MNP

On my way to put my $ on an AT TL. Still haven't decided on colors, but leaning to Anthracite/Quartz, but my daughter wants me to get blue. I'm getting a very good price and told my salesman that I want Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires.. he said he'd look into it and see how much it would cost me. What would be a fair extra price for the Michelins?

93SHOcar

I paid $560 for the swap on a December order. Price was $240/tire for the Pilots (yeah, kind of high) with $100 credit/tire for the EL42's (probably better than any tire shop will be willing to go). I have been extremely happy with the Pilot A/S and am very glad I spent the extra $'s. This was all done through the dealer so the Pilots were on the TL when I took delivery in early March.

marquis

Check out TireRack.com....price for the Michelin's is $180. The EL42s run $116. Do the math

Definitely get the Michelins (or any of the other recommended tires you can find referenced here) in place of the EL42s. I put on Pilot Sports as well and the difference is astounding.

Enjoy the new TL

JPSMAN

I further the motion in regards to the Michelins. The Pilot Sport A/S is a great all season tire and provides significant performance over the stock Bridgestone EL42. If you can get a credit for the Bridgestones, go for it before you drive the TL off the lot. I'm sure you could talk the dealer into mounting and balancing as well, instead of paying the normal $30 per tire. Good luck; I wish I would have done this before I purchased.

1SICKLEX

Boltjames says the TL is so far superior to Lexus, BMW and Benz, it doesn't need tires. It's faster, stops quicker, quieter, more luxurious, rides better, better reliability WITHOUT tires.

He says tires are for chumps.

lindros2

I third the motion. Great tires.

Replaced second set of crap EL42's with Pilot Sport A/S. Regional manager (asswipe) wanted to give me another set of Bridgestones. Had I spoken with him I would have quietly declined them.

RepellR

I also think that they are great tires. I was able to get them for about $60 per tire and that includes the mounting and balancing.

Big Blue24

I paid $300 extra to make the switch to the Pilot Sports including road hazzard warranty.
The dealer kept the Bridgestones and told me that if he was buying a TL now, he would switching too after reading this forum and the review in TireRack. Love the tires... they are quite and look at the ratings... almost perfect. Good Choice and Good Luck!!

Tom Champagne

I got mine switched before I purchased the car. cost me $373(dealer paid half,I paid half). I don't know how the BS tires would have felt,but after reading all the posts here,I decided that the tires would have to be swapped out or I would lokk elsewhere. I would recommend the Michelins anyday.

Greg G

I made an agreement with my dealer to buy my tires back for $100 each but the next day they wanted to charge me $270 per tire (for the Michelins) plus $180 to install them. Doing the math on that it ended up being more expensive than tirerack even with getting the $100 per tire back! I got a bit upset and told them it was not acceptable. Since it was the 30th of the month and they wanted to close in time for the end of the month they finally agreed to give me an extra $300 off the car if I just took the car and took care of the tires on my own. I ended up going with Falcons when I learned that the Michelins only last 20k miles. For half the price and a 30k rating the Falcons are also a very recomended tire on these forums. So far I'm very happy with the switch. By the way, I sold my orig tires for $265 on eBay so I ended up doing fine.

The lesson: make sure you get everything in writing before you pay for the car!

-Greg

briden

I arranged with a Bridgestone shop to exchange the EL42s for LS-Zs prior to picking up the car. He only charged me the difference in his selling price between the tires and mounting/balancing. It came out to be around $130.

I must say that the LS-Zs are great tires. I've put upwards of 3000 miles on them in temperatures ranging from 90s to 60s, conditions ranging from sunny to torrential downpours and they've performed excellently at all times. They're substantially quieter then the EL42s and the steering feel shows a marked improvement as well. I'm currently driving a loaner TL with the EL42s while my girl gets new bumpers (due to discoloration from factory) and the difference in the tires performance is dramatic, especially now that I'm coming back to them after driving on the LS-Zs.

DMZ

Don't expect such a swap from F/BStone dealers in the NY area. If you have to buy tires, your #1 value bet are the top rated all-season tire by Consumer Reports, the Falken Ziex 512's. They're awesome and about ½ the price of the Michelins! Search posts for reviews from those of us who've replaced the Bullshitstones with them.

I paid exactly $500.03 including mounting, balancing, old tire disposal fee (NY State), tax, AND a road hazard warrannty from ganin tire http://ganintire.com.
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Road Rage

I've always had some issues with CR's tests of things automotive, but the report was interesting. I was unable to determine the size of the tire that was tested, and it does matter. The tire wear rating varies from 360 to 420, depending on tire size, and one factor that affects that number is the compounding of the tire. Also, the speed-ratings of those Falkens range from H to W, which most assuredly involves tire rubber compounding variables, and likely other changes as well. The 235/45-17 was a W rating, but also a 360, so one has to wonder whether this was a true apples to apples test. I mean, they tested a Potenza that outperformed it in everything but snow.

Based on the price they claimed for the Falken ($60!!!), it was likely a smaller tire, H-rated, so all bets may be off (or at least, circumspect).

This is why I tend to be skeptical of CR's auto tests - they have made many errors over the years, and caused needless pain (remember the flipping SUV's?).

DMZ

If you want to go out and spend almost $300 a tire for Potenzas considering all the Falken reviews here in the forum, be my guest.

Ron A

Road Rage-Finally someone has backed me up on what I have been saying for a long time. The Consumer Reports review was not the W rated Falken, but most likely the H rated, so the comparison is useless for us.

Virtually everyone who has bought the Falken W rated tire says it is very good. Maybe not as good as the Pilot Sport A/S, but for half the price, very good. If you have the money, get the Michelins, if you want to save some money, get the Falkens. Choice will also be affected by the kind of driving you do.

I think this is the cheapest source for the Falken, but it may depend on where you live
http://www.edgeracing.com/

Here's a few of other sources: http://www.hptire.net/index.cfm?fuse...pID=80&catID=9 and http://www.tiresavings.com/ and http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/home.do