Yet another tire question

[Scottao]

I've read every thread that mentions tires on this board, and haven't had my concerns assuaged yet with my specific questions. Please be forgiving, as I know that tires have been talked to death here (as evidenced by my last three days of reading all the posts).

I have an '09 4.6 with the Michelin Pilots (235/50 18") on their last legs. I'm shopping the usual places for replacements and really need to hear opinions from other Genesis owners since it seems unlikely anyone in a Subaru Forester will be able to compare their situation to mine.

My car does a ton of highway driving in Central and Southern NJ. I'm looking to do an all weather tire that will still preserve the ride I've become used to in my car. That being said, since I clear 150 miles a day, tread life is important too.

I've narrowed my choices down to the following, but would be happy to accept other suggestions!

Kumho Ecsta LX Platinums: Good warranty, seem to be well tolerated but may develop road noise after the first 5k?

Bridgestone Serenity Plus: Few complaints, but $300+ more than the Kumhos!

Cooper Zeon RS3-A: Seems to be a decent all around tire, but no indication anywhere of how they'd shape up to what I'm used to.

I'd be extremely grateful for any input. Even snarky sarcastic stuff is better than me trying to take a stab at what other vehicle owners think of these tires on their cars!

 

[Ron]

We have Cooper Zeon RS3-A on our 09- 3.8v6. Have driven them about 5700 miles at this point. I would purchase them again. We live in Western Ne and drive in many varied conditions. Car came with P-Nero O's. The Zeons are much better. We find them to be quiet, grip the road very well in wet conditions. Had 4" of snow the other day and they did very well, both in the fresh snow and after the snow became packed hard. With the Nero O's my wife would be very careful when we had snow and at times would use my F-150 4wd. Looked at winter tires but for the price she decided to re-learn how to drive the RWD. We can both tell the Zeon's will work for us thru the winter. We took a 3200 mi. road trip to Calif. this fall and the Zeon's were fine on interstate and back roads alike. When I purchased the Zeon's the dealer informed me as I was getting ready pay him that I had 60 days to try them out. He said if you do not like them bring them back and we will find a tire to suit you. Hope this helps.
Ron

 

[homeofstone]

Just got rid of Coopers RS3 A tires on my Mercedes E500. Tires got so noisy That they had to go. smooth ride and quiet at first but then after 8k almost worn out and noise, noise, noise.

 

[Scottao]

So that's one vote of get the Coopers, and one vote of stay away from the Coopers.

I'm leaning toward the Kumhos over the Bridgestones right now, since for the cost of the Bridgestones I can have the Kumhos mounted and have routine maintenance done. And probably still have enough to go out for dinner.

 

[homeofstone]

Check the new survey for grand touring tires on tirerack.com. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=GTAS

 

[Philth]

If I were you, I'd go Bridgestone over Kuhmo. I've had Kuhmo's on previous cars and was not impressed with them. The Serenity Plus should have, what, a 600+ tread wear on them? They get good reviews too.

 

[Scottao]

Serenity is 500. Kumhos are 600. Reviews are pretty outstanding on both. I (obviously) don't want to drop the extra $300+ if the difference is going to be marginal.

Of course, with three days of dumping all my spare time into reading about tires, I'm starting to feel like I'm over-obsessing and am about to just flip a coin.

 

[homeofstone]

I have 48k miles on my set of Serenity Plus tires. Check and make sure you compare speed ratings. The Genesis comes with a W rated tire. Take a look at the new Pirelli tire in the survey.

 

[Gurkha]

Now that the original Dunlops are done, in the spring I might be going with the Nexen CP672's ($400 less than the Serenity Plus in Canada) or Continental Pure Contacts (about $150 less)

 

[brfatal]

Nexen tires are universally garbage. I suggest you not.

And Kumhos consistently have much less tread life than competitors. Not terrible tires, they just wear fast.

Get the Bridgestones. You get what you pay for with tires.

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[Scottao]

How is the longevity? Will I actually get 50k out of them? I put around 30k on this car in just over a year, so they're definitely going to get a workout.

The Kumhos in question seem to be pretty resilient. Has anyone beaten them up yet?

I saw those Pirelli tires on the survey. There were a few scary reviews, but the overall attitude was that they were great? Even if total mileage reviewed was practically nothing. Also in that review was the Continental Pure Contact - I hadn't even looked at them, but they're only $18 more per tire than the Kumhos I was looking at.

Thanks everyone, for all the comments. As much as I was hoping to hear, "Get the cheap stuff, it's practically as good as the expensive tires!" I'm not terribly surprised to hear that the Serenity tires are the solid recommendation. I'm just hoping someone who has been keeping their tire secret to themselves all this time jumps in with their experience. (But that clearly won't happen)

 

[Scottao]

I went ahead and ordered the Kumho Ecsta LX Platinums. They should be delivered today, and I plan on having them installed tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be kicking myself over skipping the Bridgestones.

 

[darrell]

I went ahead and ordered the Kumho Ecsta LX Platinums. They should be delivered today, and I plan on having them installed tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be kicking myself over skipping the Bridgestones.

