Wheel/Tire Setup for a Quiet/Comfortable Ride (Hwy & City) & Good MPG
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Wheel/Tire Setup for a Quiet/Comfortable Ride (Hwy & City) & Good MPG
Year: 2021
Model: Technology TLX
Wheels Before: 19x18.5 OEM Wheels (Part: 42800-TGV-A02TO )
Tires Before: Bridgestone EL440 (255/40R19 W Rated OEM)
Mileage: ~46,000
For background, I have had the car since 2021, and given the amount of long distance freeway driving I do, my tires needed replacement. I noticed several things as the tire wore past 30,000 miles:
1) They became much more noisy, over every surface, and only perfect asphalt with absolutely no imperfections would not produce annoying amounts of noises (but too much noise would still be present). Note that the original tires were acceptable (and could roar on a very limited number of surfaces) in the beginning, but not ideal.
2) The setup was not really that comfortable over road imperfections, but became unacceptable to me with the noise.
There was a time when my driving was almost exclusively all freeway, but since I have been doing more city driving recently, I sought change.
Given the above, I wanted two hit two birds with one stone, but had several criteria when deciding on rims/tires:
1) Wheel Size
2) Quality / Durability
3) Aesthetics (subjective)
4) Tires
5) Initial Cost of Setup
6) Ongoing Cost (MPG / Tire Replacement Intervals:Warrenty:Initial Cost / Resale Value)
Methodology:
1) Wheel Size: Tire with a larger sidewall (better impact/comfort & sound properties), but didn't feel I needed to go with a large amount more. For several reasons below, I ended up going with 18".
2) Wheel Quality/Durability: Last in any condition, and always look good/as they should with normal wear/tear.
3) Aesthetics: Nothing "fancy", but nothing that stands out.
4) Tires: 1) Comfortable, 2) Quiet, 3) Low Rolling Resistance / Good MPG, 4) Handling / Speed 5) Stopping Distance
5) Cost of Setup: These types of cars are depreciating assets, and wanted to invest the minimal amount while not skimping to be comfortable (my personal perspective, obviously)
6) Ongoing Cost: Some tires are going to cost more to operate (loss of MPG can be substantial from my research...)
What I Went With and Why:
1) I settled on the OEM 18x8" (Part: 42800-TGV-A30) rims because of quality (Enkei is the manufacturer of the 42800-TGV-A30 wheel), and I couldn't find any aftermarket wheels I liked. That said, I could see more comfort from a 17" wheel, but opted to not to for a number of reasons.
2) Due to the fact that I have owned Hondas(2) and Acuras(4) for a long time, I know they don't have weather/outdoor (rain/snow/etc./etc.) related issues.
3) Sounds silly, but the wheel design was produced for the car, and I don't value customizing, etc.
4) Aesthetics weighed in, and although not the most pleasing design, the OEM is fine by me. I also couldn't find any aftermarket designs I actually liked that were directly compatible with my car.
4) Michelin Primacy Tour A/S (H rated), and tried the Continental Pure Contact LS (V rated) for a week. More on this aspect below.
5) It was a better value to source used OEM rims than than others given the above. Also, concerns about aftermarket and manufacturing process/quality compared to cost.
6) Minimal for what I wanted vs. reality of different setups. With warranty, negligible given what I am prioritizing.
Given my priorities for wheels/tires (1) Comfortable, 2) Quiet, 3) Low Rolling Resistance / Good MPG, 4) Handling / Speed 5) Stopping Distance), I tried the Pure Contact LS from Continental (235/50R18 V Rated). Needless to say, that tire was very loud at times, and going over any imperfection in the road was harsh (stiff bouncing from tires, even at 32 PSI). Of note the rolling resistance seemed extremely low, which was the only positive aspect I found about these tires. I had a loaner car briefly with the OEM setup on the a Base TLX (Bridgestone EL440 235/50R18), and that was far superior. Given that I had heard/seen better reviews out of Michelin (on comfort/sound) for the Primacy Tour A/S, I ended up going that direction. I settled on these for several reasons:
1) Treadwear rating (540) is above the EL440s (480), and not insanely high like the Pro Contact (700). From my perspective, going that high was a factor in noise/comfort, and didn't want to return to Bridgestone. Note that I did research various other tires, but the tradeoffs for quality/safety, and my criteria were too many.
