Black delights for my rear

[AussieRacer]

So at 13000km and having pulled all the wheels off recently I confirmed that I have only a few more thousand kms until the rears are useless. I'm estimating another 4000km before i hit the second wear points, as I'm barely a millimetre from the first wear point.

A few weeks ago

With the dollar good and some help from Gill at Tire Rack I'm the proud owner of two 255/35 R18 Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 tyres. My initial intention is to just replace the rears and get a sense of the handling balance. My driving style means I gentle on the fronts so I'm not concerned about understeer, but rather over bumps and mid-corner balance. If I'm not happy I'll swap the fronts too, but if I can avoid it, I will.



I'll get them fitted in a couple of weeks when I have a spare Saturday and report how I go.

Now lets hear the comments about running RFT fronts and non-RFT rears...

[MFKN3]

Just wondering was shipping cost a killer and how did they send them, BAX/Schenker or Fedex/USPS?

I imported rims recently and like others, got hit with over $400 (excluding duty) in additional import and admin fees on top of the shipping costs. Did you encounter the same issues?

[takahashi]

Jealous!!!!!

I love those tyres. How does the process of getting those tyres involves? I always wanted to get tyres from tirerack but not sure what the process are.

[qship]

Hmmm doughnuts...........................

[ansellpa]

13000ks sounds like a poor life span. Were they abused.....

[AussieRacer]

Shipped via Fedex. Shipping cost was in-line with what others have been quoted here, so yeah it is high, but the overall cost is still a good 25% less than trying to source locally. They were just less than $900 delivered, so I didn't incur any duties or other costs in addition to the Tirerack cost.

My experience with purchasing from Tirerack was like ordering online, but just a little slower as it was all via email and time differences kind of meant it was an email per day. But from sending my first email enquiry to Gill to delivery was 10 calendar days.

Again like others have stated, Gill only accepts Telegraphic/Wire Transfers for payment, but via ANZ Internet Banking it couldn't have been easier.

If I can get +10000km out of these tyres I'll be VERY happy. Sub 8000km and I'll settle for something less grippy next time.

[AussieRacer]

Originally Posted by ansellpa

13000ks sounds like a poor life span. Were they abused.....

Only driven twice with DSC/DTC off, and never been tracked. So as you can see from the photo above, the front to rear balance on a 135i is way out of whack, and emphasised by lack of proper LSD. I should complain to BMW

[MikeVictor]

THis makes me cringe at how many km I will probably get out of my PZero's before they have to be swapped out.

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by mattyv

THis makes me cringe at how many km I will probably get out of my PZero's before they have to be swapped out.

Not many

[takahashi]

Originally Posted by AussieRacer

Shipped via Fedex. Shipping cost was in-line with what others have been quoted here, so yeah it is high, but the overall cost is still a good 25% less than trying to source locally. They were just less than $900 delivered, so I didn't incur any duties or other costs in addition to the Tirerack cost.

My experience with purchasing from Tirerack was like ordering online, but just a little slower as it was all via email and time differences kind of meant it was an email per day. But from sending my first email enquiry to Gill to delivery was 10 calendar days.

Again like others have stated, Gill only accepts Telegraphic/Wire Transfers for payment, but via ANZ Internet Banking it couldn't have been easier.

If I can get +10000km out of these tyres I'll be VERY happy. Sub 8000km and I'll settle for something less grippy next time.

Thanks
When time comes, I prob ask them to ship one set of one address and one set to another. I rather pay more shipment then GST + Tariff. My experience if paying taxes on them... when it is over $1000. You have pay GST on the product as well as GST on the shipment (which is stupid, unjust and unAustralian, IMHO)

[MikeVictor]

Originally Posted by takahashi

Thanks
When time comes, I prob ask them to ship one set of one address and one set to another. I rather pay more shipment then GST + Tariff. My experience if paying taxes on them... when it is over $1000. You have pay GST on the product as well as GST on the shipment (which is stupid, unjust and unAustralian, IMHO)

I'd give my vote to you Taka

[MFKN3]

Hey guys, i have imported a tonne of mods and can confirm they only calculate based on cost of goods, not shipping. Haven't had to pay any duty (gst) yet though, because all the vendors are nice enough to declare them under the $1000 limit. The only drawback is if it gets damaged, the courier insurance will only cover for that amount.

