slawek65

We all know OEM tires are not so good and most of RL owners have upgrade to Michellin Pilot A/S, but what do You think of Dunlop SP 5000? Tirerack have them in OEM size 245/50/17 Tx.

vp911

Personally I havn't looked into the Dunlops - if nobody here can help you - go by the ratings on tirerack - the pirelli pzero nero M&S are also great tires!

bluemule

When you guys mention OEM's are not great tires and this tire or that tire are better tires, what is the criteria? One post during the past few months mentioned that a recommended tire was "better" than OEM because he could better "feel" the road. I think I've seen a post that the "better" tires made the car ride "stiffer".

Are these types of comments directed at hard cornering and pushing the envelope on speed and so forth?

I personally do not want a "stiffer" ride, but would be interested in better wet performance (having hydroplaned a '90 Honda into 5 feet of water and noticing that my "94 Honda at speeds greater than 70 mph gets "nervous" in the wet when the Michelin MXV's are 50% worn down).

Fred

vp911

For one, the OEM tires are terrible in snow and rain. They cause a LOT of road noise inside the vehicle and are a harsher ride than many other tires. If you switch tires, you will notice the car will become a lot quieter inside.

In 5 feet of water? Isn't that too high to drive your car? You can't move in 5 feet of water - 5 inches, you can probably make it, but not 5 feet.

bluemule

It wasn't my fault! I was doing OK until that old lady paddled out in front of me!!

vp911

lol that could not have been fun at all!

Rob L

Agree 100% with Vik.

The OEMs are loud, dont have the greatest grip/handling (they squeal like a stuck pig) and are harsh for a supposed "touring tire" and they are HORRIBLE in the snow.

I plan to upgrade mine next spring but if they really piss me off this winter (I managed with them last winter) then I may just upgrade to snows and get some 18s or something next spring.

vp911

You are going to drive with the OEMs in Canada's snow? That will be fun

bluemule

Well, actually, there had been a very heavy downpour and these rural roads are rutted by overweight log trucks. I hit an area going way too fast which sort of picked the car up, pointed the tail into the direction of travel and threw it into a creek. Thankfully, I didn't have to watch because I forgot to check my direction of travel by looking into the rear view mirror the instant of bridge impact and splashdown. Officer said there had been several accidents at that spot.

I really like Honda automobiles, but can say that the 2 I've owned and put over a half million miles on, are very suspectible to hydroplaning if being driven aggressively in the wet. But I've always replaced the OEM Michelin MXV's with the same tires.

So far, with the RL, and with it being a heavier car, I've not noticed any twitchiness in the wet...but at only 13,000 miles on these tires and undergoing a drought in these parts, I've not reached the point where the tires would be tested.

vp911

Yes, Honda tends to use crappy tires. Upgrade to a good set of tires and you will be in much better shape. You can always buy my michelin pilot sport a/s that I am selling

slawek65

so what is the opinion on Dunlops SP 5000, every Rl owner talk only Michelin pilot sport a/s, dunlops have not bad numbers on Tirerack website, they come in OEM size and less money then michelins

vp911

To be honest, I have been on the RL forums for a while and I don't remember anybody ever saying they have purchased them. I can tell you that from the ratings on tirerack, I would not purchase them as their snow rating is pretty crappy. Light snow traction: 6.9; Deep snow traction: 5.6 and Ice traction: 5.5. This isn't to say that the others are that much better than these tires; however, they are slightly better and that small difference could be the difference between holding ground in the snow and colliding with another car. The extra money is worth it to me for slightly better tires.

hondamore

I chose the PZeroNero M&S's for my 18's primarily because of their smooth quiet ride. I'm not sure if they are available in the 17 inch size?? Sorry, I can't offer an opinion on the Dunlops since I have no experience with them nor do I know anyone who does.

vp911

I put the same Pirelli's on the 18's and man they are smooth and quiet - excellent tires. I couldn't find them for the 17' wheels either.

Rob L

I did last winter man.

hehe thankfully I live in southern Ontario so we dont get much snow like in Alberta and such. Hell, New York state gets more snow than we do.

The absolute worst was after we had the only big snow fall of the winter with some freezing rain so the roads didnt get fully plowed and there was a packed layer of snow for like a week after it...I had my RL just decide to start skidding sideways a little bit for no reason (wasnt going fast, wasnt turning the wheel, braking, etc) but thankfully the AWD system did its job and kept the car controlled. This pissed me off because no other car around me had this issue and it was because of the crap tires.

