Help me choose some tires and get nothing in return!

[Kompresshun]

So the Five Hundred is in need of new tires and i'm having a hard time deciding on what to buy for it. The car usually just gets driven around town most of the time, but occasionally I take a road trip in it. I need something that has good wet traction and can handle the snow decently. I'm not particularly worried about longevity, but i'd like something that will last at least 60k miles or more. As for price, i'd like to stay under $175 per tire.

Right now the car has Goodyear Assurance Comfortread Tourings on it and THEY SUCK. Hate is not a strong enough word for how much I dislike them. They get terrible traction on every surface, no matter if it's hot, cold, wet, snowy, icy, or sitting still

So far i've talked to Sams Club and Tire Discounters.

Sams Club recommended the BF Goodrich Advantage T/A, which gets horrible reviews and seems to wear very quickly. They also recommended a Michelin but I forget which one - it was rather pricey though at $190 per tire. I'm not a big fan of Michelin tires either personally.

Tire Discounters recommended the Yokohama Avid Touring-S, which didn't seem to get good reviews either but he said his father had them on his Five Hundred and was happy with them. The price was right on them, but I don't know anything about them. They also suggested the Michelin Defender, but again it was way too pricey for me.

So any suggestions on tires I should look at? I always hear Continentals are good, but there is only one type available for my car. All the brands available i'm not very familiar with in most cases.

EDIT: Tire size is 215/60R17 if you are curious.

[Jesda]

Continental DWS are superb all-weather tires. Had a set on the Volvo and it transformed the ride, handling, and wet weather traction. They endured Pennsylvania's rainiest fall in decades and kept me going exactly where I pointed the car.

My next choice would probably be the Yokohamas. I had a set of Yokohama Avid Envigors on the '01 Seville and they're superb. Sevilles are particularly prone to balancing issues and wheel/tire vibrations so I can vouch for how well they rode. They're rated a good bit higher than the Avid Touring-S though.

[RicerX]

I second Jesda's sentiment on the Continentals. Fastastic tire.

I have never driven on a single Goodyear tire that I liked. Ever.

[Kompresshun]

No Continental DWS's available for it though

[the converted]

I've had really good luck with Hankook's recently and the optimo looks like a decent tire. a fair amount of siping for snow traction, and it looks like it should move a fair amount of water too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... mpare1=yes

[BusyBadger]

Continental DWS are superb all-weather tires.

^ This

If we got any more "snow " than we do in our area in TN they would be my winter tire. Their only weak point is the (comparatively) soft and squishy sidewall. You probably won't even notice it on the 5.

Oops, was posting from my phone and didn't set this until after I posted...

No Continental DWS's available for it though

Do they not make it in your size or is it just out of stock?

I've heard good things about General's new UHP that replaced the old Exclaim line, the G-MAX, no experience with it personally though.

[Kompresshun]

Just do not make them for my tire size from what I see.

[BusyBadger]

You can get Conti DWS's in 215-55-17, that's not far off from stock, same with the General G-MAX. Tire Rack lists the Contis at $134 and the Generals at $94, but you get decent warranty with the Contis.

Tire Size Calculator

[Kompresshun]

I've had really good luck with Hankook's recently and the optimo looks like a decent tire. a fair amount of siping for snow traction, and it looks like it should move a fair amount of water too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... mpare1=yes

So far these are the winners. Great reviews and the siping and tread pattern looks great on them. Thanks!

I would rather not change the tire size on the car since i'm still using the stock wheels. I know it won't make much difference, but i'm not that desperate to get the Conti's to change tire size.

[BusyBadger]

Holy crap...700 treadwear. Those will last until you get a Mr. Fusion installed in the 500.

[Kompresshun]

Well looks like the Michelin Defender XT may be a big contender too now. I just found out we get a huge fleet discount through work on Michelin tires, so it's hard to not look at them for $120 per tire

[Bubba1]

Well looks like the Michelin Defender XT may be a big contender too now. I just found out we get a huge fleet discount through work on Michelin tires, so it's hard to not look at them for $120 per tire

As info, the Michelin Defender is Consumer Reports top scoring All-season (T-rated) tire especially for older cars.

2nd place (just 2 points behind the Mich) went to the Conti ProContact EcoPlus.

[Kompresshun]

I noticed the Conti ProContact EcoPlus too, but it's a wee bit expensive unless I can find one on sale. Good to know that both tires rate pretty well though. The Michelin is what i'm leaning toward, but the Conti is up there too if I can find a good enough deal. I think the Michelin will be hard to be at this point, because our fleet discount brings them down to $120 per tire.