2) If my Bridgestones lasted as long as they did (~46k miles, probably attributed to relaxed driving style), I was advised by a rep at Discount Tire I would probably see better results out of the Michelin from a wear perspective, and he also validated they have better noise properties as well. Note that the EL440s still have a descent amount of tread left (I believe a little less than half), but noise/comfort had been compromised... So if I really wanted to get another 10-15k out of the tires, I know I could have. Also, I do like the fact that the Primacy Tour A/S was an alternative OEM tire. To me, these were comparable and a more logical choice, as going outside of OEMs was already a miss (and didn't feel like paying another $80 to have different tires mounted when I didn't have a high degree of certainty about the outcome).
3) Given the choice between H (130 MPG) and V (149 MPH), I went with H for several reasons. First, I don't have a use case for that high of a speed rating, and from a handling perspective I don't need that level of rigidity for the rating difference. Furthermore, directly quoted from Michelin Customer Service about the differences between the H and V rated Primacy Tour A/S tire construction, the "V rated tires typically use a softer, more high-performance rubber compound to handle higher temperatures generated at high speeds. While not always significantly different, V rated tires may have a slightly stiffer construction to maintain shape and stability at high speeds". From my perspective, it seemed logical to move to H to gain more comfort, etc.
4) Rolling resistance on H vs. V rated tires is typically better (since the rubber isn't as soft), and directly translates to better gas mileage. Also, given the OEM EL440s are W rated, I would expect the same, if not better, gas mileage.
5) The warranty is 55,000 miles, which is descent considering what I am prioritizing, and based on my driving habits don't suspect they would wear out prior. And if they do, I am not concerned since there would be a proration credit towards new tires.
Results (Compared to Criteria):
1) Comfort: Excellent, I have had the tires on a multitude of surfaces, and they are consistently comfortable across the board, and absorb road imperfections (even small potholes) very well. And, dips in the freeway at speed are barely felt.
2) Sound: Excellent, they are consistently quiet at low and freeway speeds, and road imperfections are barely audible. Note: To drown out road noise from the old setup, my music volume would have to be at about 45%. Now, I can drown out anything from the road at ~15%, so it is a pretty big difference. I know my car isn't Lexus (ES) / Mercedes (E or S class), but the changes made do lean the car much closer to those types of cars while not changing suspension, adding sound deadening, etc.
3) Rolling Resistance / MPG: I have seen gas mileage slightly improve. Although I haven't cycled a full tank yet, I am projecting freeway will be about 34, and combined with city would come out to 28-29 for me normally. Prior, I have seen 32 and 26.5 respectively.
4) Handling / Speed: I have not done any conclusive tests here, but on some winding roads and some right hand turns at descent speed, they performed fine for me. At no point did I brake traction (when in other cars you easily could), but I candidly don't feel like testing far beyond how I would normally drive. From a safety perspective for evasive maneuvering at speed (e.g. fast lane change to avoid an object, etc.), they are more than adequate for me as I already had to quickly avoid debris on the freeway the other day.
5) Stopping Distance: I have not tested, and will not test. I have never had a huge need in this department, and am pretty easy on my cars. Furthermore, any OEM that I have had from Acura / Honda has performed fine in this department.
6) Weather: Haven't tested since weather has been clear in Southern CA. That said, if I look at how the EL440s performed in very heavy rain, I am not worried about these. As for light snow, I have a similar opinion. That said, if I was located somewhere with seasonal snow or in the mountains more, I would just use winter tires during the appropriate months as these types of tires I don't find suitable all the time.
Overall, I am very happy with the new setup. Although it is interesting that my research has lead me to a setup very close to OEM for the Base TLX, there were a lot of interesting learnings along the way. Hopefully this perspective helps if others do have similar priorities to me from there wheels/tires.
