Car Tires Online

Initial Review, 1,500 Miles on Tires
April 24, 2013

After reading online about another Scion XD owner getting the Pirelli P7 Plus in 215/55/16 I decided to try them out. WOW! What an incredibly smooth, and well handling tire. My little Scion no longer feels bouncy, or harsh over bad roads. I glide down the road with precision steering control. A much appreciated change in my cars handling, and ride comfort. And, I too, really like the look of the 215/55 w/Motegi wheels on my XD.

Initial Review, 200 Miles on Tires
March 19, 2013

After having Pirelli's on my Volvo C70 that were horrible, I am exceedingly pleased with the MXM4's. The car rides like a new vehicle. Great control on wet roads with a crisp and comfy ride on dry. Very quiet too. My husband did not like to drive the car before because the Pirelli's were a rough ride. Now he loves my car! Cannot recommend these tires enough - 5 Stars! Complements also to Tire Rack as the service online and over the phone was superb. Second time happy customer that will be back!

Initial Review, 150 Miles on Tires
February 17, 2013

First of all, I ordered these on the 15th, and received them at my front door on the 16th!
Keep in mind, this was through UPS standard shipping. Completely blew my mind.
Granted, I haven't put many miles on this set, but I can say that they are a definite improvement from the stock Michelins that came on the car when we bought it new from the dealer.
Excellent traction, and extremely quiet tires.
This is my first time buying tires online, and will not be my last!
I'd strongly recommend them to anyone interested in a good quality tire at a great price point.
I shopped around town for quite some time and these exact tires ranged anywhere from 700.00-500.00, and that's without installation.
I took them to a local installation center, and for less than $50.00, they recycled my old tires, and mounted, balanced, and installed them for me.

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
February 09, 2013

I cannot believe there are no reviews on this tire anywhere online!

When I was searching for winter tires for my M3 I really wanted a tire that would get me through light or heavy snow, but with a strong emphasis on not sacrificing dry cold conditions.

I was tempted to go with a Blizzak LM-60, but there were a few reasons I decided not to.
1. The factory recommended tire for the M3 is a Pilot Alpin 3 (since 2008), this could be considered the newest update, so that held some weight.
2. I could not break myself away from the fact that the PA4 is V speed rated and the Blizzak H rated. Am I going to drive 150 in the snow? no I am not... but the Pilot Alpin is designed for speed, so that has to trickle down for every day driving performance.
3. I also like the Assymetrical design of the tire and the snow sipes which are angled (most likely for snow turning performance, and I feel this really helps the snow grip performance when turning.

The size I chose was 245/40 r 18 which I decided because I wanted to have the exact same size front as the summer setup. The factory recommends 235 but this has not at all been an issue.

The PA4 is wider than other 245 tires by just a few mm's according to the specs.
I mounted them square on 4 identical 9.5 inch wide wheels for rotation purposes, and there is enough side wall tire that the wheel is not sticking out.

They drive safely in ice/snow and grip well, but have a tremendous amount of grip in the cold dry, and do not at all feel like they sacrifice steering response or grip from the factory summer sport michelins. (when driving in the cold)

I chose the Michelins PA4 over the LM-60 because to me COLD dry and wet driving performance is more important and actually measurable to me. Face it, if the snow gets deep enough eventually any low car is going to get stuck, so for just a few inches of snow a few times a year, why give up all of that FUN dry grip performance?

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
June 21, 2012

What a difference! I had a missed matched pair of Dunlops on the front and Nittos on the back when I bought the car used a year ago. Road noise is down at least 50% although the Z51 package does not help matters which is fine with me. Straight line traction and braking is fantastic. Cornering is predictable and grip is light-years better than the junk that was on the car. This is my fifth Corvette,I had a '62,'64,'70, and 84 previously. I am now realizing what a C6 can really do with the proper tires. Doing business with Tire Rack was fantastic, the tires were shipped the same day I ordered them online, and the shop had them the next day. Follow up tracking was great. I shopped these tires for months and Tire Racks comparisons and reviews were the best in making my decision.

Initial Review, 100 Miles on Tires
June 18, 2012

Bought a used 05 Honda Pilot 6 months ago that had Goodyear Integrity tires (OEM specs). Everywhere on the internet these tires are rated very poorly. So even though these had about 5 - 10 k tread remaining I decided to get new tires. I was torn between the Michelin LTX M/S2, Continental CrossContact LX20 with EcoPlus Technology and Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season. There were not enough reviews on Tirerack.com for the Continental and Pirelli tires - hence it looked like Michelins the most trustworthy choice to make.

