Brake Pad Replacement

Initial Review, 650 Miles on Tires
December 19, 2012

My previous winter tires, the original 1st generation Michellin X-Ice, finally needed to be replaced after 9 seasons of use (around 22,000 miles). I liked their performance in nasty winter conditions, as well as dry and wet conditions. After watching/reading Tire Rack's test results and looking at numerous other sources, I decided to go with the Michellin X-Ice Xi3 tires.

I'm reviewing this tire mounted on a 1999 BMW 540i 6-speed manual with approx. 650 miles driven on the set. The performance is great! They grab really well while accelerating and braking in light snow (about as well as my summer tires do in wet/rainy conditions). In deeper packed snow, they provide noticeably better traction than the 1st generation X-Ice tires. Even when they are driven beyond their traction capabilities on packed snow, they provide a predictable response making it rather easy to correct the loss of traction and regain control.

Compared to a the set of Continental WinterForce tires on my 2008 BMW 535Xi, I would say that these provide more traction, especially on icy and packed-snow roads. It is a little hard to differentiate the tires abilities since the 535Xi is all-wheel drive, but when braking (which doesn't make use of the all-wheel drive), the X-Ice Xi3 performs better in every condition. The Continental is still a great tire, and I would recommend it if you want a more comfortable and quieter ride, and are willing to sacrifice a little snow/ice traction and dry/wet road handling to get it. They are still very capable and I have never been stuck in the Continentals, but the Michellin X-Ice Xi3 just provide a little extra traction, along with better dry/wet road handling and a sense of confidence when driving in winter weather.

If you have an all-wheel drive vehicle, both the Continental and Michellin will work well. However, if you drive a rear-wheel drive vehicle, I would highly recommend the Michellin X-Ice Xi3 for it's added "bite" in winter weather conditions.

Initial Review, 14,000 Miles on Tires
November 28, 2012

I can see why Ford went with these tires on the performance Mustangs, they handle brilliantly. Braking, turning, wet or dry handline, just excellent. However, even with regular rotation they're toast at just 14k miles. I'm probably going with the Michelin Pilot SS for replacement, since they actually have a tread wear warranty.

Initial Review, 100 Miles on Tires
November 12, 2012

I put he Conti DWS on and that very day we got rain, then 2 inches of slushy/icy snow here in New England. Imeediately as I hit some puddles on the highway I noticed the tire did not hydroplane. Later I was able to take the car out in the snow. Roads were covered with a couple of inches or a little more. The tires did great! I got up hills and had no problems. Very little abs action on the brakes when stopping. I'm impressed. These tires do what they say they can do. Replaced a set of Kumho Ecsta 4x which were also a decent budget tire. You can see my reviews on here for those also. I'd have to say that for New England weather these Conti's are superior and I have more confidence with them in rain or snow. I'l write more as they wear.

Initial Review, 17,828 Miles on Tires
November 17, 2012

I purchased these tires as a replacement for the Bridgestone OEM's that I had installed the last time I needed new tires. Those tires seemed pretty good for the beating I spooned out for them.However it was time for something a little bit more appropriate for my driving style.
I read a lot of reviews and Tundra forum posts for a new replacement. These Firestones won because I drive my Tundra more like a sports car and less like the big pickup that it is. Aside from what I had read, I liked the aggressive tread pattern but this doesn't mean that it impacts the ride other than being a bit nosier than the OEM's. I had these installed at a local CarX just as a snow storm was bearing down on us. When I pulled out of the shop there was 4-5" of fresh deep wet snow on the ground. I had little to be concerned about as soon as the tires started turning. They rolled straight and true through the deep snow at highway speed without missing a beat, even though others were less ambitious to drive at the speeds I chose to. They're snow performance is outstanding for a tire of this type and low sidewall height. They offered great confidence and when the weather dried and got warmer they cornered well and had excellent braking power. A good example would be while on a trip to Deals Gap on the Tennessee - N. Carolina border, I made a friend who was in the back seat ill because of the grip available and the frequent beeping of the traction control as I swung the truck left and right through 300+ turns in 11 miles! Needless to say be didn't lose his lunch in my truck even though his skin tone was greener than when we began the trip through the pass, but these tires impressed me in their ability to grip those tight turns. If you're on the fence about buying a good inexpensive sport truck tire? Don't be hesitant to choose these. you're wallet and you won't regret it!

