Being new to this game, I need some wisdom from the guys who've been around a while. My car's only a month old and I'm already into a tire saga. Came equipped with 245x45 Continental Contiprocontacts which I don't like. Traced a substantial vibration to flat spotting - replaced 2 and dynamically balanced the others. Still irritating on the highway. Want to get some Michelins on it, but the only 245X45 I can find are All Season X's or W's, which I not only don't need but don't want the stiffer ride. Conti's are H and their handling is ok for me. What I want is summer H's, and find none. The only Michelin H's and V's I see are Pilots and they are a little hard to come by. They're an older technology and apparently not in favor with folks driving Sport Touring cars. I'd appreciate any advice or experiences with other types, particularly rain performance.

 

Lots of tires flat spot. Any tire with synthetic belts will flat spot. In the old days of nylon belts the flat spotting was terrible. Just let the tire warm up and the flat spotting will disappear.

There are a good variety of tires available for this car.

You are misled if you think speed rating and ride a related in the way you describe. High speed tires have softer sidewalls than lower speed tires because they need to generate less heat.

Pirelli lead the pack for low noise and good ride comfort. Michelin's grip well but are hard riding and noisy. The current top Michelin tires cannot be surpassed: the SuperSport is the maximum performance you can fit to your XF. The Pilot A/S 3 is the top performing all season tire out there, incredible grip very noisy and hard riding.

The OEM Continental is actually an industry leader for noise, grip and ride comfort. I have had one tire slightly out if spec on the two XF I have owned. The latest from continental are very good. I'd fit the latest Continental ProContact all season or the Pirelli P7.

 

Try the search feature. Might be some help.

 

Good point. Should have. Will do.

 

[QUOTE=jagular;1246974]Lots of tires flat spot. Any tire with synthetic belts will flat spot.

You are misled if you think speed rating and ride a related in the way you describe. High speed tires have softer sidewalls than lower speed tires because they need to generate less heat.

Yes, I am confused. I thought the heat generated at speed was from sidewall flex, and the way manufacturers made higher speed and better handling tires was to make the sidewalls stiffer. ?? Doesn't that make a harder ride?

 

The sidewalls on high speed tires are stronger and thinner to dissipate heat. You run at high speeds with significantly higher tire pressure to reduce deformation. At the high pressures needed for high speeds the ride is hard regardless of speed rating.

At lower pressures where we run in North America high speed tires ride just fine at normal pressures. We just aren't allowed to run for hours at a stretch at 140 mph or more.

The issue for us is we are spending money on high speed ratings for no reason. The extra strength in very high speed tires is very expensive to build. The stronger sidewall does make for higher grip levels in general because the stronger sidewall generates higher forces for a given slip angle. I fit V rated snow tires to my XF partly to get that grip and stability on bare roads in winter. Stock speed rating in North America for the XF is H and the car is limited to 120 mph top speed (approx) for that reason.

You will find a bigger ride difference between a touring all season and a ultra high performance tire ride than between two tires of the same class of tire but different speed ratings.

If ride is important to you then stay away from the top performing tires, they are noisy and ride very hard compared to the stock tire.

Also, the stock all season tire Jaguar fits to our cars is actually a very good tire of its type. Quiet, smooth handling with sharp steering input and good wear rate. The latest version of the Continental ProContact is actually an excellent tire as are the Michelin Primacy and Pirelli P7 that compete with it. Other makers sell comparable tires. I find tire rack's comparison tests to be very useful and quite accurate if you are trying to compare tires. Just learn to read between the numbers. The number 1 tire for tire rack may be number 1 in areas important to them but not to you. Fortunately, they give very detailed information about noise and ride as well as grip and handling.

 

I would look at Bridgestone. Have run Bridgestone for many years and they make an excellent tire at a very good price.

 

I ran Bridgestone Potenza's for years while I was "racing" and was very happy with them. Then I found Michelins. I'm a cruiser now, not a racer. Sticky is good; quiet is better; round is important. The only thing I don't like about Michelins is the price, and that keeps me shopping and asking.

 

Brigestone makes great cruising tires too. Have them on my truck and they cruise effortlessly at 80 on I540 everyday. Work great in the rain too.

 

Yokohama's always been good to me, excellent wear and not To noisy. Falkins always have worn uneven for me. Pirelli is now Chinese owned?

 

I have Michelin Pilot Super Sports on my 2010 XF. They are a little hard to find, but worth the wait if you order them. I recently had to order a single tire to replace one I damaged hitting a pot hole, it took about 3 weeks. Good luck what ever you go with.

 

My '09 XF Luxury, came with Continentals, which I didn't care for. The Continentals were round, black, and held air, but just didn't seem to handle all that well. Maybe I still had a bad taste in my mouth from a set of problematic Contis I had on my previous Lincoln LS.


Anyway, I replaced them with a set of Bridgestone RE970's. I like the 'Stones. Good traction, especially in the rain, and reasonably quiet.

 

Interesting - my earlier comment about "finding Michelin's" also happened on a Lincoln LS. I put a slightly off size H rated set of MXV4's on it and tamed it. Best thing I ever did to that car. Kept it 4 more years.