Bear in your mind that your small review has no bearing on what the tire is ACTUALLY like without a description of the car they are mounted on (is it 2000 pounds, 3000, 4000 pounds….are they mounted on 15×6 wheels in a 195/70/15 size?), your driving habits, the tire pressure you keep them inflated at, etc.

Otherwise “they are the best tires ever and have lasted for XXXXX miles” means nothing. If you only buy tires once every 5-6 years, then yes, I would expect a brand new tire to be better than any other before it. That’s progress. 15 year old tires SHOULD NOT be as good as tires produced now.

Joe

We’ve come along way since the 70’s as far as tires are concerned, but now we pilot the vehicles much faster through the same conditions…

Tires have saved my butt, lost to the laws of physics and spun me into a fallen tree, and were unable to cope with 4 tons trying to stop from 60 in 120 feet.

Since those things, I’ve learned that tires are probably the most important aspect of the car, as the car is almost always able to outpower, outbrake, or outhandle the tires you put on it…

Joe

If I am on a forum in the presence of dozens and dozens of drivers, within a relatively arbitrarily selected set, who have the butt-cheek calibration to seriously debate the merits of various tires, I am awed. (And quite obviously, I don’t have that talent.) But I suspect that’s not the case.

4 card-sized patches of rubber that withhold 2500-5000 pounds of steel and bodies away from other objects are not worthy of strong consideration and careful selection?

A ~1 square foot of rubber that is the main determiner of your ability to make emergency manuevers, stop quickly, navigate snow and ice (for those in such an area), and handle large puddles. Those things that keep you from impacting potentially deadly objects, for you or those you hit. Those are less important than condoms?

Ironically, I think the Koreans make some fine tires nowadays :)

But far, far too many people buy their tires from the special-of-the-week rack, not basing them upon their needs or the needs of their vehicle.

Nowadays, there are tons of great tires. But Bridgestone re92’s are still factory equipment on most Subaru’s. And they are still a terrible tire on snow covered roads (oh, you’ll accelerate, but braking is a scary experience). Most people will just keep buying them at $200 a tire….instead of buying a superior tire for $90 a piece…

That’s why knowledge of tires is important.

That and teaching people that a small PSI difference, unable to be seen by the naked eye, can make the difference between life and death. And good fuel economy :)

Joe

I think condom choices are _much_ more important. Bread choices. Juice choices. Wine choices. Okay, I take that back, there’s another area where bullshit rules…

I too liked the Conti Extreme Contacts other readers here have praised -they do get noisy as they wear though. The runflat Winter Contacts on my Cooper S have been pretty good too.

My one disappointment was Yokohama Avid H4S tires on our Accord. The ride, handling and noise expectations were spot on, but those suckers wore out much faster than the Michelins they replaces even though the Yokos had a higher treadwear rating.

It is always a bit of a crap shoot though. You don’t know how a set of tires is going to perform until you use them on your car.

Even then, what’s a non-journalist to do?

Best I’ve found are the tests performed by TireRack. But I’d much prefer the ability to personally test drive the things.

I don’t think user reviews are stuffed by the manufacturers. Unlike a small time merchant, a company like Michelin would suffer too much if they got caught stuffing the ballot box. A tire merchant–that might be a different story.

Actually, I think most people don’t put that much thought into their tires. They accept the tires that come with the new car. Then they go to Costco and buy whatever fits their budget.

I think that’s a humorous observation. I think Michelin has some of the most expensive tires on the market, and some of them are total crap, but they usually have the most consistent balancing of any tire maker….because of the methods they use to “glue” the tire together.

Michelin and Pirelli’s, from what I understand, have some of the better manufacturing practices for long-term tire balance.

Joe

Never buy Michelin. They go out of round long before the tread wears out in my experience.

Never buy cheap tires.

I usually buy Goodyear, but they go out of round too. All tires are bad and never perform as advertised.

Why yes, I WAS the one who bought the x-ray glasses from the back of the comic books; why do you ask?

I promise I’ll read the article and respond later. Maybe I can learn something about tires…

Stay tuned.

That doesn’t speak well for GM, Subaru, BMW, or Honda…

Sadly, if all outlets wrote such things that got them banned (though I don’t remember what you wrote about BMW of Honda that would elicit such a response) then the carmakers wouldn’t have the flexibility to ban in the first place.

It says more about a car company to ban someone who speaks negatively. Especially if that person is on a big soapbox.

Joe

But I think I actually kind of like buying tires, as odd as that may sound. The research, the comparisons…I don’t relish spending the money, mind you, but I always think of it as an opportunity to increase the performance of my car, or at least make another smart, sensible purchase.

I’m sorry if I touched a nerve. But I’m not particularly young, I don’t drink (alcohol, that is), and I’m not naïve enough to believe that being flown to interesting locations, bedded in the finest hotels, wined and dined in top tier restaurants, and being befriended by attractive PR folks doesn’t create a reluctance among journalists to write something negative.

