A good percentage of the customers that I talk to with newer cars always seem to be unhappy with the O.E. (Original Equipment) tires that came on the car. One of the most common tires that I see on performance-oriented sedans is the Michelin Pilot HX MXM4. This tire is designed as a Grand Touring All-Season tire that will provide a smooth comfortable ride quality and low noise levels. The problem is that people make the assumption that since the tire is on a car with a lot of power then it must be a performance tire. Surprise! You just bought a car that can go really fast but doesn't offer great handling. This is a situation where maybe the vehicle manufacturer might have offered more than one option for the Original Equipment tire or you may need to purchase a tire that is more suited to your needs.
If you tend to be the type of driver that likes taking the highway interchanges faster than may be posted or when you find an open stretch of road you like to let the ponies under the hood loose then you should most likely be driving on performance-oriented tires. An example of some popular performance tires are the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position, Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, Continental Sport Contact 3, or the Yokohama Advan Sport
However if ride comfort is the most important characteristic to you then you probably should be looking for a touring all-season tire to provide a smoother ride. An example of some touring tires would be the Michelin Primacy MXV4 Plus, Bridgestone Turanza Serenity, Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum, or the Continental Pro Contact.
Most vehicle manufacturers use tires to meet a specific type of characteristic for the vehicle they are designing. Regrettably those characteristics may not always match your style of driving. This is where Tire Rack sales specialists like myself come in. We can help you determine what type of tires may suit your needs better than the tires that came on your car or truck.
If you tend to be the type of driver that likes taking the highway interchanges faster than may be posted or when you find an open stretch of road you like to let the ponies under the hood loose then you should most likely be driving on performance-oriented tires. An example of some popular performance tires are the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position, Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, Continental Sport Contact 3, or the Yokohama Advan Sport
However if ride comfort is the most important characteristic to you then you probably should be looking for a touring all-season tire to provide a smoother ride. An example of some touring tires would be the Michelin Primacy MXV4 Plus, Bridgestone Turanza Serenity, Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum, or the Continental Pro Contact.
Most vehicle manufacturers use tires to meet a specific type of characteristic for the vehicle they are designing. Regrettably those characteristics may not always match your style of driving. This is where Tire Rack sales specialists like myself come in. We can help you determine what type of tires may suit your needs better than the tires that came on your car or truck.
Tires can encounter problems for a variety of reasons. Some can be the tire's fault, others can be traced to earlier road hazards that weakened the tire's internal structure during weeks or months of driving while others are the result of a puncture that let the air pressure drop until the tire could no longer carry the weight of your vehicle. Our experience is that if the cause is related to how well the tire was manufactured, the problem would become apparent very early in the tire's life. With about 20k on the tires, we'd place our bets on the other possible causes.
Unfortunately, there's no way to determine the real cause without examining the tire inside and out, so we'd recommend taking your tire and wheel to a local Michelin dealer for a thorough inspection. They may find visible confirmation of what happened that they can show you.
If the dealer's inspection doesn't reveal the cause, you may want to contact Michelin's Consumer Care Department by calling (866) 866-6605 between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST Monday through Friday or Saturday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Thanks for your help
The Primacy MXM4 tested very well here at Tire Rack. Also it is getting much better satsfaction ratings in our surveys from consumers than the Pilot ever did.