Also, as part of this whole exorcise, I do have an extra set of Base Model wheels, and here is the link to the marketplace ad.
Model: Technology TLX
Wheels Before: 19x18.5 OEM Wheels (Part: 42800-TGV-A02TO )
Tires Before: Bridgestone EL440 (255/40R19 W Rated OEM)
Mileage: ~46,000
For background, I have had the car since 2021, and given the amount of long distance freeway driving I do, my tires needed replacement. I noticed several things as the tire wore past 30,000 miles:
1) They became much more noisy, over every surface, and only perfect asphalt with absolutely no imperfections would not produce annoying amounts of noises (but too much noise would still be present). Note that the original tires were acceptable (and could roar on a very limited number of surfaces) in the beginning, but not ideal.
2) The setup was not really that comfortable over road imperfections, but became unacceptable to me with the noise.
There was a time when my driving was almost exclusively all freeway, but since I have been doing more city driving recently, I sought change.
Given the above, I wanted two hit two birds with one stone, but had several criteria when deciding on rims/tires:
1) Wheel Size
2) Quality / Durability
3) Aesthetics (subjective)
4) Tires
5) Initial Cost of Setup
6) Ongoing Cost (MPG / Tire Replacement Intervals:Warrenty:Initial Cost / Resale Value)
Methodology:
1) Wheel Size: Tire with a larger sidewall (better impact/comfort & sound properties), but didn't feel I needed to go with a large amount more. For several reasons below, I ended up going with 18".
2) Wheel Quality/Durability: Last in any condition, and always look good/as they should with normal wear/tear.
3) Aesthetics: Nothing "fancy", but nothing that stands out.
4) Tires: 1) Comfortable, 2) Quiet, 3) Low Rolling Resistance / Good MPG, 4) Handling / Speed 5) Stopping Distance
5) Cost of Setup: These types of cars are depreciating assets, and wanted to invest the minimal amount while not skimping to be comfortable (my personal perspective, obviously)
6) Ongoing Cost: Some tires are going to cost more to operate (loss of MPG can be substantial from my research...)
What I Went With and Why:
1) I settled on the OEM 18x8" (Part: 42800-TGV-A30) rims because of quality (Enkei is the manufacturer of the 42800-TGV-A30 wheel), and I couldn't find any aftermarket wheels I liked. That said, I could see more comfort from a 17" wheel, but opted to not to for a number of reasons.
2) Due to the fact that I have owned Hondas(2) and Acuras(4) for a long time, I know they don't have weather/outdoor (rain/snow/etc./etc.) related issues.
3) Sounds silly, but the wheel design was produced for the car, and I don't value customizing, etc.
4) Aesthetics weighed in, and although not the most pleasing design, the OEM is fine by me. I also couldn't find any aftermarket designs I actually liked that were directly compatible with my car.
4) Michelin Primacy Tour A/S (H rated), and tried the Continental Pure Contact LS (V rated) for a week. More on this aspect below.
5) It was a better value to source used OEM rims than than others given the above. Also, concerns about aftermarket and manufacturing process/quality compared to cost.
6) Minimal for what I wanted vs. reality of different setups. With warranty, negligible given what I am prioritizing.
Given my priorities for wheels/tires (1) Comfortable, 2) Quiet, 3) Low Rolling Resistance / Good MPG, 4) Handling / Speed 5) Stopping Distance), I tried the Pure Contact LS from Continental (235/50R18 V Rated). Needless to say, that tire was very loud at times, and going over any imperfection in the road was harsh (stiff bouncing from tires, even at 32 PSI). Of note the rolling resistance seemed extremely low, which was the only positive aspect I found about these tires. I had a loaner car briefly with the OEM setup on the a Base TLX (Bridgestone EL440 235/50R18), and that was far superior. Given that I had heard/seen better reviews out of Michelin (on comfort/sound) for the Primacy Tour A/S, I ended up going that direction. I settled on these for several reasons:
1) Treadwear rating (540) is above the EL440s (480), and not insanely high like the Pro Contact (700). From my perspective, going that high was a factor in noise/comfort, and didn't want to return to Bridgestone. Note that I did research various other tires, but the tradeoffs for quality/safety, and my criteria were too many.
