No worries at all, but let's agree not to have a contest of "who's busier". Deal?NJGuy wrote: Tim,
I'll have to decline your invitation for coffee for a few reasons:
1. I'm not a coffee drinker, and I don't care too much for caffeinated beverages .
2. I don't know how much time you have on your hands, but I probably have less than you.
3. And the primary reason is yes, I did pull the trigger: what-did-you-buy-your-ex-this-week-t541 ... l#p6490334
I am interested to see how the Nokians wear. I thought I recall you saying that you don't put that many miles on your EX, so it was tough to judge the treadwear. I think my wife will probably put at least 18K miles per year on her EX, so it seemed to me the Michelins were a bit of a safer bet given my past experience with them.
I brought my mother-in-law's third-gen Honda CRV to the tire shop last fall to get the WRG2's installed. I also drove the car back home. But since that was probably the last time I was behind the wheel of her car, I really haven't had a chance to evaluate them compared to the last set of all-seasons she had. I also see her car about twice a month, so I can catch a glimpse of the tire treadwear. CRVs of that generation have been known to wear out their tires somewhat quickly, so her car seems like a good case study for me. I recommended the Nokians to her because she cannot telework, the municipalities she drives through do a really crappy job of clearing the roads in the winter (compared to where we live), and she occasionally has to drop off or pick up grandkids.
I still might look into the possibility of getting the Nokians & some rims for the winter. However, for the cost of those, my wife might prefer to treat herself to an entry level handbag from a European designer . I'll have to see if I can get her to feel the same passion I have for car related items and hope that it overcomes her passion for designer goods.
Although not on my EX35, I have run the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus (which replaced the model you referenced) on my former '05 Subaru Outback XT and several other vehicles, including my current '01 7 Series. Fantastic tire, very decent in lighter white stuff until they get 8-10k miles on them in my experience. At the end of the day, they're still an Ultra High Performance tire...albeit "all season". I know the Conti's do a much better job in winter conditions but do so at a cost of lateral control and crisp cornering as compared to the Michelin.giguy wrote:Does anyone have experience with Michelin Pilot sport A/S? I have used these on my Audi and they are phenomenal in rain and snow.
I am seriously considering these for the EX35.
Anyone with any experience with any other high performance all season tires? I have used Continental Extreme Contact DWS on my SUV with great results as well.
I have the 245/45 R19 wheels.
LFG-Leadfootgirl wrote:Hi Guys,
It's about time to change my OEM tires now that winter's here and I'm down to about 3/32" left on my tires. Need good and safe ones as I plan to go up the mountains more often this winter. I was looking at replacing my existing Michelins with the Michelin Primacy MXV4 but when I went on Tirerack.com and even the Michelin website, it says that's not a match for my car. Tirerack gave me the Michelin X-ice Xi3 as the only option (I prefer Michelin and that was the only one it showed). It doesn't seem like they have the 17" MXV4 at all, is that why it says it won't fit my car? Reading through this thread, it doesn't seem like anyone's familiar with the Michelin X-ice at all. Now I don't know what to go with. I don't want to have to buy new rims (more $$) in order to get the 18" ones, so I would prefer to stay with the 17" size. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
LFG
There aren't too many tire models that meet he OEM 17" tire specs for the EX so I can kind of understand your frustration here. And if you're dead set on getting Michelins, you already saw that the amount of selection drops considerably further.Leadfootgirl wrote:Hi Guys,
It's about time to change my OEM tires now that winter's here and I'm down to about 3/32" left on my tires. Need good and safe ones as I plan to go up the mountains more often this winter. I was looking at replacing my existing Michelins with the Michelin Primacy MXV4 but when I went on Tirerack.com and even the Michelin website, it says that's not a match for my car. Tirerack gave me the Michelin X-ice Xi3 as the only option (I prefer Michelin and that was the only one it showed). It doesn't seem like they have the 17" MXV4 at all, is that why it says it won't fit my car? Reading through this thread, it doesn't seem like anyone's familiar with the Michelin X-ice at all. Now I don't know what to go with. I don't want to have to buy new rims (more $$) in order to get the 18" ones, so I would prefer to stay with the 17" size. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
LFG
Glad to hear you like 'em. After almost 3 years of owning my 2008 EX, we **finally** had a crazy winter here in NJ where I was able to really give the Nokians a thorough test in the white stuff, ice, etc and I have to say they performed admirably. I know there will always be trade-offs with any all-season tire, but I'd have to say these Nokians are about the best all-around tire I've come across. At the time I bought them, I really didn't like any of the other alternatives found on Tirerack, etc, so I'm glad to hear the Pirellis are worth a look.,Leadfootgirl wrote:Well, I guess it's about time I gave an update with my Pirellis although I was hoping to see how they would perform in the snow first. But darn SoCal is so dry this winter, I didn't really get a chance to test that out. Anyway, I really love these tires. Road noise-wise, it's about the same or a little bit louder than the Michelins however, the wet pavement handling is fantastic. It's got great grip and on several occasions I've driven a lot more aggressively than I should have on wet, curved roads and they still handled great (scared the heck out of my friends though, LOL). I'm sure that's because they're new too but I think they performed better than the stock Michelins when I first got the car new.
