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I have the previous generation on my BMW and simply put, they're supercar tires at a price that we can actually afford. They were standard equipment on the Ferrari 599 GTB, and were cheaper than the Bridgestones that came with the car, so really a no-brainer.
First impressions: after 2300km/8 days of driving on the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 225/55ZR17/XL (101Y) P/N 98823, I can say that these are extremely safe tires - both wet and dry handling are vastly superior to the Primacy MXV4 225/55/17 97H. Hopefully this grip stays for my expected service life of the tires, at least 6 years and at least 30,000km (warranty is 6yrs or 30,000km, whichever comes first, and in my use case, they'll happen pretty close to the same time).
Comfort is practically identical as MXV4, and noise is just marginally higher on old worn highway roads. On fresh highway surface, they are equally dead quiet as the MXV4.
The Pilot Sport 4 absolutely is an Ultra High Performance Summer Tire, just as Michelin categorizes them. They are surely the best tires that you can get in the 225/55/17 size that also has a warranty (most high performance and UHP tires do not have any warranties). I'll update this post as time goes on if conditions change.
Hi,
On my older 1991 Lexus LS400, I tried Bridgestone Turanza, Serenity tires and that's what I will use for the newer 2002 Ls430 I just picked up. Why? The car came with Michelin Defenders T+H, and going down the highway, it performed well. Could hardly hear the exhaust. I thought it was pretty quiet. Then I heard about the Turanza's and decided to try them. Now going down the highway, I could hear the exhaust quite clearly, which indicates to me that these tires are really quiet! I had a passenger with me, one day, and out of the blue, he said he could not hear the tires. I knew it wasn't my imagination. Even hitting the cracks on the highway, it gives a low "thump" sound, which I much prefer over the slightly higher pitch "slap" type of sound I got with the Michelins. The life of these tires may not be quite is high as the Michelins, but that's ok, because having a quiet car means a lot to me. I want to hear the Mark Levinson sound system at it's best!
Hi,
On my older 1991 Lexus LS400, I tried Bridgestone Turanza, Serenity tires and that's what I will use for the newer 2002 Ls430 I just picked up. Why? The car came with Michelin Defenders T+H, and going down the highway, it performed well. Could hardly hear the exhaust. I thought it was pretty quiet. Then I heard about the Turanza's and decided to try them. Now going down the highway, I could hear the exhaust quite clearly, which indicates to me that these tires are really quiet! I had a passenger with me, one day, and out of the blue, he said he could not hear the tires. I knew it wasn't my imagination. Even hitting the cracks on the highway, it gives a low "thump" sound, which I much prefer over the slightly higher pitch "slap" type of sound I got with the Michelins. The life of these tires may not be quite is high as the Michelins, but that's ok, because having a quiet car means a lot to me. I want to hear the Mark Levinson sound system at it's best!
I'm very curious to hear about your experience with the Bridgestones on your LS once you've run them for awhile. I'm not happy with the Continentals I put on my 05 about six months ago.
I researched all of the options with the goal of adding sidewall to our ‘01 430 to further increase comfort on the expansion joints and potholes that litter our local roads. Considered moving to some 16” OEM wheels, but ended up moving up a fractional tire size on the stock 17” wheels instead. These are Continental TrueContact in 225/60/17 and calculate (and actually measure) about 3.3% larger in circumference, and have an increased diameter of just under an inch. They do raise the car a solid half inch, and I suspect that this is due to the tire contact patch remaining about the same...meaning that at least half (or a bit more) transfers directly to the sidewall height between the wheel and the road. This gives about a 10% increase in sidewall height. Speedometer error is 2mph at 60mph, as expected. It does drop engine RPMs a little bit for the same speed.
So, how do they fit? They do visually occupy more of the wheel wells, and for some this probably looks bad. For me, it seems to make the car look a bit more “old fashioned”, probably for when cars did have more sidewall as stock. There remains a finger width between the edge of the tires and the front stabilizer bar at full turn, and my research based on what other folks have reported to work (with larger, low profile tires) indicates that there shouldn’t be any problems when bottoming out the suspension, but it will be close. The spare tire is a very tight fit into the spare tire well - it uses every bit and squeaks on the way down. Nothing larger will fit into the spare tire well.
