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Oct 26, 2008 - High Cost Of Looks

A lot of folks love the look of those low profile tires, and I have to admit that there are some vehicles that they just seem to look sharp on, but I doubt that I'd ever install them on a car because they're just not practical on a number of points.

They're expensive, they wear out quickly, and most important of all, there are very few roads, especailly here in Pennsylvania, where you're not in danger of damaging a tire and/or wheel because of road irregularities or debris under normal driving conditions.

My brother bought a new Audi a few years ago. It was a car that someone had ordered then changed their mind on. It had low profile tires and looked really sharp. To move the car, the dealer took off the cost of the tires and wheels option. Within a month my brother had ruined two tires and rims on small potholes and paid a decent sum of money to get back into standard tires and rims.

The tire pressure sensor in the unfortunate looking tire in the photo is being tested to see if it still functions, it didn't. The owner was on the interstate and ran over a stone which punched about a half inch hole in the tire causing the catastrophic failure you see. The tire was fairly new and had plenty of tread, and the stone wasn't anything unusual. Fortunately it was a rear tire and the driver was able to maintain control and get safely to the side of the road. Had this been a front tire letting loose at highway speeds it could have been a lot worse.

High fashion comes at a high price.

5:46 am | Categories: automotive styling, tires Permalink | Alert Administrator

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