you to get a gamer vomit 2000watt psu , they just say don't get a psu that burns your house down
Adding on, my personal belief is that you should never cheap out in tires. It isn't visually stimulating, but its better to have a reputable brand set of tires for your car than a cheap set from a brand you never heard. I can understand if you're trying to sell the car and it needs a set, but your build car should DEFINITELY not cheap out. They're the difference between grip in a corner/road and suddenly trying rallycross
@@weedshoes5089 agreed. But unfortunately, rims really get the appeal for modern car culture, not the package of rim and tire. It's a shame, Pilot AS 4 Sports look fantastic
Going from shitty cheapo tires to actually a good and expensive set of Michelin Sport 4 made a huge amount of difference. Not only for me being a lot more confident pushing my car to its limits while cornering but also generally for safety, especially in rain even tho they are wider than stock. I haven't driven a lot of tires to their limits but these were the best yet. Although a bit on the expensive side it's definitely worth every penny to me
What is funny is I kinda have an obsession with tires as a mod and infected my friends lol. We will research tires for weeks before buying and they actually do vary in appearance fairly significantly compared to the tread pattern and sidewall shape. Idk why but tires have always been up there for me on mods because as you said it’s critical for driving characteristics of your car. Glad you shined some light on this.
Yes! I actually DO consider tires visual mod as well, especially for us RWD guys. Nothing better than having a super beefy set of 305's or 315's poking from the rear 😁
Tires are literally the #1 mod you can make for price to performance ratio. No one who likes cars and wants to go faster should EVER be thinking that tires are not extremely important. Also, agree. RE003s look really appealing lol
@@_Zekken yeah it puzzles me to see people wanting to cheap out on tires and then buy a 500$ intake filter set up when a decent set of tires were around 800$
@@_Zekken It's also a double edged sword mod. If you want to go faster, first learn to drive consistently at the limit on your lower grip tires. They will teach you to be smooth with your driving, which develops consistency. Then move to a better one. Many enthusiasts go straight for the 200 tw tire before their first time on track. And they drive very badly with them because they don't really know how to handle the higher limits that their tires provide.
Here is my rebuttal for coilovers and the reason I chose upgrade springs and shocks: As someone who usually spends every available second working on my car, I knew that if I bought coilovers, I would be in there every day adjusting it until I got the ride height PERFECT. And I would be always messing with preload and damping stiffness as-well; It’s just who I am. In my opinion, coilovers are unnecessary for a DD. I know you can say this about almost any mod, but unless you take twisty roads to school/work, or have really good backroads local to you (which I have neither), than it makes more sense to go with a suspension settup with a comfortable spring rate and that gives you enough ground clearance to get around Memphis roads lol. At least, these are the things I took into consideration when I bought my springs and shocks, which after almost a year with them, I’m still glad I went that route. Just my take though :)
coilovers are really only necessary on track. A well dampened shock and well sprung spring go a long way daily and spirited driving. I think a lot of people get suckered into coilovers because of clout and adjustability. It's much sexier to tell people you're on a set of BC coilovers than bore someone with your bilstein shocks and whatever spring setup. It's actually unnecessary to have that much adjustability for daily street I've had coilovers on several builds. In hindsight, I spent WAY more money than I needed to. I never adjusted them. Now I'm on kyb struts and skunk2 springs on my '03 Si. Firm, but comfortable on the street. At low speeds soaks up bumps, at higher speeds and under load around a corner, the springs tighten and reduce body roll. Just drop in and go. Costs less and less time to setup
Tires are definetly one of the first or the first mod you should definetly do to your car for what your going to do with it.Your not only going to get more grip,but also more safety and in some cases better looks.
As a biiker, the importance of tyers is paramount, car people tend not to talk much about them, but bikers will talk for ages about the best set of rubber to put on. You can literally feel the effect of the tyers through every part of your body when you're in a naughty lean angle and you can feel the suspension compress and the tyres grip instead of the wheels hopping or sliding.
For me Michelin tires are king of the tarmac. Comfortable, but still grips pretty hard. Running AS4's atm but did run PS4S and probably end up with AS4's again because the tire durability is a lot better.
For me, my PS4's have held up about the same as my AS3+'s surprisingly. I don't intend on trying AS4's though cuz I like summer grip and don't daily the Vette anymore.
@@BladedAngel Some googling yielded saying that AS4's are objectively better than AS3+ by around 5-10% depending on the situation of driving conditions. At least that's what some sources are saying.
I don't know if it's just me, but I get excited to see different types of tyres on different types of cars, especially when they're closer to a softer compound like semi-slicks, even PS4S or P Zero compared to All Season tyres, it's so cool to see the tread size and patterns being different for different needs.
You're not alone. Ever since I started having to buy tires, I now know way too much about them. I'm always peeping rubber as I approach other cars in lots.
On the tires, I've even seen automotive review "journalists" telling people that the only good tire is an all season because you can use them all year round. Forgetting that people may not drive the same car all year, or that a second set of tires is optional. I live in the Midwest, ain't driving my mustang in the snow when I already have a truck.
All season tires is bad in the summer and dangerously bad in the winter, it is not a good option... But on my Ford Transit box van I now drive pure winter tires summer and winter because it is so much work to change them. So in summer I have double the braking length than I would with summer tires. Also driving with summer tires in snow and ice is just insane...
Tires make a HUGE difference if you get the right ones. I got a set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 summer tires for a 2015 Chevrolet Malibu of all things, and it's made an enormous difference on how the car handles and hooks up to the asphalt.
That's what I did with my TSX V6 , the struts were worn out when I bought it, so I bought a set of TEIN Flez Z to replace them. Now it sits pretty and greatly improved corner handling
Always love a good tire callout. I think I wish I had gone with coilovers, but replacing stock struts/springs with an upgraded set that is meant to go together works well. I'm off to see if they make a ported throttle body for an E36 M3 now...
Tires are just so important and can do so much in terms of confidence with your car. But too much confidence can ruin your day. For car enthusiasts like me a proper set of tyres can do so much more than some cheap performance mod
I critically thought about throttle body space and concluded you couldn't make a lot of power on it. Correct me if I am wrong, but if all you are doing is adding a spacer in an existing setup. You are NOT increasing airflow anywhere if it sits between smaller holes. You just basically got 1cm bigger hole siting between some smaller holes. It doesn't do anything.
I always thought throttle body spacers were supposed to be made of a thermally insulated material to keep the heat from the engine/intake manifold from soaking into the TB. I guess it could prolong the life of the throttle position sensor if it were to keep it a little cooler.
@@GoldenGrenadier I don't think it any insulation that it does would yield any benefits because it's just too small and it still sitting right next to the engine itself. You would be better off getting a cold air intake if your goal is to get colder air in your engine because it is sucking air from a more isolated location further away from your engine.
@@joshuabenitez3260 Most "cold air intakes" is actually hot air intake moving the air intake from the front of the hood to inside the hot engine bay right next to the hot engine... Also putting on a very long air intake can give a little more power, like the 1,5m long snorkel they put on offroad vehicles.
@@a64738 yeah the "cold air intakes" sitting near the engine bay aren't cold air intakes either. It's like you said it needs to be long and basically a snorkel. Most true CAI's are installed where it pulls cold air close to the bottom front of the car. The ones near the engine is a Short Air Intake and most people get that for clout or for the sound.
I honestly appreciate the last two. I don't have a super nice/sporty car (2015 Corolla S) but I recently bought coil overs (Tien) for about 700 or so and got Yokohama Advans. I got the tires in November, and compared to what I had previously, I can felt quite a difference. And with the Coil overs, I definitely notice a huge difference in performance, since I drive over a mountain pass for work every day.
The upgrading as you go is so relatable lol its right there with “Well, since I’m working on this so I’ll change this because it’ll save me work in the future disassembling it again”
Living in a snowy area, I HATE the amount of people that say "Oh my all seasons are fine in the winter, I don't need studded snow tires" because they make a HUGE difference. Besides obviously keeping really good traction on unplowed/icy roads, they can actually regain traction on ice if you do slide when most straight rubber tires won't. Yes, they are more expensive, but not spending a couple hundred extra for a massive safety improvement is just plain stupid.
Dude, I had Bridgestone Potenza "allseasons". (Damn near a summer tire tbh) and here in Northern Nevada we had a DAY of 13 inches of snow dumped on us and I literally was just spinning at 1 mph in my focus st. A week later I put Bridgestone Blizzaks on and I try to drift in the snow, and it just finds traction in a turn. It's WAY better. Yes, two paychecks for two sets of tires, but its worth it for a few years for each.
