Wait, so after all the 'I need Ultra High Performance All Season Tires' for my Mazda CX-30 and going to a shorter sidewall (112.5mm vs 118.25mm), you're seriously considering trading them out because you don't like how the bumps feel due to the 'construction and the general shit conditions of the roads in Kansas City'?

You know, if you went with the 235/50R18, the sidewall height of 117.5mm of that tire would have been within 1mm of the OEM tires and provided a little more compliance on the dreaded bumps around the KC area!

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Wait, so after all the 'I need Ultra High Performance All Season Tires' for my Mazda CX-30 and going to a shorter sidewall (112.5mm vs 118.25mm), you're seriously considering trading them out because you don't like how the bumps feel due to the 'construction and the general shit conditions of the roads in Kansas City'?

You know, if you went with the 235/50R18, the sidewall height of 117.5mm of that tire would have been within 1mm of the OEM tires and provided a little more compliance on the dreaded bumps around the KC area!

1) Never said I needed, just wanted. My main aggravation was people thinking I was looking at 200 TW R Compound tires. I didn't name the categories.

2) No, I didn't know that and I'm glad you mentioned something. Right now, I'm evaluating options. I've still got at least 2 weeks in the return window and a downside to looking at these other options is they're all more expensive and I'm 98% happy with the tires I've got.

FWIW, I run dedicated Ultra HP Summers on an '09 Volvo S60 & an '10 Audi S5 (there's quite a disparity between summer and winter in NH) and by sticking to a 320-340AA UTQG rating, I get very acceptable mileage/treadlife out of those tires!

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
I'm 98% happy with the tires I've got.

If your serious about the 98%, then don’t go chasing that 2%. It’ll be a big waste of time.

Bah! Pulled the trigger.

I ordered the Goodyear Eagle Exhilarates. $991.60 out the door with the certificates with the $80 off and the 5% for using Discount Tire's card. no interest if paid off in 9 months. I usually buy tires this way and pay it off within 6 months or right after I get the rebate. Hopefully they get here by Thursday since I'm off Thursday and will have time to go to the store to get them mounted.

So with rebate, it's $891.60 out the door. Hopefully I get more than 30k miles out of these. My Michelin Pilot Sport 4 All Seasons are at 30k now and 2 of the tires are at 2/32nds. The other two are hovering around 3-4/32nds. So 30k miles in 24 months. I did an alignment when I bought them and rotated every 6k miles.

Sorry I couldn't get any vids of an AWD launch. Don't have time to figure out a safe place and time to mess with launch control before Thursday. I'm definitely not going to do it with the new tires. lol

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
If your serious about the 98%, then don’t go chasing that 2%. It’ll be a big waste of time.

Yep. It's that classic example of a kid that brings home a report card that all A's but one C- and that one C- that sticks out. I can also say the ride is either smoothing out or I'm getting use to it. My "incident" didn't help my first impressions just before a 100 mile road trip.

Thankfully, my inner cheap bastard is kicking in because just about every option in Grand Touring or larger P Zeros will cost at least $30 more per tire, and if any of those tires start with Michelin or Bridgestone then that price jumps to $40-$50 per tire. I'll also lose the rebate as well since Pirelli is only offering it on the P Zero line instead of all their tires.

I do have to hand it to Continental. They've not had any rebates for this holiday season, but their prices on their stuff is more reasonable than the other big brands that need rebates to compete.

quote:

I ordered the Goodyear Eagle Exhilarates. $991.60 out the door with the certificates with the $80 off and the 5% for using Discount Tire's card. no interest if paid off in 9 months. I usually buy tires this way and pay it off within 6 months or right after I get the rebate. Hopefully they get here by Thursday since I'm off Thursday and will have time to go to the store to get them mounted.

Sweet. If that $80 off was available when I ordered, that's the route I probably would have gone.

Guessing my current bmw doesn't have launch control or I can't figure it out. It's different from my last bmw. I couldn't get it to work, so I just mashed the brake, then mashed the gas and let go of the brake.

Couldn't kill the tires. lol. AWD (front biased in these mini cooper copies), 3/32 and 2/32 left on the tires. Sorry, there was a wet spot I had to drive through. Sport + mode for shifting. Car is only a 4cyl with 302hp.


heading to discount tire in 3 hours to get the new Goodyears.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
Yep. It's that classic example of a kid that brings home a report card that all A's but one C- and that one C- that sticks out.

Third quarter of the 4th grade, my daughter got a B+ in handwriting. I remember for two reasons. First, when she showed it to me she asked, ”Daddy, does this mean I’m not smart?” Second, she thought she wanted to transfer schools in the 7th grade and I got a copy of her transcripts to send to the potential new school. That B+ did stick out in a field of A’s.

