Well, winter is waning here in Ontario Canada and I need summer tires. My mechanic recommended we choose from these: 215/50 R17 - SUMMERS - Uniroyal Tiger Paw Touring -Firestone FT140 - Michelin Defender 2 What do you think?
I'd stick to "all-seasons". The Defenders are ok, tend to knock mpg down some, but last a long time, and have good road feel. Costco has a rebadged Defender (can't think of the name at the moment); they're usually about $10 less per tire.
On our 2012 v Five, we replaced the OEM Toyo A20 with Continental PureContact 225/50R17 98V and have been very pleased with the wet and dry handling, noise, ride, and that the new tires had no adverse impact on MPG, even when new.
You're just driving the speed limit on public roadways? Get the cheapest thing at Walmart. Until you're sliding the car sideways at 190, mph and getting hot tear you don't really need high performance tire. Truly high performance tires are w or y speed rated and they come in ratings like a, b or c. Sometimes AA for super low temperature and then race or slick competition only with dimples for wear indicators. Youre nowhere needing any of this. You're doing the speed limit? You could buy the cheapest thing out there and be fine. Save your money. It's all sales, pitch, promos, hype and advertising. Learn to read what's on a passenger car tire like load index speed rating tread, life temperature and traction ratings and go off of that. Brand name tells you nothing about suitability of use. And all the other stuff I mentioned. The four digit. Stamp tells you how old it is. This is the kind of stuff you need to know. Brand name is what they hope you care about. They don't want you to know what really matters
Not sure what the pricing and availability is like where you are but Cross Climate 2 very good tire. 10 point higher rating on CR reports. Tire rack says they are $80 more for a set of four than the defender but they have also been tested for a tread life of 95k miles by consumer reports versus 85k for Defender. I am very pleased with the set installed on my gen 5 prius.
I like Michelins and Continentals. I tend to buy the most comfortable tires I can afford so the noise doesn't wear me down on long highway drives. We recently put Continental True Contact Tour tires on the Prius, and I have to say they're exceptionally quiet. Made of chopped up missile submarines I suppose. The car is still a small harsh hatchback but these kicks went a long way to taking the edge off. No dent in the fuel economy.
Consumer rag commentaries breed more consumerism. They're pleased you've learned their lingo and propagate it like it's invogue
I think it is a great resource. As someone unable to do my own tire testing they are often the next best source for product information I can find. In addition tyrereviews.com thinks highly of the CrossClimate2 as well as many others like this guy on youtube. If you consider car tires fashionable or stylish than I guess you can say that the CrossClimate2 are 'invogue.'