Tires are Number 1 in my eyes for basic mods as it's literally the only part of you car that makes contact with the road. It's funny how majority of people forget how the physics of friction and surface contact works, especially in extreme weather conditions. I have a 2WD pontiac grand prix with a set of All seasons and a set of winter tires due to living in the northern midwest and I gap 4WD SUV's and Trucks taking off from lights in the snow lmao. Well said Bladed!!
My favourite tires are Michelin Crossclimate 2s so I don't have to deal with seasonal swaps and could afford a single set of high quality, lightweight wheels. They are more than enough for street use and perform pretty much equally well in all conditions (it is nice when you car is predictable when it is wet, dry, or snowy). Plus the tread pattern looks sick. Highly recommend.
Loved the stock snowflakes on my first gen mazda 3, didn't like how much tuck it had on the back, so I was going to get some spacers. Discovered the bottom was rusted out when we were going to work on the transmission, and decided it wasnt worth it. Cool car, but yeah, bad transmission, and bad rust got her retired.
I love how this channel is so successful yet all it is is some guy explaining his opinions about why certain people are wrong for 20 minutes, yet we all still love him
"I have AWD I don't need tires" I've seen Range Rovers with summer tires getting stuck where a GODDAMN BUS with winter tires would just casually go up (Italian Alps btw). Also, my dad has a Land Rover Discovery 2, and he got stuck in a particularly steep ramp. He managed to climb it eventually, but when he arrived up he said "It's time to change tires". He did so the next day and the Discovery became basically a tank (from weared all-seasons to fresh winter tires)
If you drive with summer tires here on snow and ice you loose your drivers license and get a 250 $ fine for every tire... NEVER drive on snow and ice with summer tires, it is idiotic to put it mildly.
I recently got a new edge, but decided to just get separate shocks and lowering springs, I got SR springs, but I saw a lot of reviews of SR shocks breaking after 6 months, so I just got Koni shocks, but def do your research before you buy suspension, everyone has different needs, my new edge is a street car that will be used for fun track days too
They are boats stock, but they can andle pretty good with good mods, I have done a lot of weight reduction, true coilovers and rpf1 🤟 planning to go single turbo this years (I have a 3.8L)
Non spiked winter tires like Hakkapeliitta works ok to great here where it is rarely colder then -15c and usually around -7c. But at -25c and colder the non spiked tires loose their softness and become dangerously slippery... Also to my surprise the non spike Hakkapeliitta tires had about same grip on wet ice as my moms car with new spiked tires (also Hakkapeliitta).
It was my understanding that a throttle body spacer is primarily used to shift the power band a bit. Also I'm fairly sure most intakes make little to no power, they generally sound good though. This depends greatly on the platform though.
throttle body spacers used to be worthwhile on carberated engines (and I think single point injection as well) and metal intake manifolds. One thing he misses about the theory behind them is that it's to reduce heat from the intake manifold from reaching the throttle so that the air going through the throttle is cooler and denser. Plastic intake manifolds achieved this far better than any spacer could, but in the days of metal intake manifolds and carbs they did make a difference.
Well, I modified my e46 with very very good tires (I live in mountains in italy and they are extremely needed even for awd cars), and also used not a set of coilovers but a new custom set of lowered struts and eibach springs, but they were all made together to work, not only low springs with standard struts. They get destroyed. Also low isn't sportier... to be sportier you need rigity.
Yes, not lower but stiffer !!! I put Bilstein dampers and coil mean for rally car on my Opel Astra 1993 model and it did wonders without car getting low, in fact it gained 2cm ride height at the rear while normalized the front end that way WAY to high (8cm higher then moms Opel Astra at the front). The suspension was so stiff that you could jump with it without bottoming the suspension :)
I'm the boring guy that always said tires are the most important upgrade to any car. I also absolutely hate how expensive they have gotten for a good set.
I have a set of spacers on my Chrysler Lebaron because the Scion FR-S OEM Wheels that I put on it are a great fit, but the dumb replacement axles stick out too far to put the center caps in. The studs on the wheel bearings are too short for those cheapo spacers, so I got nice aluminum hub centric bolt on ones on ebay, and they don't just make the fitment better, but actually made my wheels go on better.
I 125% agree on the tire section, with both cars I own, I spent countless hours with overall about two weeks worth of research, trying to find the best overall tire. The more notable of the two is my daily Honda Accord. When my sister owned it, the car had three different brands of tires on there, and two of them being the same tire. I ended up putting a full set of hankook kinergys with an all season tractor style of tread and putting the best old tire on a steel rim as a full size spare. Before hand, I absolutely hated that car in the winter would only take my Oldsmobile Toronado, of which at that time I put a set of Cooper Grand Tourings on since the Hankook H727 tires I originally had on there for well over seven years was out of production.
You know, this kind of video feels nice, to see some like-minded thought. I went with a CAI for my RX8 (mostly because the stock airbox blocks airflow from the radiator AND is a pain in the butt to remove... And went with good summer (Micheling Pilot Super Sport) and winter tires (Goodyear Ultragrip Perf+)... And had the same thought when my rear shocks pretty much died "Oh well, I might as well just get coilovers instead of just shock replacements to get the lowering and adjustability as well!" 🤣
The tires thing is one reason I'm glad I'm into classics. Other people in this section have said this, but since a lot of dudes run 15 in wheels with huge sidewall and classy lettering, there actually is a lot of style points involved in the tires of a classic car. And there's a ton of clout attached to having a big ol' badonker set of Mickey T's or Hoosier dirt track tires, or old Goodyear NASCAR Eagles.
I’m really enjoying these videos! They feel really educational as someone who just got my first “car enthusiast car” and I wanna do modes but not mess up the car or buy unnecessary things
To the mid that entails “better throttle response” those really work for cars that drive by wire. Where it a sensor and not a cable that opens your throttle plate. My bmw had significantly better throttle response after I installed the bm3 throttle position box for modification to the responsiveness. 🤷🏻 older non drive by wire cars though, I get it
9:56-10:02 On talking about tires with car friends. Had to pause the vid for this one. To tie in to your most recent video, I'm a spec sheet nerd on tires. Why? Because they are one of the most important part of your car, what with them being the only part that (should) make contact with the road while driving. The science breakdown on tire stats is immensely deep and fascinating to me. How much dry summer grip do you trade for extra miles of tire life? How much wet performance do you need in your area? How much tire life are you getting for your money and how much performance are you willing to sacrifice to spend less? How well does the performance hold up when half the tread is gone? How about when you only got 1/32 tread left? So when my bro's say they picked up a new set of Michelin pilot sports, some Hankook Ventus, or Continental Extreme Contacts you know I'm askin' them how they feel and handle on the road. On the flip side you also know I'm flippin' them shit when they roll up with some bargain bin eco tires for track day that're as hard as rocks, give no grip, and howl worse than a banshee on the highway. We be singing a different tune if we're there to drift, every tire has it's use and all that. Also no disrespect if you rock the eco tires on track day. They will hold you back, but if it's what you can afford it's what you got. I've been there. Seat time is seat time my friends. Just don't be acting like all tires perform the same.
But Bladed, I knew a guy in high school who knew an old man who's grandson knew a guy who's dog's friend's owner's mother knew another mother who's son put a throttle spacer on his 2008 Ford Fusion and got an extra 200 horsepower!!
@@anynonymous1585 Calculatin.... Wow that means That Ford Fusion had 20.000 horse power to begin with, are you sure it was a car and not a fighter jet?
I feel you about the tire stuff. I live in wyoming where every now and again we get 20 inches of snow. I see way too many trucks here get stuck because they have "4WD" and they "don't need winter tires on their trucks" yet I was driving on my FWD 2014 ford focus that was on coil-overs and my car had blizzaks and I think I got stuck once due to the height of the snow reaching over my driver window. I recently switched cars and decided to buy cheap all seasons because the Focus was a nice car and my current 99 Toyota Camry is a shitbox that I figure I'll either get through the snow drift or I'll crash. Either way it's a 500 dollar car.