You can’t really judge tires well in the first 100 miles because they are still coated in mold-release compound. It’s probably closer to 500 miles.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
You can’t really judge tires well in the first 100 miles because they are still coated in mold-release compound. It’s probably closer to 500 miles.

If I do anything, it will be for the Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate because with all the discounts and if I don't get warranty certificates, I can get them installed and out the door for just under $700. At that price I don't care if they wear out fast as I'm still getting an A tier tire a B tier prices, they qualify for the Goodyear $100 mail in rebate, and I'll have them paid off almost 4 months earlier than the Pirellis.

That discount ends today, so if I end up with overtime, I'm sticking with what I've got.

Just drove home on the Exhilarates. They actually let me in 30 minutes before they opened and got me out right at opening time. It was only 8 miles home but they were quieter than my Michelins and didn't transmit as much road noise over bumps. Won't really try to push the tires until after a few hundred miles. It started raining when I got home so no wet weather experience yet.

whew, glad i got new tires.
did some freeway driving on the way to work today and there's a drone around 60mph. once i get past 70mph, it goes away.
someone cut me off on the freeway then braked hard, my car alerted me and i slammed on the brakes and stopped in time. tires were great.

On Friday, I went ahead and returned the Pirellis for the Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate.




I also got to save almost $300 by going with these thanks to Memorial Day prices, and that doesn't include the $100 mail in rebate. These tires were what I was looking for. They still have a high amount of grip, but they also have the ride I expected from previous tires in this same category. I still feel every road imperfection, but the Goodyears absorb far more of the impact than the Pirellis.

According to all the test data, I'm going to lose out in light snow performance, but that hasn't been a priority for the last 5 years. At this price, if I get 2 years out of these, I'll be impressed. I'm also happy that this tire was also US made instead of nearly everyone making this tire size in Mexico or Brazil.

I've got about 250 miles on these so far, and I'll try and update the thread as these tires start to wear.

Not sure if it's in your tire size, I couldn't zoom in on the pic enough, but the tires have tread depth indicators on them so you can see how they are wearing without a tool.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chowser,

New Conti rebate that runs through the end of the month. $110 prepaid Visa. Just waiting for DT to offer their own deal for July 4th. Once both promos are going buying new PureContact LS’s for the DD.

Ugh... That would have helped out a couple of weeks ago, but I'm happy and done with changing out tires for now.

quote:

Not sure if it's in your tire size, I couldn't zoom in on the pic enough, but the tires have tread depth indicators on them so you can see how they are wearing without a tool.

They're there, but they are incredibly small and not as easy to find as Continental's "DWS" billboards on the tire tread.

Still loving the Eagle Exhilarates.

I just had my first rotation at ~5,500 miles. I still like these tires. The ride is still better than the Pirelli P Zero I bought originally and also better than the crap OEM Bridgestone Turanzas despite having far more grip. I haven't had many rain storms to drive it, but I never noticed any traction loss from the dry, and more importantly, I've never felt a 4 wheel slide like I had with the Turanzas. We'll see how they do in snow as that's been the #1 complaint about these tires vs others in this segment.

The downside is that while my rears were good at 9/32, my fronts were at 8/32. If they continue wearing at this rate, I'll be around 20,000 miles when they hit 3/32 and 4/32. If I bought these at full price with no rebate, I'd be upset. For the price, they're doing OK. I'll know more when I get a 2nd rotation to see if they wear faster or not.

I've had several sets of PS AS3, many sets of the DWS and 06 'laps, a set of Pirellis and now have worn out a set of Nokian WRG's on the X3 M40

Don't laugh, they're better than the PS AS3, better than the DWS/06, are waaaay better than the Pirelii's. Plus, no need to swap into winter rubber as the Noki's are super in snow and ice - not as good as Hakkas but they stick like snot all year round.

Good update!

I went through this thread when I bought tires for my wife’s Explorer. The stock Pirellis made it 30,000 miles. They had good traction, but the car always felt like it wanted to dart one way or another while just driving straight down the road. There weren’t a lot of choices for the 21” wheels and I wound up with Bridgestone Alenza A/S Ultras. With a tread wear rating of 800 and an 80,000 mile warranty I was worried I’d be giving up some traction compared to the Pirellis. I’m happy to report that in the round abouts, launching from a stop, and heavy braking traction seems just as good as the Pirellis. The two biggest differences are they don’t squeal through the round abouts or any other corners and the darting feel is gone. We only have 1,200 miles on them.