Shopped around for prices and finally got - what I consider a very good deal (one local chain shop did a price match with an online seller)- and had the tires installed 2 days ago. I could not believe the difference - it was like night and day. The steering suddenly became sooo... much lighter. The car used to pull to the right with no uneven wear on the tires. I had gotten the tires rotated to try to fix this but that didn't help. With these new Michelins that problem suddenly vanished and I feel that I am driving a totally different vehicle.

Tire noise has been a revelation - in the sense that it almost does not exist. Only now do I realize how horrible was the tire noise in the old GY tires. I also find myself using a lighter foot on the gas. It's too early to tell but I am confident that I will be getting a little better mileage with these tires.

Will come back and update this review (or write another one) after I have had these tires for longer.

Regards
Sanjay

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
May 23, 2012

Bought these to replace my OE Pirelli P6 All Seasons. The new set of Kumho Ecsta 4X (+1 size) is terrific - a clear step up from the Pirelli's in nearly every regard. They're a bit of a harder ride (might be due to the +1), but the dry traction is spectacular and the steering response is exceptional. Excellent on-centre feel and great communication through the wheel.

The Ecsta 4X is quiet on smooth pavement but on poor roads, not so much.

We had a bit of a late snowstorm last April, a couple weeks after I had the tires mounted (I use dedicated winter tires here in Alberta). The Ecsta 4X's highly asymmetric tread seems to contribute to poor cornering on snow/ice, although straight line traction (including braking) is acceptable for an all-season tire. I definitely would not recommend this tire for use year-round in Canada or the regions with serious winter conditions.

Probably the best thing about the Ecsta 4X is the price. Far cheaper than my car's OE tire, despite being clearly better. Ordered online from Canada, the shipping and other non-product fees constituted about 1/3 of the total price but still far cheaper than buying locally. Great deal, Tire Rack!

Initial Review, 20 Miles on Tires
March 31, 2010

Just put these on my 2003 X5 3.0 Sport this morning. Took them out for adrive to get a feel for them having come off of Michelin Latitude Tour HPs. I ran the Latitude's for 42k miles which is high for this tire on the X5 (negative camber kills inside treads).



While early, the difference between the Latitude and Envigor is, the Michelin has a slightly softer sidewall giving a more supple ride whole the Envigor has a slightly stiffer feel. Turning is super easy on the Envigor and you can easily feel the tread set in a full turn while accelerating.



On bumps, again the Envigos is slightly more stout while the Latitudes has a little more cushion. Having the Sport suspension on the X5 I am okay with this difference as it does not make the ride uncomfortable or harsh.



Braking grip feel good, very similar the Latitudes. Acceleration felt normal, good grip and no squealing or slippage.



I bought the Envigor base upon what I was reading online about the tire and it abilities. For $100 less per tire than the Latitude's I believe Yokohama is delivering high value to the market with the Envigor.



Being a business person, one can assume that 30% the cost of a product is advertising expense. So with the Latitude costing around $260 per tire for my car, that means $75 per tire can be advertising which means the value proposition difference between the Latitudes and Envigors is pretty close.



Overall, with such a short ownership experience to date, I am happy with my initial impression and will report back over time. If I get another 42k miles from these Envigors I will consider my choice fabulous as I saved over $300 choosing the Yokohama Envigors over the Michelin Latitude Tour HPs.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
April 19, 2012

I purchased these mostly to take advantage of the strong Aussie dollar and also because my tyre size is a bit uncommon here and subsequently choice is less and cost is more.
In the end bought a superior tyre online for less than an average one from a shop. Shipping was pretty expensive I thought but that's the norm it seems buying online from the states. On the plus side,the tyres were dispatched and landed down under in just a couple of days which I thought was pretty impressive.
I wouldn't call myself an aggressive driver but still, don't mind throwing it about a few corners (we've all got our faves don't we)on the odd occasion.
The tyres have worn pretty well which I would attribute to getting a dynamic wheel alignment following fitting as advised by my mechanic. Grip, cornering and wet performance are excellent and they coped with 1 in 100 year rain event we had at Christmas time wonderfully which is just what I needed as had all the family in the car at the time.
Unfortunately I hit a pretty nasty pothole at speed while on a country trip and when I inspected it at my destination, saw that the tyre had a rather large egg in the sidewall. Subsequently, a couple of weeks later my daughter hit another pothole with the same wheel and she blew. (The tyre that is. My daughter wouldn't do that. She's a nice girl.)
Unfortunately the shipping cost for two tyres is nearly the same as four and while I was keen to get some more Conti's, it just wasn't economically feasible :( I have replaced two of the Conti's with a Falken Z92 so we'll see how that goes.
If i have to buy a full set again I'll be looking at Tire rack. If I just need one or two, it's probably more economic to buy local but you takes your chances as far as choice.
Drive Safe
Longy