Initial Review, 400 Miles on Tires
November 14, 2012

I bought these (with a new set of OZ Racing Ultraleggeras 18x8 square setup) to replace my last winter set: 17 inch Dunlop Wintersport 3Ds. Essentially, big shoes to fill, when it comes to snow/slush/ice performance. The Dunlops are that good in the nasty stuff.

These new guys so far perform just as well as the Wintersport 3Ds in the cold-and-wet/slush--which is saying something, with the Wintersports being outstanding--and better in the cold-and-dry (where the Wintersports let me down a bit). These Pirellis really feel like performance tires.
Here on Long Island we get at most a week of snow in the winter, and the rest of the time it's just cold and sometimes wet. And in these conditions, the Pirellis really do a great job.

Overall, the Pirellis are very good winter tires, but be warned, these guys are NOISY. They whine when unloaded (coasting), but quiet down when cornering, braking, or accelerating.

Initial Review, 32,000 Miles on Tires
November 05, 2012

These Michelins have given great service. There is plenty of tread left and the overall performance is about what you'd expect from Michelin.I have never been disappointed with this brand. I have used them on three of my wife's cars and all have given good value.
On this truck I am primarily looking for good treadwear, low noise and decent wet/snow and dry traction.This tire delivers. Keep an eye on the inflation and rotate them at about 5k miles and they should last a long while. I waited to write this review til I had some time/miles on them and there is still plenty of tread left to get through this and probably next winter.
I replaced 10 ply Goodyear Silent Armor Pros, from a local dealer, that did not go 30k. So trust Tire Rack, (I've bought many winter tires, brake parts and shocks from them), and Michelin.

Initial Review, 200 Miles on Tires
November 04, 2012

So I have never written a review for Tirerack before.....although I have read many reviews as an excellent resource for purchasing tires from them! However, I felt sufficiently inspired to share my experience which may help others.

I have an 04 WRX wagon with Cobb (Hotchkiss) front and rear sways, Cobb Stage 2 and Stop Tech Perf pads on regular brakes. I had previously purchased the Bridgestone RE01's and really loved them. Since I have the stock 16in wheels (I don't really understand this trend to huge and heavy large diameter wheels!), the RE01's were amazingly cheap. However, after end of life, the RE01's were discontinued replaced by the RE-11's, for about 50% more $$$. So needless to say I looked for alternate options, and I ended up purchasing the Bridgestone 760's.

Well, I had the 760s for over 20,000mi and was pretty satisfied with them. Then I got the dreaded nail in the sidewall. Even with a good deal of treadwear left on my remaining 3 tires, with 4 wheel drive I felt it was prudent to purchase 4 new tires to not stress out the center diff.

So I decided to pony up for the RE11's.......Oh my ---.......I thought the 760s were good and would not desire much more.....I was wrong. The RE-11's are unbelievably better in every way. The most amazing thing to me is how much better they ride. They are incredibly soft over sharp bumps in the road. And their high G cornering characteristics are incredibly predictable and simply outstanding.

I know they are expensive, but since I am probably keeping this 04 wagon forever (these subies are amazing....still feels like it is new with basically no failures after almost 9 years), my wife unit is OK with me occasionally splurging on these tires to make me happy! I will likely never go a different direction again. And I may finally be inspired enough to start some Autocross events.....at 56 years old!

Initial Review, 30,000 Miles on Tires
November 03, 2012

These tires have excellent dry traction and good wet traction as well. I feel very confident under hard braking from high speeds with these on my truck. Great grip with these, I drive my Suburban like a race car and these handle the abuse and ask for more. I usually hate Goodyear tires but these came factory and are excellent tires. I will replace with same tire when the time comes. These tires are not designed for off-road use nor are they designed for use in snow or ice though they do just fine on this vehicle in snow as long as auto 4wd is used. I don't expect any tire to work miracles in the snow for a beast this size and weight though. If you have problems in snow with these, slow down, you're driving to fast!

Initial Review, 1,500 Miles on Tires
October 08, 2012

Really don't have enough miles on tires to fully rate. These were an excellent bargain priced tire that was very competitive in comparison results. They seem as grippy as the Michelins they replaced due to dry rot. Limited wet weather driving seems fairly sure footed. May be a little rougher and noisier than Michelins, but cornering and braking are on par. Don't think the mileage wear will match, but if you don't drive a lot per year, these seem to be a great bargain tire for performance minded drivers.

