I need a recomendation for tires...... Good, Bad

Hey there everybody:

This is my first post. So, my question is:

I am replacing my OEM tires (Eagle LS 195/15).

I need to replace them, I am more concerned w/

a quiet and comfortable ride. I've been eyeing

the Dunlop SP Sport A2 ($52).Any recommendations?

Again, I'm not interested in racing, etc. I just

need a good tire that will mainly be driven on

surface streets and occasional hwy.

Thanks for your input

Go to:
tirerack.com
and check out their line of Continentals. They have some very well rated tires.

[ August 29, 2002, 11:23: Message edited by: Karl Adams ]

Originally posted by Karl Adams:
Go to:
tirerack.com
and check out their line of Continentals. They have some very well rated tires.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">We are a Continental dealer, and we have pretty good luck with them....

I am running Yoko Avid H4 195/65 H15's on my 00 Jetta. I like them allot. They are pretty quite although I heard they where loud from several people I haven't experience that.

As far as wear goes I am happy. At ~32,000 miles on them they seem to wearing very evenly and appear to have ~3/8 of their thread left. Wet traction is very good (MUCH better than the good year ls' I had)

Think I paid about $65 a tire

I've got Yokohama Avid dbs on my wife's Jetta. They were $67 at Tirerack. They are very quiet, handle a little better than the OEM Michelin MXVs, but probably have a little increased rolling resistance compared to the Michelins. All in all, a great tire for the price.

I put the Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 tires on a 97 Passat TDI. The tires only lasted about a year before cupping commenced. They were very noisy in the end. I am much happier with Michelins on both cars.

Regards,

Rob

I replaced my factory Michelin MXV4's with the Bridestone Potenza RE950's @ about 47K miles.

I now have 56K, and I thoroughly enjoy the new tires. I noticed immediately that they cut through standing water much better. They are just as quiet (if not more so), and I have yet to hear a squeal from these on hard cornering...they just GRAB! (I'm not talking Daytona driving, just highway exit & entrance ramps!)

I can't wait to see how they do in snow - the old ones were TERRIBLE!

Good luck!!

I replaced my OEM Goodyear LS's with Michelin Pilot XGT H4 tires. The dry weather seems siginificantly improved but rain and snow are typical Michelin. Overall a pretty good tire.

-Jeff

Michelin X Radial. Just got them and I like them a lot!

I dont recommend the Dunlops. Every set ive replaced has shown signs of tread seperation and dryrotting, much worse than other brands. The Yokohama Avid H4 (easy driving) or the Avs dB (high performance) are excellent choices for the cost. They perform like tires costing twice as much. They are both quiet well riding tires, although the avs db's trade mileage for grip and performance. however, its pretty hard to push the avid h4's to their limit!

I also recommend any michelins. Youll be paying a premium, and Michelin is the only tire that will ever touch my motorcycles, but for my cars I go with yokohama!

The X-radials recommend by boundless are a budget tire available only at sams club and other big superstores. They are michelin on a budget, but damn good tires! I got 78,000 miles out of a set on my Camry.

Car 54, thanks for the info on the X radials. I used to use Energy MXV4+ exclusively. They are so nice, but they have gotten extremely expensive, even at the Clubs. So I looked and saw the X Radial. It looked good, has some of the technology of the MXV4, and a UTQG rating of 700. And priced at what the MXV4's were when I got them like 4 yrs ago!

I really like the wet traction of the X Radial, much better than the MXV4.

I just replaced the MXV4s and got 57,989 miles from them. Not bad at all. 14" models.

Thanks for sharing your experience with them.

Just for kicks thought I'd chime in on the Michellins. The MXV4's are real nice tires, but as everyone has said, ultra expensive. I got 4 from Costco, with a $60 rebate, not mounted for $420. Only paid that because I've been very pleased with the original MXV4's that came on the car. Next time I think I'll try something a bit cheaper.

The "other" OEM tire is the Michelin "Energy MXV4." Pricey, but excellent tires.

-mickey

Since I've been searching for a set of tires as well, I'll share what I've found.

