synth19

I picked up a set of these tires mounted on stock wheels and sensors for $400 from a local member. Good tread and tires maybe have around 3-5k use. I'm going to keep my stock tires until they need to be replaced, then I'll to the pilots. The original wheels will be used as my winter setup with maybe some blizzaks. If you have the pilots, what are your impressions?

Roy Cya

I used to have a set of 18" (255/45 and 285/40) on my 7-series BMW, and they were excellent tires - excellent traction and very little road noise! However, they did not last very long at all. They were expensive tires, meaning not a whole lot of bang for the buck when compared to Toyos or BFGs.

YMMV (no pun intended),
Roy C.

bluemule

I just installed a set on my '05RL's stock wheels at about 64,000 miles. My initial subjective impressions are just that...subjective until I've ridden on them more.

The Pilot Sports are somewhat quieter, and I believe they give a smoother ride. The car steers quicker and handles corners better, but I've not pushed it...just normal driving...about 600 miles since Monday...this is Wednesday night. I feel that the better handling may be partly due to having the alignment checked and adjusted...three of the wheels were off a bit.

The load ratings are lower than for the OEM's, but I don't know whether or not to be concerned about that.

Two big negatives for me...first, they are 45's and not 50's, so they are a bit shorter in height, which lowers the car. This fact, combined with the front tires showing more bulge than the rear ones at the recommended pressures cause the front of the car to sit lower enough to change headlight aim. Second, I now don't know my exact speed, which is something of a major hassle with my driving habits!

They feel stickier...and I noticed today on a dirty asphalt at low speeds, a lot of debris noise in the wheel wells. This may abate with use, but the Honda dealer that installed these for me noticed the tires "felt" softer and stickier.

OT, but...

My service problems continue with the RL...even at my Honda dealer. Apparently, to get at the cabin filter, they prized on the little openings in the inside front opening for the glove box, breaking one of the inserts and leaving pry marks on the other. They left the passenger kick panel loose and I found a loose bolt in the floorboard when I returned home. I was able to locate the bolt location...on the bottom of the glove box, and was able to reposition the kick panel myself. I haven't had time to take a good look at the glove box to see whether the little plastic insert can be replaced.

I didn't think any of that had to be removed to replace the cabin filter...

And, they rubbed paint off a spot on the passenger door.

...it's almost beyond belief the problems I'm having with service departments...

parlownr

My 05 RL came with Pilot Sport A/S. I requested they be swapped out before I bought the car. The first dealer refused, but I persisted and found a dealer that would do it. I only have 23k miles on the car so far, so I can't compare these tires to others on this car. They do feel a little loose though compared to the Avon summer tires I had on my Audi A4. But that is comparing apples to oranges. Plus I only got about 8k miles out of the Avons! The one thing I've noticed on the Pilot Sport A/S's is that I have more wear in the center of the tires than the edges. Normally this will indicate too high a pressure, but check the pressure at least every two weeks, so I'll have to keep an eye on them. I also rotate them every 5k miles. We haven't had any snow to speak of, so I really don't know how they'll work if it ever snows. (I don't count 2"-3" as snow.) Bluemule, why did you go with 45's instead of 50's?

bluemule

The OEM Pilots that came with my '05 wore on the outside edges. They had 64,000 on them and could have gotten more mileage except for that wear. I was beginning to notice some loss of highway contact in the rain. Most of my mileage is highway. The alignment was off a little, so either this, or the higher speeds, or a combination of the two caused the outside wear. I don't check my tires as often as you do, but check them with a gauge that reads in tenths. I'm wondering whether the recommended pressures are too low for mostly 80 plus interstate speeds.

As for the 45's or the 50's, I asked the Honda dealer to help decide which Sport to get. They picked the ones that were recommended for similar types of auto. ..sport sedans, ie. BMW, etc. I actually didn't think a 50 was made...but do see one listed on the Michelin site. Hopefully, the tire is OK for the car.

In any event, in town these 45's are "quicker" when navigating turns. They are noticeably quieter and smoother riding. On the highway, they add about 7 miles to a 316 mile mostly interstate trip.

FWIW, they look really nice on the car.

Frankly, the jury's out whether I'll keep these on the car.

The stock OEM's were beating me up...I've found the RL's ride to be quite harsh and was hoping changing the tires would help with that a bit.

slawek65

bluemule, I change cabin filter by my self and I don't have to remove any parts from the car (kick panel..) Just open glowe box and filter it's right there.I think You have to talk to these assholes from the dealership.

dwboston

The cabin air filter is exceptionally easy to change in the RL. Simply open the glove box, open little document tray at the top and pull it straight out. The little compartment for the filter is now visible behind the glove box. Pull out the holder for the filter, swap the new one for the old one, put the holder back in, then the doc tray, close the glove box, and you're done. Dealers want to charge $100 and up for this simple 5 minute procedure. The filter itself costs something like $37 for the OEM one.

bluemule

I've decided that this dealer did not damage the inside of the glove box...it was in fact, damaged earlier, and I'd forgotten about it (ugh!). I only noticed it again following the service, when I found the wayward bolt in the floorboard and then noticed the loose kick panel...I was vacuuming and wiping down the smudges where they had worked inside the car. After some investigation, I found that the bolt came from the middle of the bottom of the glove box.

