I need to replace my tires and I will not be doing a lot of miles on the car every year. I want a good comfortable ride and quite. The car cam with Michelins but the are cracking in the root of the tread they are nine years old but have low mileage. I was looking at Pirelli P4s or Khumos then I looked some more and am now confused any recommendations. I live in a dry area and wet sometimes no snow.

 

I have loved the Kumho LE (recently updated to a different model) on my XJR. Great overall max performance summer tire. Excellent handling dry or wet, amazing braking, very quite, biggest complaint would be the sidewalls are a little stiff so on 18s it does make a little noise over bumps. Have gotten roughly 20k out of a set which for me is about 4-5 years (could eek another 4-10k out if I didn't believe tires are important). Never had a Kumho that cracked like every Michelin I've had. I'm sure others will chime in that 20k isn't a lot but it is par for the course for a performance tire on a higher hp car. If you want longer look at some of the touring tires but don't expect them to handle or brake as well. Another tire I liked was the General AS-03 (all season max performance) but I think it was also replaced with a newer model that doesn't look nearly as agressive.

 

My experience is that every time I buy Michelins. I am glad, and when I buy something cheaper, I regret it.

 

+1 Michelins (if you can afford them). On my first XJ8, Pirellis lasted less than 12000 miles. Quiet, good in rain and snow; switched to Pilots and had nearly all the original tread after 20,000 more miles, better in wet and much quieter and better handling.

That said, the Coopers I had on F35063 were every bit as good and a whole lot cheaper.

 

I am still on the fence?? I can get Pirelli P4s or P7s at around $550 out the door set of 4 or Michelin defenders about $600 and all others at about the $500 price point but as I read the reviews some say good some not really not sure what direction to go. Were the Pirellis a bad choice from the factory ????

Amy help would be good

 

Just to add a few more options, I've had excellent performance from the Yokohama Advan series and the General Altimax series, and I'm currently running Continental True Contact Eco Plus on our '03 XJ8 and they're excellent too. On our 2004 I've run Yokohama Advan S4 (excellent and affordable but maybe not available in a high profile) and Continental DWS (pricey but superb, though you don't need the Snow in "Dry Wet Snow").

Cheers,

Don

 

Do you need all season tyres in California?

I would look at Michelin Pilot Sport 4 or Continental PremiumContact 6. I chose Continentals myself.

 

Most tires today are all season but you are right we do not get the regular seasons. If and when it does rain the freeways are very slick for a while and the water will lie on them. I can find a tire that is more suited to long drive high temp situation with an A rating for both although this car most likely will not see a high mileage and that is why I am trying to find a tire that will be a comfortable ride because you only have about six years on your tires. I will find something and I will post the result.

 

After a lot of looking I am going with these Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season H speed rated $560 out the door with a free alignment check.

 

I have the V speed rated version of those same tires. You should be happy with them, very well-mannered tire with a smooth ride. Tirerack testing dinged them for being not so good in wet conditions (using a 3,000 lb test vehicle), but I haven't noticed that at all.

 

On my X300 I had great results with the BF Goodrich Advantage TA. I bought two sets over the years. Smooth, quiet, V-rated (for those who care), 98-load rating, long tread life, great traction wet or dry.

Perhaps not "best" in any single category but a high quality tire with no vices or shortcomings that I could discern. Only about $100...but that was a few years ago.

Cheers
DD

 

Just to report back i did a quick 200 mile round trip on Sunday and the car performed well with the new P7 Pirellis, very quiet on most road surfaces excellent on straight black top no noise what so ever. Saw cut concrete freeway which you are going to get noise was minimal. Happy with them so far. Had to do a quick get out of the way swerve to stop from getting side swiped on the freeway[motorway} at about 65 no problem held great a bit hairy never the less.

Stuart

 

I just got a set of Michelin pilot super sport XLs.

They are a revelation. Even with a tweaked R you will be hard pressed to break traction in the dry. Way better than the Toyo T1R they replaced.

very refined too

 

I ran my original XJR on Pilot Sport 2's and they are a great tire, so Michelin are the defacto? Not quite, I really like Bridgestone Potenza RE50 for summer use, grip almost up with Yokohama but wear much better - the one thing I noticed over the Michelin is the sound level, the Bridgestone are quieter and again wear better so for me they're staying on the car until I can't get them

 

I have had Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sports on my XKR and for the 35k miles I ran them, I definitely felt they were excellent wet and dry performance. I replaced them with Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s and the last 4k I've been happy.

My XJR came with Yokohama YK580s and I thought they were OK. I have a set of Michelin Alpin PA2s I bought off a buddies wrecked 911 (winter tires don't do a car totalled in the summer much good lol) that I leave on year round since I bet I only drive 200-300 miles in the car during the nice months (winter car). I really like the Michelins.

 

Stuart, like you , I don't drive my 2003 XJR very much . About 1500 miles per summer (and never in rain) then into indoor winter storage( Nov-April). It just had new tires this summer at 41,000 miles
That being the case, I went with the ORIGINAL tires that came with the car when new ...( PIRELLI
P ZERO ROSSOMax Performance Summer

• Size: 255/40ZR18 (99Y) XL
• Asimmetrico,

My car is mint and ALL ORIGINAL which is why I went with these tires that came with the car ORIGINALLY . While they don't get ratings quite as high as the Michelins, they still are a great tire.
Jaguar chose them as the tire on the car originally for good reasons..... reasons good enough for me to stay with them.

 

I have had my XJ8 for nearly 2 years now and I have always gone with Pirelli's. However weather or not they are good in the very dry conditions I cannot comment as I am in the UK! But wet conditions Pirelli's are very good and very safe.

 

After the Michelin Pilot Sports, and the all season Michelins, I finally found the less expensive Continental DWS, which are truly amazing tires. The Michelins were great for handling, but tramlined on S. Cal freeways, even when new, and developed cracks when they started to age.. The Continentals are great overall tires. seem to be wearing well, don't tramline at all, and they are quiet. I would very much recommend them. I will buy the Continentals from now on.

 

Yes, yes, yes! Skip the Michelins and get the Continentals. I had new Michelins and with less than a year and a thousand miles on them they also developed the cracks between the treads and of course they would not honor their warranty. Continentals are the way to go.

 

Exactly!!! The Michelin Pilot Sport on my XJR are cracking all over and even losing pressure, although there still is plenty of tread on them to last for a while; I can see the steel belts from a mile.

Then, my experience with Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 on my XJS was nothing short of remarkable. The car had 4-year old Pirelli Pzeros that I had acquired with new XK8 Revolver wheels and they were riding like an old country horse-cart on a dirt road in Sicilia. In addition, the steering was very hard to turn, like if no P/S assist for I don't know what reason. I remember myself complaining in the XJS forum about how the XJS, with such a looong hood and heavy steering, felt like steering the Titanic trying to avoid the iceberg when maneuvering the car on my driveway. Well, somebody recommended the Continentals, plus I loved the tread pattern, too and this was kind of like a miracle. I couldn't believe how immensely smooth the ride became with the new Continentals and guess what? The steering became so nice and lighter, easy to turn that it was hard to believe what those Pirelli's were doing to me. Wow! But however this came to happen, it's true, as it is me and nobody else who experienced this incredible change and who's really enjoying them. I think that I should give the Continentals a try on my XJR. And, BTW, I'm reading here about many members with cracks on their Michelins, so forget about those from now on.

Cheers,