Preferred and Despised Tire Brands (Poll)
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Hancook iPikes and General Altimax Artics have been great winter tires
Dunlop Direzza Star Specs were great performance summer tires
everything else I've used has been 'meh' so they didnt earn a positive or negative.
I down voted Sumitomo because I saw the rears on my dad's e36 m3 die in like 8,000miles (with perfectly fine suspension/bushings and 'old man' driving habits)
Dan
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Preferred: re71r
Despised: anything with sprayed white lettering
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Typically, the quality of the tire is directly related to the cost of the tire. I've attended plenty of ride and drive event's, sold and installed enough tires, dealt with enough complaints and sat through enough seminars that I can say that with much confidence.
For daily use Michelin is usually best tire out there when money isn't a concern. I have Pilot Super Sports as a 3 season tire right now on my 335i and they are phenomenal. I've had Michelin's on my wife's 2010 Altima and we had a set on her XC90. When I switched out the tires on her Volvo we put on Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Seasons. She loves them and actually thought they were better than her Michelin Primacy's. My winter tires are Michelin Alpin's and they suck if you are talking only about low traction ability. For the rest of the time that there's no snow on the ground they ride and handle like a normal all season. I told our Michelin rep this when they were pushing them and he was not happy with me. I'd recommend many other winter tires over the Alpin.
I've had coopers before which start out great but don't typically have full depth siping so once they start to wear out they lose a lot of their ability to handle in the wet. Cooper makes a much nicer truck tire than they do a car tire. The Discoverer line is pretty good with the AT3 being pretty competitive in it's segment.
I have been a fan of Falken's for a less expensive performance tire. I had 2 sets of the Ziex 612 and I thought they performed well for their price range. Kumho is another that makes an OK tire in their price range. I've had 2 sets of Kumho Ecsta LX platinum's and for an all season they were decent and wore well.
Goodyear is shit but they tend to be in the top 3 for replacement tires by volume because they come OE on a bunch of vehicles and people walk in to buy a set of tires and are asked what kind of tire they want and they assume the OE wouldn't never lead them astray so they should probably put the OE replacement on. Wrong. They score poorly in tests and reviews yet people still buy them. Garbage.
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I have Continential ExtremeContact DW's on the M3 for summer tires and they are fantastic in the rain/wet, which is important for a DD in my opinion. They are pretty good in the dry as well. I shredded the rears down to maybe 10-20% remaining in about 10k miles though, but that may be due to failing RTAB's. They have gotten progressively louder as they wear.
The General Altimax Arctic are awesome. Great grip in the snow, good road manners when it isn't snowing. They seem to be wearing well too.
I had some Dunlop's on my old e36 (don't remember the model) and they were absolutely horrendous in the rain. I could easily spin a 225/45/17 in the rain in 1st with a stock m42...
I have no 'swear by this brand' tire manufacturer, I typically buy something that is a good deal and has decent reviews online. I do stay away from the very cheap tire manufacturers though, tires are too important to cheap out on.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_and_Ford_tire_controversy
good read on topic enough.
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Also, like someone said above, I've sold enough tires and sat through enough seminars to know that there are Michelins and then everything else. Everyone has their favorite or most hated brand. I think a lot of it depends on what you were raised on or if you had a perceived negative experience with a particular brand. Personally, I have a bad taste in my mouth for Goodyears but I would probably still buy them if the price was right. And when it's time to replace my Mich PSS on my F82, I will likely go with non-run flats that are close to or are the cheapest. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for Roadrunners from Fleet Farm, but I am kind of over spending a lot on tires.
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Its great to get all the knowledge and experience in here, thanks pat and gramboda and other contributors. Goodyear being such a prominent/popular brand its good to know that my personal observations arent way off base. Its a good sanity check if nothing else
And while I have never owned a set of Michelins, I have regarded them as a top tire company based on their use in motorsports, and also the company willing to step up to the plate and engineer a new tire with enough quality/safety/performance to be used on a consumer product like the Veyron.
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And while I have never owned a set of Michelins, I have regarded them as a top tire company based on their use in motorsports, and also the company willing to step up to the plate and engineer a new tire with enough quality/safety/performance to be used on a consumer product like the Veyron.
That right there. I tend to make purchasing decisions and form opinions of quality based on a companies involvement in motorsports. Pirelli, Cooper, Michelin, Continental and Falken all have strong support in various motorsport series. This tells me they are vested in R&D and will typically be on the forefront of technology that will transfer to their consumer products.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_and_Ford_tire_controversy
good read on topic enough.
More evidence of Michelin supremacy here
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Regarding Michelins...I don't quite remember the details from training back in the day, but I believe the way they are physically produced is different from other brands, thus making them better. The construction is actually different. Also, some of the brands they own (don't know which ones) are made in a similar fashion and would be good choices as well.
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As far as the molds go, I know that over time they wear. You can take 4 tires with the same date codes and come up with 4 different tread depths all within a 32nd of what the advertised tread depth is. I found that really interesting when I found out.
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I have only put on Goodyear back in 2006 when I got my first m3, lasted me about 12k miles, I thought they were ok.
I then tried Michelin in 2010 in my 99 & never looked back.
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After doing 8 weeks of research while waiting for winter to end, everything points to Michelin Pilot Super Sports as the benchmark tire. Why get anything else? After the long wait, mine are going on this Monday, pics to come soon.
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