Tyres

[steve haley]

Yes I know these have been discussed before but neither options I am looking at show up in searches for use on an Rx300/350.

Was seriously thinking of michelin lattitude tour hp. (£130 fitted with offer). The alternative that show up well are the Continental sport contact 5 but more expensive at £160. Reluctant to go back to the bridge stones although they are available at 133 as I think both these options are better. I am tending towards the michelin as the tread pattern looks as if it will be slightly better for the odd muddy lanes and grass fields I end up in. They are also quieter supposedly than the contintals but not quite as good on wet roads?

Anyone tried either of these and can give feedback vs the bridge stones.

Rgds

Stephen

[stevet]

I'm in the same situation. Where are the Mitchelins on offer? I've been looking at Pirelli Scorpion Verdi All Season

[ahmedali44]

Michelins r better longer lasting, better grip,I get my taxi michelins from cosco I do 30-40k per yr on same tyres.sometimes they do have offers on dont know where u r but find 1 near u and check them out,u got to a member costs £20 per yr.

[ColinBarber]

I have Continental sport contact 5 all round on my 400h. Certainly an improvement over the OEM Bridgestone tyres.

[North west beast]

Ats often have good deals on Michelin ,try them too

[steve haley]

£150.59 at f1autocentres. They are participating in the michelin cash back so you will get £70 as a sainsburys card also 2.5% via quidco so another £15.

Costco want 163 and you only get 40 cashback for some reason and that is only available until end of the week.

Are the continentals any quieter than the bridge stones?

Not sure the latitudes qualify as all season although curiously they are branded m&s in Germany website but not the uk one. Was going to ring michelin. Personally I have always found all seasons only average at best and never great on ice/snow. As I have a set of vredestein winters for use in the alps they don't attract me. Which did a review of them and they didn't fair very well...

On the other hand tyre rack rates them better than the michelin but quotes them quieter wich is odd as the michelin are rated at 68db and the Pirelli at 73. My winters are 73 and I really notice the noise....

[steve haley]

Are the continentals any good on wet grass?

[Boxbrownie]

Are the continentals any good on wet grass?

I would not have thought so, you need a tyre with a distinct block edge tread to grip through the grass into the earth/mud below.

But a genuine block M+S tread would make the ride and noise unnacceptable on an RX.

If your only occasionally tugging a van for example into fields its probably best to go with one of the temporary wheel gripper solutions.

[stevet]

The Pirelli SCORPION VERDE All-Seasons are only rated at 71dB so can't be that loud.

[Boxbrownie]

The Pirelli SCORPION VERDE All-Seasons are only rated at 71dB so can't be that loud.

I am talking about genuine M+S tyres, not an all season try to do it all tyre........the Pirelli SV is an excellent tyre, I had them fitted to a Ford Explorer SHO but they are not as good as a designed for M+S tyre.

[Boxbrownie]

About the quietest real grass/mud plugging acceptabley behaving road tyre I'd fit to an RX

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m65b0s3039p102043/Michelin_Tyres_SUV_4x4_Michelin_Latitude_Cross_-_235_55_R18_100H_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_E_Wet_Grip%3A_C_NoiseClass%3A_2_Noise%3A_71dB

[steve haley]

Pirellis are 72db. Remember the sound scale is logarithmic so the diff between 68 and 72 is not 7%.

Having said that not sure how good these labels are as the bridge stones and my winter vredestein have the same rating but while the winters aren't very noisy there is definitely a difference.

The bridge stones always coped only the limited amount of off-roading that I do but the continentals look smother still.

I don't want a tyre that is as noisy as my winter tyres. I can live with that out of necessity with my winter tyes as my driveway spends jan and feb under snow and ice and the alpine road outside is often under 4"

Still being pulled slightly by the continentals as they are so highly rated for grip but their noise rating is higher and their are comments about the wear not being great.

How well are the continentals wearing compared to your bridge stones.

The only true all season tyres used to be the nokians not sure if any others have turned up in the last few years.

[rayaans]

Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season have got very good reviews and a guy on Clublexus is rocking them on his 450h. He says the handling is much better and the tyres are much more grippy compared to the dunlops he had but they are slightly harder riding, im guessing due to the load rating of 105.

Clublexus is also full of Michelin latitude tour hp. All the american vehicles are swapped out for the michelins from dunlop as they are more comfortable and very very quiet. I dont think you can go wrong with either tyre to be honest.

[Boxbrownie]

Don't forget though the american market is completely dominated by the mileage the tyres can give more than anything else, its usual for a set of tyres to have a wear and damage warranty of 60,000miles I am damn sure I'd be very suspicious of any tyre that gave that mileage over wet or dry grip, on our roads I'd rather replace every 20K and know I'll be coming out each corner the facing the same way as I went in

[steve haley]

Don't forget though the american market is completely dominated by the mileage the tyres can give more than anything else, its usual for a set of tyres to have a wear and damage warranty of 60,000miles I am damn sure I'd be very suspicious of any tyre that gave that mileage over wet or dry grip, on our roads I'd rather replace every 20K and know I'll be coming out each corner the facing the same way as I went in

I am fairly sure that the tyres in the states are different to ours. The mileage claims are just too large. I reckon I've done well doing 40k on my bridgestones and that is largely motorway. The us talk about doing 70-80k on a set....

