what tires to get?

[cdixon]

Hi everyone, I'm back from my hiatus. Quick question-my 02 LS Sport is going to need tires in the nest couple of months and I'm wondering which ones ya'll have had good luck with. I have the original Pilots (235/50-17) and I've gotten about 40,000 miles on them so I'm wondering should I stick with them or go with a pricier tire like the Pilot Sport A/S. I pretty fond of Michelins but I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks for your help and I'll try not to be gone for so long next time.

Chip

 

[mayhawboy's LS]

off the subject, but what part of GA are you from? I'm in Royston, 30 miles north of
Athens, but i'm actually from the southwest corner of the state; a small town named Donalsonville. By the way it was hard to find any tire dealer that had the 235/50 R17 in stock. Some could order them and some could not. It seemed everyone had the 245/45R17 which is acceptable for the LS ( i found this on the door frame of the rear passenger door). I recently bought a set of Hankook Ventus Sport K104 245/45ZR17's. They grip well but are a little noisy at highway speeds. Bought 'em from PepBoys for a little under $500.

 

[MikeRhyner]

I bought the Eagle LS tires from Walmart...nice grip and quite. GOOD PRICE!

 

[GrayGhost1]

Chip,

I've been running my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires now for about 8 months and they are great. They really excel in the rain. They are a performance tire and really hug the road. Also, they are really quiet on the highway! I had the Hankook Ventus K104's and they were the best handling tire up to about 8,000 miles. Then they wore quickly and were extremely noisey. I would not recommend these unless you needed a good track tire. You really can't go wrong with the Michelin's.

 

[JPsBored]

Chip,

I've been running my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires now for about 8 months and they are great. They really excel in the rain. They are a performance tire and really hug the road. Also, they are really quiet on the highway! I had the Hankook Ventus K104's and they were the best handling tire up to about 8,000 miles. Then they wore quickly and were extremely noisey. I would not recommend these unless you needed a good track tire. You really can't go wrong with the Michelin's.

Pricing on Michelins.http://www.epinions.com/Michelin_Pilot_Sport_A_S_Passenger_Performance_Tire

 

[cdixon]

Thanks for the input guys. I just noticed a set of Kumhos on tirerack that are w rated and have a treadlife rating of 420 which is pretty high and they are just a little over 100 bucks a piece. Have any of you had any experience with these?

 

[eL eS]

Thanks for the input guys. I just noticed a set of Kumhos on tirerack that are w rated and have a treadlife rating of 420 which is pretty high and they are just a little over 100 bucks a piece. Have any of you had any experience with these?

I have been through 2 sets. It is a nice tire and I ride in confidence and for the price I would have to argue ithat you would be hard pressed to find a better value. That said, the NOISE DAMN the NOISE. I can't impress upon you enough to consider the noise level. At and above 55 mph you are going to hear some tire noise.

 

[cdixon]

I have been through 2 sets. It is a nice tire and I ride in confidence and for the price I would have to argue ithat you would be hard pressed to find a better value. That said, the NOISE DAMN the NOISE. I can't impress upon you enough to consider the noise level. At and above 55 mph you are going to hear some tire noise.

Thanks eLeS. The tires I found were the ECSTA ASX. Is this the same tire you've had? Also how much worse do you think the noise will be over my stock Michelin Pilots? Thanks again for the help. Oh yeah do you suggest going with the 245/45-17 instead of the stock 235/50?

 

[eL eS]

I have only ised the OE tires which I think were firehawks or something of the sorts and KH12 and the current ones ASX. The OE tires were much quiter but I do not know how it would compare to the Pilots you have. I have been using the 245/45/17s since I swapped from the OE.

I think if you go with the 235/50 you could end up with a much larger gap between the tire and the wheel well but the contact patch would be wider and the narrower sidewall should reduce sidewall rollover in heavy corning but could sacrifice some of the ide comfort.

I have not used the 235/50's so I cannot really qualify one size as better or worse over the other.

 

[cdixon]

Thanks eLeS. I have 235/50 on now (stock) and they look fine but if the 245/45s look better I might go with them. Will it affect the speedo much?

 

[eL eS]

I did not notice much change in the deflection. Plus law enforcement has reported to me twice the spped that Ihad my cruise controlset on 85 MPH. Of course the calibration tests set me back 180 dollars each plus 2 saturdays in driver improvement class.

 

[GrayGhost1]

Thanks eLeS. I have 235/50 on now (stock) and they look fine but if the 245/45s look better I might go with them. Will it affect the speedo much?

According to 1010tires.com tire size calculator the 245/45-17 tire size will cause your speedometer to be about 2.221% faster than the OEM 235/50-17 tire. You can play around with tire sizes here:

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

 

[cdixon]

Thanks ya'll. Judging by that calculator I might just stick with the 235. I don't want to risk anything changing after having driven with the 235s for 35K miles

 

[BIG CELO]

My car has 245/45/17 and my LS8 runs fine. A couple of weeks back I took my car to FLM dealer for an oil change he asked me how the ride was and I said it was fine why, he told me that the car was suppose to have 245/50 or 250/50 can't remember right now. When it's time to replace my tires i'm going to stick to 245/45 there fine for me!!

 

[eL eS]

My car has 245/45/17 and my LS8 runs fine. A couple of weeks back I took my car to FLM dealer for an oil change he asked me how the ride was and I said it was fine why, he told me that the car was suppose to have 245/50 or 250/50 can't remember right now. When it's time to replace my tires i'm going to stick to 245/45 there fine for me!!

Yeah I am happy. Now that I think of it I had my size referenc wrong 45 is smaller sidewall and the 235 or 245 is the contat patch with 245 being the wider.

I love the ride and damn if it doesnt hang 10 in the corners. Man I have this new stretch leading up to my house that has a nice straight away and a great s curve. Fun fun fun.