I have never replaced car tires before. This is my first car (2001 Acura 3.2 TL) and the time has come that I have to replace my car tires.

Can anyone give me constructive feedback on whether I should go with the OEM Michelin replacement or does it make more sense to go for some other brand? If other brand then which?

Thanks,
Divya

 

After a lot of research on the Tirerack.com, I think the best replacement tires are the Bridgestone Turanza- LS H. They go for $100 each with $~30 shipping sent to the installer of your choice (from a list of installers on the website). The tires have great reviews and the overall survey results are very favorable. I'm currently waiting for mine to be delivered.
Hope this helps.

 

Look at the tirerack.com. They will give you honest reviews and test info that I felt was very useful in selecting my tires. I wound up getting Bridgestone Turanzas LS-H 205/60-16 size. They were $100/ ea. and ~$30 for shipping to the installer near my home (selected from a list of approved installers on the website). Great reviews and survey results on these tires.
Hope this helps.

 

Sorry about the double reply!

 

Thanks erdoc48!

But if you are paying $430 for the 4 Bridgestone tires, what is the harm in going for the OEM replacement Michelin. I mean - do you know if there is something really wrong with the Michelins?

 

moonstone,

It really depends on what you want out of tires. If long life is your goal, then replace the OEM with the same thing. However, if you want better grip, better wet traction, or better snow traction than there are several other tires you can go with.

Three I am considering for spring when I get new tires:
Continental ContiExtremeContact @ $82/tire
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S @ $172/tire
Bridgestone Potenza RE950 @ $128/tire

If I were buying today I would probably go with the Potenza RE950. If you do a search on this site there are many, many opinions on tires. You just have to decide what is important to you in a tire.

tirerack, www.tirerack.com even has an option to enter what is important to you in a tire and it gives you suggestions. Select your car and then click "tire decision guide".

Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

 

I was generally happy with the Michelins, but I've read a lot of posts of folks who weren't pleased with them because of substandard rain performance- also they are expensive to replace- they run as high as $ 150/ tire. Read the reviews on tirerack.com. Good luck. There are a lot of good tires out there, and a few not so great- it really depends on how you use the car- I'm a non aggressive driver, so I think that's how I got 50K out of the Michelins. Also, rotation every 7500-10K miles extends the tire life.

 

If you want to get something a little more agressive and you don't need a snow tire, I would recommed the Yokohama ES100 225 55 16. They sell for $87 at the Tire Rack. A lot of people on this board have recommeded this setup and you won't be disappointed.

The stock Michelins are below average for handling. It seems that on any turn I could get the tires to break away. I'm not a really aggressive driver so I got 58k on them; but I won't shy away from a nice freeway on or off ramp.

The Yokohama handles much better and the hold the turns. (Now I need sways bars!)

 

Well, I live in Detroit - so I really need some snow handling. My current Michelins did last for around 57K since I am not an agressive driver and I regularly rotate my tires. The only problem I had was that they were really bad on handling nails. Currently I have 2 nails so close to the rim that the tire cannot be repaired.

Nyways, thanks all for your inputs. I guess I need to do some more research.

 

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I replaced my fronts with Sumitomo HTRs in the stock size (tire rack or DTD, 77.00 each) and they were killer in the snow compared to the pilots. But they wear out in 25000 mi and the slightest pothole will cause them to bubble. I went through 3 sets in the past 10 months. I do all hwy driving. My rear Michelins are stock and have 67000 miles on them But they dont seem to mind the 7200 rpm WOT shifts, either. I'm looking for a decent tire now, I realize that paying for 3 sets of $77 tires is more costly than 1 set of $160 tires:yack:

Mark

 

Moonstone,

I just moved to Detroit and I'm wondering the same thing. I have the stock 16s from the TL-P but now I'm wondering if I should sell them or keep them fror winter snows (Dunlop M3 or M2). Some people have said that the ContiExtremeContacts would be fine on my stock wheels. But I'm concerned about the stock TL-S wheels getting messed up.

So, just how bad is the snow or roads here in the winter?

 

Bluelegend,

The roads here are not that bad at all. Most highways are salted and cleaned during the snow (except on really rare extreme weather conditions) and I have had no problems with my OEM tires in the extreme winter conditions as well.

Hope this helps,
Moonstone.

 

I just put the ContiExtremes on my car. They are very grippy at at the sacrifice of just the slightest more road noise than the stock Michelins. If you live where there is snow, these seem to have gotten A+ ratings on tirerack from hundreds of customers as being a good choice in an all weather tire. If you live in CA or FL, you could probably go with the regular Contis or the Bridgestone RE950.

 

Were you able to drive places that may have more snow? I don't want to be stuck in Detroit for the entire winter. I'm wondering if the Contis on the stock 17's will be plenty or if I need to use my other rims for performance winter tires. I'm stuck because part of me doesn't want to hassle with changing the wheels with the seasons but then part of me wants safety, driveability, and not to ruin my stock wheels.