Best All Season Tires for 05 AT TL.
 

I am about to buy new tires for my 05 AT TL. I have stock rims. My current tires are GoodYear Eagle GT's. They where good. But not fantastic. I would like to know what tires would be the BEST for Z All Season Performance tires. I like to take turns faster than others. Thanks in advance.

re760 sport

I'm currently running Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS's. I've had them for about 10K miles and they are the best All-Season tires I've had out of 3 sets :2cents:

+1

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus

Previous tire was the Bridestone Potenza RE960 AS. Good tire, but I feel the Michelin is better. And they were cheaper too when I got them, not sure about anymore. I'm in Hancock, NY so we drive in similar weather.

Been reading some great things about the Continental ExtremeContact DWS, too. And they are quite a bit cheaper than the Michelins

sumitomo htrzIII

Michel Pilot Sport A/S Plus! these are great tires in dry and wet. plus they say they last for about 45k and under $200

Dude those are only Summer tires. I need all season. I live in upstate NY. Lot's of snow and crap on the roads up here.


So what's the verdict everyone?

[Michel Pilot Sport A/S OR Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS's]

I just bought The contis aws will let you know if i like them.

I had conti DWS and hated them. No sidewall stiffness and bouncy through turns, it was like driving my dad's buick. now I have pilot sport plus and I LOVE them! I would def go with Michelin Pilot Sport a/s plus. They make the car handle like it's supposed to, and they are the best rain tires ever. if you take turns hard, they give audible warning way before they loose traction. I can drive 100 in a downpour and never worry about hydroplaining, plus the tread pattern looks sick from the rear of the car. Well worth the $$!

but if you don't care as much about cornering and want a super quiet tire that is great in snow, I'd go with the Conti DWS. Alltough I took mine back after a week, I would have loved to have them for snow tires. they kinda look like an suv tire though.

Sorry to hear you weren't happy with the Conti DWS tires. I agree that the Pilots are stiffer than he Conti DWS, but the Pilots do not outhandle the Conti's in wet weather. I much prefer the DWS over my previous Pilots for wet weather. According to Tirerack, the conti's ranked much higher than the pilots in wet conditions. I would say the Pilots have the edge in dry pavment, but that's about it.

You're in NY, so you get snow/ice pretty often. Hands down the best all-weather tire that is actually winter rated (carries the winter emblem for safety) is Nokian.

Ask any specialty tire center, and they'll agree - I ran them when I lived in Vail, Colorado with over 400" of snow, never had an issue and saved my butt countless times. Right now I'm trying to find a good price on the Nokian WR G2, which is their all-season/winter tire.

+1 for Big Green, if you want to maximize snow traction while still having the longevity of an all-season tire, the WRg2 is a pretty good choice. Excellent ice traction to boot and good treadwear.

Of course, everything's a tradeoff. The Continental DWS will be far better in the wet than the WRg2 and still yield acceptable (for an all-season tire) snow traction.

http://nokian.tiremedia.com/model/wrg2.html

I'll be going with the Michelins as well. Costco has a coupon for $70 off a set of 4 that ends in late October (10/24 I believe). The price is $189 at least in my area with $15/tire install fee plus the $8 wheel sensor module. I should have 4 tires installed for under $900- seems great for a performance tire that should last 45000 miles.

i just got sumitomos HTRZ III - 410 installed mounted balanced.. good tires all around.. read alot of reviews on tirerack and these were best for my 04 TL , costco is a ripoff imo for tires at least same with evans tires and discount etc

I would go with Discount Tire if you are getting the Pilot A/S sport. They gave me a 70 dollar rebate plus 50 for using their credit card. So 120 off is pretty good. Plus they matched tirerack.com prices.

^ Isn't this thread for All Season Tires?

Those sumi's are a summer tire as noted in the description at Tirerack:

"The HTR Z III (High Technology Radials-3rd generation) is Sumitomo's Max Performance Summer tire developed for sports cars, sporty coupes and high performance sedans. It is designed to showcase Sumitomo's technical resources by providing high-speed handling stability along with traction on dry and wet roads. Like all summer tires, it is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice."

