Ice350

iTrader: (1)

This subject may have been discussed before but came up yesterday at our meet. Which tires are the best? I think Michelins are the best tires money can buy. Not because they cost the most. I have tried many performance tires over the last 15 years. They were the longest lasting, most solid, stable, sure footed tires I had. I'm finally back to Michelin. Specifically the Pilot Sports. They're great.
What do you guys think?

mmarshall

As always....depends on your priorities. Michelin tires in general.....I agree with you....their overall quality is excellent. They rarely are out of round and don't take much wheel weight to get a good balance. You rarely hear of one failing at speed....unlike Firestones.
The only significant problem with Michelins, in general, has been iffy wet traction due to the hard rubber compounds they used in the past to get their high wear ratings. That is changing some now as Michelin develops good rain tires and the tire engineers get more familiar with new silicone rubber additives.

ANY tire, though, to some extent, is a compromise. Softer tread compounds, like on high-performance tires, will give you good braking, cornering, and acceleration, but will wear very quickly. Low-profile tires are similiar....they will give you good steering response, but will transmit a lot of noise and road shocks into the car and give little pothole protection to the wheels. Harder tread compounds will wear longer, be more resistant to feathering, cupping, etc... but will give lousy traction in both wet and dry weather. Higher-profile tires (which are becoming harder and harder to find) will be smoother and quieter, but will also give mushier steering response and more plowing and understeering while cornering. Off-road and M+S (mud and snow) tires, as the name suggests, are good in off-road and low-traction conditions but are noisy and rough-riding on a dry surface due to the chunky block tread design. All-seasons, of course, are a jack-of-all trades, and a master of none.....they do everything marginally well but don't excel at anything. So it all depends on what your primary needs and wants are, how much you are willing to spend, and, of course, what tire sizes are available from what brands.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

You're very correct so let's narrow this down. Since most of us are modders and those that aren't usually get a performance tire when they buy Lexus, let's keep our discussion to performance tires.

mmarshall

Well, it sounds like a no-brainer at this point......Go with the Michelin high-performance tires and see if you like them. Keep in mind the limitations and weaknesses of any hi-performance tire (which I've already discussed) and I don't think you'll be dissappointed with the Michelins.
The main thing is to be sure that the replacement tire size is the same as the original, or, if not, that the overall outside tire-wheel diameter is the same as stock....otherwise you may get false readings from the speedometer and odometer or other problems with wheel-rotation sensor data. Many tire shops have conversion charts that will give you this data.

Good luck.

SC400-V8

iTrader: (1)

Im lookig for a very ride comfort, quiet oriented tire, but traction is also important. Im thinking goodyear eagle LS. anyone use these?

mmarshall

The Goodyear Regatta is smooth and quiet, with fairly good traction, but can't really be considered a high-performance tire. If you don't care about hard driving I would give it a try.

johnee78

iTrader: (4)

I have to get on this one.I have found in my opinion the best tire.They are falken azenis 115.These tires are so quiet and they really grip the road.They also are extremely comfortable to ride on.If anybody is looking for a good tire and pretty reasonably priced you should really try these out.Just my opinion.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Hey Johnnee, missed you at the turbo tv meet, heard you had to work. Buddie, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. As I said before, I tried a lot of tires. I tried Falkens years ago and they were terrible. I tried the new Falken Azenis. They are sort of quiet but feel cheap, hard, unlexuslike. Plus, they wear pretty fast. I would say they're okay if you want to be economical. But if you love your baby, you don't give her cubic zirconia.

D2-AUTOSPORT

Don't know if I would put the ST 115s in the "zirconia" class, a few members have them here and have posted good reviews of them. Like someone else said it all boils down to preference, value, treadlife, etc etc.

Kinda makes it hard to determine a "best" tire

lexforlife

iTrader: (7)

i am going to have to jump in the ring on this one

I think those of you who know me , know i drive like i am in nascar everyday so perf is critical to me

i have had michelins before when i used to be a bmw fanatic , they were good tires long wear but terrible in road feedback , to me overpriced rubber

to date the best tire made for all around perf and good wear with a comfortable ride almost no noise would be the goodyears f1 gsd3 , not because i have them but i read research and independent tests that were done in germany where this tire was born , they turned faster track times wet then the top 3 tires turned dry , (michelein pilot sports were not rated in the top three for this test)

as johnee was saying for the money the new falkens are making waves in the tire industry they work and work well not quite top notch but for those budgetminded great buy

bluelex

reg buddy i will diagree with the comment about them being cubic zirconia. thats pretty harsh. i think it comes down 2 everything that has been mentioned above.. personal taste comes into play here the largest, i have bridgestones and am not too happy with them as of now, i had falcons and actually also liked them very much as 2 the nitto and toyos i had b4.. its not like the falcons cost 100.00 buck a tire here so 2 call them cubic zirconia wouldn't b fair....its about taste buddy, a lot of people would call zenneti wheels cubic zirconia but u wouldn't right buddy, neither would i..i would say those wheels r a nice wheel budgeted well someone who personally likes them...so u c it comes out 2 b all about taste....no one can say what the best tire or wheel IS, like johnee said in his opinion the falcons r his best, like Ed says the goodyears r his best and i will say i'm not sure cus i haven't found a tire that i really love yet, big or small budgeted....good day 2 all.....

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Hey Johnee, I didn't mean any disrespect about the cubic zirconia comment. Cubic's look good to me, I just meant they are not as good as diamonds. Falkens are okay. I have them on my wife's car. If I thought they were bad, I would have taken them off immediately. I've done it before when I didn't like tires.
Everyone's making me think I dissed you. You're aces with me. The first 5 or 6000 miles, I thought the Falkens were great. Now they kind vibrate sometimes. That's the same thing that happened to the ones I had years ago. I just think my wife should have the best, I worry about her driving at night on the highway. She'll have new Goodyears, Michelins or Continentals in a couple of weeks.

lexforlife

iTrader: (7)

reg

its all good bro , now that i see your ref point for the faulkens , its not a good comparison to what we are talking about

for the nice es your wife has , thats running a touring type tire , diff procedures went into the making of that vs a high perf tire ,

michelein makes some of the best touring type tires but in todays market have fallen behind the curve in perf tires

goodyears and etc on the other hand dont make a very good touring tire their focus has shifted to perf , better markup or something

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Actually, I would compare the zenetti's to cubic's. WHen I bought them in Dec, I'd just spent over 2000 on the body kit. I knew I wanted nice tires and decided to be economical on the wheel. The zenetti's have the lip, they're chrome, they're 19's. I'd rather have gfg's or carlsson's or maya's but the zenetti's have the look and lip. It doesn't bother me that they are inexpensive ( if you can call 1500 cheap), I like cubic's. I had a choice between really nice wheels or okay wheels plus the kit plus nice tires. That cubic zirconia is looking better and better.

D2-AUTOSPORT

Reggie, I dont think A was trying to insult you, but it seems like he was just pointing out how your original post regarding Falkens could be taken. Many people bash Zenettis as knockoffs, fakes, whatever, but I think they are decent looking wheels for a decent price (I'm sure you agree ).

To be honest, if I owned ST-115's I would have taken "slight" offense to your post! Buts its cool man, you clarified what you meant and its all good, just be more sensitive to the opinions of others and what they own!

Trust me bro, as far as 19" staggered chrome wheels go, that is a VERY nice price, not cheap as in cheesy or ugly, but lets just say "dollar smart and penny wise" (as my father says, LOL), in my book, there is nothing wrong with that!