Replacement Lighting

Initial Review, 8,500 Miles on Tires
February 10, 2013

Absolutely magnificent tire!! Two days ago we had about 6 inches of snow and this tire just absolutely blew me away with how well it performed in the snow and ice. I kid you not, with my Camry, I could accelerate off of street lights as well as a 4x4 driving next to me. Stopping was no contest, I easily braked better.

As for wear, so far I'm almost 10K in and the tires show no wear whatsoever.

In the dry they aren't quite as sticky as the Sumitomos I replaced, nor are they as quiet, but in the wet they are about equal and in the snow there is no contest. The Sumitomos were not only bad, but dangerous and bordering on suicidal.

Comfort-wise the tires have a smooth soft ride, which probably explains the slight lack of steering response. They need a split-second to set up before they respond. Certainly nothing that is an issue in even spirited driving. On a track it might be a bit unnerving, but on the street its nothing to even think about.

Would I buy these again? As long as these are an option for a car I drive in all seasons, these will be on it!!!!

Initial Review, 12,000 Miles on Tires
January 28, 2013

I bought Kumho Ecsta 4X to replace my Kumho Escta AST tires one year ago. Both models provide extremely quiet rides and I love how my car handles dry pavement with both models. However, the Ecsta AST was AWFUL in one inch of snow for my car. My car would fishtail from a dead stop on level pavement (even starting in 2nd gear) and go no where. The Ecsta 4X lets me drive in light snow storms, but my car still fishtails on turns, & has trouble stopping without sliding in less than 5 inches of snow. It doesn't snow many days where I live and I refuse to buy special snow tires when it snows less than 5 days each winter. I am very happy with the performance of these tires in rain & dry pavement, which is the type of weather I deal with 99% of the time.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
January 26, 2013

I replaced the Contitrac's on my '08 Tundra Crewmax with the 'LE 2's' because of price and consumer ratings. The Conti's were worn out, not badly, but due for replacement. I have about 5k on the LE 2's now, and I'm still amazed at how well these tires perform! They are VERY quiet, and the difference in straight line traction, is just, well, amazing! I have the 5.7 V8 w/ 4.3:1 rearend gears, and with the conti's, I could make the tires spin on dry pavement at anything less than 30 mph, and were hopeless on wet pavement- never had them in snow- wouldn't want to either. We had 5 in. of snow a few days ago, and the LE 2's traction, even in snow, is way, WAY, more than I expected! My truck is 2WD, and the truck felt as sure-footed, or even more so, than previous 4WD vehicles I've owned in the past. Handling is as good, or better than any other tires I've had on similar vehicles in the past. The Tundra weighs about 5200 lbs. empty, and I did have to adjust tire pressure, because installers usually inflate new tires to the pressures indicated in the vehicle, and at that pressure the tires felt squidgy. The fronts are at 43psi, and rears at 40psi- huge difference! If these tires actually last to 60k miles- this will be the best light truck tires I've EVER had. Good Job Firestone!

Initial Review, 40,000 Miles on Tires
January 26, 2013

Overall these were excellent tires. I was very happy with the performance. At 40000 I had to replace the tires due to side wear (concern that the steel belts would pop out and slash the tire). My mechanic feels my car should have been aligned and the tires should have been inflated more/checked more often. I admit that my low pressure warning light came on after a long drive in the summer time so I'm sure that didn't help. Also, when a cold snap hit recently I didn't check the pressure and a few days later the warning light came on again. My bad--I guess. That's why I gave it a 7/10 on treadwear...perhaps much of that was my fault but I can't take the tires out of the equation since I haven't had this problem in the past. Buying them again and watching the tire pressure like a hawk to determine if these tires are not pressure-stable or if it's human neglect.

Initial Review, 1,800 Miles on Tires
January 30, 2013

I don't regularly rate "10s" on surveys but am making an exception here. I made sure to get the "new" Turanza Serenity plus when ordering based on some excellent reviews and am NOT disappointed a bit! The Turanza's are this car's 3rd set of tires (102k total miles on car) replacing Pirelli P-Zero Nero's (at 100k)that replaced the HORRIBLE OEM Good Year RS-A's (at 48k). Thought the Pirelli's were a great all-around tire until mounting the Bridgestones. Noise is lowest ever and traction in wet and light snow is phenomenal vs the Pirelli's (which was not horrible) and light years better than the Good Year's (which made the car downright scary to drive in wet / slick conditions). Last night's ride home was in a torrential downpour with seriously flooded pavement in places and the Bridgestone's never felt challenged! Had resigned myself to giving up a bit of responsiveness for quieter, longer life but that is not the case. The same "spirited" corners that had the Pirelli's squealing and the Good Years giving up produce great grip with no complaints. I know there are higher performance tires out there for specific conditions / applications but as an all-around performer at a decent price for a vehicle that is not a track day special, I couldn't be happier!

