I went through a pothole the other day as large as a sinkhole and bent two wheels and ruined two of the original equipment tires on the left side of my car. I decided to replace all four of my original equipment tires since I only had a few thousand miles of tread left anyway on the ones that weren't damaged.

The dealership recommended Michelin Pilot Sport All Season tires. I researched them on Tire Rack and they got a very good review from the site and the survey numbers were very good in all aspects. The dealership matched the Tire Rack pricing.

I had them installed and the grip/handling are far superior to the Bridgestones that came with the car. The problem I have is that the road noise seems to be much worse. I looked at Consumer Reports (I obviously should have done this before) and they rated the tires very high with the exception of road noise. The survey on Tire Rack had a high (good) number for road noise.

Anyone else here running with the 245/45-18 Michelin Pilot Sport AS tires and, if so, what's your experience with the road noise? Does it get better with time?

 

I put them on my wife's SC430, and I think they are acceptably quiet. My brother recently put them on his MB CL600 on my recommendation, and he is very happy with the noise level. He says that they are much quieter than the Michelin Pilot Sports that came with the car originally. I can't speak to how they do over time.

 

I have them on my LS but in 17 inch. They are noiser then OEM Dunlops but they are a great summer tire. They throw water in the rain and have been a lot of fun to have on my LS. As far as noise they do get a lot louder if car is not properly aligned. Speaking from experience on that one, had some front end work done under warranty and alignment was not correct. Needless to say the tires didn't wear evenly. I am deciding now if I want to go with another set or change all together. I bought a set of 5 since I upgraded to 17's. What price did you get? I was going to go with tire rack but got a deal with a tire guy who had a person no show on the order. My gain his loss. I have about 35,000 miles on my set and wish they wore evenly.

 

I currently have Pilot Sport A/S tires on my '91 with the exact same specs as yours. If you're comparing them to normal tires, they are definitely noisier...but for an ultra-high performance tire, you'll find that they're pretty quiet compared to other brand ultra-high performace tires.

 

I had them on my 01 Nissan Maxima SE......I honestly didn't notice any major difference in tire noise compared to the garbage Bridgestone Potenza RE 92 that were originally on the car (It's possible I was so excited to actually have EXCELLENT traction now that I didn't care ). Did you get the tires balanced & a 4 wheel alignment? Get yourself a digital tire pressure guage & make sure they are all at the proper air pressure (many tire stores don't do this correctly......& might have up to 5psi or more difference between tires). Tires are also 'directional'.

 

Brandon quoted me this when I was doing my tire research. So essenetially, the more perofrmance you opt for, the noisier and harsher the ride may become as traction and response improve. As they say, YMMV.

 

If you want a 'grand touring' or high performance (as opposed to Ultra High performance) all seasons, you best bet are either the Toyo Proxes TPT OR the Falken Ziex ZE-512. Best bang for your buck with longer treadlife & much less expensive than the Pilot Sport A/S.

Do a search on this forum for Toyo Proxes TPT & the Falken's or go to:

www.toyo.com

www.falkentire.com

Good Luck!

 

Thanks for all the replies and input. I did get all the wheels balanced and a 4 wheel alignment when I had the tires installed. I also knew they were directional and they were installed properly. I also checked the tire pressure and they were all fine.

I guess I'm getting used to the road noise since it doesn't bother me as much as it did when they were first installed.