Getting new tires has come to the top of my todo list. Currently the car has Pirelli P-Zero tires in 245/50ZR17 which are 15 or more years old. I'm looking at the offerings that Tirerack has in this size and would welcome your input and experiences.

Of course tirerack has Michelin Pilot Sport AS 4 in this size as well as Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 Plus but and a big but the cost is more than I really want to spend. Currently I'm going back and forth between the Kumho Ecsta Sport A/S and the Toyo Proxes Sport A/S+. Any thoughts or experiences you wish to share? Worst case (or best...) I would just chuck it and buy the Michelin's as that any tire I get would likely be on the car till they were too old to trust.

I would entertain different aspect tires that are great and in my price range but want to keep the spedo as accurate as possible.

Planned usage is weekend trips, Some sporty corners but not much and just general touring for fun. Often in the wet fall and spring. It was 4 degrees (-15.5 C) here last winter and we don't have a garage yet.

BEst regards

 

It's not an exact answer to your question, but I've used Falken, Nitto and Sumitomo tires and they all performed well. IMHO most Japanese rubber is pretty good. I currently have the Sumitomo HTR Z5 18" on mine and I like them.

 

I now use Kumho Ecsta sport on my 2005 XK8. Mine has 20 inch rims so it may not be a 100% direct comparison, but the tyres are impressively good in terms of grip, braking and feel. I am happy to recommend them.

 

HI! Be glad that you have such a wide selection of tires for 17"! I had 15-year-old 245/50 R17 Bridgestone Potenza on my XK8. I wanted to rejuvenate them a bit with newer ones, but I couldn't find them. Six months ago I managed to buy two "new" Potenzas, but they are 8 years old! Potenzas are good in that they are runflat, so if you have a puncture, you can drive as far as you need without the need for immediate repairs. But they also have the disadvantage that they are quite heavy, so as an unsprung part of the vehicle, they cause a lot of discomfort when driving if you have slack in the steering or they are not perfectly balanced. However, I can't buy new ones in the Czech Republic anymore. Now I have got two new Pirelli Assimetrico. Dot 2021, so great, even though they are not Runflat. I was also thinking about replacing the wheels with larger 18" ones, for which the tires are more affordable, but the 17" revolvers are broken on our road tires are more suitable.
I'm curious how the Pirelli will ride, I don't have them installed yet. I'm currently working on restoring some parts of the chassis, so I'll put new tires on after the work is finished.

 

FWIW, I run the Michelin PS (on 18") and can recommend them

 

Not a brand recommendation but consider buying used off eBay. I've purchased two Michelins for my past 996, two Pirelli's for my XJ8 and four Goodyears for my wife's Canyon. Bought from United Tires each time. All were 9/32" or better tread depth and had date codes not more than 2 years old. Cost was about 1/2 of new with free shipping. Admittedly, it will be difficult finding a set of four for an uncommon size. The ones for the 996 and XJ8 were Z rated because I matched the two good tires on each car. Do you really need to pay for Z rated if replacing all four?

 

If your tire speed rating does not match your car’s capabilities, your insurance is void.

 

Don't agree with that based on capability. Insurance company would have to show lower speed rating contributed to crash. So if blowout at 140 on H rated yes, but blowout on H rated at 120 no.

 

Not planning on going fast but I'll stick with a 99W tire. I've run Sumitomo HTR on my Fiat in the past and currently have Falken AZENIS RT615K on it. I like both of them for deferent reasons of course. Used tires? Looking for new but a good thought.

Thanks for the Kumho recommendation - that is the kind of info I'm looking for. Ditto for the Michelin recommendation. Those are my likely choices. I'm just cheap so it is hard to pony up the bills for a tier 1 tire when the tier 2 tires are so good.

Best

 

Use Michelin Pilot Sport 5. They are really good in the dry and the wet so perfect for the UK. Only suffer with loose gravel but it's a road tyre not an off-road tyre.

 

I'm currently running Barum Bravuris 5HM's and pleased with performance (Barum is made by Continental and lower cost option). I've also had Nexen, Goodyear, Pirelli and Michelins - goodyear and pirelli only lasted about 25000miles, Michelin and Nexen gave me better life

 

As a follow up I ended up buying the Kumho Ecsta Sport A/S in 245/50-17 for half the price of the Michelin Pilot Sport AS 4. I got them mounted today and only have a few 10's of miles on them but as expected they a feel better than the 15 year old Pirelli P-Zero.

Choice indecision was a major factor in deciding. The want the best (at least by the specs) was steering me into buying tires that cost twice the Kumho's but sanity prevailed. I realized that we would likely never put more than 20k miles on the tires over the next 10 years and that they would age out. Plus If I do get a chance for 18" or 19" rims that I like and were affordable we would need to sell the 17" rims and tires. The ROE on more more expensive tires would not cover the costs as well as I would like.

I'll get a few miles on the car then report back in a month or few.

As an additional note the local shop that mounted the tires attempted to do an alignment but did not have all of the Jaguar specific parts. They did what they could and did not charge for the alignment. Still the car points better than it was before the new tires. I'll have to fire up the search tool for alignment info. A number of alignment parameters are outside or range but in sum it is not horrible. Here is what I ended up with.

Front
Cross camber: 0.4"
Cross Caster: -1.0"
Cross SAI: -1.0"
Total Toe: 0.28*

Rear
Cross Camber: -0.7"
Total Toe: 0.30*
Thrust Angle: 0.00**