I compared prices for Discount .vs. Costco regarding the AS Plus's and Costco comes out ahead by almost $100 when you factor the coupon and the fact I get a rebate. I even get a rebate on my executive membership and get free tire balances as well as rotations for the life of the tire. Seems like a good deal to me.

I also don't see how you can make the 'ripoff' assertion about costco or discount tire. It's unclear where you even bought your summer tires that wasn't a rip-off. I think the $94 Sumis will wind up costing the same or more as the Michelin's if you go out 45K miles when you factor the additional $15/wheel mounting fee that you will pay needing to replace your tires at 20K.

oh opps my bad :/

does anyone have any input on these conti DWS? i wanna know if they last a long time, if they are quiet and how they handle? since i only got 25k out of my re960as PP.

I am having them put on my car wed. this week Will give input to the board later about there quietness and handling in the dry and wet..

Michelin primacy and nokian are brands you should look at. Check out consumer reports. I am in the same boat you are...i live outside of boston where i get alot of snow. These have been reccommended by my local acura dealer.

I am trying to figure out between them which one i should buy.

Just got back from having 4 ExtremeContact DWS's installed on the 04 TL 6 SPD. I was debating between the Continentals and the Michelin Pilot Sport AS but, due to the upcoming snow storm and thanks to TireRack's testing (Continentals beat the Michelins in snow performance hands down) I opted for the Continentals (also $300 cheaper).

First thoughts - much quiter and a very smooth ride when compared to the OE Michelin MXV4 or whatever was on there (had about 40K miles on them and they were getting really noisy)

Can definitely feel some tread squirm granted I haven't broken them in yet. It is supposed to dump 2-4" here tomorrow and I can't wait to get out to try these things. Will post back...

However, if you do like hard cornering I'd go with something else - these do feel soft (that or it could be the deeper tread blocks contributing to the squirm 11/32nds new compared to michelins 8-10)...

I just had the OEM Michelins replaced on my 2005 RL a couple hours ago, they had 40k miles on them and still had enough tread depth (> 3/32nds) to not hydroplane except in really bad downstorms, but the lateral grip in the wet was totally shot. Even if the road was just damp, I was going into 4-wheel drifts on medium speed ramps and in slow speed sharp turns. With winter coming (we got about 3" of snow yesterday here in MD), there was no way I was going to risk trying to get another 5k miles out of them, although if I lived in a warmer climate I probably would have kept the OEMs for another 6-8 months.

"First thoughts - much quiter and a very smooth ride when compared to the OE Michelin MXV4 or whatever was on there (had about 40K miles on them and they were getting really noisy)"

I agree on both points -- in the short 20 minute drive back from the shop, mostly highway driving, the DWS's were noticeably quieter and gave a smoother ride than the old Michelins.

"Can definitely feel some tread squirm granted I haven't broken them in yet."
"However, if you do like hard cornering I'd go with something else - these do feel soft (that or it could be the deeper tread blocks contributing to the squirm 11/32nds new compared to michelins 8-10)..."

Granted, I only had three exit ramps to test the tires on the way home, but I didn't detect any squirm at all. In fact, they felt more stable than my old Michelins at the same speed on a ramp I take almost daily -- I could have pushed them harder, but not knowing the limit of adhesion for them in the dry, I didn't want to force it since they aren't broken in yet (plus the bead isn't set).

I also did some quick high speed lane changes on the way back (around 75-80 mph) and found the turn-in to be right on track, good feedback, and the tires felt very stable and precise.

I think I'm going to love them! I already love the price: I had one OEM tire replaced in 2006 at the dealer, cost me $233. I got the Continentals from TireRack.com for a total of $618, plus $80 to install/balance them at a local shop -- a savings of over 25% at 2006 prices, partly because I didn't have to pay tax on them since I ordered them online. Call me a happy camper!

I would consider dedicated winter tires for the 4 months you really have to worry (DEC-MAR). I have Winterforce from Tire Rack on my car right now.

I just installed Cooper Zeons on my 04 auto and they are the quietest, smoothest, truest tires I've had on the car (4th set). I had them on for about 1500 miles before switching over to winter tires and had to turn the radio down constantly. The Yokohama Avid A4S tires I had on before were unbearably loud and the Bridgestones that came with the car wore out to racing slicks within 25K miles. Reality is, I can't ever test the limits of a tire's traction or sidewall performance with a car that's over 105K miles...too afraid of breaking something.