The other reason why you buy spacers is because the wheels you want don't match up with your cars bolt pattern for example. Finding a set of wheels that have the right dimensions but don't bolt onto you're car is frustrating. For me I have a honda element from 2003 and I wanted to put some Honda Accord Wheels from the 9th Gen Accord (2013-17). They actually do match up to the bolt pattern and whatnot, but they rub on the suspension in the back. I got some spacers to give me some room back there and they're great, but its still stock ride height, I haven't been able to do anything for fitment really
Tires are by far the most under rated mod. When i had stock tires (fwd mk7 vw gli stock) it would spin all the way halfway through third. Upgrading too conti control contact sport srs and i never get any spin in 3rd with good conditions and only spin the torquey beginning of 2nd and thats tuned with 350 horse/~100hp over stock. Thats what tires do. Low speed pulls is not what i do though as thats not why i bought the car. a fwd street car is not made for 0-60s lol. Where it shines is through corners and thats where the biggest tire difference is. Comparing the same conditions on the same 55mph long tight canyon yielded turn i could take the stock tires up to about 90-100. While the continentals could easily handle 90-100 in bad conditions and ive peaked at 115 through it. "Only 15mph faster?" Well yea but that 15mph is alott faster running a much higher gforce. Tires are the mist important thing. I reccommend uhp all season tires unless you really push upper limits of your car. And im not talking 0-60 stuff im talking real driving. Also wheel spin from low gears is better for your car. If youve got 300+hp and your car hooks from a launch its puting insane ammounts of strain on everything except the engine. On a 0-60 i always turn my tc off turn prolongue the transmission and lsd. Also prolly helps the axle but those arent too expensive too fix.
I chose Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, and later Cup 2, tires primarily because of their lighter weight. The reduction in rotating mass was significant, as the tires are the rotating elements that are farthest away from the axis of rotation and thus have the most effect on the wheels moment of inertia.
Good example being, I had access to a used set Bridgestone RE 11s. Slapped em on an 08 hyundai accent lolol. It's hard to explain how big a difference that made. The cornering confidence was night and day. Felt like I had ARB mods. Braking improved massively and obviously, the launch was better. I understand it's a strange example, but damn, best mod ever made to that car!
When I searched for Winter tyres for me first new car, I did go all out and chose the best winter tyres that suited to my Polo AW. Bought the Goodyear UltraGrip 9+ (185/65 R15 88T) and I became obsessed with tyres. Yes of course these are slime tyres, but this is necessary for this weather conditions. But don't worry, if I want to buy good summer tyres for my Polo, they will have this dimensions, 215/45 R17 91Y. But actually I would like to have something around 225/50 R16 for a much more agile, soft and predictable handling.
As a Vermonter (we're close to Maine) I've had friends say winter tires aren't necessary and you can run all seasons. I currently drive an awd car when my previous were all fwd. I still don't trust my awd without studs. Ice is Ice and I've slid too much with snow tires to not buy studs.
Good tyres are one of, if not THE best first mods you can do for a car. They are also pretty good in terms of performance increase per dollar, and how easy it is to do. They can genuinely shave entire seconds off lap times. Even better if you combine them with some lighter rims.
So on the spacer subject, the spacer itself is completely harmless. The extra ware is from the wheel being further from the hub, you know the lever effect. So just running different offset will do the exact same thing. There are an incredible amount of factors at play, but generally if you drive carefully there's nothing to worry about.
The first and fully uncompromised expense I made for my car is the suspension and I got Bilstein coilovers. Second was good tires (with good rims) but I found some that surprised me for the price. I believe these are the firsts people should be getting, always
The first thing I did on my 92' c4 was to get c6 wheels and get high quality tires road tires, it's why I was able to have fun and drive around Tyler during the Texas blizzard while most people couldn't leave their driveway
13:08 that’s what I was just thinking! I’m thought while watching this video, ”I’ve gotten about 80,000 miles on my car… I’m just going to spend a bit more to upgrade, rather than fix. That seems a smarter thing to do”.
I keep hoping we get a random video of you driving into an open empty parking lot to see you rip a couple donuts….you inspired my to spend my last year saving up all my money and get the hemi I always wanted. Love your channel
As an Employee of Discount tire its the opposite. We like to geek over what tires we have. My Michelin Sport 4s came in today and im so stocked to put them on my Mustang.
10:00 ironically within the bike community we love to talk about tires. what size, compound, brand, model, and life span. you should made a video about differences between bike vs the car communities and similarities.
I remember talking with my brother, who is quite heavily into the bike races, about tires, different companies and their reputation and whatnot. He was the one that told me about Kenda tires, never heard of them before, but man oh man, I don't regret getting a set of Kendas for my vehicle.
@@Genod3500 not a thing wrong with Michelin at all, aside from maybe their price, but they perform at the top so their prices are justifiably there too. I certainly am of the opinion now that Kenda punches above their price class, but they certainly aren't Michelins or Pirellis.
The transmission topic hit home for me. I have a CVT and it's already been replaced. I want to explore what it takes to swap a manual in its place since manual versions of my car exist. All I ever see on forums are like 3 points of advice: 1) Its stupid to do that, just get a version of your car with manual and sell your current one. 2) it'll be really difficult. (this adds nothing to what I'm trying to do) 3) The one I can't stand the most and grinds my gears: "do your homework", "do your own research" or some variation of those. OMG why do those people even comment? I came to a forum to ask questions instead of diving into my engine bay. I'm trying to do the research you've recommended. Number 3 makes me not want to do anything to my car bc no matter where I go or the mod I want to research, I always run into these idiots that have nothing to add and tell me to do the thing I'm already doing. Those people are a plague on the car mod community.
Gotta say the coilover prices are all over the place, a set of decent coilovers (aka not maxspeedingrods) are about 1100€ for my Micra, while H&R springs and gas shocks cost me about 220€ and gave given me what is about an entirely different car regarding handling (for the better). To each their own of course, but in my case i'd probably go with a DIY air setup instead of coilovers as the price isn't that far out between those in my car's specific case, which i'm sure i'm not the only. Also, another determining factor is that lowering springs pass MOT without doing paperwork, while coilovers used to be illegal no matter what.
I've noticed that tires carry more clout in the offroad community than on the pavement (to the point where many seasoned offroad folks can recognize your AT, RT, or MT tire from the tread pattern), which almost makes sense if the on road vehicles aren't driven through snow, rain, poorly maintained roads, etc. but they typically are (even if they weren't tires are still important). Sure, you can spend an absolute absurd amount of money on tires, for the absolute best performance possible, but I understand not everyone is within those means. However, there are good tires that perform well without destroying your bank account. Cheaping out on tires to me is about the same as going cheap on brakes or suspension, super dangerous and not worth the 50-100 bucks you saved.
I came here for the thumbnail and learned about ported throttle bodies. Watching this video makes me feel like I wrote this. Everything that was said is the same thing I argue with people about while talking about future mods. A friend of mine is going to spend a bunch of money to replace his struts, mounts, and additional hardware just to install lowering springs, while for the same price, maybe ~$200 more he could have coilovers. Also, Important thing about tires is platform is very important when choosing the right tire. I ran a very popular, highly rated tire once that gave me reduced traction while being considered a high performance summer tire. A friend of mine with the same car took them and had the same experience. Tires can vary depending on platform: Do not buy Nitto NT555 G2's for your AWD MQB platform.
I changed my tires (to Michelin Pilot Sport R 21) a little while ago and well... they do make a huge difference... Normally stomping the brakes at 100km/h would have ABS kick in, new tires don't really do this because they have a lot more grip. Actually sometimes makes me worry my ABS might be broken when I do need it.
We put a spacer between the carb and intake manifold on a Chevy 350ci and noticed immediately it had some more go. Maybe not power but the throttle response was awesome. I do say there is something to it. At least on a 350, probably not a four banger.
I used to be an all season tire buying peasant but then when I got my chrome ricer wheels I decided to get summer tires on those and winter tires on the stock wheels and I'm a believer, I got grip year round now! my friends in their AWD cars still complain about not having traction in snow while my FWD ricer ass is just scooting along, moisturized, unbothered, and in my lane.
Tires are always the first suspension/handling mod I recommend to anyone.. I've seen used cars with cheap no name terrible traction and handling replaced with high quality tires suited to the drivers needs make big difference in the way the vehicle drives.. sometimes as much as some suspension mods can..
Tires are so incredibly important, and I think part of the problem is all of these people trying to quantify performance from dollar to horsepower, instead of dollars to speed. It's a much different equation that marketing has been successful at transitioning. All the people who wrecked their car after a fresh power mod learned quickly that wider, softer, and grippier tires should be a top priority.