Good choice IMHO, I purchased this tire for my 2010 Genesis and now have approx 10k miles. Very satisfied, so much better than the org Dunlap.

 

[Scottao]

I never experienced the horror that the Dunlops apparently were, but I'm sure they'll be better than the bald Pilots I'm getting rid of for them. Instal is tomorrow - by this time tomorrow night I should know.

 

[snork]

A day late and a dollar short for you at this point....but I just had a set of Continental PureContact EcoPlus put on my Genny.

First I'll recap my previous tire experience: my car is CPO and came with a set of Hankook Ventus V4 es tires. They were great performers on dry and midly wet roads being high-performance, all-season tires. I put about 39k miles on them and they looked mostly new when I got the car. For first 27k miles or so they were very quiet. Then they got progressively louder as they wore out, but my front end was slightly out alignment and the fronts wore a tad unevenly so I think this contributed to the noise a lot as well. These tires were good...even great in dry. But if it was more than a drizzle of rain, they got a bit loose. Larger puddles on the highway would lead to lots of hydroplaning even when the tires were new. Light snow wasn't bad, but because of the sporty tread pattern (continuous center tread area) they didn't like more than a dusting of snow. Ride quality was good all throughout their life. So to recap: I live in the NE, where we get 4 seasons. Had I lived in the south I would have considered these tires again. They are great dry weather performers.

Now for the Continental PureContact EcoPlus: so far I love them. Granted I've only driven about 500 miles on them, but we've had dry and wet weather the last 2 weeks. They are QUIET. Basically just hear the small amount of wind and road noise the genny lets into the cabin. Wet traction is far superior...used to spin tires just at intersections in the rain when needing more than average acceleration. I've barely managed to get these to slip yet except when gunning it from a stop in the rain. Ride: being touring tires, they are noticeably softer than my previous Hankooks. When I got home from the shop it was below freezing and the tire sidewalls seemed "squished". I figured it was cold out so the pressure might be low? Nope, it was fine...tires have the same 97 load rating as the Hankooks, they're just softer tires. This does have the benefit of a better ride at the expense of some handling. The car jolts must less noticeably over hard bumps...which is a big complaint of the 09's handling in general. I know I'm giving up some performance for this, but 99% of my driving is commuting anyway, so I'll take the softer ride I picked the Contis because of their 600 treadlife rating and 70k mile warranty. As you've noticed, most tires in this size aren't warranted for much more than 40k-50k, and I drive about 30k per year. They also purported to be quiet and low rolling resistance, but being new tires...not many reviews out there to back that up yet. Well I can confirm the quiet, gas mileage hasn't gone up or down, but whatever on that. Wet traction is far superior to my old Hankooks. Dry traction seems very good as well, but the softer sidewalls means less cornering but YMMV depending on your driving style. If they last 70k+ miles...I'll be perfectly happy Also cost was a factor for me...I really didn't want to spend $200+ on a set of tires that might last me less than 2 years. I got all 4 installed, mounted, balanced, old tire disposal, AND 4 wheel alignment from a local tire shop for $920 including tax! Drop out the alignment and it would have been only $840 for just the tires.

 

[Eric Gustavson]

Check out the reviews on the relatively new Michelin Pilot AS 3's. That's what are going on my 2009, 4.6 in the spring when the Blizzack wheels come off.

 

[GaryK11]

I went ahead and ordered the Kumho Ecsta LX Platinums. They should be delivered today, and I plan on having them installed tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be kicking myself over skipping the Bridgestones.

I've purchased Bridgestones before and hated them. The stone part of their name is appropriate because they're like riding on rocks. I like a comfortable ride and keep going back to Michelins.

 

[Scottao]

I was looking at the PureContacts, but even those would have put me a good $300 over what I got the Kumhos for. My mechanic is finishing up with all my work now, so hopefully I'll see soon what these ride like. I'll post back!

 

[EXBMWGUY]

Check out the reviews on the relatively new Michelin Pilot AS 3's. That's what are going on my 2009, 4.6 in the spring when the Blizzack wheels come off.

I'll be doing the same thing - they are supposed to be amazing.

Maybe I'll see you at Morrie's when I'm in for my next oil change. Don't know how long you have worked there, my my car is the Black R-Spec that was Jessie Bishop's when the R-Spec first came out. He put 2,000 miles and then I bought it.

 

[snork]

I was looking at the PureContacts, but even those would have put me a good $300 over what I got the Kumhos for. My mechanic is finishing up with all my work now, so hopefully I'll see soon what these ride like. I'll post back!

Not trying to argue, but $300? PureContacts should have been about ~$100 more for 4 which is still not inconsequential. TireRack has the Kumhos for $572 and the Contis are $672.

The Kumhos were my second choice based soley on price, but I figured I'd chance the extra money for a tire that claims a longer tread life which is more important for me driving so many miles per year. I also have more confidence in the Conti brand and their reputation for excellent traction which I've already experienced in heavy rains...never had Kumhos before.

Best tires I've ever owned are Goodyear Assurance Tripletreads. Excellent dry, wet, snow traction and I had 2 sets that both lasted 90k+ miles on my old V6 Accord. If they made them in the Genny's size, I'd buy them without question and consideration of cost.