What makes these tires the truest? Did your other tires lie about their speed rating or UTQG? :keke:

i just got the coni dws and i already notice they dont as sharp as my old falkens....but in the rain they are great....very quiet and smooth...

I just put on the conti DWS for a week. Noticed they are noisier than the OEM MXM4. But the traction of DWS is great.

i live in toronto so i'm not that far away, but being south of lake ontario, you will get a lot more snow then we do here.

to be honest, all seasons suck in all seasons. they aren't that great in the summer and they do not perform at all under 7 degrees celsius at all.

if you want to have amazing traction in the summer, get dedicated summer tires, if you want the most traction in the winter and the safest tires, get dedicated winters.

your summers will be fun and your winters will be safe. That's the best way to spend time in the car.

I'm running on Hankook Ipike W409 for winters, but i need a new set of summers. i'm running on some chinese no name brand summers with a very aggressive thread pattern. Ling long L688 i think.

This is discussed a lot on the redflagdeals motorvehicle section quite often and the best rated winter tire is the michelin Xice2 and the bridgestone blizzak ws60 if i remember correctly.

there also performance winters that do well in cold temperatures while maintaining comfort and ride quality but do not perform as well in deep snow.

performance winters i would recomend if you live in a very metropolitan area where roads are often cleared. in rural areas, i'd go with the winter tires that have the mountain symbol to indicate that the tires are approved by i belive it's DOT in the usa.

They've already been mentioned already, but for an all-season tire, I will never buy anything other than Nokian. On my previous two cars, I ran Nokian WR's and absolutely loved them. It's a different situation with my TL, since I have a summer set of wheels/tires. My winter tires (on the stock TL-S wheels) are Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi's, and they're by-far the best winter tires I've ever owned. Better than my old Bridgestone Blizzak's, which were pretty damn good themselves.

my favorites.....so far pirelli pzero neros for performance in long drives and nothing abusive. the conti extreme contact i loved but only on long straight drives....they really arent high performance tires.... more like comfort. as for high high performance re760's for sure.

I have about 3k miles on my DWS's now they have been great so far in the wet and dry. When it comes to hard cornering it does take them a second to react but once they do they perform very very well. I have my tires at about 35 psi hot front and 34 rear. I'll increase then to see if it helps with reaction times.

They have been extremely quiet only issues i have had with them is the morons who mounted them.

Jaco,
What kind of problems? I'm trying to find a good place to mount the same tires tomorrow.

I'm hoping that I made a good decision with the conti DWS tires, since my wife drives the TL 95% of the time now with our daughter.

Also, how does the shop know how to mount these tires? Since the tread design is assymetrical?

They have to mount them so the sidewall with the big marking, "OUTSIDE" faces outwards from the car.

Really not too difficult to do unless your mechanic is illiterate.

I just plowed through 1-2 foot snow sludge here in the DC metro area...they may not be the best performance tires, but as my all season "winter" tires, I have never been stuck or spun out. I absolutely love these.

CONTINENTAL CONTIEXTREMECONTACT

Verdict: serviceable non winter performance, life saving winter capabilities.

I have bridgestone portenza RE050A's as my summers and they are solid.

These ratings are pretty much spot on. If you want all seasons with an emphasis on winter performance get the continentals, if you want the emphasis on summer performance, get the 960's or pilot sports.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...jsp?type=UHPAS

Michel Pilot Sport A/S Plus !!!!

They run true, ie no squirming back and forth even when brand new. Sorry if that's not the right term that all you race car drivers use.:rolleyes:

After running the stock tires for a few months...I got fed up and got the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS's on my 05 TL AT. These are pretty good tires all around. Handling is great in dry/wet.

But in snow/ice, they aren't so great. I'm actually looking to get a pair of snow tires for the winter months. From what I've read on the forums...nothing handles as well in the snow like a dedicated pair of snow tires.

BS 960 AS user here and they flat out suck in MN winters. 5/10

In Rain / Dry conditions they are totally awesome. 8/10