Compiled a list of tires I've owned.

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Audi Junkie

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The mind gets weak after some many years. There are quite a few I forget, but I'm trying to remember as a mental exercize. I guess I'll update the list if I remember any.


Avon
M500

BFG
Traction T/A H

Bridgestone
Truanza Revo
Turanza EL-42
Potenza G-009
Potenza RE 92
Blizzak

Continental
Extreme Contact
CH-95

Cooper
CS4

Dunlop
SP9000
SP5000
SP A2

Firestone
Affinity

Fuzion
HRi

Falken
512
912

General
Altimax HP
Exclaim UHP

Goodyear
Eagle ResponsEdge
RS-A

Hankook
iPike 300
iPike 409

Kumho
ASX

Michelin
MXV4
MXM4
Pilot Sport A/S
HydroEdge

Nexen
N2000

Pirelli
P6000 A/S
P7000
P6

Sumitomo
HTR H4

Viking
Stop 5000

Vredestein
SnoTrac

Yokohama
TRZ
H4S
Guardex 600
 
From that list the best tires I have owned are Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and a close second is Michelin MXV4's. The worst tire would be Bridgestone Tauranza EL42's. Worse flatspotting ever! What were your impressions on the Hankook tires? I hear they are great tires but never had the opportunity to own one.
 
Those were both snows, but Hankooks are very good tires. Basicly, every brand has good and bad examples. I passed on some more MXVs, although I had access to them.

Needs and desires change over time. I think if you drive a lot of miles and need new tires every year or two, buy cheaper ones. If you don't like them, they are gone in short time. if you like them, get them again. If you drive less and will have the same tires on your car for years and years (many winters) go ahead and spend for a premium product. You will be stuck with them for a LONG time. I would not like to go 5 years on junk tires. It's not worth it to save $100 bucks ($20 a year?...come on). You want a good tire by the time it's winter number 3 and 4. Most people don't modify their car at all...except tires. Why not have your car set apart from all the other (Accords, in my case) by running premium tires?
 
My "life list" of tires would be pretty long, but still interesting to muse over the best and the worst, so here goes.

Absolutely the worst:

Kelly Charger HR
Firestone WR-11

Both were horribly dangerous in the rain, hydroplaning even when new at low speeds, at very low cornering force. EVERYBODY outdrags you at the stoplights in the rain, including elderly people who are driving gingerly. If it snows...... stay home.

Michelin MXL
Not as bad as the above tires, but an embarrassment to Michelin when it snowed out. DO NOT take to the mountains for skiing!

Good tires:
Rain and snow ratings dominate my needs (snowskiing, pulling heavy boats in the rain are frequent events) I have never felt threatened by any tire on a dry road.

Goodyear Vectors (yeah, its been a while)
Goodyear Regatta 2's
BF Goodrich all season, unknow model
Yokohama TRZ (wow, you should have seen them pull a 5,000 lb boat up a steep boat ramp in a downpour, with a FWD minivan)

ICE TIRES
Sears Ice and Snow (years ago, made by Armstrong)
Yokohama Guardex (and they wear really well)
Michelin X-ice

I suspect that most of the Q rated ice tires would make me happy.
I have crossed Nebraska MANY times in blizzards that had 100's of SUV's in the median on their roofs. Ice tires will convert a snowpacked road to seem like perhaps a gravel road, I consider them way more important then 4WD. Coming down from Loveland Pass (12,000 feet) a few years ago in a sudden sleet storm left most vehicles accelerating even with locked brakes down a long grade into guardrails and snowbanks - just a few vehicles made it down successfully. As we stopped to witness the continuing carnage we discovered that all the survivors were running ice tires.

Even after running SCCA autocrosses, etc for years I consider maximum dry traction to be VERY secondary to rain/snow traction for most of my needs.

fsskier
 
Originally Posted By: deven
From that list the best tires I have owned are Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and a close second is Michelin MXV4's. The worst tire would be Bridgestone Tauranza EL42's. Worse flatspotting ever! What were your impressions on the Hankook tires?


You must own an Acura TL. I've heard numerous reports of the Turanza EL42s flatspotting on those cars. They were the OE tire on our Chrysler minivan, and they never had a flatspotting problem, but they were pretty unimpressive otherwise. I ditched them with only 9,000 miles, replaced with Michelins.

The truck at work has Hankook tires, and they're absolutely awful. I hate generalizations ("oh, I had brand XXX years ago, and it sucked"), so I'll tell you exactly what they are; they're Hankook DynaPro ATs, OE on a 2006 F-150 4x4. They're about the worst tires I've ever ridden on. Very sloppy, very slippery. The max pressure is only 35 PSI. I blame Ford as much as Hankook, but really, these tires must have cost Ford about $15 apiece. They're terrible.
 
