I absolutely love my new tires!!! I suspect many of you get performance tires, but I think Grand Touring All Season tires may actually be the best tires available from any given manufacture. At the very least, they are versatile tires, that are good in most conditions and that have great ride characteristics.

When I purchase my 1995 E320 in 1997 with 16K miles, it still had the OEM Continental tires. I hated those tires. I thought the Continentals were noisy, uncomfortable, and they didn’t handle great either. I switched to Michelin MXV4 Energy. As I remember, I liked them OK in the 15” size. When I switched to the 16” x 7.5” wheels with 205/55/16 tires, I repurchased the Michelin MXV4 Energy Plus tires. They were quiet and comfortable going down the road and they handled OK in dry. The problem was that they absolutely stunk in the rain and they squealed around corners and even made squealing noises when turning around in parking lots. The next time I needed tires, I switched to Bridgestone Turanza LSH tires. They were much better in the rain and they did not ever squeal, but they were not quite as quiet and comfortable as the Michelins.

These new Michelin MXV4 Primacy tires are truly the best ever. They are more quiet and more comfortable than any tire I have ever had. They do not squeal at all, even during rather extreme cornering, and they feel like they are glued to the pavement. They even felt sticky when I just washed them with a soft brush. They also seem to be good in the rain.

As for looks, the sidewall seems very rounded. Especially compared to the Bridgestone Turanza tires, which seemed rather square. Anyway, I truly love my new tires.


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Man I had to post a reply because this is the first positive post that I can ever recall you making Car looks great though, when was the last time you clay bar'ed it?

~CAli

 

they look nice! where did you get them, and how much? I would be interested to see how long they last, michelins are awesome tires but the ones I always have known wear out in 30k

 

I just realized that I really did triple post. I saw a remark about it in another post, but I didn’t realize it had actually happened until just now. I think it must have happened because I had some typos in my image files and when I was fixing the problem I ended up with a triple post. One post has all four pictures (that one received the most replies), this post has 2 pictures, and one post has only one picture.

I think I am always more positive in the spring. The winter months can be tough. Now that my car is clean and the weather is shaping up, I feel much better.

I have never done the clay bar. I have done the Meguiar’s 3-step process and I routinely use cleaner wax, but I have not used a clay bar. It is also worth noting that you really can’t see many small imperfections in the pictures.

I ended up buying the tires from my Indy. I did pay a little bit more than ordering from Tirerack, but there is nobody that I would rather give my money to than my very trusted Indy. I decided to forgo the savings to patronize my local shop.

Regarding the longevity of the tires, I think they are rated for 60K, although Tirerack did note some wear in their grueling track tests even though they rated them as the best All Season Grand Touring tire in their test. As for my own experiences, I would be happy to get 30K. I have never gotten that many miles from my tires. When in stock configuration it was outer front tire wear from the toe in, even though everything was within spec. With my current configuration, I wear the inside edges with the extra camber, even with my K-MAC bushings and a very good alignment. I also tend to go for newer tires before they are very bad, just to be safe and to avoid getting a flat out on the road. Of course anything can happen with road hazards, but I think new tires are less prone to getting flats.