Initial Review, 1,500 Miles on Tires
October 09, 2012

Called the Tire Rack to order a different tire because stock size is NLA from most manufacturers. Sales Advisor informed me about the Bridgestone RE-11 in my size. I have not had good prior experience with Bridgestone, but since this was the ONLY performance tire in this size I decided to give it a try. My FIRST spirited driving on them was at the Tail of the Dragon in NC/Tenn. and I am completely happy with this tire. It was quiet on the hgwy on the way to Deals Gap, rides comfortably, and grips like Gorilla Glue in the turns. Braking was improved over the Dunlops replaced, and 180+ degree turns at 45 MPH could not break them loose or even make them squeal.(not so for the Michelin Pilot Sports on the front). I will be buying a set for the front end in the next few days. I could not be happier about the performance, ride or noise of these tires. EXCELLENT PRODUCT. Note: my 88 928S4 has 340 HP and a "light" rear end and there was no hint of looseness or impending break away with the Bridgestones even under heavy acceleration in 2nd & 3rd gear uphill on the Tail of the Dragon.

Initial Review, 60,000 Miles on Tires
September 20, 2012

Great tires that exceeded expectations. Replaced OEM tires at 35K miles and these lasted through 60K miles (10K beyond warranty) of 70+ MPH highway driving and the associated hard braking on S FL highways. I replaced them today with the next gen Turanza Serenity Plus. This is the first time I've gone with the same tire back-to-back in my 20+ years of tire purchases.

Excellent traction both dry and wet, even with the heavy FL downpours we experience here. Very quiet throughout the lifetime of the tires...driving on new highway pavement, they were silent until the end. Little noise on older pavement and better in this regard than the OEM tires. Overall, great performance, especially in the rain, and impressive durability. Possibly a slight decrease in MPG over OEM, but the next gen Serenity is supposed to have a lower rolling resistance and slightly improved mileage. Regardless, this would not cause me to look at other tires. Completely satisfied with these.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
October 03, 2012

I bought these tires because i wanted "good" tires (not offbrand) that did not cost a lot of money (mainly because my car needs new struts so the tires will just wear out sooner) but i still want to keep my family safe. so i purchased these kumhos. and i am impressed off the bat these tires are difinently quieter and more stable then the firestones they replaced and wet traction and braking have improved tremendously as well. the tire size is 205/70/15 so it is no way a sports car tire and was not expecting much however as a simple commuter that gets point a to b this tire passed my expectations and is great for somone who does not drive agressively. i would probably replace with the same tires again

Initial Review, 9,500 Miles on Tires
September 06, 2012

I bought this truck from a friend who purchased this new. I was looking for a set of tires to replace the OEM tires on the truck that were worn.

I’ve had positive experiences with Michelin tires on my MDX, with their LTX models, the A/S and the M/S, so I began looking into these as replacements. The A/S tires are a great all season tire, but lasted about 38,000 miles before needing replacement and were a little too light for this application. The M/S tires that replaced the A/S tires were a big improvement in the snow and all around, but were a little loud at highway speeds on the MDX, so when I came across the M/S2’s, this was the tire I had to have.

The difference in tread pattern over the standard M/S was the key factor in my decision. The combination of a traction tread design (similar to their commercial truck highway traction tires), in line traction blocks and the snow / ice sipes found on the Michelin Latitude X-Ice Xi2(used as dedicated winter tires on my 06 Maxima), made this the perfect replacement. I optioned to go with the heavier ply (123/120R) in lieu of the standard 111T due to heavier side wall construction. Living in the City with all the potholes, manhole covers and construction plates, tires take a beating and the heavier sidewall I feel would offer me better protection against a blow out or puncture.

The ride quality is noticeably stiffer, solid but not bone jarring and to be expected with a 2500 series SUV over the lighter 1500 series. The tread is relatively quiet on the highway and turning feedback and response is positive. No numb feeling or lost connection with the road surface. The one thing I did notice was an improvement in braking feel, feedback and distance. Under hard braking, you can feel the tires grab the road surface, helping you slow down and not letting the brakes do all the work inspiring confidence.

Unless Michelin introduces an M/S 3, I will be purchasing another set when these are worn, in about 50/60k miles.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
September 06, 2012

I am resubmitting this review with a more detailed explanation.

With my cars as well as my motorcycles, I have always stressed the best quality in high performance tires be used, as your life depends upon them.