Bladed's car: 80 mph @ ~1.5k RPM My car: 80 mph @ ~4.5k rpm Holy crap what a difference. You'll be proud of me @Bladed. I recently pulled my oil pan, got key locking thread inserts installed in all of the bell housing bolt holes on the oil pan (3 were completely stripped out). I then re-sealed the oilpan (whoever sealed it before went way overkill on the RTV, reused a gasket, and didn't clean everything properly). The job took 4 days (4hrs/day). 2 to pull the pan, 2 to put it back on. 16hrs total. I opted to pull the subframe instead of pulling the engine. I also went ahead and replaced the tierod ends due to torn boots. It feels good though. Next on my list is a new tune. There's a shop down the road that specializes in Miatas. I'm eager to check them out. I'm also less concerned about dripping oil all over their floor now. I can't believe people don't care about tires. That was the first mod I did when I got my car. The rear wheels are 15x9s, but the tires were only 205/50 R15s. I was sliding everywhere I went. To be conservative, I bumped up the size to 225/45 R15 for the rear and kept the 205/50 R15s in the front. The fronts are stretched pretty far, the rear only slightly. I might go with some 235 tires in the future, but I'm a little concerned with tire rub if I do that. I don't want a wide body kit, or flare the rear fenders. The rear has about .5deg of negative camber. I took the car on the track last year and was very impressed with the handling. The braking, not so much. The second mod was coilovers. The ones I had on the car were old and non-adjustable. Like you're thinking "why replace when I can upgrade". I replaced them with some Tien Flex Z adjustable coilovers. I readjusted them about 4x to get the feel and fitment I wanted. I might mess with the stiffness a little more in the future. For now I'm comfortable with the feel. Trying to keep my car from being clapped out. Have fun in Mexico
I tried one of those spacers out when I was having my Mustang dyno tuned... I lost ~3hp. 01 GT with in-fender CAI, plenum and TB, catback exhaust If you run with autocrossers, tires are one of their absolute favorite mods.
I must be an outlier because tires have always been at the top of my list. I always understood that they're the only part of the car that actually touches the road and therefore make the biggest difference. My best friend is like this too and even when our cars don't need tires we'll sit there and send links to each other on discord of tire listings and bounce ideas back and forth about what tires we want next time.
I'm running H&R Sport Springs on my 2015 GTI. While they are lowering springs, the thing I like about them is that A they were built in Germany by a high quality manufacturer, B they work really well with the stock struts, C the rebound is insanely minimal, D the car handles like it's on rails, and E they weren't the cheapest on the market (about $350 (got mine on sale from BMP for $200)). Eventually, however, I will move to coilovers. I just have to make it through college first.
I agree about tyres. Before I do anything to my cars a decent set of Michelins or Pirellis go on. My Mrs drove 2008 corolla for six years (I wouldn't let her drive anything else because she drives like she's playing dodgem cars). That old corolla had michelins.
Years back when I built a Del Sol for street and track, I used 10mm spacers because we couldn't find the right wheel offset to meet our exact need. Bare in mind this was a handling application where cornering speeds were important.
As a mechanic I would like to clarify that most of us don't really have a problem with well made hubcentric wheel spacers. The problems we have are with the cheap non-hubcentric ones that we most often seen on the kind of cars that use wheel spacers (usually cheaper FWD sporty-ish cars that someone got as a first car). Non-hubcentric spacers cause way more issues, not only with premature wear on the bearings, but they put stress on the lug studs (or lug bolts for german cars) and can break them while driving, which I shouldn't have to tell you is a bad thing. They can also move around just a little bit which can cause tires to wear unevenly in similar ways to how tires wear with bad shocks. Again, these issues don't happen with well made hubcentric ones, but the cheap ones we usually see are just a bad idea.
When I had all season tires on my rear wheel drive Charger RT the first winter, I couldn't drive with just a dusting of snow. With winter tires, I can drive with 2+ inches of snow and still go 40-50 mph. Winter tires make a difference.
I like how my $1700 Tein coilovers were still cheaper than OEM, but still work with the factory AVS system and they have adjustable height and preload. It is getting more for less.
I have a Chevrolet vectra C ( Chevrolet/opel astra 2, depending on the country) it was fitted from factory with Pirelli P7 tires, that tires were the worst, aquaplaning was really bad (even going 80 Kph/h was an issue, and the grip in general was horrible, they lasted for a very short time, then i changed them for some Hankook V12 sports tire, OMG, the diffence was night and day, the grip, the aquaplaning was gone, and the car corners much better, that was an incredible change, it changed the dynamic of the vehicle completely!.
funny enough at your question at 9:56. i actually did pay attention, cause my friend has a 911 and i wanted to make sure he got the right shoes for his ride so he wont go flying off the side of a cliff the next canyon cruse we go on
10:35 I totally agree with you. Tires are the most important thing, above all it is also important to pay attention to the speed they can withstand etc Most don't even know that lol
Tires are a big one for me, with lots of rain in my area. I need a tire that can handle great in the wet and dry. It's why I drive on Bridgestone drive guard tires. Great wet/dry performance. The only downside is that they have more road noise then my original tires.
Me: *waiting for part 2
Bladed: Here u go my child
Take my like, funni man
Take the phone
comments like this is y i love the bladed community
People, plese, can anyone explain why car enthusiasts don't just buy cars that are faster from factory? Like an old Nissan GTR instead of building a slightly newer Corvette
@@ldmtag moment
One thing I like about the classic car scene is that tires DO make a huge difference in how your car looks, because we have so many options. Whitewall tires, redline tires, raised white letter tires, piecrust tires, blueline tires, goldline tires… tires have more obvious aesthetic differences for old cars, and thanks to companies like Coker Tire, we can get modern radial tires that look like iconic bias-ply tires. It’s especially noticeable on hot rods since they tend to be open-wheel cars, so you want to select a cool looking tire with good tread.
Modern cars have access to some of those options its just unfortunate the community hates on them when put on modern cars😥
A Nice set of R888 looks cool i think
I like colored tire lettering on modern cars, makes it a bit cooler
Man I have a holden rodeo with steelies they had regular car tyres on them I changed to light truck so the only difference is the sidewall is stronger and omg is it so much nicer
@@BladedAngel yeh bro lemme just put whitewalls on my fucking mine cooper s 😂😂😂
Tires are like power supplies of the car world. Mainly unsexy, but it's the part that you should never cheap out on
thats not even slightly a joke
i meant to upgrade my entire pc, delayed the PSU, bought a gpu ram and a cpu before the motherboard and the PSU, shit was crashing literally every second. got a new psu and it has never ran better
The only between the road and your car is air. Tire are just the container for that air
@@yurilopes420first thing I bought for my PC was 700w power supply, way over spec’d with what else I was ran it with. Same thing with my car, I’m only pushing 280hp but I’m running pilot sports lol
@@gbizzle201 I ain't even lying, buying the best power supply available is just always gonna be good, never a waste.
they have better short circuit protection, are more reliable, don't fry your shit, and are way more efficient
@@gbizzle201it's not about wattage it's about rating and reliability
No one tells you to get 1000 watts for a 500 watt build they tell you to get a decent psu atleast c tier psu, more expensive if your buying a more expensive build
No one's asking you to get a gamer vomit 2000watt psu , they just say don't get a psu that burns your house down
Adding on, my personal belief is that you should never cheap out in tires. It isn't visually stimulating, but its better to have a reputable brand set of tires for your car than a cheap set from a brand you never heard.
I can understand if you're trying to sell the car and it needs a set, but your build car should DEFINITELY not cheap out. They're the difference between grip in a corner/road and suddenly trying rallycross
Agreed tires are right after oil when I get a new car. Also can make you noticeably faster with better grip than cheaping out
okay the end bit gave me a bit of a laugh lol
Good tires in the right size are just about the most stimulating visual change you can make to a car.
@@weedshoes5089 agreed. But unfortunately, rims really get the appeal for modern car culture, not the package of rim and tire. It's a shame, Pilot AS 4 Sports look fantastic
And, in general...
You never want to lose grip while dailying bc the a-hole in front of you brake checked you.
