I'm the second owner of my car, bought it last year. The car had 27k miles on it and still had the original tires, but since it was 6 years old, the tires were getting old and dry rotted. Also, i live in the north east where the stock tires would not be ideal for snow and rain. So in my case, the stock tire point would not be ideal LoL.

Just thought i would share

 

I agree with Smike in that the brand/type of tire should be more important over stock brand.

 

the tire issue is something of personal preference esp if you track/AX your evo. but the sticky is how to look for babied stock evo's not beaten to regular auto-x events with very well performing tires. it would be the same argument for fluids too. one would say one brand is better vs the other. but if the previous owner specified mobil 1 EP and diaqueen LSD as well as tranny oil, you know that he doesn't feed his evo the cheap stuff. it is looking for the diamond in the rough so to speak. but if what you want is bang for the buck evo's, there are actually plenty to go around.

 

I did not know you run hankooks but I was at the land rover dealership testdriving the new 2011 range rover SC autobiography and came to glance at a used one on the lot. it looked perfect, clean, etc. but was wearing hankooks( you know it was bought in an auction and the dealer making a quick buck by selling it in a legit land rover dealership).

 

I think most of these points are good general tips (which can also be applied to other cars).

Maybe a few points of additional guidance:

1)Inspect back of radiator for turbo removal damage. While shopping for my 9 I looked at three which had obvious signs of mis-guided turbo "bumpage".

2)Be wary of aftermarket parts already installed. Find out as much as possible if it is a private seller (goes back to receipts and their understanding of the mods). Avoid completely if at a dealer.

3)Take a peek under the driver's side dash for any suspect wiring. Splicing, cutting, etc. with no visible electronics tends to point towards shoddy removal jobs by previous owner.

4)Look under rear floor mats (and ultimately under the car) for holes from a roll cage.

5)Take a really good look at OEM parts under the hood. Depending on the milage of the car...if they are a little too clean for the car's milage, they may have been put back on after the car had been modified.

In all honesty, the ONLY reason why I ended up buying my 9 from a dealer was because it only had 10K miles on it and it was bone stock with records. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go the private seller route so I could interview the seller. Or, buy from a Mitsubishi dealer (as I did) so you can get some history on the car's service record.

 

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...mparison_tests

Even if babied, I personally would not drive on a 4 year old tire. However, having an up-to-date current generation tire does mean a lot. Like I said before, if the owner put on good quality same as or better than OE tires...thats fair better than some cheap knock off tires.

 

wow boosted4, ty so much for info... ive never realized to check some of the things u just mentioned. planning on buying a car for the 1st time, and this is great info for being cautious and all...

 

Good points, though I do have my criticisms, like some of the other posters (like FJF), specially about the following:

#4: I have all of the regular stickers still there (like the ACD one on the driver-side door), but I really don't think many (if any) owners kept the airbag sticker than hung from the glovebox. I don't think that not having it on there should be a bad thing, since it's something that wasn't exactly flush with the car (like the stickers).

#6: A turbo timer is a mod, even though it is meant to prolong the life of the turbo (though it's something that you can do yourself by letting the car run for a bit before shutting it down). Similar to #5 (aftermarket radio = factory wiring having been tampered with), a turbo timer being installed could have a similar effect in terms of the value.

#7: The OEM tires aren't even the best options anymore, and at $300+ per tire (up from the ~$200 per tire when the Evo first came out), it's not a wise choice, especially considering the fact that they're rather limited compared to other performance tires of this size. But of course with all-seasons on an Evo or even some obviously cheap tires (Sumitomos or whatever), the car should take a slight hit. But having Z1 Star Specs or similar tires should be fine.

#8: Dealership maintenance is always the best route, but I think it should be fine if you have maintenance records done at a reputable shop. (I have all of my stuff done at the dealership though.)

 

Just to clarify, in case some aren't familiar with the audio wiring options, the installation of an aftermarket radio requires no cutting/splicing of wires. A $7 harness adapter plugs into the factory radio connector and all the wiring takes place outside of the factory loom. To put back to stock, unplug the harness and plug the radio back in. Easy peasy. An alarm, OTOH, is a bit more invasive.

Like DN83, I kept all my stickers, albeit not in the car. I did that, because I bought the SE to keep, but I don't know whether something similar can be expected from folks in other situation.

 

deeznutz83, so the value of the car would be worth more maintained at a dealer rather than a local shop?

 

Yes, if they did all the scheduled maintenance at the dealer, its a plus. However, if the guy took his car to a reputable shop and has receipts, that's not bad either.