I need new tires

[bbgunberrill]

I need new tires for my 2007 vibe. I have max trek brand right now. Anyone have any suggestions on good tire brands for vibes. I want all season that works well in winter.

[jake75]

I need new tires for my 2007 vibe. I have max trek brand right now. Anyone have any suggestions on good tire brands for vibes. I want all season that works well in winter.

Several here, including me, have purchased Yokahama 60,000 mile 205x55/16 YK580all season tires. Might be a # unique to Discount Tire. I paid $525 out the door after $60 rebate for 4 tires installed with new tps units. All I can say is that I think they are better than the OEM Goodyears. I declined the $75 premium road hazard coverage and gave my old tires that had some usable tread left to a used tire place - saved the $10 disposal fee.

[bbgunberrill]

Ok I'll ask my mechanic about those. Are you from the USA. Because I'm in canada. I assume they are also available here.

[star_deceiver]

All-seasons that work well in the winter? Never heard or seen such a tire... maybe "all-seasons that are OK in the winter or adequate in the winter" but that's about it.

I can recommend an awesome tire that is almost impossible to hydroplane in the summer and sticks hot, dry roads. Or a tire that can practically stay glued to the road on snow and ice, but you will never have those two together. Your tires are your ONLY connection with the road... Don't buy something that's merely adequate for 4 seasons.

Oh yeah, stay away from Goodyear...

[bbgunberrill]

what is wrong with goodyear? i thought they are supposed to be really good

[Zimm]

what is wrong with goodyear? i thought they are supposed to be really good

nope.

i'm in the process of looking for a new set of tires to replace the stock goodyears. it is the only brand that i absolutely will not consider. i've driven too many miles on their crap tires that came stock on my vehicles to ever put a set on by choice.

at the moment, i'm leaning towards the new general altimax rt43's.

[thebarber]

Buy winter tires and drive on them all year...its safer

[Caretaker]

Despite casting my vote for Michelin (MXV4s), I'd have to say that I am closer than ever to buying the new Kumho Ecsta PA31's as the days go by. Tire Rack's track test of the tire is pretty convincing for me. I am now waiting for them to do their winter test on the tire, which will likely be done within the next 3 months. I have enough tread on my MXV4s to wait for their test results. While I have yet to find a better tire than the MXV4, they don't perform nearly as well as the tire gets down to its last 20,000 miles of tread. It begins to hydroplane a bit, and typical of Michelin, the side walls start developing cracks and rot.
Even though I am almost at 100% on buying the Kumho Ecsta PA31s, it did not help when this month's Consumer Reports came out with additional tire ratings and had a tone box on the Bridgestone Serenity Plus tires; the ones I am considering from Costco. Firestone "fixed" the snow/ice problem with the Serenitys by creating this new Serenity Plus. According to Consumer Reports, Firestone greatly increased the grip on snow and ice (which were Full Black Dots on the regular Serenity) but at the expense of the dry and wet handling. For me, I have never been one who liked riding on 80,000 mile warranty tires like the Serenity and the Michelin Defender because ultimately you are stuck with a tire that will likely lose its grip as the tread nears the last 20,000 miles or so, or in the case of Michelins, get cracks and tire rot on the sides.
Once Tire Rack performs their winter test results on the PA31s, that will be the go-no-go buy signal for me. While the Kumho Platinum LX (on my Honda Fit) are rated very poor for winter driving, Tire Rack has already commented that they believe the tread design on the PA31s will allow for good grip on light snow.
If you can afford Michelin, the MXV4 has been the smoothest, quietest tire I have ever owned. But since Michelin seems unwilling to reconfigure their rubber compound like Firestone/Bridgestone has done (Uni-T technology) to enable consistent driving performance over the ENTIRE life of the tire, I am trying hard to avoid buying them again, especially given their price. As the consumer ratings on Tire Rack show, there are a LOT of bad tires out there; mediocre at best. I'm hoping this PA31 turns out to be as promising as the initial professional reviews indicate. Unfortunately there are not any consumer reviews as of yet. I may take a chance and soon become one of the first. The tire just came out in September. Treaddepot.com has the best price on them, plus there is a $50 rebate going on right now. I am hoping Kumho will add them to their free shipping list in December to save me even more.

[Water boy]

I installed:

Yokohama YK580 205/55-16 $589.19 drive out

No regrets.

[Jack99]

.

Being in Canada and knowing their wide range of winter climates, I'd recommend:

For summer's 8-9 months, use full set of rims / Rubber. Rubber is all season - since wet spring and wet fall months is hydroplane risk.

For winter's 4 months, use full set of black steel rims / rubber. Rubber is Goodyear Nordic "winter tires".

To reduce cost, buy used steel rims from http://ottawa.kijiji.ca" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Buy new winter rubber from Canadian tires or perhaps similar tread design tire other tire reseller store. Do shop around because selling prices do dramatically vary. Even wide price range for generic steel black glass painted rims.