Going from shitty cheapo tires to actually a good and expensive set of Michelin Sport 4 made a huge amount of difference. Not only for me being a lot more confident pushing my car to its limits while cornering but also generally for safety, especially in rain even tho they are wider than stock. I haven't driven a lot of tires to their limits but these were the best yet. Although a bit on the expensive side it's definitely worth every penny to me
My car is pushing 120k and I wanted to replace the suspension with coils and you definitely helped make it more clear!
Yeah! Those shocks must be crying and springs would bring em to their knees! Definitely get coils instead! She'll ride like new and look cooler!
@@BladedAngel mines at 130k and I was thinking about buying some but now I know I should fs😂
What is funny is I kinda have an obsession with tires as a mod and infected my friends lol. We will research tires for weeks before buying and they actually do vary in appearance fairly significantly compared to the tread pattern and sidewall shape. Idk why but tires have always been up there for me on mods because as you said it’s critical for driving characteristics of your car. Glad you shined some light on this.
Yes! I actually DO consider tires visual mod as well, especially for us RWD guys. Nothing better than having a super beefy set of 305's or 315's poking from the rear 😁
Tires are literally the #1 mod you can make for price to performance ratio. No one who likes cars and wants to go faster should EVER be thinking that tires are not extremely important.
Also, agree. RE003s look really appealing lol
@@_Zekken yeah it puzzles me to see people wanting to cheap out on tires and then buy a 500$ intake filter set up when a decent set of tires were around 800$
@@_Zekken It's also a double edged sword mod. If you want to go faster, first learn to drive consistently at the limit on your lower grip tires. They will teach you to be smooth with your driving, which develops consistency. Then move to a better one.
Many enthusiasts go straight for the 200 tw tire before their first time on track. And they drive very badly with them because they don't really know how to handle the higher limits that their tires provide.
Low key wasn’t expecting a video just glad one came earlier than most 👍
True
Here is my rebuttal for coilovers and the reason I chose upgrade springs and shocks:
As someone who usually spends every available second working on my car, I knew that if I bought coilovers, I would be in there every day adjusting it until I got the ride height PERFECT. And I would be always messing with preload and damping stiffness as-well; It’s just who I am.
In my opinion, coilovers are unnecessary for a DD. I know you can say this about almost any mod, but unless you take twisty roads to school/work, or have really good backroads local to you (which I have neither), than it makes more sense to go with a suspension settup with a comfortable spring rate and that gives you enough ground clearance to get around Memphis roads lol. At least, these are the things I took into consideration when I bought my springs and shocks, which after almost a year with them, I’m still glad I went that route. Just my take though :)
then my parent need a monster truck to traverse to school back on his school days
coilovers are really only necessary on track. A well dampened shock and well sprung spring go a long way daily and spirited driving. I think a lot of people get suckered into coilovers because of clout and adjustability. It's much sexier to tell people you're on a set of BC coilovers than bore someone with your bilstein shocks and whatever spring setup. It's actually unnecessary to have that much adjustability for daily street
I've had coilovers on several builds. In hindsight, I spent WAY more money than I needed to. I never adjusted them. Now I'm on kyb struts and skunk2 springs on my '03 Si. Firm, but comfortable on the street. At low speeds soaks up bumps, at higher speeds and under load around a corner, the springs tighten and reduce body roll. Just drop in and go. Costs less and less time to setup
That’s the same setup as me, and I have no regrets
That’s the same setup as me, and I have no regrets
That’s the same setup as me, and I have no regrets
Tires are definetly one of the first or the first mod you should definetly do to your car for what your going to do with it.Your not only going to get more grip,but also more safety and in some cases better looks.
As a biiker, the importance of tyers is paramount, car people tend not to talk much about them, but bikers will talk for ages about the best set of rubber to put on. You can literally feel the effect of the tyers through every part of your body when you're in a naughty lean angle and you can feel the suspension compress and the tyres grip instead of the wheels hopping or sliding.
For me Michelin tires are king of the tarmac. Comfortable, but still grips pretty hard. Running AS4's atm but did run PS4S and probably end up with AS4's again because the tire durability is a lot better.
For me, my PS4's have held up about the same as my AS3+'s surprisingly. I don't intend on trying AS4's though cuz I like summer grip and don't daily the Vette anymore.
@@BladedAngel Some googling yielded saying that AS4's are objectively better than AS3+ by around 5-10% depending on the situation of driving conditions. At least that's what some sources are saying.
@@ChaseMMDtechnically tires are very much pointless.
@@pipsapossu1699 Then I didn't think you watched the video or missed the point.
@@ChaseMMD well id argue anything circle shaped is pretty pointless.
I don't know if it's just me, but I get excited to see different types of tyres on different types of cars, especially when they're closer to a softer compound like semi-slicks, even PS4S or P Zero compared to All Season tyres, it's so cool to see the tread size and patterns being different for different needs.
You're not alone. Ever since I started having to buy tires, I now know way too much about them. I'm always peeping rubber as I approach other cars in lots.
lol i’m the same. i work at a car wash and everytime a car comes thru i’m looking at what kind of tires they’re running
On the tires, I've even seen automotive review "journalists" telling people that the only good tire is an all season because you can use them all year round. Forgetting that people may not drive the same car all year, or that a second set of tires is optional. I live in the Midwest, ain't driving my mustang in the snow when I already have a truck.
Or also ppl who live in uniform climates. In Alaska you need dedicated winters all season long. In the south u can use Summers all season round!
In Texas winter tires don’t really exist lol.
All season tires is bad in the summer and dangerously bad in the winter, it is not a good option... But on my Ford Transit box van I now drive pure winter tires summer and winter because it is so much work to change them. So in summer I have double the braking length than I would with summer tires. Also driving with summer tires in snow and ice is just insane...
Tires make a HUGE difference if you get the right ones. I got a set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 summer tires for a 2015 Chevrolet Malibu of all things, and it's made an enormous difference on how the car handles and hooks up to the asphalt.
They also look cool. And even if you do nothing else to the car - it's basically a dogwhistle to other car enthusiasts
That's what I did with my TSX V6 , the struts were worn out when I bought it, so I bought a set of TEIN Flez Z to replace them. Now it sits pretty and greatly improved corner handling
They are quite good
Always love a good tire callout.
I think I wish I had gone with coilovers, but replacing stock struts/springs with an upgraded set that is meant to go together works well.
I'm off to see if they make a ported throttle body for an E36 M3 now...
Tires are just so important and can do so much in terms of confidence with your car. But too much confidence can ruin your day. For car enthusiasts like me a proper set of tyres can do so much more than some cheap performance mod
As a younger enthusiast, I get excited about tires. It can really change how the car feels, including steering response.
I critically thought about throttle body space and concluded you couldn't make a lot of power on it. Correct me if I am wrong, but if all you are doing is adding a spacer in an existing setup. You are NOT increasing airflow anywhere if it sits between smaller holes. You just basically got 1cm bigger hole siting between some smaller holes. It doesn't do anything.
I always thought throttle body spacers were supposed to be made of a thermally insulated material to keep the heat from the engine/intake manifold from soaking into the TB. I guess it could prolong the life of the throttle position sensor if it were to keep it a little cooler.
@@GoldenGrenadier I don't think it any insulation that it does would yield any benefits because it's just too small and it still sitting right next to the engine itself. You would be better off getting a cold air intake if your goal is to get colder air in your engine because it is sucking air from a more isolated location further away from your engine.
@@joshuabenitez3260 Most "cold air intakes" is actually hot air intake moving the air intake from the front of the hood to inside the hot engine bay right next to the hot engine... Also putting on a very long air intake can give a little more power, like the 1,5m long snorkel they put on offroad vehicles.
@@a64738 yeah the "cold air intakes" sitting near the engine bay aren't cold air intakes either. It's like you said it needs to be long and basically a snorkel. Most true CAI's are installed where it pulls cold air close to the bottom front of the car.
The ones near the engine is a Short Air Intake and most people get that for clout or for the sound.
I honestly appreciate the last two. I don't have a super nice/sporty car (2015 Corolla S) but I recently bought coil overs (Tien) for about 700 or so and got Yokohama Advans. I got the tires in November, and compared to what I had previously, I can felt quite a difference. And with the Coil overs, I definitely notice a huge difference in performance, since I drive over a mountain pass for work every day.
