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"Performance tires are expected to experience greater tire wear than conventional tires. Tire life may be substantially less than 15,000 miles depending on driving conditions"
I read that 15,000 line; and I have to admit I worried about it for the first third of the 42,000 miles I rode on the OE Bridgestone Duelers that most here seem to hate.
I'm now at 8,800 miles on a set of Pirelli Scorpion Verde 19" that measured 9 and 10/32" tread at their first rotation last month - which suggests to me that they'll be a bit longer-wearing than the first set.
Personally, I love Michelin XIce XI line. I have bought 4 sets so far for different vehicles.
I am happy with them on my performance sedan, as well as on our family crossover, the RX.
Unlike Blizzaks that I used to run a decade ago, these don't wear out fast and provide winter traction way past the first half of the tread.
I doubt you'll be wanting to put snow chains when in an emergency.
If you want to take it up a notch, you can install studded winter tires, if it is legal in your region.
At the same time, RX may not have been a best choice of a vehicle, as it is not designed for serious off-roading or adverse weather conditions.
Personally, I love Michelin XIce XI line. I have bought 4 sets so far for different vehicles.
I am happy with them on my performance sedan, as well as on our family crossover, the RX.
Unlike Blizzaks that I used to run a decade ago, these don't wear out fast and provide winter traction way past the first half of the tread.
This is much less of an issue with the more modern Blizzaks. Anything after WS-60's still provides winter grip throughout the tread life.
This is much less of an issue with the more modern Blizzaks. Anything after WS-60's still provides winter grip throughout the tread life.
That is good to know, as it has been an issue for me. LM22s wear out so fast that I switched for a few years to all-seasons.
April was the worst, as the warm weather came and the winter tread wore right off.
The Michelins I can beat hard on and they just keep going, regardless of the weather and vehicle type.
Pirrelli Scorpion Verde Plus, and the Michelin Premier LTX
Originally Posted by lester123
Currently have 21k miles on 2013 RX; have been told there is 4-5 /32's of rubber left so I guess I will need to replace the tires soon. This seems quite disappointing to get such poor mileage on the Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires. I prefer getting tires at Costco and am considering the same tires, the Michelin Premier LTX (less expensive) and Michelin Defender LTX.
Those of you that have replaced your tires, what have you chosen and why?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
I based my choices on Tire Rack reviews and ratings, as well as dealer opinions. I ended up with the Michelin's because of expected better performance on wet roads, since I live in Florida. Pirrelli advantage was lower roll resistance. After 5K miles I am satisfied with the tires. Mileage as good if not better than OEM's. My thoughts: I bought a Lexus because I wanted comfort, reliability and safety, and I want the same from my tires. Buying new tires is not the place to economize.
That is good to know, as it has been an issue for me. LM22s wear out so fast that I switched for a few years to all-seasons.
April was the worst, as the warm weather came and the winter tread wore right off.
The Michelins I can beat hard on and they just keep going, regardless of the weather and vehicle type.
Oops. I forgot about the LM's and their "performance" winter tires. Yes, they're garbage.
Still an unfair comparison to Xice though. Most performance winter tires suck. I had some Pirelli SnoSport zRated nonsense years ago and they were also brutal.
The Bridgestone Blizzaks are the best winter tires I've ever owned. I just took them off about 2 weeks ago and replaced with a set of Pirelli Scorpion Verde Plus for the summer to not wear the Blizzaks down but I have nothing but great things to say about how the Blizzaks did in the snow and ice up in Tahoe this year. Never had to think about chains - handled both uphill and downhill without an issue and drove right up a steep driveway with ~8" of snow on it without a struggle. The only thing I noticed is on concrete highways that have the small "channels" (or grooves? not sure what to call them) in them, these tires "tracked" to the grooves when at speed which gave a slight shudder in the car from time to time. Was a bit worrisome the first time it happened but once we realized what was going on it was easy to ignore. It'd be great to have a tire with all season performance that could handle snow and ice like the Blizzaks but also not wear quickly on hot roads but in order to not have to worry about chains (I always still carry them just in case), I'm OK swapping 2x/year.
Not related to your post but I've had the Pirellis on for about 1k miles so far and they're doing great - smooth ride, not much road noise and no handling issues as of yet - however we haven't had any rain so will need to see how they do on wet roads. We have a long roadtrip coming up that will really put them to the test and will report any new findings. FYI Tire Rack still has these on sale for $139/tire plus shipping for the 235/60R18 size.
