Primacy MXM4/MXV4 or Yoko Envigor

[ekincam]

I have had the Yokohama Avid Envigor for about 6 months, and 4000 miles driven during that time. Compared to the Michelin MXV4 S8, or whatever came on the 08 Camry, the Yokohama definitely have better dry traction and somewhat quieter. Steering response was much improved also.

Wet traction is good but I cannot make a comparison here compared to the MXV4 S8 because my only memory of it was repeated hydroplaning when I had between 4/32 and 3/32" remaining -- my motivation to replace the MXVS8. It would not be fair to compare a brand new tire to a nearly expended one.

Fuel consumption seems to be slightly lower than the MXV4S8. I did 35 MPG on a freeway with rolling hills which surprised the [censored] outta me.

It does not snow here so I cannot make any statements regarding snow.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Ekincam, that's interesting, thanks for the comparison.

 

[rangerfan24]

Id recomend coopers. The cs4 has a V rating and 520 wear rating and scores A in traction and temp tests. Should run you about 550 bucks. No point in paying more for michelins. Wouldnt you rather spend the saved 200 bucks elsewhere? Also, I had the primacys and they cracked badly. Not a fan of that line. However michelins exalto tire is superb.

 

[rangerfan24]

You could even go with the cooper lifeliner gls set of 4, for 460 dollars shipped from tiresavings.com. 540 wear rating rated at 120 mph. Are you really gunna go over 120 mph? Keep the extra 300 bucks and spend it on a vacation. They have some other good deals from the other brands but the coopers and exaltos are the only ones I can vouch for.

 

[The Critic]

I would recommend the new Primacy MXM4 tires. Michelin has never had any poor "replacement" tires on the market, so I would definitely go with them.

Originally Posted By: jtaylor
Mxm4 and mxv4 are not the same. Mxv4 is more of a touring tire and as far as I know it will last longer. Mxm4 is a little sportier but doesn't last very long, is pretty loud, and is actually fairly bad on grip.


Not the same tires. The Primacy MXM4 is a new tire that was introduced by Michelin in July. It is different than the infamous Pilot HX MXM4 that is OE on a number of vehicles.

Originally Posted By: rangerfan24
Id recomend coopers. The cs4 has a V rating and 520 wear rating and scores A in traction and temp tests. Should run you about 550 bucks. No point in paying more for michelins. Wouldnt you rather spend the saved 200 bucks elsewhere? Also, I had the primacys and they cracked badly. Not a fan of that line. However michelins exalto tire is superb.

The only set of Coopers I got, the CS4 Touring, required a lot of weights to balance. And they also went out of balance too. Not sure why.

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
There is no way in H-E-double hockey sticks that my car will see a V rated speed. Could I go to an H rated with confidence?


The party line is: stick with the OEM speed rating.

But in my opinion, you absolutely could use an H-rated tire.


Stay with the OE speed rating. The industry should not call it a speed rating, but rather, a rating of how well the tire is reinforced. V-rated tires are built more sturdily than a H-rated tire. CapriRacer has posts on this.

 

[FZ1]

Different strokes. I find the Michelin Primacys too Jarring,actually,Harsh over uneven city streets with bumps,etc. The Harmony/Destinys ride a little more softly but "whine",loudly, at highway speeds. I'm sure this is more noticeable in my '02 Accord than in most cars, but there it is.

 

[Sayjac]

Same size and tires I'm am looking at to replace the [censored] OE Michelins on my Accord. Leaning to the Yokos, regular price $45 less expensive and the Yoko's currently have a $40 rebate on DT/DTD, who will match or beat TR's price. And for an apples to apples comparison, unlike TR, DTD's price includes shipping.

If you're stuck on Mich, quite certain DT/DTD will be back with the $70 Mich rebate very soon(next month?), like the one that just ended.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
Different strokes. I find the Michelin Primacys too Jarring,actually,Harsh over uneven city streets with bumps,etc. The Harmony/Destinys ride a little more softly but "whine",loudly, at highway speeds. I'm sure this is more noticeable in my '02 Accord than in most cars, but there it is.


This must be something related to your specific situation. I've read very few complaints of "whine" at highway speeds. Maybe the specific combination of your car, tire size, and pavement type all come together to produce a whine. It's atypical.

 

[Colt]

Originally Posted By: The Critic


Stay with the OE speed rating. The industry should not call it a speed rating, but rather, a rating of how well the tire is reinforced. V-rated tires are built more sturdily than a H-rated tire. CapriRacer has posts on this.

Mike,the H rated will be fine for his application.
New Audi A6 turbo and Quattros come from the factory with H rated Conti and Michelin tires.If an H is good enough for Audi,it's good enough for an Accord,Camry and many other models.
I've used H rated over V rated in 3-4 vehicles I've owned without any problem.

 

[FZ1]

The Harmonys/Destinys are the "Whiners",lol,and ride less harshly than the Primacys. The Primacys,which are pretty quiet,"Beat" and "Jar" you on city street imperfections. Look at the tire rack reviews. Sort by least favorable and you can see similar observations. The point is,if you have a car that is softly suspended and well insulated from road noise,the Michelins may be O.K. If you have a firmly riding suspension and/or road noise,then you might consider other tires. Just my .02. Hope this helps someone.

 

[Colt]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
The Harmonys/Destinys are the "Whiners",lol,and ride less harshly than the Primacys. The Primacys,which are pretty quiet,"Beat" and "Jar" you on city street imperfections. Look at the tire rack reviews. Sort by least favorable and you can see similar observations. The point is,if you have a car that is softly suspended and well insulated from road noise,the Michelins may be O.K. If you have a firmly riding suspension and/or road noise,then you might consider other tires. Just my .02. Hope this helps someone.