Not sure if TireRack would do this though

[takahashi]

xsboost... EDIT: I agree but I explain it further and start my rant... hehe.

I meant, they determine to tax you if you mods is over $1000 (sometimes you can get away with it if they did not see it. For example, small item). But when you have to pay for the import tax... the cost of shipment is calculated (as in the equation). I remember back in 2004 they asked me to GO to a broker to get it calculated (that cost me another $50). The broker comes back with the equation... there is GST + import tariff on the mods... there is also GST (or similar) to the shipment I pay the Japanese company.

[start rant] $4000 of mods cost $600 tax! I mean the fact that I had to pay Australian tax on the Japanese courier service... makes me think WTF? They have bloody introduce tax for everything and prob will tax you doing a bowel motion in the public toilet later on!!

Yes there is a period that I have asked the Japanese exporter to write down the value and I got away for about a year. Then they refused to do it. I think up to 2007 trigger limit was even $400 now it is $1000.

Now I use a local importer that does it cheap and does it properly (I don't know how he does it). I use him for all Japanese stuff now.

Oh I remember I went to Hong Kong and have a box shipped back to Melbourne via EMS, carrying 2 coilovers. I wrote the value of $1000 HKD ($150 AUD). It is 12kg and it is not small. Yet I don't get tax.

It is like a lottery. 2 tyre I am sure they will not care. If 4.... then there is always a chance. Then it will not worth it.

[/end rant]

[Zuzu]

Thanks for the thumbs up Taka..Good info mate.

[AussieRacer]

taka that is one of the exact reasons I was happy to try just the rears first. I wasn't going to save anything in shipping by doing it at once, cause I would have incurred duties on arrival.

I was quoted $1,150 for the same tyres in Aust, but was going to have to also wait a few months for them to be imported by the tyre place. Quicker and cheaper for me to do it myself.

[takahashi]

Originally Posted by Zuzu

Thanks for the thumbs up Taka..Good info mate.

I decide to tell everyone I know after I spent that $600. If you have any tax deduction tips --- we should start an exchange problem haha.

Originally Posted by AussieRacer

taka that is one of the exact reasons I was happy to try just the rears first. I wasn't going to save anything in shipping by doing it at once, cause I would have incurred duties on arrival.

I was quoted $1,150 for the same tyres in Aust, but was going to have to also wait a few months for them to be imported by the tyre place. Quicker and cheaper for me to do it myself.

Very true and very sensible.

BTW aussieracer, what makes you choose RE11 over say Yoko AD08 or Dunlop Direzza star spec. Besides the fact that you still have B'stone front and rear still?

[MFKN3]

Thanks Taka. I recently imported 4 wheels that were declared as $500us and they cost a bomb in shipping. Because they were heavy, they had to go via BAX/Schenker instead of FEDEX/USPS, so I also had to pay a lot of additional custom clearance and brokerage fees on arrival. Shipping + other fees was about $900au all up

[TimMc]

Originally Posted by xsboost

Thanks Taka. I recently imported 4 wheels that were declared as $500us and they cost a bomb in shipping. Because they were heavy, they had to go via BAX/Schenker instead of FEDEX/USPS, so I also had to pay a lot of additional custom clearance and brokerage fees on arrival. Shipping + other fees was about $900au all up

Had a similar issue bringing some 2nd hand E30 BBS rims from Germany. Shipping fees were exorbitant but the; customs, broker & port fees cost more than the wheels themselves! Then at the last minute customs decided they needed to x-ray the wheels and charge me for the privilege!! I "won" the wheels on eBay for ~ $200 but the landed price was nearly $1500. Never again. I either get it delivered straight to my door at a known cost or not at all.

[EINSER]

Whew...tires...thank God! The topic title had me a little nervous...

[MFKN3]

Originally Posted by EINSER

Whew...tires...thank God! The topic title had me a little nervous...

Someone's been watching 'Big Stan' movie

[dontask]

When I shipped stuff for my old car from the US, I always used USPS Global Express Mail. usually cheaper than than Fedex - only drawback being the 25kg weight limit. But since the tax limit used to be $400 and not $1000, it was cheaper shipping 1 rim at a time.

[MikeVictor]

Originally Posted by EINSER

Whew...tires...thank God! The topic title had me a little nervous...

Nervous? Or excited...