Only negative is that gas mileage isn't as good as the Michelins (about 2 mpg less). I've driven these for over 2,500 miles now and they still feel brand new. Hopefully, the treadlife will last.
With all the winter weather events we've had here in the past few months, I was wondering how the Nokians fared on your EX. Not only did we get a large volume of the white stuff, we also got many varieties of winter precipitation as well.TimGinCentralNJ wrote: After almost 3 years of owning my 2008 EX, we **finally** had a crazy winter here in NJ where I was able to really give the Nokians a thorough test in the white stuff, ice, etc and I have to say they performed admirably. I know there will always be trade-offs with any all-season tire, but I'd have to say these Nokians are about the best all-around tire I've come across.
Hey NJGuy-NJGuy wrote:With all the winter weather events we've had here in the past few months, I was wondering how the Nokians fared on your EX. Not only did we get a large volume of the white stuff, we also got many varieties of winter precipitation as well.
I also think the vehicle itself performs quite well in the snow; I felt more confident driving the EX in the snow and ice than my Honda Pilot (probably due to differences in weight), which I thought was pretty good to begin with.
Thanks for the update.
Tim,TimGinCentralNJ wrote:Yes, let's "resuscitate" this thread again, since lots of folks on here bought new rubber within the last several months, and I haven't seen too many updates on how satisfied everyone is with their purchase.
I'm now shopping for new tires since my beloved Nokian WR-G2 SUV tires have worn through the sipes on the outer edges of all 4 tires (main tread blocks are still viable) and they're beginning to get a little noisy on some surfaces As it turns out, they've discontinued the damn things in favor of a newer model, but as much as I thought they were the best true "all season" tire out there, in the interest of "science" (ha ha) I think I'm going to go with a more mainstream tire this time.
Will likely be moving to a 235/55-17 because there are more choices in this size, and am considering the Conti ExtremeContact DWS. They're touted as being about the best handing sport-biased all-season tire out there, and being relatively cheap ($132 at Tirerack), it's less of a hit to the bank account even if I only get a couple of years out of them.
My other choice is the Nitto NT421Q which several people above have asked about. I recently put them on my wife's 2011 Ford Explorer, and although we haven't had them in any snow/ice yet, we love them on dry and wet roads. Very stable, great in corners, super quiet and excellent at resisting hydroplaning. They also come in our stock 17" tire size (V-speed rated) and are also relatively cheap (also $132).
Anyway, enough about me Let's hear about your tire purchases or plans......
Tim
Yes, I'm sure my driving style plays some role in how my tires are wearing, but to be honest, I'm only mildly "spirited". It's more the feeling of control and preciseness which has me preferring sport-biased tires more so than what they are capable of. And for this reason, I probably wouldn't go with an H-rated tire. What's funny is, I always run my tires between 3-4 pis higher than recommended, so I'm really not sure how the inner and outer edges of my tires have worn--as if they've been under-inflated this whole time. I think the longest I went without a rotation was probably 7k miles, but that's not the norm.NJGuy wrote:Tim,
My mother in law has been running the WRG2 SUV Nokian tires for probably 18+ months now. I'm not sure how much mileage she has on them, but there is still siping on the outer tread area. I feel that there are two major reasons for this: 1) she's a conservative driver; and 2) I always make sure her tires are aired up, and I try to maintain an additional 2-3 psi over the recommended cold tire pressure (for all kinds of reasons). I did tell her to get them rotated at every oil change (~6k?), though I don't know how many she's gotten or if she even remembered. While the 3rd Gen CR-Vs seemed to wear tires more quickly than the prior models, IMO her Nokians seem to be wearing quite well so far.