I had a few other times where the tires lost their traction but with the AWD it is no biggie to keep the car controlled.

Useless POS tires. All season my ass.

vp911

Rob L

I am not certain but I THINK these tires are the ones that were on the IS250 AWD I test drove 2 weeks ago. If so, (pretty sure about this) it looked iffy they would do well in the snow because I thought they were a friggin summer tire when I looked at the tread. I will be impressed if they do decent in the snow.

gbriank

Agreed.... I've been using the Pirelli's on my RL now (18") for almost three months. Best tires i've owned since I started driving. They do squeal a little in the corners (50+ miles per hour), but they have excellent wet traction in our Texas downpours.

msu79gt82

Clearly a lot of folks favor the Pirelli's.

Anyone have any exoerience with the Avon Tech M550 (tirerack's top rated tire)?

slawek65

Why RL have this b/s tires size? not to many tires brand's have this size 245/50/17

vp911

Honda/Acura seems to have a problem with choosing tires. They did this on the TL also - put crappy tires. Pilot Sport A/S are the way to go on the stock 17" wheels.

slawek65

Not only Honda, my last car 2001 GS have worst OEM tires then my RL.

1HOT NSX

To me a better tire is one that is quieter, rides smoother, grips with tenacity, has a quick response on turn-in, and lets you know what is doing at the limits. The Pirelli PZero Nero does all of the above at a bargain price. It's also excellent on wet roads and does not hydroplane at up to 80 mph - as fast as I've driven it in the wet.

hondamore

I considered the Avon Tech M550 because of the Tire Rack ratings. I was a bit suspicious, however, because I believe Tire Rack is the exclusive North American dealer of the Avon tires and this may have "influenced" the subjective portions of the testing (just a gut feeling). The Pirelli's were getting such glowing reviews from members here and on other forums, that I decided to go with them and have been very very pleased. That said, I believe the Avon's are less expensive than the Pirelli's and might be worth a try.

msu79gt82

Yea I too am suspicious about the rating; but the price is right. I did some research and found out that Cooper Tire holds the US Distriution rights for Avon Tyres and that the Avon Tech M550 is a tirerack exclusive. (see Cooper Tire website).

Alin10123

Just becuase tirerack has the exclusive rights to Avon in the US, doesn't mean that the ratings are fouled up. Check out the consumer ratings part. Why would consumers change the #'s? You should also check out the TSX part of acurazine. Quite a few members there have the avon 550s. I am considering those too.

lflorack

I haven't seen anybody mention them for their RL's yet. Sorry, i can't help there. I can tell you that I had an '04 TL prior to my '05 RL and I used both the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's and the Pirelli PZEro Nero M&S's on the car before I traded it in. Both tires were greatly superior to teh OEM tires that came on the TL. Handling, control, noise and 'feel' in wet, snow, and dry conditions were a LOT better. If I was forced to make a choice, I'd get the Pilot Sport A/S's as slightly better overall. IMHO, they are the best all season tires I've ever owned. The Pirelli's were a close second.

eaRL

Even though this thread goes back a few months, I would like to comment on the Avon Tech M550 A/S. I submitted a review on tirerack.com back in November. If you browse to the Avon Tech M550 A/S main page and click the Read all reviews for this tire link you can filter the review results on the left side of the page by selecting Acura and 2005 and clicking the Filter button. You will see my review somewhere in the list. I believe I have submitted the only review of this tire on an '05 RL.

I purchased the A-spec wheels and chose the 245/45WR18 Avons as my tires. Everything I noted in the review still holds true but after a recent rotation the noise these tires produce has become unbearable. Another side effect is some (very, very little but some) vibration transfer into the steering wheel. I checked each tires direction of rotation and they are correct so I have ruled out the possibility of them being crossmounted. Maybe I waited too long to rotate the wheels or maybe they didn't balance them properly, if at all. Possibly the alignment has been thrown out of whack. But I cannot take the droning noise that these tires produce above 45 MPH any longer.