Best overall replacement tire...especially if you do spirited driving seems to be the Bridgestone RE950 ($74) little brother to that and next in line would be a Firestone Firehawk SH30 ($64)

I have not heard or read a single complaint about the RE950's. Some people say that the SH30's have a somewhat soft sidewall.. others say they're a tad noisy. I've talked to a guy at tirerack and reccomended the above tires, in that order. I also asked him about the Dunlop Sport A2's... he said they are an -ok- tire.. but they wear funny and stuff. Also asked him about the Yokahomo Avid Db, he said they wear pretty quickly, so he wouldnt reccomend them.

Personally I would stay away from the Michelin MXV4.. I havent drove these in the rain much yet... But i pray they do much better than other factory michelins we've had on cars in the past. and the things are dang expensive! cheapest I've found them is $120 each! Hibdon wanted $200 each mounted and balanced!

I have the SH30's on my '66 Mustang and love the way they handle, but between the stiff springs/shocks and full poly bushings I "feel" the raod very well! and 30+yrd cars with headers and minimal sound deadening would be hard pressed to hear road noise from tires.

Oh ya... the guy I talked to at TireRack (I think it was Jim) suggested going to a 205/60/15 instead of the stock 195/65/15.

There was also a Kumho tire ($42) that looked very nice from customer reports... however there were only 10 comments on it... I asked Jim about it and he said they had not driven on those tires at all yet so he couldnt make any comments about them.

Hope that helps some

I've got a set of lightly used (800 miles) Michelin energy MXV4's for sale in the size you need. Email me if interested.

Clay

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[ August 29, 2002, 12:53: Message edited by: Clay ]

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I have always had good luck with BFG Comp TA HR4-2 tires. I've been using BFG since they had the HR4 and I think the HR4-2 was an improvement. I've used them on my last 4 cars and have never had a problem. Also when I got the BFG tires they were $50/tire and also came with a $50 rebate if you bought 4.
Our 2000 Jetta came with the Michelin Energy MXV4 and they were pretty bad. They wore out at about 30K and were horrible in the snow. I think it might be because they were OE tires.

My wife complained that the Jetta got her stuck in the snow 3 times on the way home from work. She wouldn't drive the car again until I do something about it. I assumed that it was her driving ,so I drove the Jetta the next day. I realized she wasn't crazy and the car was terrible in the snow. That day I bought her a set of snows from the tire rack. That made a world of difference and I was able to get my A6 Quattro back, so I could have some real fun in the snow.

I have Michelin X-One tires on my A3. They seem to do well in most all conditions, are quiet and give a comfortable ride. They come with an 80,000 mile treadwear warantee and mine with 50,000 miles on them, look like they'll go another 50,000. They are not the stickiest tires out there bu seem well suited to the type of driving the Tdi was intended, and sound ike they might be a good choice for you.

I am definitely disagreeing with car54 about the Dunlops. I had a set of D60/A2's (the Sport A2 predecessor) on my wife's A3 Cabrio and recently replaced the fronts with Sport A2's.

I personally really like the Dunlops. They are firm in corners and stick really well to the road. They're also great in the rain and decent in the snow, although this year I am going to get snow tires for her car.

"The Kid"'s comment about wear is indeed somewhat true, although I wouldn't say that they wear "funny", just fast, compared at least with other tires (like the stock Goodyears). I have found that this is true of many Dunlop tires--my motorcycle tires were the same way. I think their rubber compound in stickier than most, but you pay for that in lifetime because they wear quicker. I usually get about 40,000 miles out of a set, which I can live with given what I consider to be the benefits of these tires.

xmaise,

In my opinion, the Michelin Rainforce tire is a great one. I've got them on my 2000 Golf TDI and on our Saturn SW2. Sweet ride, excellent rain and snow tire, and best of all, these tires allow for cross rotation. (Front to Back, Back to opposite front0

Avoid: My experience with my own Golf has been bad with directional tires. They cup like hell and consequently don't give me any kind of life span. I wanted to like my Nokians but my rig seems to eat tires if I can't cross rotate them... and this isn't an alignment issue either.