The car was also in for an A16 service, so there may have been other reasons to work down in that area and remove stuff...perhaps the computer? I just don't know.

Royal3

I tried three different tires. My RL had PAX tires on it(the RL is non-tech though). It was super quiet and had smooth ride. I drove the PAX systems about 200 miles. Then, changed to stock tires (MXM4). I immediately noticed the tire noise. It was quite excessive. I missed the quiet PAX tires. Yesterday I installed Pilot Sport AS. The road noise is improved but it is not as quiet as the PAX tires. But the handling is better than the MXM4(it is responsive and quicker) and the Pilot Sport is stickier (need more gas I guess  but better traction ). Biggest disappointment: I heard new rattle noises. In Portland, the road has texture. This new rattle is annoying . Wouldn’t it be temporary?
I’ll post the update as it is getting more mileage on it.

Chas2

So just out of curiosity, you had

18x8 PAX 245-680R460A Pilot MXM4 (approximately 18, anyway 460mm)
17x8 245/50-17 Pilot MXM4
17x8 245/50-17 Pilot Sport A/S

The noise between the PAX MXM4 and standard MXM4 was definitely different.

How about ride?

How about handling?

Thinking back to the PAX, how do you compare the Pilot Sport A/S to the PAX

noise
ride
handling
and anything else you care to comment on?

I think one day I will face the decision to replace the PAX tires only, or replace the whole system so I can try a different tire than just the Pilot MXM4, although if I do that, I will likely get 18 inch wheels.

Thanks.

Royal3

1. PAX vs Pilot sport A/S
a. noise : PAX is better
b. ride : PAX is better
c. handling : Pilot Sport is far better
d. traction : Pilot Sport is far better

2. PAX vs MXM4
a. noise : PAX is better
b. ride : PAX is better
c. handling : Not sure which one is better
d. traction : Not sure which one is better

3. MXM4 vs Pilot sport A/S
a. noise : Pilot sport A/S is better
b. ride : marginal
c. handling : Pilot Sport is far better
d. traction : Pilot Sport is far better

I can feel higher rolling resistence from Pilot Sport A/S.

Seems some Tech package customer didn't want PAX tires and the dealer replaced the wheels and PAX tires with MXM4 on my RL. When i bought my RL, the sales person didn't know that my non-tech RL had PAX tires on it. I realized my RL had the RFT on my RL in a week later. And I requested to swap the PAX tires for MXM4. So happened to drive PAX tires for a while. But it was quite good. I guess they improved RFT technology. But worried about too much hassle in emergency.

Chas2

Thanks Royal3!

chuck abbott

Thanks for all the thoughts and info on the Pilot sport A/S tires. I have picked up a set of used ones with about fifty percent tread life left because I wanted to see how much less noise there is with this tire before I start investing the big money for new ones. I will have to wait till spring before I can use them.
The dia difference between 245/50/17's and 245/45/17's is 3.61% smaller which gives you an indicated 62.2 mph at 60mph and on your 316 mile trip it should indicate about an additional 12 miles.
A good alternate size tire to the 245/50/17 is the 225/55/17 which is only one tenth of an inch difference in diameter (0.38% diff in dia) and gives a indicated 59.7mph at 60 mph.
I have noticed that this size also costs a lot less than the 245/50/17.
For checking alternate tire sizes there is nothing better than going to www.1010tires.com
then select "tech section" and finally select "tire size calculator". Hope this helps some of you.

bluemule

The speed differential is about what I expected...and hoped for. With OEM's my '94 Honda alway shows about 2 MPH slower than indicated...at least by some of the radar setups I've been through...after 460,000 miles (showing on the speedo), I've finally come to terms with that (I'm kidding)!

The tires are also responsible for a small increase in RPM's, which probably contributes a bit towards the car feeling quicker in town.

I'm glad that I tried out the tires, but will have to drive on them for awhile before making any final judgments as to whether to go back to the OEM's...with most of my driving at higher highway speeds, the mileage difference along with RPM increase and speed deviance may not wear well over the long haul. I'll just have to see. They do ride better.

bluemule

Someone just posted in the general forum about replacing his '05RL's OEM's, and I've been meaning to post my experience with that...so resurrecting an old thread might be in order.

At 110,000 miles, I replaced the Pilot Sports and went back to Michelin OEM's. The Pilot Sports weren't for me...early on, they developed a very noisy tire roar and became extremely hard...I got my money's worth out of them. Note that practically all of my driving is interstate pounding.

I dreaded going back to the OEM's because the original tires on my '05RL were very hard and noisy, but honestly, these new OEM's seem to be quieter and softer than the original OEM's that came on the car. The car now has over 125,000 and I'm glad to be back with the original size and type of tire.