I definitely could not remember all the tires I have tried over the years. Things that stand out, I never owned a Good Year tire I like. Years ago one tire that impressed me was Uniroyal Rally GTH, very good per for the cost.

The most recent tire I like was Bridgestone RE950 (could be a little sticker though) but over all a great value for the dollar. Currently running Bridgestone G009 only have about 25k on them so far, so far so good.
 
Best and worst tires I have ever owned were michelins:

Best: Michelin Pilot P2S. Great wear, great grip, but expensive.

Worst: Michelin TRX 220 390R 60. On my '84 BMW 633csi. This was one of those sweetheart deals where Michelin talked BMW into putting P-metric rims on the car. The michelins wore fast, didn't grip well and cost 3x the price of any competitive tire. Incidentally, they were by design the only tires you could put on those BMW rims.

Tied for worst: Factory michelin tires on wife's '03 Acura 3.2TL. Went out of round in about 22k miles. Had to replace them in the first 2 years of new car ownership. Didn't replace with michelins.
 
That's quite a list. I haven't really thought about "all the tires I've had". I can think of my "best" and "worst".

Favorite: Pirelli Scorpion AT, Firestone Destination AT, Michelin LTX/MS.

Least favorite: Continental Contitrac (replaced these OEM after initial 800 miles, Michelin Symmetry (worthless traction after 20K).
 
The first three tires get very similar reviews, but their prices differed wildly:

Futura LTE - Bad, on par with the RE-92s listed below, but a fraction of the price.

Bridgestone RE-92 - oem tires on my 2004 impreza, fairly bad traction, amazingly soft sidewall, horrible wet weather traction, almost no wet traction after 30k miles.

dunlop A2 sport - see review of re-92.

BFG traction t/a - Just got these, great tire for the money, I can't find a single fault for it's price.

Dunlop Z1 - I use these for autocross, super tire, never gets greasy when hot, just seems to grip more!
 
Thanks for the post. Now I am more certain to go with BFGs for my cars. I can remember the brands of tires on all my cars, just not all the specific sizes. My '80 malibu I had Mohawks on it from when Kmart still had the rip-off central auto "service" section, '78 Fairmont (
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)two cheap no name tires from the BP by where I used to live; no real wet experience as I traded it (even saw it on the street parked with the whitewalls turned back out soon after)in. I had started with Goodyears I think when I got my '86 cavalier, then went from those 175/70/13s to Michelin 185/80/13s (same Kmart as above because this was all 20-25 yeasr ago). Thos cost me $85 each.

My '93 tempo was next and don't recall the original tire brand when I got it (might have been FS) but when I replaced them I went for Daytons as they were the best price at the auto/body place I worked at at the time (detailer). I liked those enough that when I was calling checking tire prices for my present car '00 cavalier I asked the place that advertised they had Daytons if they could get them for it (195/70/14). They can't, so when I can afford it Sam's Club I'll be getting BFGs for it. This car I got in '99 with 5 miles on it and Goodyears to start. I replaced those with BFG raised white letter Radial T/A's good tire, but when they wore they were close to twice the price to get them again. I went with FS FR380's and seemed like a decent tire (LeMans was out of stock), then I got hit and run in a parking lot as I was in a building so no one saw anything (lousy teenager with a lifted truck and a tiny brain. I was well within my slot, too). The shop that "fixed" the car 1. didn't prep the replacement panels correct, so I have rust still in those same spots all these years later, 2.never thought that a car that got hit/ran over in the LF fender, left doorskin and left mirror could POSSIBLY have a damaged LF strut?
shocked2.gif
any way, that is the reason the Fierstones are gone, as the alignment was so off the tirewore down to the cords. same with my donut, so after paying a different shop to replace the strut I could have done it had I had a sprig compressor, and another to align it I have "wonderful"
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Wmart Douglas tires on it. I rotated them X style like the owner's manual said and have been running on egg shaped tires for three years now. out of warranty and the damage never showed up until a year ago. If I ever rotate tires again I'm going with front to back only.
My'03 impala we have Goodyears on, and asap will take "him" to Sam's for BFG's. Though these tires are 18 months old a still decent looking (only) tread, they hydroplane even in a drizzle. Can't take them back because the place is out of business, I wonder if there's a connection? :no-no: Any way, sorry about the rant. My sum up; BFG's good, Goodyear/Douglas garbage.
 
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