They still ride and handle like they did on day one and the treadwear is very good. If it wasn't for the noise and the vibration I would see no reason to change my position on them. I'm going to go back to my dealer and let them take another look at them. If they cannot do anything about it I will probably buy the Pirelli PZeros or have them further investigate the problem. I can deal with the tramlining if that is the only downside of the Pirellis. But, I cannot deal with the constant wah-wah-wah of the Avons any longer.

I'm not the most knowledgable person when it comes to things like this but I think a deaf person could recognize the change in these tires after rotation. So feel free to offer your theories or troubleshooting procedures for problems like this. Thanks.

1HOT NSX

Most tires I've had over the years increase the noise level as they wear, some of them becoming unbearable. I can think of a set of Bridgestone Potenza S0-3 I had on my 2000RL that did this. Also, rotating the tires brings for the most part the shimmy in front due to balancing or who knows what. I used to rotate the tires for all the obvious reasons advertised everywhere, however, I don't do it anymore.

After observing my PZero Neros on my '05RL, after 26,000 miles I can report to you that the wear is pretty much even on all four tires, and they are still almost . . and I repeat, almost . . as quiet as they were on day one. I am not going to rotate them and I suspect they will all wear pretty much evenly until the end.

Advice? Install PZero Neros and do not rotate until the end.

eaRL

Yeah. I began to wonder if I had broken a rule of thumb with an AWD vehicle by rotating the tires at 8,000 miles. Even if that has nothing to do with this issue I really didn't have a reason to get them rotated except good intentions I guess.

A couple of years ago I was working a lot of hours consulting. I was driving my 03 RSX-S and I was not able to get to the dealer to get the tires rotated on a regular basis. When I did get around to it they told me it would be better to just leave them as is because they did not really look like they needed it. So I thought 'the hell with it, I'm trading in this car in another month or two anyway'. I think I should have followed that mantra here.

eaRL

The verdict on the Avons is they are cupping. On closer inspection I can see it on the outer edge of the tires. Once the tires were rotated back to their original positions the noise was probably 10% of what is was after having them rotated. The explanation given to me was directional tires will do this sometimes.

I was looking at some (new?) Yokohamas on tirerack.com, the Advan S.4. Anyone have an opinion on this tire or Yokos in general. I put Geolanders on my wife's Element, she logs 3-4 miles a month and she is very happy with them but that's my only experience with Yokohamas. Thanks.

1HOT NSX

My only experience with Yokos is with the OEM tires that came with my NSX (I went through 2 sets before I switched) and with Yokos I had OEM in a new CRX I bought in '86. They were both very sticky tires. The OEM Yokos on my NSX lasted 10K miles because of their 120 wear rating but they are designed for the car and in spite of the wear rating they gave it the best performance in terms of handling and straight line stability at speeds over 120.
I think both Yokos and Michelins are harsh riding tires but they give you great performance and perhaps higher handling limits.

I said it before and I'm still convinced that the best tire for the '05''06 RL is the Pirelli PZero Nero M+S.

eaRL

Thanks for the reply. The wear rating is another thing I have started looking at also. The wear rating on the Avon tire is 360, the Yoko Advan S.4 is 400. The Pirelli PZero Nero M&S is 400 as well. The Avons are also pretty heavy, 31lb. per tire versus 28lb. for the Pirelli or the Yoko and 26lb. for the OEM recommended Michelin Pilot Sport.

I've narrowed it to the Yokohama or the Pirelli. Noting that the PZero Nero has a lot of review miles logged on tirerack (7,434,513) and the Yoko has none I'll probably go with the Pirellis.

gbriank

I've had some experience with Yokos on my 2004 TL, but they were a different class of tire (max summer performance). They rode rougher and had one tire go out on me. Other than that, they were great tires...bit noisey but held the road very well. In contrast, the Pzeros I have on my RL are equally excellent tires. They do squeal a bit when pushed to the limit, but nothing like the OE tires....not to mention, there isn't the dreaded droan that the Michelins have at high speed. I've got 9,000 miles on my Neros and have rotated them once so far. I'm impressed with their year round abilities and how they handle our Texas downpours.

JoeBroze

I dunno about the SP 5000's but I have Dunlop SP 4000's on my '04 MPV. They came stock with the van but I want to change them soon because of horrible road noise and they feel like they are made of wood!!! Apparently, the 4000's have caused other MPV owners the same problems. I actually have the Michelins on my rl and love them. Great wet traction and hushed ride.