What is your go-to tire choice?

[gooseman]

Good evening everyone,
Just a quick question I wanted to throw out there; in your ownership experience, what would you say has been the best tire you have ran on your Mk4?
Currently I am running Michelin Defenders and they have been pretty good overall -- affordable, long tread life, and perform decent with both rain and dry weather, but I am wanting to see the different opinions out there from more experienced owners to see if there are other (possibly better) options out there to consider, as I will be looking to get replacements later on in the year.

 

[super1]

Michelin Cross Climate 2
Haven’t used them on my MK4 but use them on some of my other cars and love them, Will be putting them on my MK4 this week

 

[oilhammer]

I am a Michelin guy, but do not really like the Defenders. They sacrifice everything for treadlife, which means they are rock hard and do not stick to the road as well as other tires. I run Michelin Primacy or Premier.... the Primacy is more performance oriented, but I would not call it a "performance" tire. I never would run directional all season tires on a car, so the Crossclimate is out for me, but I am curious to see how that strange herringbone pattern wears over time. Michelin seems to be pretty proud of them, and people here that have them seem to like them, but they are still new. I'm sure the old Hydroedge was fine when new, too, but typically after 25k miles or so they were starting to go sawblade noisy. We'll see.

Some of the newer Continental-General stuff is pretty decent. We sell a LOT of the General Altimax RT43s here, it has proven to be a pretty good tire overall, and I am talking over thousands and thousands of tires I see. I'd consider those too.

I do switch to dedicated snow tires when winter weather threatens, which is not frequent enough here to run them a lot. I just switch wheels when necessary. Which is easy for me.

 

[Rrusse11]

I'm a big fan of the General G=MAX AS-05. Not the longest wearing tire, but great to drive, I get ~35k a set.
Great performance at a reasonable price IMO.

 

[Mongler98]

Bottom line
There are 3 things that matter in deciding.
Tred depth (get the most) usually anything over 11/32
Wear rating (utqg) about 600 is about as hard ad you should go for all seasons / all weather
Price ? Under $140 a tire)
Stick to this and no matter what you get is probably fine for daily gor you.
Want fast and soft summers RE71s
Need winters (bizzarks)

Anytjing past this is mostly subjective but worth the note.
Price is always the biggest factor so see if you can get a rebate. Costco has decent tires and sometimes has the instant $70 off the set. Free mount and ballance to boot.
Priority tire is the go to for me now. Tire rack was good but now $ too much for shipping.

 

[kjclow]

I've had good wear on my Bridgestone Ecopia tires. On the JSW, I saw a couple of mpg improvement over the oem Hankooks.

 

[JDSwan87]

Bridgestone Ecopia here. 35k on current set, probably another 20k left in em. Bought from Costco, believe tread depth new was 11/32. Will buy again.

Also had a set on my wife's (now sold) Dodge Journey and we liked the Ecopia's on it too.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I've had great luck with General Altimax RT43s on my MKIVs. They are quiet, seem to last well, and are good in the rain. And they're relatively inexpensive.

However, I am one of the folks who is trying out Michelin Cross Climates. I realized that my need for dedicated snows here in SE MA isn't that great, so I thought I'd give these a shot. So far (about 8K miles) I'm really happy with them. They're quiet, and ride and handle well. I'm going to be careful about rotating them regularly and hopefully they won't cup or get loud.

 

[oilhammer]

They (Michelin) also have that tread design in the Euro-truck Agilis line. I've already seen some on the litte Fiat vans as well as on the duals of a Transit HD. They must think pretty highly of them.

I like Michelin, prefer them, but always feel like they are struggling to capture lightning twice. They patented the radial tire, and pretty much changed the whole industry overnight, but since then, some of their ideas have been head scratchers. The ill fated Metric sizes, then the horrid Pax setup they talked Honda into (Honda certainly regrets that Failtrain). So is this new herringbone tread design another one of those, or will in pan out to be something worthwhile? Time will tell.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

When my mechanic mounted the Cross Climates he mentioned that Goodyear had a similar tire years ago, the Weatherguard or some such. It didn't do well. I found the Cross Climates to be more than satisfactory in the snow this past winter, and I like them in the dry. Some here said they took an FE hit when they started using them, but my last fill was 49.8 MPG so I think I'm doing OK on that front.

 

[vandermic07]

I have a set of Michelin Ice X on my Golf now. They are great in the summer and winter. super quiet. quieter than my summer tires on Jetta. I was getting 50-52 mpg last summer.

They came with my Jetta when i got it from the PO. They had about 7/32 left so. They are getting really old @ least 7 yrs. I put them on the golf last summer to wear them out. Put about 20k on them and they still have 6/32 left. I just put them back on for this summer. they still performed great in the snow storm we had monday. and getting 50 mpg to boot!

I am lucky to get 25k miles and 45 mpg on my current winter tires (sumitomo and artic claws).

I am probably going to buy Ice X when my current winters wear out. Im tired of getting cheap tires.

 

[Nuje]

You're in Snohomish Co. - get the CrossClimate2.
Similar weather here on Vancouver Island (mostly wet winter, but occasional wet snow). Shortly after I put CrossClimate2's on my Mk7, I had to make a 100km drive that started as really wet snow that didn't stick, turning into that bacon-grease slush on the freeway, and then packed snow for the last ~25km. I was shocked with how well they handled everything - no worse than the Hakkepellita dedicated snow tires I'd had on there previously.
The 100K km tread wear-out warranty makes them a great year-round tire for our climate, I think.

