Tire Recommendations
 

Hi all, sorry for all the rookie posts today, but just pretty excited about our new S-type! The tires on my car are near the end of their life, so am wondering what the consensus is (as if there is one) on the best tires for this car. I am in Minnesota, so I will definitely need both winter and summer tires, as all seasons don't cut it in the snow and cold here. I am planning on getting a second set of rims for the winters.

I am not a super aggressive driver, but like to drive faster than most. We road trip a lot, so would like something quite and smooth.

Thanks again for all your help. I love these forums, and appreciate everyone's expertise!

Conti DW

From my experience with 5 different sets on 3 different vehicles, you cannot go wrong with a set of Kumho high performance summer or high performance all seasons. Not sure what the newest designations are but I believe mine are ASX's. Have had these on my Infiniti FX45, Porsche Boxster S, and Jag. Great value and performance.

Where you're at....Conti DWS might be good candidates. The DW indicates they are made for dry and wet roads. The S indicates that they have good snow handling characteristics. Not full snow tires but a good tire for light snow on the road. Tire Rack rates these very high.

Eric

Just put on a set of Dunlop SP Sport Signature tires in early January. Great all-around value from Discount Tire for our particular neck of the woods. 60,000-mile treadwear warranty. I've had great sets of Dunlops on other vehicles over the years, this tire has been around awhile and gets very solid reviews, so I decided to give them a shot. Just over 1,200 miles on them right now, still look brand new, no discernable treadwear yet. Time will tell....

They may be a candidate for your non-winter tires. Great wet traction, but supposedly average snow traction (per most reviews, anyway). Our S-Type sits safely at home when there is snow on the roads, so I can't offer any snow performance opinions. But the wet traction is indeed superb, even in deluge-category rain....

Those do have fantastic reviews on the "Rack". How is the rim protector on those, do they come out past the rim significantly???

Ventas V12 Evos - Lasted 13,800 miles. Have now gone to Pilot Sport A/S. This is a California STR so sub zero temps and snow are not issues, but there has been plenty of rain and the Pilots thus far are good.

Used to run the Kumho ECSTA SPT on my old 2001 S-Type with nothing but good results.

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S but maybe too all-season for you. Very quiet with good wet road adhesion. Got a set on both S-types.

I was thinking of the V12 EVOs, but I read where they wear down quickly.

I had the V12 Evos on my 370Z and they are on the STR. Mileage seems fine so far, but since they are substantially cheaper than most of the other quality tires I can accept a little less mileage at the end.

Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum KU27
 

Had a set of Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum KU27 on my 2006 x-type. After 30K of daily driving the tread on the inside edge of all 4 tires started to separate. Rotated every 10k with oil change. They have 60K tread warranty. Had them all pro-rated and replaced Aug2011. We'll see what happens. Tire dealer was baffled.

Inside edge? Wrongly aligned. Common with S-Types - see long-running thread all about it (try these search words: pothole alignment)

Alignment checked and not issue.
 

These tires are on an x-type. sorry it's in the wrong forum. I had the tires rotated every 10K during Oil change and the alignment was checked each time. A dealer told me you can't rotate tires on AWD. Other dealer said front2back only. I did some googling on these tires and there is/was a pattern of tread separation. I originaly thought it was caused by the faulty shocks. Had them replaced at 70K-ish for first time. Fact that it was separating on all 4 tires the same way, inside edge, makes me doubt alignment was problem.

Maybe a moderator will move this to the right forum!