The upgrading as you go is so relatable lol its right there with “Well, since I’m working on this so I’ll change this because it’ll save me work in the future disassembling it again”
Living in a snowy area, I HATE the amount of people that say "Oh my all seasons are fine in the winter, I don't need studded snow tires" because they make a HUGE difference. Besides obviously keeping really good traction on unplowed/icy roads, they can actually regain traction on ice if you do slide when most straight rubber tires won't. Yes, they are more expensive, but not spending a couple hundred extra for a massive safety improvement is just plain stupid.
Studded tires are illegal in many regions. I do put winter tires on my car during the cold months, but not studded.
The fact that anyone believes that tires don't matter physically hurts me
Dude, I had Bridgestone Potenza "allseasons". (Damn near a summer tire tbh) and here in Northern Nevada we had a DAY of 13 inches of snow dumped on us and I literally was just spinning at 1 mph in my focus st. A week later I put Bridgestone Blizzaks on and I try to drift in the snow, and it just finds traction in a turn. It's WAY better. Yes, two paychecks for two sets of tires, but its worth it for a few years for each.
Tires are Number 1 in my eyes for basic mods as it's literally the only part of you car that makes contact with the road.
It's funny how majority of people forget how the physics of friction and surface contact works, especially in extreme weather conditions.
I have a 2WD pontiac grand prix with a set of All seasons and a set of winter tires due to living in the northern midwest and I gap 4WD SUV's and Trucks taking off from lights in the snow lmao.
Well said Bladed!!
Really Cool and informative stuff. Keep it up! 👍
My favourite tires are Michelin Crossclimate 2s so I don't have to deal with seasonal swaps and could afford a single set of high quality, lightweight wheels. They are more than enough for street use and perform pretty much equally well in all conditions (it is nice when you car is predictable when it is wet, dry, or snowy). Plus the tread pattern looks sick. Highly recommend.
Loved the stock snowflakes on my first gen mazda 3, didn't like how much tuck it had on the back, so I was going to get some spacers. Discovered the bottom was rusted out when we were going to work on the transmission, and decided it wasnt worth it. Cool car, but yeah, bad transmission, and bad rust got her retired.
I love how this channel is so successful yet all it is is some guy explaining his opinions about why certain people are wrong for 20 minutes, yet we all still love him
"I have AWD I don't need tires"
I've seen Range Rovers with summer tires getting stuck where a GODDAMN BUS with winter tires would just casually go up (Italian Alps btw). Also, my dad has a Land Rover Discovery 2, and he got stuck in a particularly steep ramp. He managed to climb it eventually, but when he arrived up he said "It's time to change tires". He did so the next day and the Discovery became basically a tank (from weared all-seasons to fresh winter tires)
If you drive with summer tires here on snow and ice you loose your drivers license and get a 250 $ fine for every tire... NEVER drive on snow and ice with summer tires, it is idiotic to put it mildly.
I recently got a new edge, but decided to just get separate shocks and lowering springs, I got SR springs, but I saw a lot of reviews of SR shocks breaking after 6 months, so I just got Koni shocks, but def do your research before you buy suspension, everyone has different needs, my new edge is a street car that will be used for fun track days too
They are boats stock, but they can andle pretty good with good mods, I have done a lot of weight reduction, true coilovers and rpf1 🤟 planning to go single turbo this years (I have a 3.8L)
Living in Norway where there is a lot off snow and ice. SPIKED WINTER TIRES are a must if you want to go any where
Non spiked winter tires like Hakkapeliitta works ok to great here where it is rarely colder then -15c and usually around -7c. But at -25c and colder the non spiked tires loose their softness and become dangerously slippery... Also to my surprise the non spike Hakkapeliitta tires had about same grip on wet ice as my moms car with new spiked tires (also Hakkapeliitta).
It was my understanding that a throttle body spacer is primarily used to shift the power band a bit.
Also I'm fairly sure most intakes make little to no power, they generally sound good though. This depends greatly on the platform though.
throttle body spacers used to be worthwhile on carberated engines (and I think single point injection as well) and metal intake manifolds. One thing he misses about the theory behind them is that it's to reduce heat from the intake manifold from reaching the throttle so that the air going through the throttle is cooler and denser. Plastic intake manifolds achieved this far better than any spacer could, but in the days of metal intake manifolds and carbs they did make a difference.
Well, I modified my e46 with very very good tires (I live in mountains in italy and they are extremely needed even for awd cars), and also used not a set of coilovers but a new custom set of lowered struts and eibach springs, but they were all made together to work, not only low springs with standard struts. They get destroyed. Also low isn't sportier... to be sportier you need rigity.
Yes, not lower but stiffer !!! I put Bilstein dampers and coil mean for rally car on my Opel Astra 1993 model and it did wonders without car getting low, in fact it gained 2cm ride height at the rear while normalized the front end that way WAY to high (8cm higher then moms Opel Astra at the front). The suspension was so stiff that you could jump with it without bottoming the suspension :)
I'm the boring guy that always said tires are the most important upgrade to any car. I also absolutely hate how expensive they have gotten for a good set.
Yeah there's been rubber shortages the last few years too
Tires are pointless because they are round
Lol
🤣😂🤣😂
I have a set of spacers on my Chrysler Lebaron because the Scion FR-S OEM Wheels that I put on it are a great fit, but the dumb replacement axles stick out too far to put the center caps in. The studs on the wheel bearings are too short for those cheapo spacers, so I got nice aluminum hub centric bolt on ones on ebay, and they don't just make the fitment better, but actually made my wheels go on better.
that winter tire date scenario actually happened to me i ended up crashing into a bridge wall 😭
I 125% agree on the tire section, with both cars I own, I spent countless hours with overall about two weeks worth of research, trying to find the best overall tire. The more notable of the two is my daily Honda Accord. When my sister owned it, the car had three different brands of tires on there, and two of them being the same tire. I ended up putting a full set of hankook kinergys with an all season tractor style of tread and putting the best old tire on a steel rim as a full size spare. Before hand, I absolutely hated that car in the winter would only take my Oldsmobile Toronado, of which at that time I put a set of Cooper Grand Tourings on since the Hankook H727 tires I originally had on there for well over seven years was out of production.
8:25 my dad asked for this for his ‘04 mustang gt just for the rear. It made it look better. One of the best Christmas present I’ve ever given him.
You know, this kind of video feels nice, to see some like-minded thought. I went with a CAI for my RX8 (mostly because the stock airbox blocks airflow from the radiator AND is a pain in the butt to remove... And went with good summer (Micheling Pilot Super Sport) and winter tires (Goodyear Ultragrip Perf+)... And had the same thought when my rear shocks pretty much died "Oh well, I might as well just get coilovers instead of just shock replacements to get the lowering and adjustability as well!" 🤣
The tires thing is one reason I'm glad I'm into classics. Other people in this section have said this, but since a lot of dudes run 15 in wheels with huge sidewall and classy lettering, there actually is a lot of style points involved in the tires of a classic car.
And there's a ton of clout attached to having a big ol' badonker set of Mickey T's or Hoosier dirt track tires, or old Goodyear NASCAR Eagles.
I’m really enjoying these videos! They feel really educational as someone who just got my first “car enthusiast car” and I wanna do modes but not mess up the car or buy unnecessary things
To the mid that entails “better throttle response” those really work for cars that drive by wire. Where it a sensor and not a cable that opens your throttle plate. My bmw had significantly better throttle response after I installed the bm3 throttle position box for modification to the responsiveness. 🤷🏻 older non drive by wire cars though, I get it
Definetly related to the last point when i needed to replace the air filter and went for a k&n instead of another paper one
perfectly timed tweet bladed, yt notification always late. love the content, hope for more vids in this series.
9:56-10:02 On talking about tires with car friends. Had to pause the vid for this one.
To tie in to your most recent video, I'm a spec sheet nerd on tires. Why? Because they are one of the most important part of your car, what with them being the only part that (should) make contact with the road while driving. The science breakdown on tire stats is immensely deep and fascinating to me. How much dry summer grip do you trade for extra miles of tire life? How much wet performance do you need in your area? How much tire life are you getting for your money and how much performance are you willing to sacrifice to spend less? How well does the performance hold up when half the tread is gone? How about when you only got 1/32 tread left?
So when my bro's say they picked up a new set of Michelin pilot sports, some Hankook Ventus, or Continental Extreme Contacts you know I'm askin' them how they feel and handle on the road.
On the flip side you also know I'm flippin' them shit when they roll up with some bargain bin eco tires for track day that're as hard as rocks, give no grip, and howl worse than a banshee on the highway. We be singing a different tune if we're there to drift, every tire has it's use and all that.
