MacGyver

I have a 97 SE and I currently have goodyear RSA tires on my car. I thought they would be good, but they are terrible in the rain. On the dry road they are fine. They are kind of low on tred, but they have been like this a short time after I got them. In the rain they skid from a start easily and I can't take a turn more than 10 mph or it will slide.

So, I'm getting new tires soon and people on here have been saying good things about Michelin and Pirelli. Did anyone have toyos or RSAs on and then switched to a different(better) brand? Was there a big improvement in handling on wet roads?

Let me know brand/models you got. Thanks

cyclemax

iTrader: (1)

I switched to 235/40/18 Dunlop SP9000's from the stock RSA's on my 99. Excellent wet traction compared to stock.

kevm14

I had a lot of hydroplaning problems with the RS-As as well. They just aren't a very good tire. To their defense, the maxima has the uncanny ability to light up the front tires in 2nd gear on many wet surfaces. It's just powerful. Most of the time, it'll run right up to about 6 grand in 2nd. ONCE I did a quick upshift to 3rd while this was happening and it sat there are 65mph at like 4300rpm just sort of accelerating. Very amusing (this is with the old and even the new tires...just gotta go light in the rain. I doubt there is a tire that has as much wet traction as these Michelins have dry traction). Anyway, I did a little research, and decided to stay in the H-rated class (as opposed to moving up to V, W, or Z). It came down to Michelin Pilot XGT H4s. 215/60 15s...They have better dry traction than the goodyears and certainly better wet traction. Back when the tread was almost brand new, I was flying through Hartford up I91N at like 2am around some corners at 90-100. It was kinda stupid, and I don't know why I trusted the tires so much, but they just held on and didn't let go. Good tire for the stock size, in H-rated form. If I were to get V rated, I decided on BFGoodrich Comp T/A V4, I think they're called...these had excellent reviews at tirerack, and weren't very expensive.

CoOlKidS1979

I dont know if I'm right or not but I always thought that the tread wear had a lot to do with handling in the the wet, a higher tread wear being harder ,longer lasting tread that handles worse in the wet, where lower tread wear means softer, better handling tread in the wet?

Washington DC Maxima

when it comes to wet weather.. Bridgestone and Dunlaps a waaay better..

kevm14

Were you going to give us useful information, or just generalize entire brands?

VampireKitty

Mich's suck.

I love Aquatread III's. I got em for winter and they work extreemly well. I can go in the rain at my normal 90mph. With no problems of hydro.

And its great in the snow. I'm up in Chicago and we've had already over 20 inches. And they've worked fine.


VampireKitty

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nforg

Michelin Pilot XGT V4's were the best tires I ever owned. This tires were made specificially for handling rain and a great job they did; in the snow they were ok (but does any tire perform 'great' in the snow). They are labeled as Ultra-High Performance All Season, not a choice for the track, but if you drive around a lot I'd just suggest these.

-Nate



More Info on these tires here
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/michel...pilotxgtz4.jsp

[Edited by nforg on 01-04-2001 at 03:46 PM]

xraydoc99

I live on the coast and drive in rain a LOT. I put a set of Brigestone RE-730's 225\55\16 on the stock 99SE rims and they are great in the rain. Seems to make it like driving on dry roads. The tread pattern is deep and grooved to disperse the water very efficiently. Take a look at tirerack.com, they have a lot of reviews and ratings on the different tires. Got mine for $475 delivered. Great deal on great tires.

krell

I replaced the Smackyear RS-A's with Michelin Pilot MXM ZR rated tires. The wet weather traction was noticable better along with tire noise, traction, etc... Of course now that they're bald as Mr. Clean, any wet weather is treacherous.

Does everybody else go thru a set of tires every 20K miles? Sigh.

MacGyver

I am looking into Dunlop SP SPort 9000 (ZR) OR Pirelli P6000 (WR)

These tires are suppose to be great on dry and wet roads. The problem is it doesn't say anything about snow. Does anyone have these tires on thier car? How are they all around and in the snow?

JUGSMAX

I also have a 97se..My car came with Toyo's 215/55/16...They were great on dry,but when they got some miles on them they were bad in the rain...So I bought so Bridgestone Potenza RE-910..These are Formula one race rain tires.These tires handle the same in the rain or the dry..So you never have to change your style of driving..Rain or Shine ..I also had these tires in the winter.They done good then..I also went with a 225/50/16 Looks good,cheaper,more common size than that 55series tires...Those potenza's are quite too..I have rims on my car now;with 17's and some 235/45/17 on it now...Tire noise out the a$$...I'm ready to put my factory wheels and my Potenza's back on....Also the Bridgestones have a 60,000 mile treadware....Check them out on http://www.tirerack.com.....YOU WILL LOVE THESE TIRES - I PROMISE

drewm

I'd put a second vote in for the Bridgestone Potenza RE730s. I love mine, great in the water too. The only complaint I have is that they tend to kick up a lot of road pebbles due to the wide grooves in the tires.

CFster

Michelins are overrated. You wouldn't believe how many we have come back to our shop with bubbles in the sidewalls. And to think, they don't even have a roadhazard.

