BDoggPrelude

I've been trying to get the wife to decide on a set of wheels for the TL for a year now. Unfortunately she hasn't found any she likes yet and it's time to retire the snow tires and get ready for summer. Since we tossed the OE Michelins in September when we put the snows back on that means it's time for new summer tires.

Originally I was just going to get something cheap like Continental DWS's. That way I'm not forking over big money for a nice set of 17" tires just to turn around and have to buy a set of nice 18" tires shortly after. Alas, being in the business I just can't find it in me to buy anything that isn't made by Michelin or Bridgestone.

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus it is. I couldn't pass up the deal. Given that I get these tires at cost, plus the $70 Michelin rebate, plus the Michelin employee incentive rebate program...let's just say I didn't pay a whole lot for them all things considered.

So far the tires are great. Haven't put too many miles on them yet. Kind of hard to give a good review since all I really have to compare them to is the studded snows that just came off the car and anything is going to ride quieter and smoother and perform better in the dry than those. I will say that they have a much softer sidewall than I thought they would. Michelins tend to ride soft but this is a Z-rated performance A/S tire so... They are very quiet though. They're perfect for my wife. If it were my car I would have gone with more performance and something with a stiffer sidewall, like a Bridgestone, but she doesn't care about performance and prefers a soft quiet ride.

I figure they'll be on for about 6 months. At that point snow tires will go back on. Hopefully by this time next year she will have found a set of wheels she likes. I'll easily be able to get all of my money back from these on Craigslist and then we'll try out the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity.

I'll update this thread as I form a better opinion about these tires.

BDoggPrelude

Update. Tires have been on the car for 3 and a half weeks now and I've put enough mileage on them to form a better opinion. First off, it's been raining here a lot lately and these tires have astonishing wet traction. Really amazing actually. Wet traction all comes down to tread design of course and the two huge circumferentail grooves and directional tread of these tires really cut through water. I was cornering pretty hard in heavy rain the other night to test them out and it took quite a bit to make them lose traction.

Dry handling is pretty good too. Initial turn-in response suffers a bit due to the typically Michelin softer sidewalls...but they grip fairly well at the limit.

Ride comfort is great. All of the turn-in response that you lose with the softer sidewalls is more than made up for when it comes to how well these tires absorb cracks and bumps in the road.

I do feel like they could be a bit quieter though. Don't get me wrong, they aren't annoingly loud like some tires are. They just have a noticeable low groan on the highway. I'm pretty sure that the directional tread design is mostly to blame for this and it's nothing that the stereo at medium volume can't cancel out. Around town they're perfectly quiet. It's just on the highway that you can hear them.

Again, these tires are not my first pick for the TL. Once she makes up here mind on some wheels I'll be selling the Pilot Sport A/S's in favor of some Bridgestone Turanza Serenities. The Serenties are just designed with comfort in mind and don't sacrifice ride quality or noise control for the sake of performance. When it comes to UHP A/S tires for the TL though, the Pilot Sport A/S Plus is still at the top of my list along with the Bridgestone Potenza RE-960 Pole Position.

Oracle_Oracle

Thanks for the update I'm considering these tires.

Adobeman

FWIW I just put the Potenza RE-960 Pole Positions on my car.

At first I had opted for the Goodrich g-force Sport summer tires but the noise was absolutely unbearable. My Blizzak WS-50s snows tht had just come off were much quieter. Between 60 and 80 mph it was a variation of howling, droning and buffeting. Around town the handling was unbelievable but the daily commute on the highway was really bumming me out. So back up to Costco I went. I told them I was miserable and they said they would do one exchange set (so choose wisely). The choice was between the Potenza RE-960 Pole Position and the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. I had done research on RE-960's, plus they had a $70 off of 4 deal going, so that's what I went with. They credited 100% of the Goodrich g-force Sport price back to me. Unbelievable !

It's been a few weeks with the Potenza RE-960 Pole Positions. They drive very well but they don't handle as well as the Goodrich g-force Sports. They seem more than adequate in the wet. With respect to noise they are absolutely dead quiet. Since 90%+ of my driving is one the highway I really needed to be honest with myself and admit that lower road noise is more important to me than I thought and that "bang your head on the door window cornering" was more in my past (which is better for my wheel bearings too).

RE-960 cold flat spotting is a bit improved compared to the EL42s that were stock or the Blizzak WS-50s snows I run in the winter. I live within 2 miles of the highway so I know cold flat spotting. Id say it's less severe and gone a few minutes sooner than the old tires. If you don't commute over 50MPH or drive farther to a highway you may not even notice it.

mikmax1

I put the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S on my 05 TL about 3 weeks ago. The ride is fine. Not tremendously better than the OEM B/S's. I agree that initial turn-in is not quite as sharp. The steering is a little "heavy" compared to the OEM tires. It seems like there is more rubber on the road. And, while I thought these to be the same size as the B/S's, they fill the wheel well more...obvious when I wash the car. My OEMS were shot...and terrible in the winter. Hope the Michelins are better in snow.

SmileyOr

I'm new to this forum and looking at the purchase of a 2007 TL or TL S-type.

The above information is good, however, is there someone here that has compared the Goodyear F1 A/S or Eagle GT's to the Michelin's?

I've used the Pirelli P-Zero Rosso's, And bot these above mentioned Goodyear tires on a 2005 Audi Allroad (just recently sold). The Pirelli's were the quietest, and were worn by the original owner before I purchased the car. As worn as they were they were quieter than the Goodyear F1 A/S. The Goodyear tires did grip well in both wet and dry as well as the Pirelli's. In the snow I was able to put some miles on the F1's and they were phenomenal. Of course, the AWD of the Audi Quattro system helped a little

When they wore out I went with the Eagle GT's which are a little better in the wet, but a little behind in the dry. Both felt good on turn in and general handling. The Eagle's were much softer riding over potholes than the F1's.

I'm interested in which tires I'm going to purchase for a TL just in case I end up with one in need of tires within the first couple months.

I have been through a couple driving schools and I do enjoy spirited driving. I also enjoy a quiet ride. Harshness has not been an issue. I will be running the same tires year round, at least for a while. Living in Portland, Oregon we don't get snow in the city more than a few days per year. If I head up to the mountain for some skiing that might be a challenge only if I end up stopped in traffic on an incline. This will be the first FWD car that I've owned and the last two were AWD. Prior to that I had several rear wheel drive cars and never ran into trouble so I should be good with an all season UHP tire.

Thanks for any input on tire ride, comfort and performance in the TL.