Tire Rack's own testing...
"The Michelin Primacy MXV4 displayed excellent road manners, feeling composed and comfortable when riding over the small to medium impacts. Even larger bumps were minimized and felt more rounded over than harsh."
"The Primacy MXV4 also lead the group in the road handling area, with a near-perfect balance between steering response and a light, relaxed feel appropriate for a Grand Touring All-Season tire"

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=112

Top rated by consumers in TR's survey too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=GTAS

More customer reviews..
http://www.tirerack.com/survey/SurveyCom...irePageLocQty=#

The Harmony is a basic Passenger All Season class tire and are 'S' or 'T' rated depending on size.
The Primacy is a Grand Touring All Season.

 

[FZ1]

Yeah,I saw all that before I bought the Destinys,then the Primacys,Hoss. Thank God,I bought them at Discount Tire where I could take them back within 30 days for free. You've gotta call your own shot on tires:Very subjective. Also,check out Discount Tire search. You can sort the reviews for your,exact,car AND your,exact,location. I prefer Michelin tires for my bikes,but Goodyear Assurance Comfort Treads for my,stiffly suspended,'02 V6 Accord.

 

[Brett Miller]

I have a set of Primacy MXV4's on my 2003 Civic. I just had the car inspected today and at 37,000 miles on the tires, they still have 9/32" of tread. They are great tires and I will absolutely purchase them again.

 

[oilmaven]

After much back and forth, I went ahead and installed a set of T rated Hankook Optimo H727's on my 1996 Honda Accord V6. The car is also spec'd for V rated tires and although I considered the MXV4's (in the H rating), I really wanted a tire that would be good in the snow, quiet and smooth-riding (I drive 35-40,000 miles per year, mostly 55 mph paved 2 lane in the land of perpetual snow here in northern Michigan). Although I'm sure the Michelins would handle better, their snow rating wasn't as good as the Hankooks. I have a set of the 727's on my Impala and they were great last winter. To make it worse, the Hankooks didn't come in a 205-60-15 so I had to go with the 195-65-15 which means an even higher sidewall. The tires seem to handle OK but the real payoff is the great ride and they're SUPER QUIET. I'm sure I'll forget about whatever handling shortfall they have when the snow flies...worth the trade off to me.

 

[BearZDefect]

I had come down to this same choice for my i30 - ENVigor or Primacy.

One month Michelin has a $70 rebate, another month Yokohama has a $40 rebate.

I chose the Primacy because they are not directional, and reviews claim they are quiet. (The ENVigor reviews are excellent for noise too.)

The Firestone set they replaced had become aggravatingly noisy, probably due to heel-toe wear (as I learned here on BITOG). So I wanted a tire that is quiet in the first place, and can be cross-rotated to counter heel-toe wear to some extent.

Originally Posted By: FZ1
...The Primacys,which are pretty quiet,"Beat" and "Jar" you on city street imperfections....


Yes, after I got them installed, I was susprised how sharply the Primacy bounces off such imperfections. I thought they must be overinflated, but when I checked them the pressure was just right in my book at 10% over doorjamb recommendation.

It doesn't help that I put KYB GR-2 struts on this i30 last year - they are a bit overdamped/tight for this vehicle.

These are 205/65 R15 94H.
My first Canadian tires.

And I'll repeat my observation that the Michelin Primacy and Pilot Exalto come from the factory looking like they are already half worn out with their rounded tread fashion.

 

[FZ1]

Right. I was struck(so to speak) at how SHARPLY and UNCOMFORTABLY the Primacys reacted to even small city street imperfections at 15 mph. The Goodyear Comfort treads made most of the imperfections Disappear. I concluded the Goodyear was simply a softer tire, as the same bump with the GY seemed to occur more slowly,with no jarring vs. the Michelins. The trade off is some handling and tred life ,but,when your car is "Beating" you every day,anything is better. My salvation was that I got the tires with a 30 day free return deal, so I was able to return first the Michelin Destiny/Harmony set of tires,then the Primacys, for free. Ended up with the new GY Assurance Ctread Touring. Here's my ranking of the tires I have run on my '02 Accord V6. Best to worst comfort. 1. Goodyear Assurance Comfort Tread- Most ride comfort,least road noise. 2. Goodyear Assurance Comfort Tread Touring- better handling than #1 but slightly stiffer over city bumps. 3.Michelin Harmony/Destiny-Ride more stiffly than #1 or #2.-Objectional Tire Whine on the freeway at 60 mph. 4. Primacy- the stiffest,most uncomfortable tire of all on city road imperfections. More quiet than the Destiny/Harmony at 60 on the freeway. Hope this helps,someone.

 

[Sayjac]

Quote:
You should look at total price, exclude mounting/balancing, from some online sites such as Treadepot.com, onlinetires.com ... print a copy and take to DT.
+1 I look at the posted DT online price as starting point only, like msrp. Strangely though the lowest price on my last purchase, Yoko Geo H/T-S, was on Discount Tire Direct delivered to my door. I also included a comparable Wally install, and the local DT store beat the installed price.

So, if you do your homework before going to DT you can get your best price. Though I've never used them, I've read that, DTD(including shipping) is the same.

 

[FZ1]

Good info. Thanks,man.

 

[FZ1]

Good info. Thanks,man.

 

[Hollow]

I'm surprised about all the talk of the Primacy feeling rough. They are the smoothest feeling tire I have yet encountered in Chicago driving.