Well just put on the car tire today and as promised I said I would review my initial Impressions good or bad, here goes:
I am posting this on both boards because there are folks who only frequent one board or the other.
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Looks:
First the looks of the tire is awesome and it is large. It looks massive even against an Avon. Airetime measured the width and it seems it has a contact patch of around 5 ½ to 7 inches whereas the Avon has about 2 to 3 inches when standing straight up.
You can tell too. I can almost put the bike centered upright and the tire almost holds it up. It just freakin’ looks mean. It looks like it will rip your doors off standing still. The tread pattern I picked is a nice one as you can see from the picture posted. There are better tread patters out there, but you will pay more for them. Yokohama makes one of the coolest patterns, but the price is quite a bit higher.
Swingarm is tight, but has plenty of clearance.

Mounting:
This is not a task for the mechanically apparatus challenged. I was going to put it on by hand, but I found a local guy who said he would do it and balance it for twenty bucks.
Good thing too, the sidewalls are so stiff and the radii of the tire so tight I had to help him mount it with the automatic machine, it kept popping off on one side.
I believe it can be done by hand, but the chance of dinging you rim is much, much greater.

Driving:
I am going to put this in two classes, slow and fast, because the tire handles much differently in each case.

When I first started out, I was reminded of a few posts on the board that said a car tire takes a little getting used to. That it does, it is not an Avon or a Dunlop or a Metz, hell it is not even a motorcycle tire. The tire is designed to flex in the sidewall whereas a motorcycle tire is not, well not much anyway. A motorcycle tire is designed to make contact with the road on the edge of the tire, hence it is rounded. A car tire is designed to flex in a corner, keeping as much of the entire tread on the road. This is what takes a little getting used to.

Slow:
Slow speeds are where you really feel the difference in tires. During a slow maneuver, say making a hard right turn onto a cross street or making a “U” turn on a street, the car tire will let you know it is there and does not like to be taken advantage of.
It will fight you a little bit and want to track straight rather than lean into the curve of the road. Also, any little imperfections in the road, it will also let you know when you have found them, by “squiggling” under you.
With a motorcycle tire, you fall into a slow sharp turn. I.E. turning a corner or a “U” turn. You have to help the bike back into the upright position, unless you accelerate hard, then the bike wants to straighten up. With a car tire, you have to tell the bike to turn as it “Wants” to go straight. You “make” the bike turn; it will fight you a little bit, not much but a little. Not to the point of being unnerving, but you can feel it.

Fast:
Here is where the car tire really shines. The faster the better. I am not talking 140 MPH, but 65 to 80 MPH the tire becomes very stable. Much more so, I feel, than the motorcycle tire.
I ran all kinds of roadway tonight from the smooth flat road to the bumpy lined with tar snakes roads. From the straight road for 5 miles, to the twisty hills and valleys. Does the tire want to track the imperfections in the road? A little, but not much. I could feel the tire want to take a “tiny” bit of wonder off where I wanted it to be, but a very slight minor correction and it was good. Just so you know, you don’t have to constantly make those kinds of corrections, just once in awhile.
The wide sweepers and the tight turns at speed is where this tire outshines the Avon 100%. You wouldn’t think so, but it is true and the key is acceleration.
Ok, Lucy, let me splane!
With a motorcycle tire, I always felt I was on the edge of loosing traction in a corner, not a lot but the feeling was always there. I would take a corner and would accelerate with caution so I would not loose traction and feel the bike slip a little under me. With the car tire, I felt just the opposite. I felt like the harder I accelerated the more it stuck. There is this one ¾ sweeper just outside of Pismo beach, an onramp to the main highway. It has always been a fun turn as you are accelerating up to speed and leaning at the same time. But, with a motorcycle tire I always felt there were limits to my lean and acceleration. With the car tire tonight it “Felt” like the harder I accelerated and leaned, the more confident it and I became. I know it sounds the opposite of what it should be, but … there it is.

So the final verdict so far?
The tire is work at low speed and it takes some getting used to as it will pick up the imperfections in the road and throw them back at you.
At medium to high speed, it is a blast. I felt more comfortable, more confident, especially in a corner than I do with a motorcycle tire. At speed it will still pick up a little of the road, but not enough to be annoying. It just sticks like hell.

Is it for everyone??? In a word, “no”, is it for me …. Well let’s put it this way. Unless I have a really bad experience with it in the months to come, I am never going back to a motorcycle tire for the rear of the Valk unless I have no other choice.
The tracking at speed is much, much better and even at slower speed. The cost for me was only $120.00 for the tire, mounting and balancing. True I did the dirty work of removing the rim from the bike, but still. $120.00 compared to 160.00 + labor for the Avon, which is a great tire, don’t get me wrong. Plus the fact that this will last me probably 50,000 miles and I could only get 15,000 out of the Avon max.
You do the math

For you? I dunno, you will have to drive one and try it out. If you even in my area, come on over and you can try mine, or find someone in your area and try theirs.
I think once you get the feel down, and it takes about 20 miles of driving to do so, a car tire will be in your future.