Initial Review, 76,000 Miles on Tires
January 29, 2013

2nd set of these on my Jetta which has 167k miles on it. First set made 90k miles, this set is a little less and the wear may not last quite as long before I have to replace them (maybe 80k). I drive 500 miles a week, about 2/3 highway and 1/3 city. I've seen the traction assist light come on during heavy rain maybe 2-3 times in 6 years, I don't know whether to blame that on the tire, the car or perhaps the driver. In SC, we have no snow and rarely ice so I can't speak to that. I am looking at the 3rd set of this same tire for my next go around. Why mess with something that works?

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
January 08, 2013

The Honda Pilot has always run rough from brand new. The original tires were Good Year Integrity. They had terrible wet/snow traction. I replaced them with Michelin Latitude tires at 38k miles. The Pilot still ran rough. Every crack on the road was noticed. Light snow traction was terrible. The Latitudes were worn at 40k miles, but I received a $180 refund. The Pilot is a different SUV after I installed the Michelin LTX M/S2 tires. It’s very quiet, and the vibrations are gone. Somehow, the roads feel a lot better now :-)

Initial Review, 35,000 Miles on Tires
December 27, 2012

I have these tires as summer tires on my daily driver Saturn SC2. This is a light car so I was expecting very good wear and have not been disapointed at all. I wanted to stay with Michelin because I put on about 60k/year on this vehicle and wanted to stay with a good tire. I put Michelin on everythine I own because I have had such good luck out of then. My last Saturn I had 90k on Symetry tires before needing replacement. Overall the Primacy MXV4's are great tires.

Initial Review, 300 Miles on Tires
January 11, 2013

This is the best set of tires I've ever owned. Got a set for my wife last fall. Had them on my previous car. Just got a new set on my car to replace mt factory ones before a major snowstorm. They handle in the snow like a dream. 8 inches on the freeway and my anti-slip warning light never came on during my hour trip to work. Awesome tires.

Initial Review, 2,500 Miles on Tires
January 21, 2013

I bought these tires for my 05 Buick Rainier when I found out BFG no longer made the tires I wanted. I was a little hesitant because these things look meaty and was afraid how the car would look, well it looks a little more aggressive now. We replaced a set of Goodyear Fortera tires with these, the Goodyear tires are junk, ok wet traction and IMO horrible snow/winter traction. When we first bought the Buick it had the Goodyear tires on it and I was almost fearful to drive it in the snow even with AWD. When we got the BFG's I noticed an immediate difference when leaving the tire place on a rainy day, they just hooked up, mat the gas and go, no slippage. Samething on dry pavement. Now onto winter driving, before the Buick was as a straight line machine, meaning it was great in a straight line at constant or slowly changing speeding, anything else required a prayer and your first born to get out of without requiring a change of drawers. It was often more preferable to drive the old beat up pickup with no heat on snowy days then take the Buick. Now its a dream, like all winter driving it still requires care but its solid on the road, hooks up in slush, light snow and deep snow without issue, it sheds snow and slush nicely too. These tires give a great deal of confidence in the snow, ice and winter driving. Now onto mud and off road, I have had it out deer hunting a few times through mud, clay, sand and over logs and rocks; again a measure of common sense and its good to go, not issues. My only complaint is that they gouged my gas mileage a hair and they are noisy between 30 and 40 miles an hour; not so noisy that passengers notice but I do. They also stiffened up the ride a little, which depending on what you want may be a positive, I don't mind it and I still get comments to the tone of "...this thing rides nice..." Short and sweet, short of horrible tread life we will be buying these again.

Initial Review, 9,000 Miles on Tires
January 11, 2013

These tires were purchased to replace the crappy OEM Goodyear Eagle's. So far the Kuhmos have been an excellent choice, for the money!! After 9000 miles, these kuhmos' have seen heavy water, light snow, deep snow, and ice. These tires have pleasantly handled all conditions. They are very strong in dry, and wet. During this December the deeper snow and the typical slush (in N.E. USA and Canada) were not as easy to handle with these tires. These Kuhmos are rated for 55k miles tread life. But i doubt that will be acheived. For a ZR rated tire is suppose that is to be expected. The least favorite attribute is the higher than normal road noise. Overall we are happy the value of these Kuhmo's, expecially considering the price! Worth considering as an alternative.

