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tires and ratings, treadwear etc.

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pauleyman

DSM Wiseman
9,302
3,543
Nov 19, 2011
oklahoma city, Oklahoma
I sure I've purchased 25 sets of tires over the years and I try and read up on which one is best and cost effective etc but what I end up with is never quite what the reviews suggest. Anybody have comments about this and the "independent" reviews online? In a performance tire I understand my mileage may suck. I've gotten 9k out of a set and 30k on a dedicated summer tire. I've also had a passenger tire rated for 80k get 40k. I'm pretty meticulous about rotation, tire pressure, alignment etc. UTQG doesn't seem to mean squat.
I'd like to hear from the masses particularly in regards to treadwear which seems to deviate the most from online reviews. I buy them expecting to get XX mileage and it's always drastically lower even though people supposedly get good mileage.
BTW I"m sure somebody noticed I said 9k on a set. Those were Yokohama AVS intermediate with a 140 treadwear. Damn that was a fun 9k miles.
 
all varies per car and setup but i had vreds on my old almera that lasted many years and well over 40k unless i got a puncture.
goodyears GSD3 on the DSM when i got it used to last 1 year max and not many miles but were super soft and great in the wet.

my current tires are vreds and i think the treadwear is around 180 but the old sessantas from vred were 200 and they lasted a heck of a long time on the DSM, so long infact they ran out of date and dried up before i could finish them off
 
Typically, comparing the Treadwear Grades of tire lines within a single brand is somewhat helpful, while attempting to compare the grades between different brands is not as helpful.

The problem with UTQG Treadwear Grades is that they are open to some interpretation on the part of the tire manufacturer because they are assigned after the tire has only experienced a little treadwear as it runs the 7,200 miles. This means that the tire manufacturers need to extrapolate their raw wear data when they are assigning Treadwear Grades, and that their grades can to some extent reflect how conservative or optimistic their marketing department is.

The vehicle repeatedly runs a prescribed 400-mile test loop in West Texas for a total of 7,200 miles. The vehicle can have its alignment set, air pressure checked and tires rotated every 800 miles. The test tire's and the Monitoring Tire's wear are measured during and at the conclusion of the test. The tire manufacturers then assign a Treadwear Grade based on the observed wear rates. The Course Monitoring Tire is assigned a grade and the test tire receives a grade indicating its relative treadwear. A grade of 100 would indicate that the tire tread would last as long as the test tire, 200 would indicate the tread would last twice as long, 300 would indicate three times as long, etc.
 
Currently I'm shopping for my daughter's 2011 corolla then soon after for the dsm again. Likely I'm going with Michelin pilot s4 on the dsm.
Corolla looks like Michelin cross climate +
 
I've been pleased with BFG & Firestone tires. Michelin owns BFG & Dunlop owns Firestone. Tires are fairly equivalent with slightly better pricing.
 
I cant really give input on tires that actually last as long as they say. However, I just purchased a set of bridgetone RE71r and toyo r888r. I had a good discussion with a rep from tire rack about the tire ratings in general. I simply asked what is the stickiest summer tire you sell in a certain size. They told me the re71r is. That tire is rated at 200 where the toyo is 180 rated. I previously had a set of falken azeniz rated at 200. I got them also because they were a cheaper summer tire that was grippy. However I was unhappy with the tire. It is not grippy at all compared to the snow tires I had before. I asked the rep how are customers able to know what is a better tire based on the rating and he didn't have a good awncer. He did say that reading track testing from the manufacture would be best.

My conclusion for my sticky tire issue was to simply see what other people are using. You can also look to see what brand new cars are coming with. Generally, I believe tires that come on new cars actually do what they say.

Im sure you already knew this stuff but I just wanted to share my experience. As far as snow or all seasons, I haven't had a issue with the really cheap tires. I would rather pay 400 for a set that last the same as the more expensive.
 
I've had many different tires and my favorite so far has been the michelin pilot super sport. The sport 4s in the next generation.
I did look at the re71 and have not ruled it out. This is a dry weather summer car only now. It will not see rain, or cold weather. Might see cooler (not freezing) but I have the option to switch wheels too.
 
Currently I'm shopping for my daughter's 2011 corolla then soon after for the dsm again. Likely I'm going with Michelin pilot s4 on the dsm.
Corolla looks like Michelin cross climate +

I just replaced the tires on my Talon with Michelin A/S Pilot Sport 4's. Haven't put many miles on them yet (for reasons you well know), but I've always been happy with Michelins in the past (on my car and road bike, where I use slicks, FWIW).
 
For whatever reason I've never been in a situation where I could splurge on the Michelins, but they'd be the ones I'd go for. Instead, I've been buying Continental ExtremeContact Sports (and DW before they got discontinued) and have been pretty happy with performance and wear. They're good in wet weather too. I know the Michelins are superior but they're usually always more expensive unless there's a big sale.

If we're talking non performance, I typically buy whatever I can find the best deal on for the wife's car.
 
If we're talking about the Michelin A/S PS 4's, I just got a new set at Costco for $540 total, including tax, fees and installation. I got another 5% off with the current Chase Visa Costco promo. They'll probably be the last set I put on the car as I don't see myself keeping it for more than the next few years. I'm approaching the age where maybe something gentler and easier to maintain might be in order and I've always run the same tires for around 5-7 years (except this time where it was nearly double that but the car sat for over 6 years).
 
I wish that I had some good recommendations for tires based on longevity, but I've never worn out a set of tires. I had Direzza ZII Star Specs on the Miata and absolutely loved them, but when we moved and I lost the garage, the winter outside in the driveway hardened them beyond use. They had 2300 miles and two full seasons of powersliding autocrosses on them. I have ZIIIs on the Autozam and on my GSX, and despite putting ~10,000 miles and a few autocrosses on each set, all 8 tires look brand new in the tread depth department. Online tests say that they tend to last almost twice as long as comparable 200TW tires like RE-71R and my personal experience supports that assertion. But that grip and high longevity combination comes at the cost of pretty ridiculous road noise and mediocre (at best) wet performance. Also they're super cheap in comparison. I had Pilot SuperSports on my Focus RS and they were plenty grippy but the cost to replace was absolutely unreasonable. I have quite a few friends that have gone from SuperSport to 4S and are very happy. If I were looking for tires in a size that wasn't covered by Dunlop the 4S would probably be the first place I would look.

TireRack has 225/45R17 ZIIIs for $169 each but I just saw that they have RE-71Rs on clearance at $177. Them being that close in price makes it a tough call.
 
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I'm more concerned about mileage on the corolla. I was super pissed about michelins on some past passenger vehicles. Lasted about half what they were supposed to. Bridgestone re71 are on sale right now. May splurge on those for teh dsm. The dsm will not see inclement weather but I'd hate to get caught out in some with a tire like that. The michelin isn't all season but I know it can handle wet no problem. But 200$ savings on a set of four vs michelin and low annual mileage I think I can afford the treadwear tradeoff. For sure the car will never see snow/ice etc again. I have a 4 runner for that.
 
Mine seem to dryrot before they wear out. :(
I had concerns about that also. This will be the first time I'm not driving the car regularly. The car and tires will be stored in winter also.
Back to passenger tires anybody have experience with the michelin cross climate? I can't decide but she's a little less than 4/32nd so we're due before spring rains get here.
 
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