Yes, as much of a believer as I am about dedicated snows, with my old 7 Series (which already has a set of Fall tires/rims in the garage), I cannot spare the space for another set in the garage. And other than last winter, I also do not feel the severity of our winters has justified the need for dedicated snows--especially since my wife and I both have the ability to work from home when the roads are bad. So, yes--I will be looking for all seasons again and with a min speed rating of "V". I will probably put this off until Fall since my Nokians are still pretty viable other than the snow sipes being worn on both edges of all 4 tires.NJGuy wrote:I see that you're moving in a different direction with your tire selection. I'm actually curious as to why, so I'm going to bombard you with some questions.
-Are you sticking with one set of all-seasons, or are you looking to get a set of winter wheels?
-Do you plan to do less driving in winter weather?
-Are you dead set on a minimum of a V speed rating?
-When are you looking to buy?
Good observation re: the Contis. The main draw for me is their winter capabilities, as many owners state their sidewalls tend to be more flimsy than most other tires in that category--although "inflation" seems to be a proven way of stiffening them up a little when desired. I already have some non-winter experience with the Nittos on our Ford, and so far, I'm a huge fan of them. Unfortunately, the only "unknown" is how they do in the snow. These tires have zero (and I mean ZERO) reviews on them out there, so while ideally, I'd love to put off this decision until I could drive our Ford in the snow with them, I'll likely need tires before then.NJGuy wrote:If you're getting winter wheels as well, it seems that the Continental DWS in a 235 width, slightly shorter sidewall and higher speed rating would be a good pick to satisfy your desire to drive your EX in a "fun" manner . But if you're only sticking with one set of tires, the Nittos in OEM size seem like a better selection to me. Keep in mind the DWS tires have the larger openings in the outer tread blocks, so they may be more prone to heel-toe wear and the noise associated with it.
Yes--the new Pirellis happen to be on my 'radar', but I'll have to read up on the new Turanzas. I know the old model wasn't great. I did wonder about the new Michelin Premier A/S even though it's an H-rated tire, but the fact they almost seem to go out of they way NOT to mention anything "sporty" about them whatsoever in their description kind of scared me away. My biggest fear is being "married" to a set of tires for 2-3 years which turn my EX into grand dad's BuickNJGuy wrote: And if you're willing to spend a bit more, I'd also look at the following models:
225/60R17V: Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus (my sister has them on her Scion in a different size)
235/55R17V: Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus
I'm not sure if you're willing to try H-rated models, but here are a few that I would probably look at if I had to buy today:
235/55R17H: Contintenal PureContact
225/60R17H: Michelin Premier A/S
Other than the Michelins, you might be able to get the prices closer to your $132/ea. target if you catch some of these models on sale or with a rebate at the right time.
You know, about the only H-rated tire I might consider going with would be the Michelin. I really did like the orig equipment Latitudes and also had a set on our Ford when it was new (those were actually the Latitude HP in "H" speed rating which handled fine), but my problem is spending that kind of coin on something I'm unsure about on our specific cars. If the Lats were still available, I would probably buy them because they are a known (and beloved) entity which, to me, justifies their price. Buying tires is like getting married for 2-3 years; I really need to love them. And yes--this is the funny way in which my brain works....NJGuy wrote: FWIW, I am happy with the Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires I've had on our EX for the past year. If I had to give an assessment on them, I'd say that I hardly even notice them (and that's a good thing). What I mean here is that they hardly put up a fuss with whatever I throw at them.
Push them in corners in the dry? No problem.
Semi-spirited driving in the rain? No issue.
Noise? Not much at all.
Bumps in the road? Sure, I'll feel them (after all, I'm not driving a Buick Roadmaster), but without any drama.
The tires pretty much do their job without me having to think about them, so I'm free to think about and focus on other stuff while driving. They've also provided adequate and predictable traction in winter weather for an all-season tire and have minimally worn. I haven't been tracking the gas mileage that closely, but it hasn't been drastically different than before. I'll probably pay more attention to them in my drives as the tread wears away more and more; but so far, I think they've been an excellent all-around performer.
I don't see you going with the MXV4s for obvious reasons, but I can say that I'm very satisfied with my purchase. Good luck with your tire shopping adventures and let us know how it goes.