I bought the 2009 Accord Coupe EX-L V-6 (with Nav and 6 speed manual tranny) with the optional 19" Honda Factory Performance (HFP) wheels shod with Dunlop Sport Maxx tires. They worked quite well for OEM tires. I have since added a K & N Typhoon Cold Air intake, a beautiful Greddy SE cat-back exhaust system, EBC Sport Rotor and Red Stuff pad upgrade, sport suspension upgrade and Jet Power Module / MAF sensor / ECU reflash. This is not a normal stock car any longer and certainly does not perform like one - quite a sleeper.

In keeping with my performance enhancements, these 245/40-19 Michelin Pilot Super Sports are replacing another very good tire, the Continental Extreme Contact DW's which in turn had replaced the Dunlops. As these Michelin tires were designed for the Ferrari 348 as a follow on to their PS2's, that is one of the best handling platforms with which to launch this tire design.

I am a very spirited (professionally trained SCCA & NHRA) driver, probing the extents of the performance envelope when and where safely possible.

The wet and dry handling of the Michelins is excellent and steering / transient response are RIGHT NOW, handling as if on rails. Breakaway is consistent and easily manageable and the ride quality and comfort is quite good for this type of low profile, high performance tire. Braking is greatly improved with the EBC brake upgrade and these sticky gumballs, brakes being a weakness with the original car's set-up. So far the noise in minimal, but as with most ultra and max performance tires, I expect the noise to increase a bit with wear. I drove the Conti's hard for almost 40 K miles and hope to get similar mileage from these Michelins.

They are a bit pricey, but I think they are worth every cent.

Initial Review, 1,200 Miles on Tires
August 25, 2012

I replaced a set of Yokohama that were only half worn out (that I bought from Tire Rack). The noise was driving me nuts. They sounded like the wheel bearing were going bad. As a matter of fact I replaced one hub bearing. And the noise was still there. Replaced rotors and brake pads and the noise was still there. Bought this set of tires and the noise went away.

Initial Review, 25,000 Miles on Tires
August 03, 2012

This was the stock tire, and the end mileage was a disappointment. The RX450h is an interesting vehicle, but it is certainly not overpowered. My wife's driving style is somewhat impatient, but acceleration is not spirited. Braking and cornering are slightly aggressive. We ran the tires at around 35 psi for most of their life as recommended by the dealer, and side wear was greater than center. We got another 2000 miles out of them near end-of-life by bumping up to 40 psi. The ride was not worse. Our replacement decision was Yokohama Parada Spec-X, which has a higher UTQG rating (420 vs. 300) and is less expensive. So far, so good. We'll see about snow performance if we have any more winters

Initial Review, 1,500 Miles on Tires
July 19, 2012

I decided to go with S.drives to replace my previous set of cheap and terrible Nexen N3000s. Night and day difference. The S.drives actually let you know whats happening and when you can expect to lose grip. I've been to the track a couple times this year on them, and when you near the limits they squeel then slowly and progressively lose traction. I've never felt like they were just going to suddenly let go mid-corner. I've never had an issue under acceleration, and in the wet I've never really pushed them, but they did grip well under wet acceleration and braking. Steering response is great. The sidewalls are pretty stiff, which also keeps them from folding under very hard cornering. Ride comfort is actually pretty good as well, though I changed from a 215/45/17 to a 225/45/17 so that little bit of added sidewall is probably where that comes from. I can't comment on treadlife yet as I've got just over 2000km on these tires, but so far I'm very happy with them and would recommend them to anyone who actually uses their vehicle for some form of racing (autocross, lapping, etc), in addition to on the street.

Initial Review, 50 Miles on Tires
June 16, 2012

The Pilot Super Sports are easily as good as some track tires I've used. Accelerating in corners in a RWD vehicle can always be a bit hairy, but these tires inspire confidence and awe. Unintended wheel spin is virtually eliminated in dry conditions, and minimum braking distance is greatly reduced compared to the all seasons these replaced on my vehicle.

The only downside is that while performance is second to none, at around a grand for a set shipped & installed, this tire doesn't necessarily provide the best performance per dollar. With some Asian manufacturers coming close to this level of performance at nearly half the price, it would be nice to see Michelin price their offerings competitively. Still, if you want the best, it comes at a price, and you can't find a street tire better than this at any price in my opinion. And while I'm not one to wrap myself in the flag, buying these tires has the bonus of supporting an American company producing quality products in the USA. Kudos to Michelin.