Initial Review, 38000 Miles on Tires
January 20, 2012

These are the best tires I have ever owned, have tried Pirelli, Blizzak, and others, but for the Acura RL, these have been the best. Online to purchase a new set of Dunlop Winter Sport 3D...will never change for this car...Dunlop wins for this family!

Initial Review, 5000 Miles on Tires
January 10, 2010

I bought these tires after researching them online and finding numerous positive reviews and then I saw the latest Consumer Reports winter tire test that rated them 2nd overall and that clinched it. These tires are rebranded Gislaved NordFrost 3's made in Germany by Continental (Continental owns both the Gislaved and General Tire brands).



I've used many winter tires over the last 20 years (Bridgestone WT-02, Michelin Alpin, Blizzak WS-50, Dunlop Winter Sport M3, Blizzak WS-60) and price independent these are without a doubt the best overall with the WS-60 a close second. When you factor in the price of these versus the WS-60s it's not even close.



They have very little noise, ride is excellent, actually even better than my all seasons as I went from 205/50R17 to 205/55R16 for the winters on separate steel rims. If somebody dropped you into the car and asked what type of tires it had you probably would never guess they were winter tires. Of course, not being performance winter tires you do give up some dry traction (most noticeable on the on-ramps) but they are the least "feeling" winter tires I have owned with the exception of the Dunlops, however the Dunlops did not inspire the same level of confidence as the Altimax when the weather turned nasty. They are very stable on the highway and do not exhibit some of the mushiness that affects many winter tires. I can't comment on wear as I've only had them 3 months however if I get at least 3 winters I'll be happy. I only managed 2 winters out of the very soft WS-60s and once the multicell compound wears away on those (55%) you are back to a standard winter compound negating a good portion of their ice traction.



Deep snow, packed snow and ice traction are all very good with the Generals, I have to really slam on the brakes to even engage the ABS. Backing up a sloped driveway after a freezing rain storm I did not slip once. Unlike snow tires of old, wet traction is also very good with no sense of hydroplaning on

Initial Review, 1500 Miles on Tires
November 07, 2011

I bought the used Spectra for the gas milage and it came with a fairly new set of tires. Theses tires went 40,000 miles and still had tread left. The handling and road noises were troubling to the point of constant initial checking for loose ball joints, CV joints and rear wheel bearings. Had to be those tires. But they would not wear out. Finally, at 40,000 miles I checked with Tire Rack online and the Hankooks appeared to be the logical choice for an inexpensive car like the KIA.

All road noise gone. Handling is as good as one would expect and wet/dry traction is excellent.

With only 1500 miles so far and no snow events yet a full review isn't possible but I no longer dread driving this car.

Initial Review, 15000 Miles on Tires
December 02, 2011

I was nervous about buying this tire at first, but after reading reviews here and elsewhere online, I decided to take the plunge just before Winter of '09. After two whole winters (and starting a third), the snow performance of these tires continue to leave me satisfied. I have intentionally put my little FWD Civic in nasty situations (unplowed parking lot after 12" of snow? why not!) and have never gotten stuck with these tires on the car. I've owned Hakkapelittas, and Blizzaks, and the Altimax Artic is a comparable contender to both at a fraction of the price.

The biggest detractor from these tires is their sidewalls. I expect a bit of softness in a snow tire, but these go to extremes. My car feels like it's "floating" at highway speeds, and requires some extra wheel input to keep it straight. When it's dry out, taking turns at speed in these tires will leave you guessing every time. Throughout the turn, the tires never settle, so you're constantly on edge trying to manage through the turn. Steering response is horrid as the sidewall turns to mush from any inputs. That said, lateral grip is impressive for such a cheap tire once you can tame the sidewall.

Overall, once you get the hang of the poor sidewall performance, the snow and ice performance makes you forget you ever doubted the tire.