An older post I know but have a fresh experience and opinion to kick in. Today, I put a set of the Cooper CS4 tires installed on my 06 LS and had the suspension aligned.
First thing up was to take them for a test drive. Heading down a city street about 40 mph, I was doing some mild zigging to wiggle the car right and left to get the feel for them. Had lots of oversteer.
Next I took them for a 5 mile drive on the interstate to see if my first opinion was accurate or not. Again at highway speeds, the oversteer was way more than I like. In addition, there was a very noticable, high frequency vibration set up by the CS4s that was easy to feel through the steering wheel. It seemed like every pebble in the asphalt was setting the steel belts to strumming like a piano wire.
I took the car back to the tire dealer and they are going to replace the CS4s next weeked with some Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum as it will be a few days before they ship in from their warehouse in Texas.
Hootowl
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Added 12/15/2008
Over the weekend plus 1-day of commuting, I have put a couple of hundred miles on the Cooper SC4 tires. The handling has radically changed from a bad over steer to a being completely sloppy and uninspiring. What I suspect was going on is that initially, mold release materials were affecting the handling and now have scuffed off.
Now that I am not tunnel visioned on the handling personality of the tires, I realized that my hands and throttle foot are going numb. Wierd... My best guess is that the tread block design is creating a harmonic that is humming through the linkages and such.
Still planning on swapping the tires out on Saturday.
Hootowl
