Looking for tire insights/experience

[brfatal]

I'm getting a LOT of vibration thru my steering wheel at the moment even though my wheels are balanced and tires have no run out. In assuming the OE Contis are defective I'm looking to potentially replace them even though I have 6-7/32" tread remaining. I know a great deal about tires, the problem is that I'm an idiot when it comes to all-seasons since all I know by experience are performance oriented (track and summers). I've used summers on my other car exclusively for the most part. I'm looking at the following ones:

1. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3

The Michelins come to mind because I AM at heart a car enthusiast and know that it's always worth the money on good tires that will last years and these are supposed to be the best UHP all-seasons on the market. However I'm concerned about snow traction and loss of gas mileage. Tire Rack says that snow handling is an afterthought with these. I do have an AWD Subaru with snow tires for that, however I don't want to get trapped in one of the 1-3 times a year it does snow here in case I'm out in the Genesis.

2. Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus

The Bridgestones are one of my options because they are one of the better touring tires. I get 15.5-15.9 MPG average right now with the stock Contis and I don't want to see that go any lower if I can help it. However I'm concerned about how well they grip in dry because this is a heavy boat w/ a lot of low end torque and I do take many turns faster than my grandma would. How awful are these handling wise?

3. Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2

I am considering the Hankooks because it seems to be a middle ground between the Turanzas and the Pilot Sports. Also I'm currently closing on a house so the ~$250 price difference is very enticing. However they are new and there are no decent reviews available.

Any insight or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Fast55]

Since it's new I don't have any experience with the Michelin A/S3, but the original Pilot Sport AS was a great tire. The reviews for this tire sound like my experience with the Pilot Sport AS. The only real downside was not withstanding the tread wear rating, they went away about the same as a true performance tire, which is to say damned quick. Part of this could be blamed on the car (supercharged E55, staggered fitment), but even the fronts went quick.

The Turanza is similar to the stock Energy Savers on my G. These are surprisingly not bad. Nothing like a Pilot Sport of course, but very quiet, decent handling, and they look like they will wear like iron (so far). My only real complaint is they do tramline noticeably which is also a complaint some have for the Turanza.

No experience at all with Hankook other than a different type being stock fitment to some of our Ford service trucks. They wear quickly but again, this is apples to potatoes.

Another possibility I had on my Avalon was the General AS-03. Great high perf. all season in every category except wear, but they were dirt cheap so I didn't care.

 

[brfatal]

Wear doesn't concern me much as long as they don't wear as fast as the summers I'm used to. I've never gotten more than 25k out of a set of tires in my life.

 

[Fast55]

Cost is no object: Michelin A/S 3

Budget conscious: General AS-03

Max life/min noise: Bridgestone Serenity

My .02.

 

[AgentSmith007]

I got Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires this past Sunday. They replaced OEM Dunlops after 18,000 miles.

I am not an expert about tires, but all I can say is WOW! These tires are very quiet. It feels like the car is glued to the road. Was driving in the rain today, didn't feel any difference compare to the dry pavement. Can't say anything about snow driving because these tires just came out this July. Very happy camper.

 

[brfatal]

Any big change in gas mileage?

 

[AgentSmith007]

Any big change in gas mileage?

I was not scientifically tracking MPG with Dunlops, and it is only one week on Michelins, so it is hard to tell.

 

[Rey]

Note there are two versions of the Bridgestone Turanza etc. The first version was offered by Costco; and in a conversation with a Costco installer he said Costco had consumer complaints about wear, and were no longer pushing sales of this tire.
The other version is the low rolling resistance model by the same title. TireRack sells this. It is a great tire. I installed a set on my '12 RSpec and got about 1.5 mpg+. The tires are not summer performance tires, but do handle quite well with no surprises. Sold the car with 15K miles on the tires and wear was non-existent.

 

[homeofstone]

Note there are two versions of the Bridgestone Turanza etc. The first version was offered by Costco; and in a conversation with a Costco installer he said Costco had consumer complaints about wear, and were no longer pushing sales of this tire.
The other version is the low rolling resistance model by the same title. TireRack sells this. It is a great tire. I installed a set on my '12 RSpec and got about 1.5 mpg+. The tires are not summer performance tires, but do handle quite well with no surprises. Sold the car with 15K miles on the tires and wear was non-existent.

Two Versions is incorrect. Turanza is a line of Bridgestone tires. The Bridgestone Turanza Serenity was replaced by the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus in 2012. I had the original and now the Plus, both are an excellent tire and last beyond their warranty miles. The Turanza line consist of at least 6 different tires.

 

[GK Daddio]

The OEM Dunlops were the biggest peices of crapp and think everyone here wil agree to that. I recently installed the Bridgestone Serenity Plus and it is a great tire. Great grip, ultra quiet, (no more womp womp womp down the road), smooth riding and has helped alot with better steering feel.
About 3k on them and looking foward to seeing how they will handle he snow this winter.
Check out Tirerack.com for their reviews, theyhaven't steered me wrong yet (6 tire sets researched thru them), but stay local when you goto buy as you will save $$. Remember you have to factor tirerack cost, shipping and having someone else mount them. Also look at a few other threads on the forum about tires and you will find alot buying the Bridgestones.

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