Great episode if you like Harry or Clarkson or Range Rover RR. Interesting to see both of these guys using older 17 yer old RRs and not keeping up with the Jones’s type stuff. Gotta love their passion for the tailgate @AJT123. Towing 2X per week with Clarksons RR

 

The latest Grand Tour is pretty good too FYI

 

And then there’s an even bigger one going up in Texas I think.

The one here is in the PERFECT location. Right off the mountains/pigeon forge/Dollywood/gatlinburg exit

 

My cousin is already planning a road trip from WV to it when it opens lol

 

Hah!!! If he wants any reccs for the area let me know!

And oh yeah, a relative/inlaw of mine just built a lake house in Dandridge which is about 45 minutes out of town and we will be passing it each and every time, lol this thread has gotten me excited about it, hahaha. A damn gas station.

 

He's been to Pigeon Forge a few times, he loves it.

We literally drove 50 miles each way from Birmingham, AL to check out that Buc-Ees!

 

I also endorse pigeon forge! Very very nice town, traffic can be hell....

 

Has anybody got experience with pilot sport 4 (not 4s) at, say, >~25k miles? The "bearing" noise that was completely gone the moment the drivetrain was inspected on a 2-post lift (EV mode up to 60kph, practically nothing) turned out to be the summer set of PS4 (245/40/18, 97y xl on a 08/MY09 3GS 450h), manufactured 05/2021 (edit: 5th week of 2021, my bad - mounted mid-2021). Worn evenly to 5mm (from ~7.5mm stock). Wear indicator is at 2mm. Was planning on dropping them after this summer but damn. I put on the 225/50/17 winter set (alpin 6) for a test since the weather was slightly chilly this night (17deg. C after a bit of a rain storm). Haven't investigated whether it's a single tire yet (a bit late and I'm out of patience after running the rear hubs alone lifted yet another time ), a quick glance didn't show anything suspicions (even wear, same DOT manufacture date, "outside" marker where it should be). They were coated with carpro blackout from day one, if that's an indicator of anything (can't recommend it, roads are a bit too... abrasive to the sidewalls over here, I guess - hydrophobics didn't last long, all I want out of the sidewall is the easy to clean factor).

Really not sure if a UHP tire is the way to go given that the roads here tend to have a not very dominant but still present mix of dusty + pothole-y + old asphalt conditions. On the other hand, the PS4s were great when new... Meh, decisions.

For anybody suggesting PSAS - not available across the pond (EU) and we tend to have decent summers (30+deg. C / 86+ F is very much a thing in June/July/August), so I'm still going with two sets. I've been eyeing the turanza (t005) for some reason... and the PS5 of course, I guess I'm a fanboy.

 

At 2mm from the tread bar you need tires soon, as you know.

But, the bearing noise turning out to be bad tires is a lucky day cuz you needed new tires anyway!

As for the fan boy, maybe a little but I wasn't gonna say anything. Haha

 

I have heard those tires get quite loud as they age.

I run Pirelli PZero AS Plus on my S560, they have been great, ride great, very quiet, great handling, but it needs new front tires after a year. I’m going to replace just the fronts with the same tires.

 

Mine are at 5mm, from 7.5mm stock

No issues with comfort or grip - even though I'm quite sure that I'll notice a major difference in comfort if I swap them for a brand new set of the same, like what happened two years ago - major damage to one of them on the highway, somehow was barely losing air despite a slash that... well... uhhh...
...no joke, was barely losing pressure. My expression when I pulled the tire wasn't captured, unfortunately. Anyways.

The Turanza 6 is available in my size, kind of eyeing it. The fanboy says PS5, of course :P (not that it's a bad choice)

The winter set will most likely become an all season set, given the "winters" that we've had over here - snow near the slopes and that's about it. Given the latest crop of all season tires' snow performance, it's a bit of a no-brainer. Certainly better than running winters at 15+ celsius / 60+ fahrenheit :P

 

.Hah, do you notice when you're there (or notice next time) that the roads seem newish in lots of places? They are because they used to be simple intersections, etc.

You think traffic is bad there now???? The drag in Pigeon Forge used to be just a simple 4 lane road and granted lots of the stuff wasn't there, but going to Dollywood from home here (and Ogle's Water Park...if you know you know) took forever and the traffic was horrendous with roads completely overwhelmed....always. Now you can roll into Dollywood from my front door in 35 minutes. Night and day difference.

I feel really old now, PF is a completely different place than when I was a kid. Watch the hell out for cops there though, they'll get you. Anywhere in Sevier County.

 

All else equal, soft and flexible rubber-compound in a tire can give a plush ride, quietness, and grip on the pavement......at the cost sometimes of tread-life, because the soft compound wears away faster.

I once had a set of non-stock Michelin XZX tires (which went out of production long ago), on my Mazda GLC, which wore like iron...the fronts lasted almost 80,000 miles, and the backs to almost 100,000..but the tread compound was so hard that the tires would essentially skate over wet or icy pavement rather than grip it.

 

That's one thing about tires that took me a long time to figure out.

I thought higher muleage tires meant more rubber aka more for my money. Lol

But you are right, high mileage tires means rides like crap and slide in the rain when tires are less than half worn.

 

Yeah I’m happy enough with the tires that I’ll replace them with the same ones. The rears look great.