Replace Shocks

Initial Review, 1,500 Miles on Tires
April 14, 2012

Bought these to replace 3 year old (39,000) Perelli P6's that began to cup. These Conit's are impressive. I started to feel the same tell-tale shaking that I associated with the failure of the P6's. Replaced shocks and struts with some higher end Koni's. The combination of the Conti's and the new suspension has proven to be the best investment that I have made since the car was purchased new. I highly recommend these to any Mazda 3 lovers out there.

Initial Review, 52,000 Miles on Tires
April 22, 2012

I am nearing the time to replace my OEM tires of this type and am shocked at the reviews I am seeing. Because I was so pleased with the performance of these tires, I was comparing them against others available. For the price I don't think they can be beat, however I may pay a bit more and upgrade to the Continental LX20. I will probably have 65000 miles on them when I change and up to this date without so much as a flat. Since the car was new I have averaged about 26 MPG which is at the high end of mileage but then again 90% of my driving is highway.

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

The General Grabber HTS was mounted on the front axle of my 2001 Durango 2WD, a set of Michelin LTX M/S2 were mounted on the rear axle. After 5000 miles, tires were rotated. 10,000 miles on both sets of tires now. Both tires started with 12/32 of tread per their Specs. Grabber HTS has about 7/32 left, M/S2 has about 9/32 left. Most of the driving is in the city of Miami. Tire Rack road test of the General Grabber HTS is relatively accurate. The main difference I notice, is that the General tire is a quicker responding tire to steering inputs, and gives a bouncier ride at the same tire pressures. The Michelin LTX M/S2 gives a more pleasant ride, but responds slower to steering inputs, which is not an altogether bad thing with the nervous and archaic suspension of my 2001 Durango! Both tires excellent in the wet, considering they are SUV tires! Durango has recently installed Bilstein shocks on front, Monroe Sensa-Tracs on rear. Generals have a built-in rim guard, and a hard plastic covering on the tire sidewall, which may protect the tire better than the Michelin's basic rubber sidewall. I notice that the new Continental LX20 is quite similar to the General, and I believe Continental owns General. In about 10,000 miles, the General Grabber HTS will probably have to be replaced. I would chose either the Continental LX20 or the Michelin LTX M/S2 at this time. I would consider the Goodyear Assurance CS Tripletread, but I am not sure it is made in my size. Hope this review was helpful.

Initial Review, 90,000 Miles on Tires
March 23, 2012

You read it right: 90,000mi! We bought this Escape in '07 used with only 14k miles on it. It had the original tires when we bought it. It still has the original tires today. If you don't believe me, I'll be happy to email you a pic of the tires and the odometer. They have finally worn out. To spite all the negative reviews on this tire, I can't honestly give them a bad review. As a gt mustang owner, I am well aware of how fast tires wear out. I'm impressed to the point of shock. I thought I was going to have to replace these tires 3 years ago based on reviews, but they just kept holding out. I don't know if this was a fluke or not. If there wasn't so much bad noise about them, I'd tell everyone they were crazy NOT to buy these tires. I feel like the exception here.

Initial Review, 24,000 Miles on Tires
February 01, 2012

These came with my CPO 2007 Volvo S80 3.2 FWD when I bought it from the dealer - they were brand new (245/40/R18). After 24,000 miles there is probably at least another 8 or 9 thousand miles left in them. I was so impressed with the ride quality, grip and lack of road noise that I also purchased a set for my 2005 Mini Cooper S when it needed new tires to replace the factory run-flats.

One of the things that has bothered me from day 1 is the complete lack of protection for my 18 inch Zubra alloys because the rim protection band is either tiny or non existent. 5 days after picking up the car I rubbed a kerb while parking at very low speed, a couple of weeks later my wife did the same thing! Both wheels showed quite a lot of kerb damage. Prior to this car I have never damaged an alloy on a kerb before, ever.

Last Saturday I rubbed a kerb again (24,000 miles later), probably at less than 2 miles an hour - and the side wall of the tire bubbled. Was shocked at the result. While driving the car home I could feel the vibration. Haven't had it on the freeway since - and will be getting a new set ASAP.

So I've decided to change to a set of Yokohama S.Drives, mainly because they're meant to have better rim protection, and a stronger sidewall - hopefully I won't regret it. 30 day 'test drive' promise though, so if I really hate them I will go back to the Hankooks or try something else.

Will file a review on the S.Drives once I've had a chance to check them out.

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
February 27, 2012

What I was looking for was a responsive tire with good straight line stability. Handling and surefooted confidence was far more important than a spongy ride. The Yokohama Geolandar HT/S tires (with 15K on them) that were on the truck when purchased used at 93K were quite squirmy exhibiting a very delayed response from steering input. Before I looked for tires I replaced the shocks, Idler arm and pitman arm, and had the truck aligned. I had a very unique opportunity to test three new tires on my truck: P265/70R17 Michelin LTX MS2, LT265/70R17 Michelin LTX MS2, and the P265/70R17 Continental CrossContact LX20. The P265/70R17 Michelin LTX MS2 exhibited considerable tire squirm at both 35 and 40 psi cold, not unlike the Yokohamas. The LT load-e version of the same Michelin LTX MS2 tire felt very similar at 50 and 60 psi, although the ride was predictably firmer. The Continental CrossContact LX20s, however, were like night and day compared to the Michelins and the Yokohamas. There was more feedback from the tires with a slightly firmer ride. They were quieter (although I wouldn't consider the Michelins noisy). But the steering response was considerably better. Steering input resulted in a nearly immediate change in direction, far better than either the Michelins or the Yokohamas which both exhibited an uncomfortable lag in response. The Continentals are rated at a slightly higher load rating then the P-Metric Michelins (144 lbs. per tire more) and are three pounds lighter. If you are interested in handling response and a better driving tire, get the Continentals.