Edit: I just opened up those self-adjusting chains you linked to and while I have no experience with them (and there are no reviews on Walmart's site) those look like they wouldn't last to long in rough conditions. The rope/cable(?) providing the tension looks teeny next to the chains and I'd be worried about that snapping or getting cut along with the device being used to tighten it. Again - I've never used these nor known anyone that has but I'd be wary if there aren't glowing reviews elsewhere...
I have a 2013 F Sport.
IMHO, the Bizzaks are a really good all-weather tire and they come with 14/32's new.
The F Sport's original equipment tires come with 10/32's when new.
The original tires at 5/32's are effectively wore out and wet performance is terrible.
At 20K,the Blizzaks tires have 10/32's on them and with the more aggressive tread design; I believe that I will be able to run the tires for a full 10/32's to a pull point of 4/32's.
Again IMHO, these tires are a better value and a safer tire, and because you can get more miles on them they are more 'Green' that the Ecopia Fuel efficient tires that the truck goes with from the factory.
gm
Just completed an ~900 mile roadtrip with the Pirelli Scorpion Verde Pluses and am very impressed so far. Still no wet weather experience but dry weather performance has been great. We saw an average of almost 24mpg which is the best I've seen in this car so far. Tires ride smooth, minimal road noise and handle great. Still waiting to see how they handle some rain and maybe some light snow before the Blizzaks go back on.
My 2013 RX450h original Bridgestone tires are done after ~42k miles.
I read the tire thread here but noting much about the Michelin Defender tire.
They warranty for 70k miles (10k miles more than the Michelin Premiere) and are only $35 (total) cheaper at local tire place.
Thoughts on the Defender and/or vs the Premiere????
(ride comfort, noise....).
I do live in northeast so snow is a little consideration but not critical..
From the information I've found thus far, the Defender is a newer tire design which is being used to replace multiple versions of their tire lineup. For example, I've been running the 10-ply 285-65x16 LTX AT2's on my diesel F250 and diesel Excursion for about 6 years, and ran the LTX MS2's prior to that. As of this past spring, when I went to replace two of my tires on the F250, the AT2's are being replaced with the new Defender design. I suspect it is one way Michilen is trying to simplify their tire composition to help streamline manufacturing costs, especially since the change I saw for my larger 10-ply tires is making its way into the passenger tire lineup as well.
That said, the marketing information from Michelin suggests a better tire composition with better tread life, water removal, and whatnot. I have not seen a third party evaluation of the Defenders yet, but the 6 months of running them on the rear of my truck has me well satisfied at this point. Granted, it's really not much mileage yet, but they are riding as well as their predecessors on my truck, I'm not seeing any early signs of premature problems with tread life, and the deep southern frog-strangling downpours I've driven through have not been an issue at all with road grip.
To your point of snow... being where I am, snow is of virtually no concern to me because my truck will virtually never see it. It's a 2WD truck meant for highway use... shoot, I can even get stuck on wet grass on level ground because there just is not enough weight in the rear of the truck to push my 1,000 lb engine that sits over the two front tires!
Perhaps there are some others who can offer more pertinent details for your winter driving conditions.
Just got the Michelin Premier LTX after getting ~42k miles on the original Bridgestone tires (2013 450h).
My first Michelin tires and WOW... how quiet and nice handling.
I've run Bridestones before and from every tire instlaler I've talked with, they are (or at least used to be) the "roundest" tire on the market -- truest roundness. However, in side by side comparisons on my 3/4 ton diesel, even though they had a marked stickiness on the road, I could not get near the tread life as on the Michelin LTX's I have run, and the LTX's have run exceptionally well with no traction issues whatsoever.
After running two sets of OEM Michelin Latitude Tour's on my wife's RX I decided to give the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Seasons a try. I'm glad I did, these tires are quiet, they ride exceptionally well and seem to have great grip in wet and dry. We've only had them on for about 2 weeks now so I'm not sure how they will wear but I'm not too worried about it considering she got 40k out of each set of the Michelin's and these have a higher tread wear rating. Somehow I only get about 15k with the rubber on my GS before needing new tires.
Has anyone tried Goodyear TripleTred CS tires? Looks like they're now available in our size.
I had TripleTreds as winter tire on my IS300 for a few years and couldn't wear them out. Great traction, both wet and dry. Decent snow performance.
The one thing I see is people being concerned with excessive noise in the truck version.
Any feedback?
Update:
I got this tire at Sam's Club last month. Goodyear had a special going on and Michelin did not.
Good thing I went to Sam's with their great customer service!
Tire noise is more than I anticipated when going over 50MPH.
They did not get balanced well, so there is some vibration in the steering wheel at speed.
Getting Goodyears tossed tomorrow and getting Michelin Premier LTX instead.
01-06-15, 03:07 PM
