its been a while since i posted on this forum... you guys have been dearly missed....

55K on the RL, and finally the OEM tires need replacement... i have been contemplating on various options which would allow a relatively noise-free ride at the same time not compromising on performance... living in atlanta, although snow is not a big concern, but good wet traction ability is... buget is <$300/tire... so far, the preferred choices (based on my take on various postings here) seem to be

P245/50ZR17:
- Dunlop SP Sport 5000 Asymmetrical
- Michelin Pilot Sport AS
- Yokohama Advan S4
- Bridgestone RE960
- Pirelli PZero AS

P245/45/18
- Pirelli PZero M&S
- Continental ContiSport 2
- Continental ContiSport 3
- GoodYear Eagle F1 A/S
- Yokohoma Advan S4
- Toyo Versado LX(?)

replacing with OEM Michelin's MXM4 is not an option... the tires will go on OEM wheels (ugly i know.. . )... leaning towards 18s rather than 17s...

would appreciate if you can recommend, in the 18s category, based on your experience...

 

On other cars I have had good experiences with the Dunlops SP5000, but these are rather old tires, that is design wise, not that I have anything against them, it is just that they have been around for so long, I would expect there would be better technology out there.

Pirelli PZero Nero All Seasons are great also, but very much biased away from the winter portion of all season. Not great in snow and ice -it is a summer tread design, in an all season compound, but missing from the PZeroNero All Seasons are siping which increase snow and ice traction. So beware if this is a factor.

I do not know about the Contis that you are proposing, but I have to say that the Continental Extreme Contact UHP all seasons were a case of you get what you pay for. They were cheap, and the worst tires I have had with regards to dry handling, noticeably slow feeling, and noisy, hard riding and hard to keep balanced and I could not wait to get rid of them.

I have Yoko Advan S4s on 19's on the RL, and have no complaints about them. I think they are great.

If you can afford it, I would go with 18s, if for no other reason than you have so much more choice in 245/45-18. There is very little choice in 245/50-17 stock tires, as I am sure that you know.

Anyone tried any of the Korean tires like Kumho or Hankook? You may wish to mount winters on your 17s if you go the 18" route, and just run nice summer tires, April through October-ish, depending on where you live.

I am great at spending other people's money

 

I had the Pirelli PZero Nero M+S on my old 05 RL on the 18" A-Spec wheels and they were perfectly fine in the snow here in New England. I had wanted to get the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S but they were much more expensive than the Pirellis at the time. I bought the Pirellis through Tire Rack - it was a very good experience.

 

I have new Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S. They are VERY quiet and they are sticky, but it took them nearly 1000 miles to break in. Tremendous tire squirm until they do. All is fine now.

The tires look good, too. Been planning a full review but want to get some snow trials in before I do.

 

Someone needs to buy my wheels and tires and enjoy them, they really are awesome!! I don't really need the money but they are just sitting there collecting dust.

http://s529.photobucket.com/albums/dd334/DoctorTuna/
https://acurazine.com/forums/car-parts-sale-361/sold-fs-ronjon-legend-19-wheels-397231/

 

Why did you pull off and don't use you use your RonJons? And btw, how did you like the Pilot Sports that you were using?

 

I thought I was going to keep the RL, but I test drove the Infiniti G37 and the rest is history. Not to mention I didn't particularly like the 09 RL!! The G comes with beautiful 19" wheels, therefore I just don't need them. The tire and wheels are also staggered on the G making my tires less useful.

The Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 are amazing tires in wet or dry. Significantly improves handling in my opinion with no noticeable loss of ride quality with the stock suspension. They are quite pricey though with poor tread life, as you'd expect from ultra performance summer tires. I would buy them again for performance reasons. The G comes with Bridgestone Potenza RE050, also nice tires, but louder than the Michelin.... don't know for sure if that's the tires or the ability of the RL to drown out the noise!!

 

a local tire dealer said toyo versado's 18s would be $200.00 / tire (including installation charges) courtesy of a special promo scheme...

verdict: toyo versado it is .....

now the next problem to solve is, which rims should i put on

 

an order has been placed for 17" Toyo Versado LX... will be installing em tomorrow.. local shop told me that i have a 500 miles break-in period.. during this period, if i do not like the tires, then they will change it for something else... in the mean time, i will on the lookout for good deals on 18" Enkei SC05 together with Pirelli PZero Nero M+S :-)

thanks a bunch for your help.. will keep ya'll posted...

 

Sounds Good. But if you have 17's with new All Seasons, put summer tires on the 18" wheels and really rock!

 

funny thing is: while speaking w/ the local shop's rep, he said that he would die before recommending Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S on this car... road noise being the reason... @ neuron/touge.. i had a smirk on my face when he said this to me, because i read from your postings that road noise goes away after putting some miles on that tire

Also, it turns out that not many 18" wheels would fit on RL due to the mongo front brake calipers.... i never knew that our beloved RL has some of the scariest stopping gear conceivable in a luxury performance sedan..

 

Fresh off the hose:
driven 25miles after installing toyo versado's lx...road noise is horrible..not only do i hear the sound of my tires meeting the road, inside the cabin, but also i hear other vehicles passing me roadside.... Driving on wet surfaces, the wheels do hace amazing roadgrip....at speeds in excess of 55mph, the only way to hear radio/music inside the car is to turn the volume upto 12 and above....oem tires allowed comfortable quiet listening at as low as 7-9..i hope the noise is a transient thing, otherwise these tires are going back from they came from...

 

There was a thread where the Versidos [sic] were very loud for the first 300 miles until the embossing on the tread was reached, then it was very quiet. Not quite sure what the OP was talking about, but I would hold them to that 500 mile break in period...

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-tires-wheels-suspension-92/new-toyo-versido-tires-500281/#post10032886

 

thanks for the response Chas.. yes, i did see the posting from paulgo -- which is what encouraged me to go w/ Toyos... i just wasn't expecting the noise to be this high during its break-in period... guess will have to wait and see... btw, the tire does seem to hug wet roads very impressively...

 

So after putting 150 miles on the new Toyos, my opinion has done a 180... the road noise is significantly less. Almost to the point that if i all doors and windows are rolled up, and A/C is running, it is really hard to tell if the car is actually running! I am a happy camper

Will provide another update once i cross 300 miles mark..