Tyre advice pls

[zax]

I've had a good read through the forums & archive & would like some advice from S60 owners pls.

I changed jobs in November and had to give my S70 2.5 20V T SE back :-(
Luckily I managed to secure an S60 2.0T SE which is great. :-)

It is an 02 plate (Mar '02) and had 11,500 miles on when I got it in Nov, I've added another 5K miles mostly on motorways.

BUT, it now needs 2 new front tyres (!) they are both down to the wear markers and grip is compromised to say the least, BTW the rears look like new - go figure?. My S70 was a leased car and had to have the factory fit tyres as replacements (don't ask me why!) so it always had Continentals on, but those on the S60 don't seem to have lasted anywhere near as long. Perhaps as it's an ex-dem car then it had a hard life before me??

What do you guys suggest as a suitable replacement - bear in mind that I think the Contintentals are Very Noisy!, certainly noiser than those on the S70. In the various forums people suggest the Continentals or Michelin Pilot Sport. Given that most of my miles are on the motorway, would the Michelin Pilot Primacy be a better bet as my main criteria would be tyre life & reduced noise.


Any thoughts?? (BTW size is 225/45/17)

[Symes]

Hi,

I've posted about this in the past too.

My S60 2.0TSe is almost at 50K and so far has been through 3 pairs of front tyres (now on the 4th). To be fair, punctures have causes the replacement before wear in the case of two pairs.
My rear pair were replaced at about 42K!

Until the current pair fitted, I had Continental ContiSport Contacts which were noisy and very had poor performance in the wet (in that they would drag through puddles to the extent that you felt something had hit you! and in really bad weather they would aquaplane easily).
I had a pair of Michelin Sports briefly (puncture causing replacement) which were very much better in the wet.

I now have a pair of Continental Contsport Contact 2 tyres which co-incidentally I was told by Conti UK were going to become available in the summer here in the UK.
They have in the limited wet weather we've had over the past 3 weeks or so, shown to be much better in the wet - not dragging through puddles as much and feeling more 'grippy' on wet roads.
The conti web site does state that the wet weather performance has been improved and so far I'd agree.

In terms of noise, they seem relatively quiet - the wind noise from the drivers door mirror is more intrusive on the motorway!

In the end if you have a choice I'd go for a brand and type that you are happy with - my old Audi A4 was fitted with Primacy and they were fine too - just don't expect them to last too long on the front of an S60!

Symes.

I had Continentals from new, then some Pirelli's on the front after a puncture (not P Zeros). Neither were as good as the new test Michelin Pilot Sports that I now have - courtesy of Michelin via my employer. They are brill. Wet or Dry.

[zax]

Thanks for your thoughts guys,

I had the chance to get some Michelin Pilot Sports - the new PS2 asymetric pattern and they are EXCELLENT. ATS did them for £127 each all in! They are very much quieter than the Conti's were and the wet performance is unbelievable as you said.

I would definately recommend them above the Conti's for the few extra quid - I did some bargaining as I needed a pair, the front left Conti was below the wear markers after only 16K miles!!

Cheers,

Zax

Michelin Pilots are pretty good, not near as noisy as the Conti's and good grip in the wet..........and better wearing.

JohnK