[KNIGHT RIDER]

Silver Knockout Metallic, XLE. I went to the Grand Rapids auto show in late January (2019) with a friend and we were both impressed with the Toyota CHR. I had not seen it before and was not actively car shopping. I was planning on having body work done on my 2004 Pontiac Bonneville SLE. I loved that car and had purchased it new. After seeing the CHR, however, I decided to sell the Bonneville and purchase the CHR. The CHR is the ONLY vehicle that could pull me away from my beloved Pontiac. I went to Toyota of Grand Rapids and ended up buying THE EXCACT car that was on display at the auto show! I absolutely love the styling of my CHR. I do feel the bumps in the road quit a bit more than the Bonneville but the reviews of the stock Dunlop tires indicate that a smooth ride is not their strong point. A new set of Michelin tires at some point (maybe sooner rather than later) should smooth out the ride a bit. Other than that, it is all 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻. Here is a pic of my car that I took while at the auto show.

 

[zx10guy]

Congrats on the car. On the ride quality, I don't think you'll notice too big of a difference changing tire brands. I could be wrong. The issue with ride quality is due to the lower profile tires and smaller side wall height. Based on the information I could pull up on the Bonneville, it has a side wall height of 5.09". Compare this to the XLE's tire package with a side wall height of 4.43". That's a .66" difference. Not large but fairly significant.

I chose the LE specifically because I didn't want to deal with paying extra for lower profile/wider tires on the upper trims despite the LE only coming with steel wheels with hub caps.

 

[KNIGHT RIDER]

Thanks for the congratulations and helpful information on ride quality! I read some your other posts too. If you post a YouTube video on the fog light install (without removing the front bumper) let me know.

 

[zx10guy]

Hi. Unfortunately, doing a video of how I did the fog light install without the bumper being removed is near impossible. Getting a camera up in the cavity where I had to do the work and getting proper lighting is not easy. Much of the work I did was working by feel. The biggest headaches were the screws holding the plastic blanking plate and then reusing them again to secure the fog light bracket. The other pain in the butt step was finding the factory installed fog light harness and then pulling it loose from the electrical tape. All of that was done by feel and a lot of pulling which at times was a bit unnerving as I didn't want to damage the harness.

 

[KNIGHT RIDER]

Update on the tires.
The stock Dunlop SP Sport Symmetrical 5000 had dismal online reviews; averaging 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Being a Michelin guy, I looked at those first.
1) The Michelin Defender, a 80,000 mile tire that I use on my other vehicles, were not available in 225/50R18.
2) The Michelin Premier A/S, a 60,000 mile tire that had excellent ride quality reviews, was having significant premature tire wear feedback. This was confirmed by both the local Belle Tire and Discount Tire.
3) The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ is a 45,000 mile tire that while getting excellent ride quality reviews, was, well, only a 45,000 mile tire.
So, more internet research. A name that kept popping up with excellent reviews was a brand that I had never used before. It was the Yokohama Avid Ascend GT. It is a 65,000 mile tire which held it's own against the Michelin Premier A/S in a tire test published by TireRack.com. After additional shopping and research I came across the Yokohama YK740 GTX which is a 60,000 mile tire that is purportedly very similar to the Yokohama Avid Ascend GT. It had excellent reviews including one from a CHR owner in California. The YK740 GTX was slightly less expensive than the Avid Ascend GT, had a $75 rebate that the Avid Ascend GT did not have, and the dealer offered $200 for the OEM Dunlops. After about 150 miles of driving on the YK740 GTX I can report that I have a tire that, while not a Michelin, does a very nice job smoothing out the ride on the CHR. I am finally happy with the ride quality of the CHR.

 

[Shaggy]

Grand rapids chr owner her got mine at Kool the stock tires on the 2018 xle premium will leave you stuck in 3 inches of snow and I can't park in my driveway that now has about a half inch of mud

 

[KNIGHT RIDER]

Yea, it was not fun shelling out another approx $450 (after $200 received from OEM tires and $75 Yokoham YK740 GTX rebate) but it makes a world of difference in the ride quality of the CHR. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet to fully enjoy the new vehicle.