Let us know what you come up with. *(I really don't think that you'll ever regret buying a Michelin product whether it's a Pilot, Rainforce, etc.) Good luck...mickkirk

I see more people complain about Dunlops and Pirelli's I would also say check out the Conti"s.
A friend has a set on his Volvo with 40k on the car and they still have plenty of tread and he likes the way they handle. My 02 Golf came with them also and so far have been fine, but only 8k on them.
wbill

Since you asked. I put the Continentals on my Maxima. Very good ride and quite sticky. Since your in Arizona, your best bet is Discount Tire. They carry a good selection and know what they're talking about. If you're mainly watching price, Discount's generic tires (usually made by Kelly or Continental) have been great for me. I bought one set, and had a tire go bad 3 years later. Discount couldn't find a match, so they replaced all 4 for just the price of the new warranty, ~ $45.00. This has happened for 2 other people I know.

Have sets of both Conti CH95 195/65-15s mounted on stock steelies and a set of Dunlop A2 Sports 205/60-15s on the stock Avus wheels and like both. The Dunlops have good grip as mentioned above, but agree they may be short lived, driving style may have something to do with it(see sign.). Got the Contis second hand with about 8k mi(?) and have been very satisfied with them, very low road noise and decent grip. I am useing the Contis as primary set and the Dunlops for GTGs and those times when well you know. Anyway I would recommend either of these. The Yoko Avids would also be a tire that looks like a good one. Agree living in AZ shipping shouldn't be all that much from Discount Tires or come on up here to Reno and get them out of the warehouse using the shipping charges for road trip money.

[ August 30, 2002, 11:23: Message edited by: kwhiner ]

I think the Dunlap D60's are an excellent tire for a VW. Years ago, CR proclaimed it a bargain, I am sure it has been improved to keep that crown. CR did say it was the best all season performance tire out there, doing the best of all of them in the snow. Well, that I beg to differ, as I changed out my studded tires too soon and drove through a snow storm with D60's and I was scared $hitless! But, all in all they are good. Mine seem to have harden with age and don't grip well, but then again, they are about 6 years old with about 50,000 miles, and the tread bars are a papers/ width from the tread. I would buy them again. Another good tire (Don't laugh!) if they have it in your size, is the Uniroyal NailGuard. They feel a little heavier than a regular tire because of the sealing strip, but I got 40,000 miles out of them on a Honda CRV which really needed an alignment. Also, they did really good, shocking good, in the snow. We live in a area that is growing with construction and we were tired of rushing tires over to the tire store for repair!

I'm going on my third pair of Yoko AVS Db's, I keep having to replace the front tires even though they stick like stink on sh!t to the road!!

I love their wet weather ability, I have to drive through large pools of standing water at aggresive speeds to get any hydro planeing. I like that allot!! They are also much harder to break loose than any previos tires on my TDI's to include Bridgestone Potenza's, GoodTear Feable's, and even Yoko S 306's. (All-Season tire and they hydro faster than Db's!!
Anyway, getting ready to buy another set I found Yoko AVS Intermediates on sale for $47 at Tirerack which is a pretty good tire but I just can't seem to accept any other tire now for overall silence on the road and exceptional performance both dry and wet. Remember one of the most critical componets on your car is where it mates up with the ground. So even though I use apair of them up about once a year, I wouldn't have any other tire. Yoko Db's!! $66 at Tirerack.

As I stated earlier, I have liked the AVS Db's on the wife's Jetta. However, for $46 the Yokohama AVS Intermediates are a raging bargain for a summer performance tire. Turn in and outright cornering ability are breathtaking, the Db's don't come close to this level of performance.

Major downside is they won't last long, the fun will be over in about 20K miles!

I've heard the Dunlops are good performing tires but a bit noisy. I have the stock VW Conti ch95 (205 x 55x16) and am pleased. Good ride and tread wear, good mileage, decent handling (from a commuters vp).

I'm planning on buying a set of Nokian WR's this week to replace my Goodyears.
They hav a 50,000 mile treadwear warantee and I've never heard a bad thing about a Nokian tire. I'll keep you posted.