I’m not saying that there aren’t professionals like yourself that don’t give in to these enticements. But I’ve seen scribes drinking deeply from the lifestyle. Just like beer companies putting sexy women in their ads, manufacturers and their PR firms host these events in this way BECAUSE IT WORKS. Otherwise their corporate financial controllers (like me) would have cut them off years ago.

Nonetheless, that stuff’s all packaging. The biggest temptation regarding press junkets is maintaining access to vehicles or, in this case, tires. TTAC is currently banned from press vehicles by GM, BMW, Subaru, Honda and probably some others I can’t recall, because they don’t like what we’ve written about them. There are many scribes trying to cobble together a writing career that cannot afford to lose this access.

I’ve become a regular contributor over at LegacyGt.com and just placed an order for one (If I get it, I’ll post info and a link to “the story” hehehe…)…08, White, 5-speed, nothing else

Seems like the contiextreme’s didn’t have a chance to live a full life. How many miles did you get out of them?

The continental contiextreme is an example of a tire that doesn’t fit into one mold. It’s been a top-ranked ultra high performance all-season for like 5-6 years (or more). It costs around $80-100 a piece, usually 50-100% less than it’s competitors.

It does amazing in snow and ice testing, for an all-season. Literally one of THE best all-seasons for winter use.

It lasts a decent amount of time and performs well in handling, dry and wet traction.

It’s a little noisier than most. It weighs a little less and, incidentally, tends to flat spot a little.

Nonetheless, if you can take a little noise….it’s had to beat the price :)

Joe

I find that the best way to buy a tire is to carefully evaluate your desires and acceptable price range. Find a sub-set of tires that meet those criteria. Then read reviews. And then find car-specific reviews of a specific tire on your vehicle. Read owner reports.

Then vascillate on the topic for a few weeks.

Then purchase them and get them installed at one of the best places you can find. The difference between a $60 mount and balance and a $100 mount and balance is greatly mitigated when you are more satisfied with the balancing of the $100 shop (if they are using superior techs and equipment) as well as the, hopefully, lower risk of scratching one of your nice wheels. Furthermore, a good shop will torque your lugnuts correctly vs. most shops just air-gunning them on nice and tight.

Your tires will be well balanced, your rims will be unscratched, and your rotors will be less likely to warp from uneven lug-nut pressure. I’m not saying this is done by price, but it is done by reputable shops and they tend to be more pricier…

I drive ~25,000 miles a year and my wife drives about ~15,000. I’ve gone through 3 sets of tires on her car and 2 on mine. I’ve founded tirerack reviews to be spot on in all but one case (Yokohama Avid V4S cupped, wore down quickly, and gave really terrible snow traction…not braking or cornering, but traction out of a parking spot).

Anyway…if I may suggest:

There are many categories to find preferences in tire selection: Noise, comfort, tread-life, dry performance, wet performance, snow performance, ice performance, cornering, sidewall softness, tire price, tire weight…

If I may address a few of these:

Price – Sometimes you get what you pay for, sometimes you don’t. Set yourself a top-end but don’t be afraid to spend half of that.

Weight – Weight is a good indicator of overall construction, sidewall stiffness, etc….it’s not full proof, but if most tires weigh 21 pounds in a given size and you are looking at a tire that weighs 18 pounds, there’s a good chance that sidewall is going to be softer, more likely to flat-spot, and possibly less durable with potholes.

I hope this helps someone. I find tire shopping to be incredibly fun….it’s one of the fastest and more regular ways to dramatically change the behaviour of your vehicle, most of the time in a positive manner :)

You have to find your own truth, so to speak. How much do you want to spend? How much performance do you really need? Fortunately there are just as many good cheap tires out there as there are good expensive ones. And don’t assume the OEM tires are worth a damn, even if they are $190 apiece (*cough*RE92*cough*). While quality does have some bearing on cost, the most expensive tires are almost never the best.

FWIW, we’re running ContiExtremeContacts on the LGT (Z-rated), just had to replace all 4 (ask me how I feel about Atlanta’s road crews) and even though the last set only had a year or so on them, it’s amazing what a difference fresh tires make. They cost half of what a new set of RE92s would and perform astronomically better. I’ve still got the stock tires on my GTI, they serve me well… I think they’re ContiSportContacts (or Pro, can’t remember) and i’ve seen no need to upgrade yet.

And for those of you that run more than one set, don’t store your tires in your garage, ever! Put them in your basement, or someplace with a nice cool, controlled climate with no direct sunlight and no major temperature fluctuations. Tire rubber is just like any other rubber — exposure to heat, humidity extremes (dry and moist), and sunlight will prematurely age your tire, degrading the performance even if you’ve still got plenty of tread left. In the end, your car’s entire performance depends on four patches of rubber about the size of your hand… it amazes me that people will run their tires bald and then complain about the cost to replace them (same with brakes). I guess I’d rather fork over $400 again than deal with an accident.