You know how they ended up being OEM on a lot of cars? Well, brand new they have slightly less tread than other tires and the sidewalls are thinner too. This results in a quieter ride (good for new car sales) and lower rolling resistance (good for that mileage sticker found on all new cars). Michelins are more expensive than other tires, but the auto makers will pay through the nose for the above reasons. I got in a flame war with a guy over at Anandtech who sells Michelins - swearing they are the best tires in the world. They must be, right? After all you get what you pay for - not. We have found that as far as replacement tires are concerned, there are several alternatives that perform just as well if not better for less money.

sinewave

Check the ratings at TireRack.com I like the Dunlop SP8000's, but YMMV
You will get a lot of biased opinions here (including mine!)

kevm14

Let's see, so far we have:
"Mich's suck."

Yes, good assessment. Thanks for condemning an entire brand in two words.

"Michelins are overrated....You know how they ended up being OEM on a lot of cars?"

Ok, I'm going to take a guess at what tire you're talking about. Michelin MXV4/Energy. Am I right? These are OEMs on SO many cars, including my friend's 93 Accord. Know what else? They suck. They are "touring" tires, which means expensive as all hell, and there isn't a single performance attribute about them.

Not a one of you has said "I've used some Michelin XGT H4s that sucked horribly." Instead, you reference the entire brand.

Look at this, again, shall we:
"Michelin Pilot XGT V4's were the best tires I ever owned."

Yes, I know they're not exactly the same. They're the V rated versions of the tires on my Max, but DAMN close. And while being so close, he loved them. Ok?

Summary: I'm not sticking up for Michelins. I don't like the MXV4s either. But when I read "Michelin sucks" I automatically defend my XGT H4s because you're talking about them, too. And they don't suck.

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

Really clean engine for a 95. I like it =)

Washington DC Maxima

tires I've ever owned. That's very useful in fact I wish someone would have told me the truth about them before the 3 sets I've owned and the 3 sets my parents have owned..

Washington DC Maxima

I had the XGT H's they were poor in the rain too...

DCmax

iTrader: (2)

I have the Potenza 235/45/17 on a 96 Maxima and they are absolutely fantastic on wet roads. Seems like the surface is totally dry. A Clear departure from the Michelin MXV4 plus' i used to have.

Got them on tirerack.

humaras

I just want to ask this:

you guys know there is a difference between Michelin Pilot XGT H/V 4's versus the plain old XGT V/H4s, right?

there is a significant difference in terms of their performance and tread.
the old xgt series really did not do anyone driving on it any justice. I got into a skidding accident with those old xgt h4 tires--with a good amount of tread left.

the new ones--however are pretty decent tires...redesigned and it is tighter and handles better on all types of conditions.

bullseye

I think my OEMs were 215/65/15 Toyos on the stock 15" SE alloy rims. I upgraded to 225/50/16 Michelin Pilot XGT Z4 tires on 16 x 7.5 O-Z Racing Monte Carlo [5-spoke] wheels. These Michelins are classified as ultra high performance all-weather tires. The resulting gain in handling/braking, on both wet and dry roads, was unf***ing believable! I get great wear on these tires, too. I got about 60,000 miles on my 1st set, and about 55,000 miles on my second set. I'm now working on my 3rd set of Michelins on the same car! (I have 163,000 miles on this car, so far.) I highly recommend these Michelin Pilot XGT Z4s to you.

CFster

Actually I've seen quality control problems throughout the entire Michelin line. From Xw4s to XPS truck tires. More so than other tires. Like I said, we get a lot of Michelins back for bubbles in the sidewall and other problems. I just replaced a Pilot SX MXX3 on a AMG CLK55 Mercedes with less than 5k on it. The tire was literally out of round. You could feel the lf wheel hopping in the morning when still cold then it would go away as it warmed up (we figure the rubber would soften up and absorb the hop). So we replaced it and sent the other tire back to Michelin so they could decide what to do with it. No road hazard or anything. We just run into problems like this constantly. Whenever we have some kind of company car with worn out Michelins they always get replaced with another brand. Michelins are too damned expensive for what you get.

nforg

When I purchased the Pilot XGT V4's 6 months ago, I was told the only difference between the H4's and the V4's was that the chemical compounds they were made up of; one for speed (V4 - 149?), one more for traction (H4 - 132?).... Also $100, anyways I ordered the H4's but they were on national backorder at the time so I paid the extra $100 and got the V4's.

Anyways these tires were great, and were the newly redesigned ones ( I never had any older michlin's so perhaps that is why I never experienced the problems others have listed )....

What I want to know is, is there anyone who has had the newer design of the Pilot XGT H/V4's, and for whatever reason had changed to a different brand and liked them more. Personally I have 0 complaints about them ( I will admit bang for your buck they are a little pricy, but I thought they were worth it ), I'm just always looking for something better and if someone actually had this exact brand of tire, switched to another, liked them better; well then I would just like to know what they are. Thank You.

-Nate




[Edited by nforg on 01-04-2001 at 03:59 PM]

Washington DC Maxima