I just bought a tire I've often said that I wouldn't buy. The LE2s have a tread pattern that changes quiet a bit as it wears (in terms of some grooving going away), but my gut told me that these are what I should buy. My other choice would have had me out the door at Sam's Club at right at $500 on a set of four Goodyear Assurance Fuel Maxes. I just didn't get a warm-fuzzy on those after reading a lot of reviews. I've read few negative reviews of the LE2, so I pulled the trigger.
They're 25% off right now. That helped. They're a heady $170 each in my size (225/65R17), but the sale brings them down to a more palatable $128. Even Michelin Defenders are a sight less than $170. I talked the FCAC store down to $13/tire for road hazard vice their standard $25/tire. So I made a $52 gamble that I'll have to replace at least one of these. And they gave me lifetime balancing and rotation for $14/tire. So all in, my Discover balance is now heavier by $673.
I had a good experience at the store. The manager helped me this morning, and was one of those guys who tells everyone how long he's been in the business and he's free with his opinion on most everything. I asked early on if they can mount the tires with the DOT code facing outward, so I can read serial numbers/dates if I need to down the road. He commented that most people have never heard of a DOT code, and I think that bought be enough filter from him to not try to sell me on additional turn signal fluid or headlamp bushings. I was in-and-out in 90 minutes, including the free alignment check.
The tires themselves appear to be superb. They're very smooth and quiet...the whole ride now is kind of "boring". It's just completely non-eventful, and that's a good thing. The car will still dance with a flick of the steering wheel (grip is good), but there's so much less road noise and graininess to the ride that it feels like a different vehicle. I like it a lot so far. They appear to have balanced out just fine. I wish the three sets of tires that BJs has installed on our Acura recently would have balanced as easily.
Will the traction fade as the tire wears, due to vanishing grooving? Maybe. I don't do a lot of winter or wet road driving...90% of my travel is on dry pavement, and so I figured that this is probably less of a problem than I make it out to be in my head. As well, Firestone makes two versions of this tire in my size, a T-rated one and an H-rated one. Stores apparently stock only the H-rated one, and it's got 12/32" of tread vs. the 10/32" that the T-rated tire has. So I'm starting out with a really thick tire to begin with. I feel sure that it'll make its 60,000 mile tread life warranty, and perhaps even more.
I took the alignment printout home to correct the alignment problems the car did have. Both front and rear was toed in too far. The front toe was REALLY too far in. I have a laser level and a long 2x4 with graduated scales on either side that I can use, along with some high school trigonometry, to really dial-in the numbers given a baseline. I made a slight tweak to rear camber first (I had it at -0.5 and -0.7 degrees, and set both sides to -1.0 degrees), then I corrected rear toe (set it to close to neutral). Once that was set, I moved to the front and set that toe as close to neutral as I can get it. I'll observe what the car's doing this week and I may make some very small tweaks next weekend, but knowing where I'm starting is good.
Overall, I'm pleased with the tires and with the service I received from Firestone Complete Auto Care. I'll update this thread over time with my observations on the tires.
The sidewall doesn't really look as saggy as it does in this photo; it's just the camera angle. In fact, at the 32 psi I have them set at right now, the sidewalls don't have much "sag" in them at all (which I like).
Holy camera focus, Batman! Sorry...but it shows how cavernous those main tread grooves are.
They're 25% off right now. That helped. They're a heady $170 each in my size (225/65R17), but the sale brings them down to a more palatable $128. Even Michelin Defenders are a sight less than $170. I talked the FCAC store down to $13/tire for road hazard vice their standard $25/tire. So I made a $52 gamble that I'll have to replace at least one of these. And they gave me lifetime balancing and rotation for $14/tire. So all in, my Discover balance is now heavier by $673.
I had a good experience at the store. The manager helped me this morning, and was one of those guys who tells everyone how long he's been in the business and he's free with his opinion on most everything. I asked early on if they can mount the tires with the DOT code facing outward, so I can read serial numbers/dates if I need to down the road. He commented that most people have never heard of a DOT code, and I think that bought be enough filter from him to not try to sell me on additional turn signal fluid or headlamp bushings. I was in-and-out in 90 minutes, including the free alignment check.
The tires themselves appear to be superb. They're very smooth and quiet...the whole ride now is kind of "boring". It's just completely non-eventful, and that's a good thing. The car will still dance with a flick of the steering wheel (grip is good), but there's so much less road noise and graininess to the ride that it feels like a different vehicle. I like it a lot so far. They appear to have balanced out just fine. I wish the three sets of tires that BJs has installed on our Acura recently would have balanced as easily.
Will the traction fade as the tire wears, due to vanishing grooving? Maybe. I don't do a lot of winter or wet road driving...90% of my travel is on dry pavement, and so I figured that this is probably less of a problem than I make it out to be in my head. As well, Firestone makes two versions of this tire in my size, a T-rated one and an H-rated one. Stores apparently stock only the H-rated one, and it's got 12/32" of tread vs. the 10/32" that the T-rated tire has. So I'm starting out with a really thick tire to begin with. I feel sure that it'll make its 60,000 mile tread life warranty, and perhaps even more.
I took the alignment printout home to correct the alignment problems the car did have. Both front and rear was toed in too far. The front toe was REALLY too far in. I have a laser level and a long 2x4 with graduated scales on either side that I can use, along with some high school trigonometry, to really dial-in the numbers given a baseline. I made a slight tweak to rear camber first (I had it at -0.5 and -0.7 degrees, and set both sides to -1.0 degrees), then I corrected rear toe (set it to close to neutral). Once that was set, I moved to the front and set that toe as close to neutral as I can get it. I'll observe what the car's doing this week and I may make some very small tweaks next weekend, but knowing where I'm starting is good.
Overall, I'm pleased with the tires and with the service I received from Firestone Complete Auto Care. I'll update this thread over time with my observations on the tires.
The sidewall doesn't really look as saggy as it does in this photo; it's just the camera angle. In fact, at the 32 psi I have them set at right now, the sidewalls don't have much "sag" in them at all (which I like).
Holy camera focus, Batman! Sorry...but it shows how cavernous those main tread grooves are.