Initial Review, 80,000 Miles on Tires
February 26, 2012

Gmc Canyon 4x4, S-10 4x4, Honda Ridgeline, Toyota 4Runner, All 4 wear LTX M/S. My Canyon just got 3rd set of LTX's, second set got 80,000 miles. S-10 is on its 4th set, it's pushing 200,000. 4Runner is still on 2nd set at 55,000 miles, truck has 130,000. Michelin was very acommoidating to warranty replace all 4 on my Ridgeline at 35,000 miles 7/32 tread left for cracking tread and sidewall. I worked in the tire industry several years back and found through experience that Michelin makes a superior product in most of their product lines. My BMW has stock 18" PS2's and My 09 V6 Accord has 18" stock Michelins. The Max performance Michelin's I have used are unprecedented for traction & handling, 25,000 for wear is common for me. Over 30 years of personal tire buying my advice is to pay a small amount more up front and in the end you will be better served for the life of your tires. I have used Goodrich, Uniroyal, Firestone, Yokohama, Goodyear,& Bridgestone, all fall short in long range performance. Only the Yokahama and Bridgestone were close in long life ride comfort, as well as tread wear. Please take my comments seriously, I have had literally hundreds of personal and business tires and Michelin as a company has serviced me better than the other manufactures. If you regularly maintain the alignment and shocks on a vehicle & check your air pressure, The Michelin will in general wear more evenly and maintain a better ride longer, not to mention service you more mileage on most of their product line.

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
December 19, 2011

I replaced a set of Michelin Pilot All Season tires with these 4X's. While I find that the performance of the tire itself tends to be on par with the Pilot A/S, one area where it falls EXTREMELY short of is ride comfort. The performance of these tires over bumps is absolutely unacceptable. The shock of every bump is transferred to the cabin and right into the steering and seat. None of this was there with the Pilot A/S. It feels like a tire that is set at the maximum pressure allowed, then run through a suspension set up as stiffly as possible. In 500 miles it's already causing new noises inside my car and I fear it will only get worse. I cannot express enough that if ride comfort is one of your bigger requirements that you AVOID this tire.

Dry performance of the tire is right in line with the Pilot A/S which is quite the compliment considering the price of 1/3 as much. Steering response is immediate and crisp, and emergency handling is instant and with full control. I have a set of Continental DWS's on my wife's Mazda Protege and handling response is a night and day difference between it and the 4X. They blow the DWS out of the water.

Wet performance is absolutely fantastic with the 4X. I drove my 3 through some extremely heavy rain and the car never skipped a beat. I've never had more confidence in the wet than what I do with these tires.

All in all these tires are so great on so many levels, but ultimately I feel like their cheap price finally shows through on ride comfort. I’ve never owned a set of tires that handle bumps so poorly. I’m not going to replace these tires (as I’m not in the business of wasting $400), but if I could do it all over again I wouldn’t consider them even for a second. As much as I hate to say it, I’d probably sacrifice the handling performance I so desire and pick up a set of DWS’s from Continental since they do everything else so perfectly.

Initial Review, 2000 Miles on Tires
February 04, 2012

I needed to replace the original Toyos on this vehicle. They were low profile and had always been very noisy. At my 25,000 mile service they were worn out, which was shocking to me! I decided I wanted the quietest tires I could get and these have not let me down. They have greatly improved the noise and ride of my vehicle. I can even take speed bumps without the jarring jolt I had with the prior set. I no longer worry about scraping the ground effects, either. Thanks to the Tirerack reviewers, you were right!

Initial Review, 8000 Miles on Tires
November 09, 2010

This is my second set of oversize (225/50-17) tires, but compared to the same-sized Yokohama S4 the Continental DWS has a lot less dry weather grip and sloppy corning manners. The taller sidewall really does not work; perhaps more than just the "soft sidewall", judging from other reports, the OEM 215/50-17 would have been a better choice.



Wet weather performance is better, but the DWS hydroplanes - something the S4s never did until they had 25,000 miles! The change between the S4 (a tire with no wet or snow traction, according to me) was so noticeable I added a larger rear sway bar, which got rid of much of the car's new-found understeer and the low-speed cornering tire squealing. Then I had an alignment, which help a bit, with balance, but there was still no real grip. A couple of months ago I replaced the shocks and springs (A-Spec) and THAT has changed the car a lot, but there is still not a lot of dry cornering grip; severe axle tramp (on moderately-normal starts) in the wet in 2nd gear is now gone.



Originally, driving on DWS tires on dry summer roads was like driving on snow tires in summer - sloppy, mushy, with no cornering grip - but generally predictable - and tire squealing when starting and stopping. Now that it's turned cold (30-50F), however, these tires have changed: it's easy to balance the car (yes, a new suspension helps), steering response is good, turn-in is OK,...everything seems to work: is that sidewall flex or tread compound, or both? And of course, when it's wet the roads are cooler too, which seems to help this tire perform.



The tire is, however, noticeably lighter than the S4; the car accelerates better, and I find myself downshifting a lot less on the highway, when needing to move through traffic.

Initial Review, 27000 Miles on Tires
November 10, 2011

I was very disappointed in the handling, noise and treadwear of these 195/60/15 OEM tires on my 2010 Focus. It is already time to buy a set of tires (at least two).

I was shocked to see that this tire is at the same price level as the excellent Yokohama Avids that I have purchased from you in the past as replacement tires for other vehicles. I'll be ordering the Avids again shortly. Hopefully one of the improvements Ford made in their 2012 Focus is ditching this tire as original equipment.