Today was the first test drive. They are very quiet tires. Very happy with that. I think they are just as quiet as the MXV4’s that were on our other LS430. These are consistently rated as some of the quietest tires that Continental makes, even after breaking in. They are a long treadlife tire (80,000), so I expect emergency braking will probably only be average. Only went about 20 miles on smooth roads, so cannot rate if there is any difference over bumps (harshness). Overall feel and ride quality was very satisfying. I could easily see myself running them for the full life of the tire. Steering feedback may be slightly stiffer, which I would expect with a larger tire and likely more sidewall flex, versus the prior 55’s.
I also installed this same tire size using new old stock Bridgestone Ecopia EP422’s on our ‘04. Same increased diameter and change in size. I picked those tires up so reasonable that I wanted to give them a try, even though they will likely last only half as long as the Continentals. Hope to test drive them within a day or two and compare the difference. I expect they will be a bit softer and may ride even nicer than the Continentals. I’ve owned many different sets of Bridgestones over the years on other vehicles, and have come to accept the tread wear trade off for the good ride and low noise they typically have had. These Ecopias appear to have a virtually identical tread pattern to the older Turanza, so I expect they will ride well.
Update to the above post - the Bridgestones are nice tires, but not as nice as the TrueContacts. When they wear out in a few years, I will likely go with another set of the Continentals, unless something better comes along. The TrueContacts are quiet enough that the speed sensitive volume (ASL) is actually too loud at highway speeds now. Both tires have a softer, more compliant ride than the previous 225/55/17 - and one LS430 had MXV4’s. I have not touched a tire to a fender or any other part during driving or even moderately spirited cornering, so this mod seems to be the value winner, versus changing wheel sizes.
Hello my 2004 Sport needs 4 new tires. After doing a bit of research I’ve decided to go with the P7 II. I live in Sacramento and it’s pretty hot and mostly dry here. After all discounts, taxes, disposal fees, lifetime rotation, installation etc at Discounttire/Americastire it comes to a grand total of $982. My car is surprisingly smooth eventhough it has different brand (Yokohoma and Michelin)pretty much bald tires on each wheel. The reason I went for the P7II is because it’s good for 70k miles and I plan on keeping this car for a while.
Hello my 2004 Sport needs 4 new tires. After doing a bit of research I’ve decided to go with the P7 II. I live in Sacramento and it’s pretty hot and mostly dry here. After all discounts, taxes, disposal fees, lifetime rotation, installation etc at Discounttire/Americastire it comes to a grand total of $982. My car is surprisingly smooth eventhough it has different brand (Yokohoma and Michelin)pretty much bald tires on each wheel. The reason I went for the P7II is because it’s good for 70k miles and I plan on keeping this car for a while.
Currently have the P7 (I ?) on our '02 LS430 because the price was right. Not sure if those are significantly different from the II's. I do not find them very confidence inspiring. It almost feels like you are driving around with bad tie-rod ends or a loose wheel (not the case). My wife noticed the same thing. It think it is worse in warmer weather.
Ok so I got the Cinturato P7 II and it’s not like wow factor. It’s smoother than the bald tires(Yokohoma and Michelin’s) that were on it before but one thing I noticed is that my gas mileage went down significantly. I’m guessing it because it has more tread and rolling resistance.
I love the Cinturato P7 II. Compared to the last tires I had (Avid Ascend GTs), they are SO much quieter and more comfortable as well. Yes, they have more sidewall roll in corners, but I was expecting that and that is the trade off for a more comfortable ride, which I don't mind. The grip in wet or dry has been excellent, every bit as good as the GTs and those are praised for their excellent wet traction. My experience with gas mileage has been really good, my average mileage dropped roughly 1MPG for the first 1000 miles or so on the tires, then it came right back and I've been getting the same or better than the GTs. The last four fill-ups have averaged 27MPG measured at the pump with roughly a 80/20 highway/city mileage split.
on the stock 18 rims. Love the tire, amazing handling, and extremely quiet all the way up. I don't have to raise my voice at all to talk to my passengers, even at 130
I use continental extremecontact DWS06 plus. I was hesitant at first but after getting them I love them a lot and have literally been seeing them on every type of sports car. Super quiet tire with amazing tread pattern and wet performance. Amazing tire
09-24-20, 11:23 AM