For winter months, suggest using generic steel rims with NO hub caps. Ice/Snow can wedge behind plastic hub caps and create unbalance. Thus, creating wobble in steering wheel and unnecessary stress on its wheel bearings. Simply use generic steel rims (for these short usage winter months)

Yes, there is better rubber than Goodyear Nordic "winter tires". For its affordable cost and general usage winter conditions, I find the Goodyear Nordic "winter tires" that are ON SALE is a good buy (without wasting dollars). Especially since they are often on sale at Canadian tire. I find Michelin X-Ice tires great but being softer rubber, they tend to wear out much faster and cost more. Thus, high price and shorter life - compared to Nordics.

For comparison of all season tire against Nordic winter tire, surf entire page (and video) within: http://redlinenorth.com/tag/goodyear-nordic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

.

[jake75]

Ok I'll ask my mechanic about those. Are you from the USA. Because I'm in canada. I assume they are also available here.

Yes, Columbus, OH is in the USA.

[lowincash]

I installed:

Yokohama YK580 205/55-16 $589.19 drive out

No regrets.

I had the YK580's on my vibe, 18" and they were great when new. Less than a year they got noisy and when driving over 75mph it wonders a lot. Seems okay when driving under 70 tho. I also had their YK520's before and they were the same. They wore out really fast too, I think I had to change them only after 30k miles =/

[jake75]

I installed:

Yokohama YK580 205/55-16 $589.19 drive out

No regrets.

I had the YK580's on my vibe, 18" and they were great when new. Less than a year they got noisy and when driving over 75mph it wonders a lot. Seems okay when driving under 70 tho. I also had their YK520's before and they were the same. They wore out really fast too, I think I had to change them only after 30k miles =/

That's a bummer - means I will have to get new tires again in 5 years. y hearing keeps getting worse so maybe I won't even notice the increase in noise. Wonder what the tread wear guarantee is.

[kowell]

Buy winter tires and drive on them all year...its safer

Winter tires will wear out much faster in warm weather and they are not optimized for wet pavement.

[lowincash]

I installed:

Yokohama YK580 205/55-16 $589.19 drive out

No regrets.

I had the YK580's on my vibe, 18" and they were great when new. Less than a year they got noisy and when driving over 75mph it wonders a lot. Seems okay when driving under 70 tho. I also had their YK520's before and they were the same. They wore out really fast too, I think I had to change them only after 30k miles =/

That's a bummer - means I will have to get new tires again in 5 years. y hearing keeps getting worse so maybe I won't even notice the increase in noise. Wonder what the tread wear guarantee is.

Maybe it's because I have 18" rims that's why it wore faster? I don't know =/ Also I don't know if it's the car or tires because when I drove to Vegas couple months back the car would move all over the place and I had to constantly correct it, steering feels very loose and was very tiring having to do this for 3 + hours. I still had about 1/2 tread left on the YK580's at that time. However, driving around town is fine and smooth so really not sure what was the problem

[Water boy]

I installed:

Yokohama YK580 205/55-16 $589.19 drive out

No regrets.

I had the YK580's on my vibe, 18" and they were great when new. Less than a year they got noisy and when driving over 75mph it wonders a lot. Seems okay when driving under 70 tho. I also had their YK520's before and they were the same. They wore out really fast too, I think I had to change them only after 30k miles =/

That's a bummer - means I will have to get new tires again in 5 years. y hearing keeps getting worse so maybe I won't even notice the increase in noise. Wonder what the tread wear guarantee is.

60,000 miles

[vibolista]

If you want tires that will do well in Winter, will have to assume that you drive on snowy roads part of the time, so a good Winter tire is always best. General Arctic Altimax snow tires are excellent in snow and on wet pavement. It's also not a deafening tire on bare pavement.

All seasons are great if you don't ever see snow. Although much better than a Summer season tire if you get to drive them on snow, they still don't come close to the grip you can get from a dedicated snow tire. Put a set of snow tires on steel wheels for the Winter, and you'll be much safer on the snow. Snow tires are a big quantum leap up in grip when dealing with snow and ice, compared to an all season tire.

A snow tire allows you to get a full Summer tire on an alloy wheel. Summer performance tires will grip dry pavement way better than any All Season tire can. This is a more expensive solution, but since the tires aren't on the car 12 months of the year, they will last you a little longer.

Unfortunately, I can't tell where bbgunberrill lives, so all this is just generalization. Really should post what area of the country you drive on to meaningfully help with ideas for tires.

[DennisLee]

I've got Continental PureContact all-season tires on my 2009 (base, 2.4l, 17" alloys) and I think they are great. They are a softer ride then a performance tire which is what I wanted, and I think they are the best all-season tire I've ever had for driving in snow. We live in the suburbs of Minneapolis, I don't do a lot of driving out in the country, but I've had them out before the plows came by after a 5-6" snowfall.

[sbaxter]

I put Pirelli P4's on mine. $153.19 per tire, plus all applicable fees and taxes.

I am in the process of replacing the front two. They handle wet like it was dry, and are above average for winter driving all-seasons (imo).

Oh, and I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where we just had the coldest winter in 78 years (82 days this winter it dipped below -30 celcius).

[Caretaker]

The Pirelli P7 Plus are amazing tires. Just took off the MXV4s and put on the Pirellis. They are softer and provide a better ride than the outstanding but outgoing MXV4. Don't get the regular P7s; make sure they are the Plus. Check their ratings on tirerack.