2) If my Bridgestones lasted as long as they did (~46k miles, probably attributed to relaxed driving style), I was advised by a rep at Discount Tire I would probably see better results out of the Michelin from a wear perspective, and he also validated they have better noise properties as well. Note that the EL440s still have a descent amount of tread left (I believe a little less than half), but noise/comfort had been compromised... So if I really wanted to get another 10-15k out of the tires, I know I could have. Also, I do like the fact that the Primacy Tour A/S was an alternative OEM tire. To me, these were comparable and a more logical choice, as going outside of OEMs was already a miss (and didn't feel like paying another $80 to have different tires mounted when I didn't have a high degree of certainty about the outcome).
3) Given the choice between H (130 MPG) and V (149 MPH), I went with H for several reasons. First, I don't have a use case for that high of a speed rating, and from a handling perspective I don't need that level of rigidity for the rating difference. Furthermore, directly quoted from Michelin Customer Service about the differences between the H and V rated Primacy Tour A/S tire construction, the "V rated tires typically use a softer, more high-performance rubber compound to handle higher temperatures generated at high speeds. While not always significantly different, V rated tires may have a slightly stiffer construction to maintain shape and stability at high speeds". From my perspective, it seemed logical to move to H to gain more comfort, etc.
4) Rolling resistance on H vs. V rated tires is typically better (since the rubber isn't as soft), and directly translates to better gas mileage. Also, given the OEM EL440s are W rated, I would expect the same, if not better, gas mileage.
5) The warranty is 55,000 miles, which is descent considering what I am prioritizing, and based on my driving habits don't suspect they would wear out prior. And if they do, I am not concerned since there would be a proration credit towards new tires.
Results (Compared to Criteria):
1) Comfort: Excellent, I have had the tires on a multitude of surfaces, and they are consistently comfortable across the board, and absorb road imperfections (even small potholes) very well. And, dips in the freeway at speed are barely felt.
2) Sound: Excellent, they are consistently quiet at low and freeway speeds, and road imperfections are barely audible. Note: To drown out road noise from the old setup, my music volume would have to be at about 45%. Now, I can drown out anything from the road at ~15%, so it is a pretty big difference. I know my car isn't Lexus (ES) / Mercedes (E or S class), but the changes made do lean the car much closer to those types of cars while not changing suspension, adding sound deadening, etc.
3) Rolling Resistance / MPG: I have seen gas mileage slightly improve. Although I haven't cycled a full tank yet, I am projecting freeway will be about 34, and combined with city would come out to 28-29 for me normally. Prior, I have seen 32 and 26.5 respectively.
4) Handling / Speed: I have not done any conclusive tests here, but on some winding roads and some right hand turns at descent speed, they performed fine for me. At no point did I brake traction (when in other cars you easily could), but I candidly don't feel like testing far beyond how I would normally drive. From a safety perspective for evasive maneuvering at speed (e.g. fast lane change to avoid an object, etc.), they are more than adequate for me as I already had to quickly avoid debris on the freeway the other day.
5) Stopping Distance: I have not tested, and will not test. I have never had a huge need in this department, and am pretty easy on my cars. Furthermore, any OEM that I have had from Acura / Honda has performed fine in this department.
6) Weather: Haven't tested since weather has been clear in Southern CA. That said, if I look at how the EL440s performed in very heavy rain, I am not worried about these. As for light snow, I have a similar opinion. That said, if I was located somewhere with seasonal snow or in the mountains more, I would just use winter tires during the appropriate months as these types of tires I don't find suitable all the time.
Overall, I am very happy with the new setup. Although it is interesting that my research has lead me to a setup very close to OEM for the Base TLX, there were a lot of interesting learnings along the way. Hopefully this perspective helps if others do have similar priorities to me from there wheels/tires.
Also, as part of this whole exorcise, I do have an extra set of Base Model wheels, and here is the link to the marketplace ad.
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