Also no disrespect if you rock the eco tires on track day. They will hold you back, but if it's what you can afford it's what you got. I've been there. Seat time is seat time my friends. Just don't be acting like all tires perform the same.
But bladed my dad's Trion nemesis had throttle body spacers and it made itgain 50 hp!
But Bladed, I knew a guy in high school who knew an old man who's grandson knew a guy who's dog's friend's owner's mother knew another mother who's son put a throttle spacer on his 2008 Ford Fusion and got an extra 200 horsepower!!
TRY HARD NEMESISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Calculating... That means your dad`s Trion Nemesis had 5000hp to begin with, that is pretty impressive ;)
@@anynonymous1585 Calculatin.... Wow that means That Ford Fusion had 20.000 horse power to begin with, are you sure it was a car and not a fighter jet?
I feel you about the tire stuff. I live in wyoming where every now and again we get 20 inches of snow. I see way too many trucks here get stuck because they have "4WD" and they "don't need winter tires on their trucks" yet I was driving on my FWD 2014 ford focus that was on coil-overs and my car had blizzaks and I think I got stuck once due to the height of the snow reaching over my driver window. I recently switched cars and decided to buy cheap all seasons because the Focus was a nice car and my current 99 Toyota Camry is a shitbox that I figure I'll either get through the snow drift or I'll crash. Either way it's a 500 dollar car.
The other reason why you buy spacers is because the wheels you want don't match up with your cars bolt pattern for example. Finding a set of wheels that have the right dimensions but don't bolt onto you're car is frustrating.
For me I have a honda element from 2003 and I wanted to put some Honda Accord Wheels from the 9th Gen Accord (2013-17). They actually do match up to the bolt pattern and whatnot, but they rub on the suspension in the back. I got some spacers to give me some room back there and they're great, but its still stock ride height, I haven't been able to do anything for fitment really
Tires are by far the most under rated mod. When i had stock tires (fwd mk7 vw gli stock) it would spin all the way halfway through third. Upgrading too conti control contact sport srs and i never get any spin in 3rd with good conditions and only spin the torquey beginning of 2nd and thats tuned with 350 horse/~100hp over stock. Thats what tires do. Low speed pulls is not what i do though as thats not why i bought the car. a fwd street car is not made for 0-60s lol. Where it shines is through corners and thats where the biggest tire difference is. Comparing the same conditions on the same 55mph long tight canyon yielded turn i could take the stock tires up to about 90-100. While the continentals could easily handle 90-100 in bad conditions and ive peaked at 115 through it. "Only 15mph faster?" Well yea but that 15mph is alott faster running a much higher gforce. Tires are the mist important thing.
I reccommend uhp all season tires unless you really push upper limits of your car. And im not talking 0-60 stuff im talking real driving. Also wheel spin from low gears is better for your car. If youve got 300+hp and your car hooks from a launch its puting insane ammounts of strain on everything except the engine.
On a 0-60 i always turn my tc off turn prolongue the transmission and lsd. Also prolly helps the axle but those arent too expensive too fix.
You gonna stream most wanted anytime? Or just stream in general?
9:27 Why bro.. droped my coffee laughing 😅
I chose Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, and later Cup 2, tires primarily because of their lighter weight. The reduction in rotating mass was significant, as the tires are the rotating elements that are farthest away from the axis of rotation and thus have the most effect on the wheels moment of inertia.
Good example being, I had access to a used set Bridgestone RE 11s. Slapped em on an 08 hyundai accent lolol. It's hard to explain how big a difference that made. The cornering confidence was night and day. Felt like I had ARB mods. Braking improved massively and obviously, the launch was better.
I understand it's a strange example, but damn, best mod ever made to that car!
When I searched for Winter tyres for me first new car, I did go all out and chose the best winter tyres that suited to my Polo AW. Bought the Goodyear UltraGrip 9+ (185/65 R15 88T) and I became obsessed with tyres. Yes of course these are slime tyres, but this is necessary for this weather conditions. But don't worry, if I want to buy good summer tyres for my Polo, they will have this dimensions, 215/45 R17 91Y. But actually I would like to have something around 225/50 R16 for a much more agile, soft and predictable handling.
for anyone reading this, what are the best NA performance mods? Bladed, hope you read this.
As a Vermonter (we're close to Maine) I've had friends say winter tires aren't necessary and you can run all seasons. I currently drive an awd car when my previous were all fwd. I still don't trust my awd without studs. Ice is Ice and I've slid too much with snow tires to not buy studs.
Good tyres are one of, if not THE best first mods you can do for a car. They are also pretty good in terms of performance increase per dollar, and how easy it is to do. They can genuinely shave entire seconds off lap times. Even better if you combine them with some lighter rims.
So on the spacer subject, the spacer itself is completely harmless. The extra ware is from the wheel being further from the hub, you know the lever effect. So just running different offset will do the exact same thing. There are an incredible amount of factors at play, but generally if you drive carefully there's nothing to worry about.
The first and fully uncompromised expense I made for my car is the suspension and I got Bilstein coilovers. Second was good tires (with good rims) but I found some that surprised me for the price. I believe these are the firsts people should be getting, always
The first thing I did on my 92' c4 was to get c6 wheels and get high quality tires road tires, it's why I was able to have fun and drive around Tyler during the Texas blizzard while most people couldn't leave their driveway
13:08 that’s what I was just thinking!
I’m thought while watching this video, ”I’ve gotten about 80,000 miles on my car… I’m just going to spend a bit more to upgrade, rather than fix. That seems a smarter thing to do”.
I keep hoping we get a random video of you driving into an open empty parking lot to see you rip a couple donuts….you inspired my to spend my last year saving up all my money and get the hemi I always wanted. Love your channel
As an Employee of Discount tire its the opposite. We like to geek over what tires we have. My Michelin Sport 4s came in today and im so stocked to put them on my Mustang.
I honestly didn't know about wheel spacers till I saw this video, now I'm thinking about getting some for my civic si. Thanks bladed!
10:00 ironically within the bike community we love to talk about tires. what size, compound, brand, model, and life span.
you should made a video about differences between bike vs the car communities and similarities.
I remember talking with my brother, who is quite heavily into the bike races, about tires, different companies and their reputation and whatnot. He was the one that told me about Kenda tires, never heard of them before, but man oh man, I don't regret getting a set of Kendas for my vehicle.
@@SaxaphoneMan42Kenda are solid sets of rubber. but im michelin fan boy the road 6 tires are just amazing expensive af but amazing.
@@Genod3500 not a thing wrong with Michelin at all, aside from maybe their price, but they perform at the top so their prices are justifiably there too. I certainly am of the opinion now that Kenda punches above their price class, but they certainly aren't Michelins or Pirellis.
@SomeGuy oh yeah true that price per performance kenda is killing it
Nice Tekken Tag 2 Outro 👀
The transmission topic hit home for me. I have a CVT and it's already been replaced. I want to explore what it takes to swap a manual in its place since manual versions of my car exist.
All I ever see on forums are like 3 points of advice:
1) Its stupid to do that, just get a version of your car with manual and sell your current one.
2) it'll be really difficult. (this adds nothing to what I'm trying to do)
3) The one I can't stand the most and grinds my gears:
"do your homework", "do your own research" or some variation of those.
OMG why do those people even comment? I came to a forum to ask questions instead of diving into my engine bay. I'm trying to do the research you've recommended.
Number 3 makes me not want to do anything to my car bc no matter where I go or the mod I want to research, I always run into these idiots that have nothing to add and tell me to do the thing I'm already doing. Those people are a plague on the car mod community.
Throttle body spacers change the sound on the ford 4.6 v8 alot. It sounds great.
Gotta say the coilover prices are all over the place, a set of decent coilovers (aka not maxspeedingrods) are about 1100€ for my Micra, while H&R springs and gas shocks cost me about 220€ and gave given me what is about an entirely different car regarding handling (for the better). To each their own of course, but in my case i'd probably go with a DIY air setup instead of coilovers as the price isn't that far out between those in my car's specific case, which i'm sure i'm not the only. Also, another determining factor is that lowering springs pass MOT without doing paperwork, while coilovers used to be illegal no matter what.
Thanks for showing me that throttle body spacers only gives a laughably 1 horsepower
Even that's giving it too much credit, I think the temporary change in atmosphere conditions like temperature caused that.