 

[super1]

Well just tried to order the Cross Climate 2 in size 195-65-15 they make the Climate + only but not available till June so not sure what size you’re running just a heads up, I guess they’ll still have the same reviews

 

[gooseman]

Well just tried to order the Cross Climate 2 in size 195-64-15 they make the Climate + only but not available till June so not sure what size you’re running just a heads up, I guess they’ll still have the same reviews

Been running the stock size of 195/65R15, easier for me to keep track of true mpg figures and don't want to worry about possible rubbing issues or prematurely wearing down the wheel bearings and brakes that much faster. The cross climate 2's certainly look interesting, as do the Bridgestone Ecopia's, although it's interesting to see the reviews on those ones -- people either love them, or say they wear out far too quickly.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I found Ecopias to wear pretty fast and get quite loud as they wear. I've had two sets of those, one on my B4 and one on my Golf. If you can hear tires on a B4 you can be sure they're loud.

 

[kjclow]

I find they wear much better and are quieter than the Hankooks or Michelins that I had on the Golf. Or maybe the excess wear was just the way my wife drove her Golf.

 

[Nuje]

I've taken to "one-size up" lately on my cars, if only to make the speedometer read accurately. And
Mk4 Golf: 205-60-16
Mk7: 225-50-17 (a bit more of a jump, but my speedometer was reading way off (8%) after the AID retrofit, and this brings it back to at least "normal".

 

[boertje]

I dont know now. It used to be michelin pilot exalto (now discontinued), then premiere (also discontinued), so then what? Defender or x tour? Or look to another brand? Continental?

 

[Mongler98]

I dont know now. It used to be michelin pilot exalto (now discontinued), then premiere (also discontinued), so then what? Defender or x tour? Or look to another brand? Continental?

those exalto's where epic.

 

[pkhoury]

I've been exclusively using Continental ExtremeContact DWS06, and now, DWS06 Plus. In fact, I just put on 225 45R17 on the 2002 GOlf, and the 2000 Golf got my old 16" Conti's.

 

[oilhammer]

The Michelin Premier has not been discontinued. I just put a set on one of my cars, and Tire Rack still shows them. At least in the 195-65-15-91H variety. They may have been phased out on some other sizes. They are not available in the 205-55-16-91H, which is what I have on one of my Golfs (New Beetle steelies). I chose the Michelin Energy Saver A/S for that one. Which so far have been OK but even though they are wider and have a lower profile they don't seem to stick the car to the road any better (or any worse) than the Premiers I had wrapped around the standard 15" Avus wheels before (which is what my other Golf still has).

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of putting those on my '99.5 this fall. Maybe I should grab a set now.

 

[Bengoshi2000]

My mkiv golf is on its second set of General Altimax RT43. First set lasted 50k miles with very little degradation in performance at the end. I even put a set on my 1991 300D 2.5 Turbo Mercedes. Bang for buck, they are hard to beat.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I'm a big RT43 fan. Just put them on my son's MKIV for the summer. I've probably bought 5 sets over the years.

 

[PakProtector]

Got CrossClimate+ in 205/60-16 and liked them. Got to about 60k before I curbed one and replaced it with CrossClimate2 for a pair. Going to retire the pair of +'s with another pair of 2's. Wife's Mazda is migrating form Premiers to CorssClimate2's and the son is running CorssClimate+( as that is the only way to get 195/65-15's). Closest I have to dedicated winter is Pilot Alpine on my ALH...those things are a level above the CrossClimate...but I doubt they will return very many miles.... and they don't come small anymore, *AND I am not going to 18's to run them again...
cheers,
Douglas

 

[turbocharged798]

Another vote for RT43, for the price they are hard to beat. Snow traction is pretty good for an all season as well.

 

[boertje]

The Michelin Premier has not been discontinued. I just put a set on one of my cars, and Tire Rack still shows them. At least in the 195-65-15-91H variety. They may have been phased out on some other sizes. They are not available in the 205-55-16-91H, which is what I have on one of my Golfs (New Beetle steelies). I chose the Michelin Energy Saver A/S for that one. Which so far have been OK but even though they are wider and have a lower profile they don't seem to stick the car to the road any better (or any worse) than the Premiers I had wrapped around the standard 15" Avus wheels before (which is what my other Golf still has).

i went to discounttire and they show discontinued for the 205/55 r16 and indeed available for the golf. I run 195 65 r15 in winter.

 

[boertje]

those exalto's where epic.

Had multiple sets hit 80k miles.

 

[benmarks]

Since the OP is in Washington, I highly recommend Les Schwab. I like to think of them as the Trader Joe's of tires. Let them curate the list of tires they sell, and then greatly benefit from the above average customer service.

 

[Fahrvegnugen]

Les Schwab...I think of that like the jiffy lube of tires, hoping they didn't forget to put the oil filter on before leaving the shop. I've known more than one car leave those places and had a wheel fall off. Probably just my drawn straw.
I always run snow tires. Last year maybe...got stopped in sudden early snow by car in front that parked in middle of road. I went around without snows and took the corner eagerly. Just bounced tire off curb and twisted control arm like a pretzel. Wouldn't have dinged curb with snow tires. Didn't take much.
Barely need summers here, and with the wheel bearings wearing out I've been getting used tires to avoid worrying about uneven wear. Hoping I've got bearings sorted, starting to wonder if the potholes are destroying them. That eats tires up quickly
Oh my choice is hakka snow tires they are very sticky