[stevet]

I drive about 30k miles a year and would want them to last a lot longer than 20k miles

[steve haley]

About the quietest real grass/mud plugging acceptabley behaving road tyre I'd fit to an RX

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m65b0s3039p102043/Michelin_Tyres_SUV_4x4_Michelin_Latitude_Cross_-_235_55_R18_100H_TL_Fuel_Eff_:_E_Wet_Grip:_C_NoiseClass:_2_Noise:_71dB

Thanks I did know about those but they are probably too extreeme for my needs. Can be sourced at a reasonable price if you have a local garage willing to fit them or costco will do them for 175. So given no discount they work out a lot more than the tour hp.

[stevet]

Hankook Ventus always get good reviews

[Boxbrownie]

Don't forget though the american market is completely dominated by the mileage the tyres can give more than anything else, its usual for a set of tyres to have a wear and damage warranty of 60,000miles I am damn sure I'd be very suspicious of any tyre that gave that mileage over wet or dry grip, on our roads I'd rather replace every 20K and know I'll be coming out each corner the facing the same way as I went in

I am fairly sure that the tyres in the states are different to ours. The mileage claims are just too large. I reckon I've done well doing 40k on my bridgestones and that is largely motorway. The us talk about doing 70-80k on a set....

My point exactly, you cannot compare a Michelin Lattitude in the US market with a Michelin in Europe.

[ColinBarber]

People commenting on the decibel rating of the tyres - I would just ignore that.

The road surface used to obtain those results is a fine pitch smooth surface which really doesn't resemble the roads you find in most of the UK when they seem to coat some rocks in tar and throw about the place. As with mpg figures it is easy for a manufacture to get a good result under the specific test conditions but perform poorly in the real world.

[rbss]

Having driven loads of miles in Europe, I agree about the UK roads - they're noisy. Good thing is, they now seem to put all the new roads very nice and flat and .... quiet (I can see the law enforcing the use of winter tyres coming up ;) ).

However... Tyre rated at 70dB will be quieter than the one rated at 72dB when driving on the same surface.

[Boxbrownie]

Colin, there is a very good reason for comparing the noise ratings, they are all measured on a calibrated surface and are very repeatable and can be used as a very reliable comparison between different tyres.

BUT......the measured rating does not reflect the amount of noise you will get on all road surfaces, so your correct in the assumption that you may not ever see/hear (or very rarely) the measured rating of a perticular tyre on normal (cr@ppy roads) , but they give a good comparitor for the tyres.

The tests we carried out were open air, calibrated surface, measured wind speed and temperature and were a pain.......and that was just vehicle drive by noise, the tyre manufacturers have to abide by thier own (universal) set of rules/parameters.

[Boxbrownie]

As an aside, the CEOs and Chief Engineers of manufacturers have been for years demanding a better fuel test regime that reflects better the real world consumption but are tied by EU legislation, it pays the manufacturers no favours when a customer buys a car then proceeds to get 30% less than advertised.

Its the law and has to be done......but for a fact I know of one particular R&E director who has been actively lobbying the EU for a change.

[rayaans]

Don't forget though the american market is completely dominated by the mileage the tyres can give more than anything else, its usual for a set of tyres to have a wear and damage warranty of 60,000miles I am damn sure I'd be very suspicious of any tyre that gave that mileage over wet or dry grip, on our roads I'd rather replace every 20K and know I'll be coming out each corner the facing the same way as I went in

I am fairly sure that the tyres in the states are different to ours. The mileage claims are just too large. I reckon I've done well doing 40k on my bridgestones and that is largely motorway. The us talk about doing 70-80k on a set....

Tyres are exactly the same. Pirelli scorpion verde all season are made in Britain and they get exported out whereas Michelin are made over there and get imported in. No difference in tyres but obviously you have to be skeptical of the mileage claims. Other than that the tyres are very good. Michelin's are very quiet, had them on the last RX. Never had pirelli scorpion verde all season though but it gets good reviews and if im not mistake, is oem on Range Rover Evoque's and the new RR Sport, probably because theyre made in britain tbh

[steve haley]

Don't forget though the american market is completely dominated by the mileage the tyres can give more than anything else, its usual for a set of tyres to have a wear and damage warranty of 60,000miles I am damn sure I'd be very suspicious of any tyre that gave that mileage over wet or dry grip, on our roads I'd rather replace every 20K and know I'll be coming out each corner the facing the same way as I went in

I am fairly sure that the tyres in the states are different to ours. The mileage claims are just too large. I reckon I've done well doing 40k on my bridgestones and that is largely motorway. The us talk about doing 70-80k on a set....

Tyres are exactly the same. Pirelli scorpion verde all season are made in Britain and they get exported out whereas Michelin are made over there and get imported in. No difference in tyres but obviously you have to be skeptical of the mileage claims. Other than that the tyres are very good. Michelin's are very quiet, had them on the last RX. Never had pirelli scorpion verde all season though but it gets good reviews and if im not mistake, is oem on Range Rover Evoque's and the new RR Sport, probably because theyre made in britain tbh

Curious as to where you get your information as I have heard the opposite, most US tyres are made in the states or made for that market. Note hey arent milage claims they are milage guarantees. Most Goodyear are circa 90k and Michelin 65k. I consider myself good on tyres but count myself fortunate if I can get 50k out of a set. 40 is my norm. American roads are if anything worse than ours so I just dont see it. See tyrerack etc for more info,,,,,