I found the Hankooks produced so much road noise that I couldn't stand them and had to replace. I believe I have Nexens on my car now. Very inexpensive, decent handling, much quieter than the Hankooks. I think I paid $600.00 for the full set of four tires.

 

I just put four Continental DWS-06 for a drive out of $1,019 including alignment check. Done at my Ford dealer AND Ford is sending me a rebate of $70 for buying 4 tires plus another $70 for using my Ford Service CC which has no interest for a year on the purchase.
My wife's MB has Michelin, I'm not a big fan of them, but just not many choices for that size in run-flats.

 

Road noise was definitely one of the better gains when I bought the Mich Pilot Sport S4. The Bridgestone S-04s are noisier.

When I first got my XK, I had to replace the A/S, and and at the time, swore by the Bridgestone RE-11s for their pure sticky aggression, but damn they were loud! I knew a Jag deserved something more refined, yet I wanted high performance, hence the shift to the S-04. Even then, the Michelin's were being touted as "the" tire to own, but they were $400 more so I stayed with Bridgestone. Loved then enough to put them again on the XKR when I bought her (the $400 gap still existed at the time).

Finally, a sale brought the gap to $200ish when I was ready for my next set on the XKR, so I decided to make the leap. I already knew the performance difference between them was very very close, but everyone with the Mich were bragging about 3 year plus lifespans over the 2 I was getting on my Bridgestones.

So here I am... Pilots on the XKR, (S-04's on the XK) with no noticeable improvement over the Bridgestones except they have lower road noise. Still at about 1 year and a few months into them, hoping to see 3 years before replacement...
Except I'm selling the XKR before then....sigh...

 

Back in the days of whitewalls I remember that Michelins actually stayed white, and the XWX's on my 74 XJ12 were the best (& most expensive) radials availablle then.
Track driving usually requires more negative camber, tyre pressure adjustments etc., even my fairly light RX8 could hurt sticky rubber.. MPSS's... if over driven.
Oh, and a 3/4 socket that slips on the nuts will not be the cause of damaging our 19mm wheel nuts, they are just susceptible to being damaged.. (19mm = .748in)
Just installed 18in winters on our Touareg, they ride much better than the 20in Pirelli Scorpions A/S..
These are my thoughts on tyres tonight..

 

My XF has Continental ContiProContact. According to the Continental web site, they are not available in the correct sizes for the XK.

Ken

 

Nope, you are mistaken. And so was I until Brutal set the record straight. See his Post #91 in this thread:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-bolts-145997/

 

Reputation is important, push one new technology with unintended consequences, and that reputation will be damaged for a long time.
To some extent, Cee Jay's comments are like someone going around about how bad Jaguars are. Sure the Jaguar we own isn't the one in consideration, but it can still be indictive of the company.

However, ultimately, if a particular Jaguar, or Tire, has been in service for years without the flaws of the past failure, it then doesn't weigh in the balances with much merit at all.
It weighs when looking at a brand new design without being time proven; however at this point there are plenty of time proven Michelin options.

I have changed brand of tire every single time I have gotten tires on my Jaguar.
The fact is, there are a lot of good choices out there, and the standards the different competitors can meet are all satisfactory.
The previous time I shopped for tires I looked around at mounted pictures in similar size and picked the design I thought best complimented my wheels.
I would have repeated the Continental DW I had, but that design had been phased out for a new tire design from Continental.
I wasn't risking a new design, but rather wanted something that had 2+ years on the market.

 

It's great that we have an experienced Jaguar tech that shares his experience on the forum, but I still say that a 3/4in socket is just fine for a 19mm hex; and not the wrong size. we already have too much fake news in our lives...
and those cheap ebay chrome nuts look good new, but do not survive well on salty winter roads, the plating cracks easily and they rust, unlike the SS capped Toyota nuts; not going to be a problem on on many XKs I suspect..
Anyway, not related directly at least to tyres, so will go back into hibernation...

 

I suffered psychological damage from Michelins.
Just listening to the whine for years on this forum for something they got their money back for anyway.


Buying Michelins is like buying from Costco
And buying from Costco, it would be godsend if you had cracks in the tire after 3years.
They will give you a new set without question.

 

In that case, to avoid further psychological damage you must eliminate the whine and stay single.

 

I would not last 30 minutes with someone like that.

Can you imagine a spouse not being able to let go of a return made 5 years ago. lol. So unfair that we only think of women as whining bimbos, we might be worse and not see it.