Hi All,
I have recently purchased my 2015 NX Executive Package with the 18 inch tires. The tires installed when I purchased the car were no name Chinese brand tires that were in bad shape. After reviewing this forum and reading reviews online, I decided to purchase Pirelli Scorpion AS plus3 from Costco.

Now after a week of driving, the tires are louder than the 6 year old winter tires (Michelin X Ice) I had on! Especially on rough pavement there is significant sound intrusion in the cabin to the point that the car sounds like an economy car with a constant rumble from the road. They do quieten down when the pavement gets better but I was expecting better from such highly rated tires.

Assuming Costco allows me purchase another set (and refund this one) I am at a loss for which tires to get now. The options I have are different flavours of Michelin: Defender2, Primacy Tour A/S, Primacy AS and the Primacy MXM4.

I'm leaning towards getting the Defender2 since it is a SUV oriented tire but worried about the tire also being noisy.

I am looking to hear suggestions and/or experience from you guys on which ones to buy!
Thanks!

 

I equipped my SUV with a set of Michelin Crossclimate2. They are reasonably quiet and area perfect single tyre solution for year round motoring. Infact, they have better traction than my Yokohama Iceguard Winter Tyres. Traction is very good in the rain. Just add a few extra pounds of air in order to improve ride comfort/rolling resistance.

 

Not sure if you test drove a few NX before buying but the NX is not a quiet car, not as quiet as most bigger Lexus or German counterparts, The new NX is much quieter and smoother. With that said, if you want the quietest tires, you should go with the touring, the touring is design for quietness and smoothness, We just replace a set of MXM4 on our 2018 NX with the same tires and they are pretty quiet overall.

 

Beware of the MXM4, they are high mileage tires so the first 20k miles they might be good after that they suck for road noise and harshness. My Nx came with them that the previous owner installed and I hate them. Had some similar Michelin tires on our 2004 RX and the same thing was true. We have a 2018 RX with the Goodyear Assurance tires and they are 235/55/20 and they are super smooth even though they half about half tread life left .

 

@omee My 2016 NX200T have the Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires on during summer months ( guesstimate about 50K km so far with 1/2 of original thread life left ) and while not the quietest I've had on any of the cars I've own its pretty good and quiet enough for me. They are non directional.
The quietest tires IMO were the Continental True Contact all season non directional on my ' 09 Civic ( since sold ). The noisiest were the Goodyear Nordic winter tire w/directional thread ( '09 Civic ) followed by Bridgestone Potenza G019 , an all season directional tire ( bought from Costco few years back on my 2000 Acura RL ). The winter tires I used on the Acura were General Tire Artic 12, directional and they were way quieter than the Potenzas.
Realize too that noise levels whether good, bad or ugly are subjective between individuals. What is good for one can be horrible for the other. Good luck with your eventual choice.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I already have dedicated Winter tires on rims (Michelin XIce3). And the Pirellis I had on were nosier than those!

Tell me about it! When I test drove the car, it had worn out no name chinese tires that made it ride like a truck. Probably the worst Lexus ive owned by a mile. The Pirellis are quiet, but there is always a low level rumble that I can hear which wasnt present with the winter tires. On new roads they become perfectly silent. I am leaning towards the Michelin Primacy Tour AS since its their 'grand touring' AS tire. I have 2 weeks to tell Costco which ones I want installed.

 

@Lexura16 I totally understand what you are talking about. Quietness is definitely subjective and is based on so many other factors such as road type, temperature, tire pressure and speed. But these Pirellis surprised me for being noisier than my 5 yr old winter tires. I know that the NX isnt a quiet car, but these were actively making it worse. I am leaning towards the Michelin Primacy Tour A/S, apparently its quieter than the rest so lets see. I still have some time before I have to inform Costco.

 

Suprised to hear your complaint about the Pirelli Scorpion AS3. I just installed them on our 2020 NX300 AWD & they are terrific. Very quiet & smooth, light years ahead of the stock YOKO Geolanders.
Just wondering, were the tires mounted correctly by the shop in regards to "OUTSIDE" tire mark?

For whatever reason, the SCORPIONS have it written in very small size as opposed to the CINTURATOS P7 where it is written in large font.
You can also tell they are mounted correctly with the DATE CODE facing outwards.

 

I had Pirelli P Zero All Season tires on my NX before. My experience was for the first 10 - 20k miles, they were decent. After that, they were loud, harsh and bad traction. I would hear tire squeal when I make a somewhat urgent brake in a straight line. At around +/- 30k miles, some small tiny cracks started to develop in the sidewall on all 4 tires, 1 or 2 tires were more severe than the rest. Maybe I didn't park it in my garage, but regardless, at that point, I had enough, the tires probably still have about 5/32 tread left, I valued safety above all so I tossed them for some new tires.

I probably won't try Pirelli tires for a while, they weren't the best from my experience.

 

UPDATE - I got Primacy Tour A/S installed and it is a night and day difference in terms of sound. These tires are an order of magnitude quieter than the Pirellis especially on the highway. Only slight negative would be that they are slightly firmer but I think Costco filled them to 34 PSI vs 32 PSI which might be the culprit. Regardless, very happy with the Michelins.

Big Kudos to Costco who allowed me to exchange and even refunded me the difference. These were about $200 cheaper! so win win

 

Was going to recommend the Michelin Defenders but glad you got this sorted out. And way cool Costco worked with you on refunding a used set of tires, that’s pretty cool.

 

I don't know if they'll fit on yours but I have Firestone destination LE3's on my 4Runner and LS600. Very quiet tires all throughout the tread wear. 70k on the 4Runner and 10k on the LS. I had quiet track on the LS and those were horrible after 10k.
It lowered the cabin noise 8 decibels at 75 mph

 

The quietest tires for highway use, and I have tried a great many, is Michelin. This is true for summer, performance, all season and winter tires. The only one close for an All Season, true snow rated is the Nokian WR5s which are my favourite tire for year round use. They are great summer and winter.

Like all tires, the more aggressive the tread on the model you install, the noisier they are, but Michelin is still the quietest if you compare aggressiveness of tread across brands. Pick the tread pattern based on the use you put the SUV to and then buy that in a Michelin product.

 

I second the CrossClimate 2's - there was a noticeable improvement from the OEM Bridgestone in terms of noise and comfort