Oh okay
I've noticed that tires carry more clout in the offroad community than on the pavement (to the point where many seasoned offroad folks can recognize your AT, RT, or MT tire from the tread pattern), which almost makes sense if the on road vehicles aren't driven through snow, rain, poorly maintained roads, etc. but they typically are (even if they weren't tires are still important). Sure, you can spend an absolute absurd amount of money on tires, for the absolute best performance possible, but I understand not everyone is within those means. However, there are good tires that perform well without destroying your bank account.
Cheaping out on tires to me is about the same as going cheap on brakes or suspension, super dangerous and not worth the 50-100 bucks you saved.
I came here for the thumbnail and learned about ported throttle bodies. Watching this video makes me feel like I wrote this. Everything that was said is the same thing I argue with people about while talking about future mods. A friend of mine is going to spend a bunch of money to replace his struts, mounts, and additional hardware just to install lowering springs, while for the same price, maybe ~$200 more he could have coilovers. Also, Important thing about tires is platform is very important when choosing the right tire. I ran a very popular, highly rated tire once that gave me reduced traction while being considered a high performance summer tire. A friend of mine with the same car took them and had the same experience. Tires can vary depending on platform: Do not buy Nitto NT555 G2's for your AWD MQB platform.
I changed my tires (to Michelin Pilot Sport R 21) a little while ago and well... they do make a huge difference...
Normally stomping the brakes at 100km/h would have ABS kick in, new tires don't really do this because they have a lot more grip.
Actually sometimes makes me worry my ABS might be broken when I do need it.
I haven't heard you use any TTT2 ost in the past, nice choice for the outro
We put a spacer between the carb and intake manifold on a Chevy 350ci and noticed immediately it had some more go. Maybe not power but the throttle response was awesome. I do say there is something to it. At least on a 350, probably not a four banger.
nah man when I see a car on Michelin Sport Cup 2R’s I get hyped and makes me like the car 10x more.
I used to be an all season tire buying peasant but then when I got my chrome ricer wheels I decided to get summer tires on those and winter tires on the stock wheels and I'm a believer, I got grip year round now! my friends in their AWD cars still complain about not having traction in snow while my FWD ricer ass is just scooting along, moisturized, unbothered, and in my lane.
Tires are always the first suspension/handling mod I recommend to anyone.. I've seen used cars with cheap no name terrible traction and handling replaced with high quality tires suited to the drivers needs make big difference in the way the vehicle drives.. sometimes as much as some suspension mods can..
Just in time for lunch like always, thanks for the coilover recommendation, I’ll have to check out those SR’s
I like to remind anyone who says "Tires don't matter" that YOUR TIRES ARE THE ONLY PART OF YOUR CAR THAT ACTUALLY TOUCHES THE ROAD.
Tires are so incredibly important, and I think part of the problem is all of these people trying to quantify performance from dollar to horsepower, instead of dollars to speed. It's a much different equation that marketing has been successful at transitioning. All the people who wrecked their car after a fresh power mod learned quickly that wider, softer, and grippier tires should be a top priority.
Bladed's car:
80 mph @ ~1.5k RPM
My car:
80 mph @ ~4.5k rpm
Holy crap what a difference.
You'll be proud of me @Bladed. I recently pulled my oil pan, got key locking thread inserts installed in all of the bell housing bolt holes on the oil pan (3 were completely stripped out). I then re-sealed the oilpan (whoever sealed it before went way overkill on the RTV, reused a gasket, and didn't clean everything properly). The job took 4 days (4hrs/day). 2 to pull the pan, 2 to put it back on. 16hrs total.
I opted to pull the subframe instead of pulling the engine. I also went ahead and replaced the tierod ends due to torn boots.
It feels good though.
Next on my list is a new tune. There's a shop down the road that specializes in Miatas. I'm eager to check them out. I'm also less concerned about dripping oil all over their floor now.
I can't believe people don't care about tires. That was the first mod I did when I got my car. The rear wheels are 15x9s, but the tires were only 205/50 R15s. I was sliding everywhere I went. To be conservative, I bumped up the size to 225/45 R15 for the rear and kept the 205/50 R15s in the front.
The fronts are stretched pretty far, the rear only slightly. I might go with some 235 tires in the future, but I'm a little concerned with tire rub if I do that. I don't want a wide body kit, or flare the rear fenders. The rear has about .5deg of negative camber. I took the car on the track last year and was very impressed with the handling. The braking, not so much.
The second mod was coilovers. The ones I had on the car were old and non-adjustable. Like you're thinking "why replace when I can upgrade". I replaced them with some Tien Flex Z adjustable coilovers. I readjusted them about 4x to get the feel and fitment I wanted. I might mess with the stiffness a little more in the future. For now I'm comfortable with the feel.
Trying to keep my car from being clapped out.
Have fun in Mexico
I tried one of those spacers out when I was having my Mustang dyno tuned... I lost ~3hp.
01 GT with in-fender CAI, plenum and TB, catback exhaust
If you run with autocrossers, tires are one of their absolute favorite mods.
Been watching your videos for a few years and love every single one of them you make them funny af and keep it real g love it
I like buying new tires, its always cool getting to try new tires and how it changes your cars handling. And it does visually change your car a little
I must be an outlier because tires have always been at the top of my list. I always understood that they're the only part of the car that actually touches the road and therefore make the biggest difference. My best friend is like this too and even when our cars don't need tires we'll sit there and send links to each other on discord of tire listings and bounce ideas back and forth about what tires we want next time.
I'm running H&R Sport Springs on my 2015 GTI. While they are lowering springs, the thing I like about them is that A they were built in Germany by a high quality manufacturer, B they work really well with the stock struts, C the rebound is insanely minimal, D the car handles like it's on rails, and E they weren't the cheapest on the market (about $350 (got mine on sale from BMP for $200)). Eventually, however, I will move to coilovers. I just have to make it through college first.
I agree about tyres.
Before I do anything to my cars a decent set of Michelins or Pirellis go on.
My Mrs drove 2008 corolla for six years (I wouldn't let her drive anything else because she drives like she's playing dodgem cars). That old corolla had michelins.
Years back when I built a Del Sol for street and track, I used 10mm spacers because we couldn't find the right wheel offset to meet our exact need. Bare in mind this was a handling application where cornering speeds were important.
As a mechanic I would like to clarify that most of us don't really have a problem with well made hubcentric wheel spacers. The problems we have are with the cheap non-hubcentric ones that we most often seen on the kind of cars that use wheel spacers (usually cheaper FWD sporty-ish cars that someone got as a first car). Non-hubcentric spacers cause way more issues, not only with premature wear on the bearings, but they put stress on the lug studs (or lug bolts for german cars) and can break them while driving, which I shouldn't have to tell you is a bad thing. They can also move around just a little bit which can cause tires to wear unevenly in similar ways to how tires wear with bad shocks. Again, these issues don't happen with well made hubcentric ones, but the cheap ones we usually see are just a bad idea.
good suspension is good suspension. been about a year on my coilovers on my daily mazda 3 and they’re fantastic
When I had all season tires on my rear wheel drive Charger RT the first winter, I couldn't drive with just a dusting of snow. With winter tires, I can drive with 2+ inches of snow and still go 40-50 mph. Winter tires make a difference.
I like how my $1700 Tein coilovers were still cheaper than OEM, but still work with the factory AVS system and they have adjustable height and preload. It is getting more for less.
I have a Chevrolet vectra C ( Chevrolet/opel astra 2, depending on the country) it was fitted from factory with Pirelli P7 tires, that tires were the worst, aquaplaning was really bad (even going 80 Kph/h was an issue, and the grip in general was horrible, they lasted for a very short time, then i changed them for some Hankook V12 sports tire, OMG, the diffence was night and day, the grip, the aquaplaning was gone, and the car corners much better, that was an incredible change, it changed the dynamic of the vehicle completely!.
funny enough at your question at 9:56. i actually did pay attention, cause my friend has a 911 and i wanted to make sure he got the right shoes for his ride so he wont go flying off the side of a cliff the next canyon cruse we go on
10:35 I totally agree with you. Tires are the most important thing, above all it is also important to pay attention to the speed they can withstand etc
Most don't even know that
lol
Tires are a big one for me, with lots of rain in my area. I need a tire that can handle great in the wet and dry. It's why I drive on Bridgestone drive guard tires. Great wet/dry performance. The only downside is that they have more road noise then my original tires.