audphile1

Are they that good? They've been back-ordered on tirerack.com 'til 10/15/04. I am talking about 245/45/18.
Anyone have/had these on their LS? Just wanted to know how good they are. Need A/S tires in that size for my LS430. Any suggestion's appreciated. Thanks.

nudderGS400

I have had two sets, in 16s and 17s. Both behaved as advertised, and since you are in NYC, I should mention they are the next best thing to real snows I have come across. I recommend them all the time now to friends and no one has ben dissapointed.

Changed to 18s recently and now have to come up with new strategy since Conti won't fit. For the money they are tough to beat.

BTW - If you really want to get th best, for 2 -3 times the price, try Pilot A/S.

audphile1

That's the thing. I would probably get the conti and save some $. We are talking about $80 / tire difference.
Thanks for your response. So were you happy with the tread life on these? thanx...

nudderGS400

I got over 25K on the first set, and sold the second set with my 17s after 15K with plenty of tread. I am pretty hard on tires, found them to be very good for the first 50%, they did get louder when they started to wear down but not unberably so. The trick seems to be to run them at a little higher psi than most other tires I am used to. I had them at about 38f/36r. The softer sidewall helped to make the ride fine at the higher pressure.

BTW - they were 245s also.

audphile1

thanks. these things are apparantly hot, cause nobody has them in stock...

Lexusfreak

I've heard nothing but good things from them so far & they are suppose to be excellent in bad weather including snow! Keep us posted!

audphile1

OK once I get these I post first impressions.

Lexusfreak

Excellent!

Brandon@TR

They should be in in the next couple of weeks call me to get yourself added to the back order list so we can allocate them to you as soon as they arrive. They are good tires.

audphile1

Brandon, I'll give you a call. Thanks.

audphile1

I had my new conti extremecontact tires mounted today. Drove for few hours. I can only say that these are way quieter and softer than the michelin energy tires I had, despite that the energy was on my 17s and now the conti tires are on my new 18s. sharper turnin and better straight line handling so far. I will post after few thousand miles if anyone cares to know what my opinion is about these tires. tires also look better on the car with their tread design comparing to the michelin energy tires they replaced. I had them inflated to 35 psi. all in all I think they are very good. Ultimate test will be when it rains, because the michelin energy hydroplanes like there is no tomorrow. I got living crap scared out of me during the last rain storm here in NYC.
I still go easy on the new continentals until I drive for about 500 600 miles, just as a break in period for the new tires.

nudderGS400

Glad you like em so far. Always worried when I make a recommendation.

The main reason I buy all season is for water, second reason is for snow. You will like em in the rain, but don't go crazy! Nothing will keep you safe at high speed in standing water.

One other thing. On 18's you may want to inflate a little higher than 35. I am running over 40 on my 18s just to keep the wear pattern nice and even. I run 42 up front and 40 in the rear, and I am still 'rounding' my tread (siping) pretty noticably. You may want to try about 38/35, IMHO.

Enjoy.

audphile1

Yeh I think I will pump few more psi onto those tires. I think 35 is a little on the soft side. they are good so far.