SW17LS

I don't think you will find that the Pirellis are any quieter than the Michelins on your ES. The GS had the Primacy MXM4 which is a little sportier grand touring tire, while the ES has the Primacy MXV4, I've had many sets of them on the ES and other cars. They are very quiet and smooth.

Most recently I had a set of the Pirelli P7 Plus put on my old 03 ES I gave to a family member to replace an aging set of Primacy MXV4. I did not find the Pirellis any smoother or quieter, pretty much the same...which is still excellent. Road noise you may hear vs your GS is likely due to that GS the Michelins

You may find as I did that the ES in general is a little less shielded from road noise than the GS, especially the hybrid when the ICE isn't running.

My point is, I wouldn't go to the expense of replacing those Michelins with the Pirellis until they're worn out (40-50k miles)

PirelliRC

Im definitely not going to change the tires now, the Michelins that came with the car all had 11/12 tread so it'll probably be a good 2 1/2 years before they get worn out, and they are 17s so obviously more rubber to wear down. Im going to try and invest the least i can into this vehicle, just a tint and another set of stock wheels, im done. Just going to drive. But when its time ill probably go with the P7s again because i did prefer them over the Michelins on the GS, and its the main reason why i would buy them again. Also they cost less than the Michelins. The GS is unquestionably quieter than the ES, but its not that bad at all. Maybe one day when the GS gets a refresh or two, i will buy a GS hybrid. One heck of a car.

SW17LS

Yeah I would definitely buy the P7s over the Michelins. Just as good a tire for less money.

Car looks good, wheels are a big improvement. I hate the hybrid's wheels...

lesz

I don't know what you mean by "11/12 tread", but the Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires that come as standard equipment on many ES vehicles start out with 9.5/32 of an inch of tread (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....lar=&tab=Specs). That 9.5/32 is somewhat less than some of the tires from the competition which have initial tread depths of 11/32 or 12/32 of an inch.

The Primacy MXV4 has a wear rating of 500, which is okay, but not great. Because of the greater initial tread depth, some of the Michelin competitors' tires have wear ratings between 640 and 720 (and very similar ride quality), which translates into significantly more miles of use before the tires need to be replaced.

PirelliRC

Thanks, my goal with the ES is to blend in and not bring attention to the car, did you end up swapping the tires you got a few months ago or did you end up kepping them ? They were Hankoks or something right ?

SW17LS

Toyo Versado Noir. I kept them, pretty happy with them.