Initial Review, 1,000 Miles on Tires
January 12, 2013

I bought these to replace a set of Goodyear Assurance Triple Tread tires. My 2007 Honda Element hasn't been this quiet and smooth riding in a long time. I don't have that many miles on the tire yet but they seem to be very good in the wet and light snow so far. I'm very pleased with the tire so far. I was a little hesitant about the tires as some of the reviews I read weren't very good. So far my experience has been very good.

Initial Review, 470 Miles on Tires
December 10, 2012

OK, Im sure you're saying "why is this guy writing a review with only 470 miles on his set of tires?", I will tell you why. Totally impressed with these tires! Yes, I have just purchased them and I may still be on my honeymoon post purchase but, thus far these tires are fantastic. I drove all the miles on the highway with almost every road condition except extreme heat and they performed like rockstars. I did notice a little more push in the corners as compared to the Continental Conti-pro-Contact tires I just replaced but not enough to warrant spending another $60-90 dollars per tire. Since my tires are wider than a normal passenger tire, the slushy junk tended to pull the car a bit but not enough to give you the feeling like "I just lost control". I drove in 6" of light (powder) snow up hill at 65 MPH and had no problem over taking trucks and AWD vehicles. They performed great on the ice and hard-pack as well. They are not a "winter only tire" but thus far have worked almost as well as my wife's studded Bridgestone Blizzack tires in winter conditions. If you are looking for an All-Season tire like me, this is the one I'd tell you to look at. Also the purchase went smooth as silk. Ordered on a Tuesday and installed on a Thursday. Customer service was great (thanks Tucker, I think thats the name) and the price was a full $130 less than anyone would match for the same tire installed. Im a fan of Tire Rack and the tires I just got.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
January 12, 2013

I have used these tires over 3 seasons driving around Vancouver, and to whistler. Here is what you need to know: dry, wet, light snow at temperatures between -10 and +7 these are fantastic. However, because of the temperature here, rear tread wear is the worst I have ever experienced on any tire summer or winter, and the worst of any Pirelli winter tire I have used. The problem is exacerbated by the suspension design and the fact that wear occurs primarilly at the location of the two vertical grooves leaving you with little or no traction in the rear of the car during winter conditions.
On the front of the car, the grip and precision is excellent, as is the wear.
I will be replacing the rear tires with sotto zero series ones which have a harder compound, and only one grove. I am assuming this should balance out tire wear, and improve long term t.raction in the rear. My previous experience with these out here was good, and sadly Pirellis advice to change to the newer softer tire was not well thought out.
If you reside in a place with real winter, cold temps for several months, these tires could be an excellent choice. However, if you are on the west coast where the weather typically provides above zero temps, and a bit below zero in the mountains, tread wear will be a significant problem on the rear of a rear drive car. The tires are useless in winter conditions when they are at 4 mm or 40%. Rear tires previously typically lasted 2 winters and when worn, front tires are moved to the back (last one season) and new rubber goes on the front to maintain maximum grip on the front of the car. Sotto 2s last 1 1/4 on the back if you are lucky here. That's 20 round trips per season to whistler and some limited local driving, or 40% less than series 1 in my experience. Or in real money terms: these tires have added 1000 dollars of additional expense to replace due wear in the last 3 years.

Initial Review, 100 Miles on Tires
December 12, 2012

I bought these tires last week to replace GoodYear F1 (steel belted showing). I bought this car a couple of months ago. The F1 was at the end of their life, so I can't comment on those. The Continental traction is great for everyday driving and accelerating. Handling is awesome even on wet roads. I can't comment on snow because we rarely get snow. It is probably in the 40's now and I raced a Trans Am red light to red light, easily taking him. The traction was great if you don't dump the clutch or drop the hammer. 540 HP at the wheel and something it gotta give. The second round with the Trans Am. I come to a stop because of traffic and he changes lanes. So he gets the jump coming around me. So I dump the clutch and drop the hammer. My brand new Continental extreme contact start spinning, the back end start fish tailing and then it hooks up and lauches me. These are great all around tires for everyday driving. I'm not a track driver but I enjoy the occasional street race. It is evident to me that I require two set of tires. These for everyday travel and a set for road racing. I will look to purchase a set of 555's and rimes for the rear. The supercharger is a beast and so far nothing has fully hooked up. If it ever does this thing will lauch into outer space. I have a stock set of SVT rimes, so no one carries a road racing tire in 19in rimes. I hope this helps your choice on purchasing these tires. Tire Rack purchase was flawless. I highly recommend tire rack and I search for two weeks on line before purchasing my tires from tire rack. Several places advertise no shipping but when you compare prices that is a false statement. My tires arrived in two days with standard shipping. These guys are awesome, even the local tire dealers recommend tire rack. They can't come close to touching these prices.