Does anyone have any experience buying from Tirerack and having a local installer mount them? Do you feel like it saved you any money?

[audtatious]

Yes, after paying for the tires, shipment, lugging them to the local tire shop and paying for mounting/balancing the price comes up close to the same. I'd rather just give my business local now instead of all that effort to save 10 bux.

[RicerX]

My rule of thumb is - if you can swing a set of Michelins then apply the Nike option and just do it.

I have never ever been disappointed by a set of Michelin anything. My only issue was always the price tag.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Be careful with Hankook. I've experienced EXTREME quality variation between models and sizes. The brand tells you basically nothing with Hankook. It's the model you need to look at. My last set of Hankook all-seasons were just as bad as you describe those Goodyears being. Those were Ventus V4s, though, not Optimos.

I have never ever been disappointed by a set of Michelins

My last set of Pilot HX MXM-4s was pretty damn mediocre. They were apalling in the wet and understeered everywhere. Not sure how you get a 50/50 rear drive car to understeer like a front-driver, but those Michelins did it.

[RicerX]

I have never ever been disappointed by a set of Michelins

My last set of Pilot HX MXM-4s was pretty damn mediocre. They were apalling in the wet and understeered everywhere. Not sure how you get a 50/50 rear drive car to understeer like a front-driver, but those Michelins did it.

Actually you remind me of the piece of Michelin I totally forgot about - those exact tires were the OE tires on the 09-up 3.5 Altima Coupes. They were pretty damn terrible too. I completely forgot about those.

My Dad had a set of Michelins on his Isuzu Trooper and they were fantastic. Pilot Super Sports on a 370Z Sport are absolutely fantastic as well, and I hear of many people opting for PSSs on the GT-R after the factory Dunlops wear out.

[flohtingPoint]

Conti-DW. I didn't run the "S" model on the FRC, but I had the DW models and they worked fine. Very nice in the rain.

[skydragoness]

These look like your best bet out of TR's best sellers line-up. Good marks across the board:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... Model=Five Hundred SEL 2WD&autoModClar=&tab=Survey

General is owned by Continental btw, it's a shame they don't make DWS in your car's size..they're a great tire.

[Kompresshun]

So I finally dropped the car off this morning for new shoes.

I realized I was over thinking the tires too much and trying to locate a set of tires I would consider good was not working out very well. I was originally going to just get the Michelin Defenders, but I plan to maybe put another 20-30k miles on this car so it seemed like a lot of money to spend for something that gets driven 30 miles round trip 5 days a week, then sits at home the rest of the time most days.

I ended up going with BFG Advantage T/A's on it. They're rated for 75k miles and i've had them recommended to me by a few people, so I think they will do the job. They were on sale and ended up being $550 out the door for all four

[sx moneypit]

Can't go wrong with BFG imo.

[Rex]

Does anyone have any experience buying from Tirerack and having a local installer mount them? Do you feel like it saved you any money?

It really comes down the to the size/tire.

For smaller/cheaper tires it doesn't make usually pan out.

For 19's, they gouge you for mounting, so that doesn't work out.

If you're looking at quality 17-18's, then it can save you serious money.

I've probably done this on 4-5 sets.

[Kompresshun]

See that's what I was wanting to hear. I guess i'll keep that in mind for next time, because TireRack had a lot more choices on hand that I liked.

[BusyBadger]

If you're looking at quality 17-18's, then it can save you serious money.

I've done this exclusively with the Z since I'm a quasi-tire snob. Two sets of Bridgestone 960's, a set of 970's, a set of S04's, my current Michelin AS3's and a set of BFG Rugged Terrains for the old Xterra and even a set of DBA T3 rotors for the Z.

I've never had a local store come close to what I paid for stuff from the Rack and I've never had a problem with them. They even credited me $50 when one of the DBA rotors was wrong, right box - wrong rotor.

[dgms240]

I've had really good luck with Hankook's recently and the optimo looks like a decent tire. a fair amount of siping for snow traction, and it looks like it should move a fair amount of water too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... mpare1=yes

Had some of these on my wife's Rogue. They are terrible in the rain; we have Toyo Extenzas on it now and have been fairly happy with them so far. They did well in the snow here in Atlanta the last couple of weeks

[Bubba1]

Good luck with the Bridgestones. But I thought you mentioned earlier you could get the Michs for just $120/tire. Wouldn't they have been cheaper?

[Kompresshun]

I actually got BFGoodrich.

Yes that was the original plan but the tire retailer that honored that pricing here got bought out and they wouldn't honor the pricing right now.

So since that didn't work out, the best I could do on the Michelin tires was $170 per tire plus installation.