jlawr

Anyone have any experience with Bridgestone Turanza with Serenity? I'd like to know if they work well on the LS 460. Thanx.

Audriuss

just one little notice on factory tires. As from experience for some time, and now that has repeated again, I have an advice.

Don't look with what tires came your car. When your factory tires wear down, try to put same tires, just ordered from some tire dealer, and you notice that those tires work absolutely different...they are much better..

Had this idea, that factory mounted tires are some kind of worse one, or FACTORY ORDERED from tire manufacturers, for I while, and recently I changed my RX'es tires to same, just new ones (not from dealers), and that changed my opinion of manufacturers tires..They where much more softer, quiter, though it is same model, same size, same treadwear...maybe it is made of different compound, but this same thing happen with now 3 cars, that I had to change tires...

daryll40

HUH?

Audriuss

in short, tires that come on car from factory, are a lot worse, then those that u can buy from tire dealers. Or at least, they ar made for pricise car, to some kind meet standarts that factory want or whatsoever...

rominl

iTrader: (4)

amen..... so far i have only see a few "good" tires that come with factory cars and match their purposes

Mike_TX

True - car mfr's contract with tire mfr's to make tires to the carmakers' spec's.

That's one reason you see so many versions of tires with the same "name" ... they may have different load ratings, or speed ratings, or tread compound or whatever.

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CEOEngr

I don't know if the quality of the OEM tires are any different then those of exactly similar tires sold by others. But I do know from experience that a lot of research including exchange/cooperation of design requirements take place between the auto and the tire manfacturing engineers to find the best tire to match the given parameters for that particular automobile. FYI. An auto manfacturer will usually deal with two or more tire makers for any given model.

Therefore, for replacement tires I attempt to stay with the likes of OEM since a lot of engineering manhours have already been expended to find a good match.

Mike_TX

I agree with you, CEO - but I think Andriuss' point was that if you buy, say, a Dunlop Sport Maxx to replace an OEM one on your car, it might well be a slightly different tire from the one that came with your car from the factory. And the "retail" tire might well be slightly better quality than the OEM one.

I've been told this by both tire dealers and car dealers, and I've noticed places like Tire Rack often show "OEM versions" of a given tire at a cheaper price, because they aren't quite the quality of the retail version of that same tire. It's usually things like load rating, but can also be speed rating, carcass construction, compound, sidewall construction, or other specifications.

It's understandable, since the carmakers tune their suspension and tires to each other, and more importantly, buy hundreds of thousands of tires a year. A buck or two here and there adds up, and the bean counters are always looking for bucks ...

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CEOEngr

Mike - Your points are very valid and I agree with you, and that is why I said "likes of OEM"; given that the manufacturers don't care about the long- evity, etc of a tire once sold as substantiated by those little stickers.

daryll40

What do you guys know about/think about Continental ContiProContact tires?
I researched this up and down, in and out etc etc. The bottom line is that the car really requires high performance touring tires. But I live in Pittsburgh where touring is something you do only when you travel. These tires (Conti) were suggested by the advisor at NTB. He said they are the ONLY tires in our size that has a mileage warranty (a hefty 60,000!). As was the case on my old "S" Class Mercedes (1999), I bot warrantied tires from NTB that STILL didn't last beyond 20,000 miles on the hills of Pittsburgh. But because of the pro-rated warranty, new ones every yearish only cost less than half after the initial purchase due to the pro-rate. The advisor said that the ride will be different (I assume "different" means "not as good"), but again in the real world a "good" ride that only lasts 10-12K miles is not practical.

Craig B

You can go to tirerack.com and see what the customer ratings are for those tires. Customers review tires on their site.

I always purchase Michelin's when I replace the factory tires. I've never had a bad Michelin tire...

Craig

Audriuss

if u drive a lot, then 60k miles with same tires might be not bad choise. But if they won't be used up in like 3years, in anyway, tire will loose its good charecteristics and so on..

Also, if they last so long, they must be very hard ones, that means roadnoise and less traction..

daryll40

They'll never ever last 60K or 3 years. More like 20-25K over 18-24 months. But then I'll be able to buy new ones for less than half the cost because of the pro-rated warranty that is a bad deal with Pittsburgh driving for the Continental Tires company.

jlawr

My research tells me for mileage and warranty, nothing beats Bridgestone Turanza with Serenity, but I'm still looking to hear from someone who has used the tires on an LS 460. I live near Dallas so handling in snow is not an issue for considering tire choice

See: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...ireSearch=true

Mike_TX

So did you ever decide which to get?

Which OEM tires did (do) you have on your car?

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