scottydoo

What would be a good set of tires to replace my factory installed Turanza EL 400s?
I want some all season tires that will be able to handle snow decently, and have fairly long tread life. Also I really want the tires to be as quiet and as comfortable as possible. According to Consumer Reports the Goodyear Assurance Tripletreds would be the nearly perfect set of tires for what I want, but I have heard that there have been known noise issues with these tires. Yet Consumer Reports says that they are very quiet. Other tires that I have looked at are Michelin Pilot Exaltos because of excellent reviews, but I wonder if the bad reviews of the Goodyears and the good reviews of the Michelins is nothing more than fan boy pride. Consumer Reports is very thorough and impartial. What would be your advice?
Thanks for your help.

nsxtasy

I assume you have the 16" wheels on your car, with 205/55-16 size tires.

The very best all-season tires are available in that size (prices shown are per tire at the Tire Rack):

Avon Tech M550 A/S $80
Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position $111
Kumho ECSTA ASX $68
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S $141
Pirelli PZero Nero M&S $103

All of these offer excellent performance and very good treadlife (treadwear ratings of 360-400).

Unfortunately, Consumer Reports typically tests mass-market tires rather than the higher-performance tires. And it's not even related to price; the Bridgestone Turanza EL400 would fall in the middle of this group ($89).

I would get any of these tires. The Kumho and Avon tires are particularly attractive from the price standpoint.

DaveSi677

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would get any of these tires. The Kumho and Avon tires are particularly attractive from the price standpoint.
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I strongly agree on this statement!

skylinetph26

I had the ASX on my old EM1, they are a great tire for an all-season. Mine were a 205/50-15 and did a solid job in all the weather Ohio had. I will be putting a set on my Protege5 this fall so to the ASX.

scottydoo

Yes I do have the stock 16 inch alloy wheels. The prices for these are great and it seems that the Kumho ASX is the highly recommended. Are they going to be good for winter also? We get plenty of snow here in Idaho/Utah. And are they good on sound and comfort?

Thanks you guys.

DaveSi677

They should be ok but nowhere near a winter tire, even a cheap winter tire is better then an all season in the winter!

nsxtasy

Yup. The Kumho ASX will be about as good as the best all-season tires (i.e. the ones listed above), in snow as well as in warmer weather. But if you're really looking for the maximum grip in snow and frigid cold conditions, you're better off picking up a second set of wheels, so you can use winter tires (not just all-seasons) in the winter. That will also let you use summer tires the rest of the year, which will give you better performance than all-seasons in moderate to warm conditions.

But if you have to use the same tires all year round, you'll need all-seasons, in which case the Kumho ASX is a great choice.

scottydoo

Alright the ASX looks like the way to go. Thanks for the help nsxtasy and everyone else.

niquitaspirit

I put Goodyear Assurance TripleTred on my 2006 Civic EX. They are much quieter than the Bridgestone's that were OEM. The Bridgestone's wore out in less than a year. The TripleTred's are an amazingly designed tire. They are not a soft as a typical Goodyear. The sidewall is incredibly well built for a tire of this size. They are front to back rotate only...every 6000 miles (which direction the tire faces matters with these--they have an arrow showing which way they are to be turning). They are an extremely rigid tire with a tighter fit lip than anything I have seen for small cars. This kind of perfection comes at a price. I do feel like my car is vacuum sucked to the road now.

I am assuming your Civic is also P205/55-16 in size. These lower profile tires (in any brand) will need frequent rotating so they don't begin "cupping". If you feel the rear of the car being "sloppy"...almost like it is skipping side to side, and tire noise increasing; the tires are already shot. Minor note: don't change the tire size from OEM spec, you'll throw the math off on the computer. The exactness of the alignment tolerances is not very forgiving if the wrong item is put on the car. Your 2006 Civic is way beyond "Bubba's Backyard Garage" for its needs. The 2006 is very different from Civic's of the past.

Living in Michigan, the Bridgestone Turanza's were absolutely a dangerous tire to have on the car for the past winter. Also note that Potenzas, Pirelli, Kumho, Yokohama, Avon, etc. (all high perforemace, soft rubber performance based tires...translates into short life and slippery when wet) will be worthless in a Michigan winter. These high-performance/all-season radials will land you in the ditch in Michigan.

Looking at the aggressive design and tread pattern of the TripleTred, I can fairly and accurately assume they probably will not be very good in the winter. I have always used and recommended Bridgestone Blizzaks or Michelin Ice-X for the winter on a separate set of steel wheels (Honda has 16" steels). Many people give me a hard time about this, but for those who do choose snow tires...they apologize profusely after having them on the car for one winter.

Consumer Reports is pretty much right on the money for their research. They do know how to balance their review for touring, all-season, speed-rated or whatever your need is. They do have a section on snow tires.

nsxtasy

Oh jeez, here come the n00bs...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am assuming your Civic is also P205/55-16 in size. These lower profile tires (in any brand) will need frequent rotating so they don't begin "cupping".</TD></TR></TABLE>

Cupping has nothing to do with lack of rotation. It happens as a result of suspension problems.

Here, n00b, read this article about cupping. It was written for truckers but it applies to cars too.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you feel the rear of the car being "sloppy"...almost like it is skipping side to side, and tire noise increasing; the tires are already shot.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nonsense. Those symptoms are signs of a suspension or alignment problem.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The exactness of the alignment tolerances is not very forgiving if the wrong item is put on the car. Your 2006 Civic is way beyond "Bubba's Backyard Garage" for its needs. The 2006 is very different from Civic's of the past.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You're kidding now, right?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Potenzas, Pirelli, Kumho, Yokohama, Avon, etc. (all high perforemace, soft rubber performance based tires...translates into short life and slippery when wet) will be worthless in a Michigan winter. These high-performance/all-season radials will land you in the ditch in Michigan.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Every brand makes some tires that are good at some things, other tires that are good at other things. Don't make blanket generalizations about entire brands; it makes it easy to see how much you don't know.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Looking at the aggressive design and tread pattern of the TripleTred, I can fairly and accurately assume they probably will not be very good in the winter.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Anyone who really knows about tires knows that you can't tell much from a tread pattern.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have always used and recommended Bridgestone Blizzaks or Michelin Ice-X for the winter on a separate set of steel wheels (Honda has 16" steels). Many people give me a hard time about this, but for those who do choose snow tires...they apologize profusely after having them on the car for one winter.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hey, that's true! Of course, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Consumer Reports is pretty much right on the money for their research. They do know how to balance their review for touring, all-season, speed-rated or whatever your need is.</TD></TR></TABLE>

They're not bad. But the fact that they don't include the very best all-season tires in their reviews means that their reports are just not covering the entire market.

niquitaspirit

I guess nsxtasy is the "real genius" here. So sorry I disagree with you about your assumptions of tires. But experience would steer me far away from your shop.

old man neri

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by niquitaspirit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I guess nsxtasy is the "real genius" here. So sorry I disagree with you about your assumptions of tires. But experience would steer me far away from your shop.</TD></TR></TABLE>

He doesn't own a shop to the best of my knowledge. The reason people listen to him is cause is advice is usually backed up with good research and a lot and a lot of experience. If you must know he is a professional auto cross instructor and has tried every single tire there is in all sorts of weather conditions. His tens of thousands of miles on a race track is the reason why I usually heed his advice.

But to each his own.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

even a stopped clock is right twice a day

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Oh my God, I heard that expression for the first time from a newfie the other day, I couldn't stop laughing.