Tire Rack has provided great info on tires for a long time. But what I have overlooked all this time was their great tire comparison test and I wanted to share this with you. It can be found on their web site-bottom of the center column. You simply specify which category-High or Extreme H/Performance or A/S etc you are looking for. The ratings are very useful and made my shopping easier. Also having a choice of local installers with good equipment is nice to know about. It made me narrow down my choices to the Avon M550 A/S and the Pirelli Zero Nero A/S. This will enable me to dump the EL 42 sooner and enjoy a better ride all around.

 

If you're talking about the comparative chart with all the category ratings on it, I agree it's very useful. However, it's important to know that these are not test results but owners opinions. Although very useful, they are not really as good as test results would be since most car owners have not owned the other tires I'd like to compare. So what are they comparing the ones they are rating to? Also, not everyone has a uniform way to look at their tires. Testers, on the other hand, test specific tires side by side on the same car and then provide an actual comparison.

Again, I'm not saying that the owner survey results are not good, I'm recommending that you also look at the test results too. For instance, I'm nearing the time to replace my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's. I'll either replace them with another set of Pilots, or I'll go for the Pirelli Pirelli Zero Nero's. If I read only the owner survey stats, I'd probably pick the Pirelli's because they are rated a bit higher thre. However, when I look at the test stats for the two tires the opposite is true. The pilots win most of the comparable categories. Comparing the test stats is not as easily done as is the owner survey results -- unles you happen to get lucky enough to find a test comparison that includes both the tires you're looking for. What I did was to find tests of both tires and print them out. then I looked at both side by side. Not all categories used are always the same in different tests -- and you have to keep in mind that some of the comparisons could be affected by using different cars in each test. However, for those comparative test categories that exist, the results will be more meaningful as a true comparison rather than an opinion of a person who likely ony is rating the tire they just bought without realistic compartive value.

 

I dumped the slip and slide EL42 at 305 miles from my 2005 TL 5AT in favor of the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 which is the #1 rated tire in the Tire Rack survey for "Max. Performance summer". I have had these on for about 300 miles now and the surveys were dead on. The EL42s have terrible wet weather handeling and the F1s are perfect (for Florida weather). On my other car (Volvo C70) I bought the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 which , at the time I bought them were the #1 rated tire (now are #2 to the Avon) in the Ultra High Performance catagory. Those are awesome as well (but they don't make them in a size for the TL). Bottom line: using the survey results has worked out fine for me.

 

Remember that I agree that the customer survey results are good. I use them myself to narrow the choices. My point is that although they aren't really too far off, if you're trying to compare two fairly close tires, it helps to look at the test results. In your case, although you know the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires are very good, do you know that the #2 rated (by the surveys) wouldn't actually be better?

 

Nope, not for sure, but I do know that the F1 results were based on over 6 times the miles and, in this case, Tire Rack did do a head to head test and the results were VERY close. I know you were not referring to this scenario, and I didn't mean to sound critical of your post. This just happened to be my experience twice and it worked out well for me.

 

No issue at all. Just trying to clarify my position. I always know what I want to say, it deosn't always come out that way.

Anyway, I finally decided to get the Pirelli's and should have them on by this weekend.

 

One problem with Tirerack: Where are the best tires of all? WHERE ARE THE FALKENS??

 

Well, the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S's came in and they're on my car. I only have maybe 30 miles on them so far but my first impressions of them (in comparison to the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's I just took off) are that they're:

• Thy're much quieter (but then I expected that - the Pilots were worn out)
• They're much softer riding
• They don't seem to be as grippy (but they're new so we'll see)