started driving the XJ with my new ECM in place. lovely ride . at high speed i notice quite a bit of road noise. Ill be replacing the Yokohamas that are too old soon. Are these cars known for road noise at speed or will new rubber quiet her down? any recommendations?II like Michelin, also looking at Vredensten(sp.?) from NL.
Michelin Defenders are quiet, decent handling, but may last too long, for a toy car.
For all but the highest performance needs, Im sold on them.
Had terrible noise with my 97 when I bought it with the Bridgestones on it. When the time for replacement came the tire shop put me onto BFGoodrichg-force; much better, hardley noticed after that.
Dick Griffiths XJ6R
Nothing as quiet as cross-pliesš.
I have them on 2 open XKs, and can compare to 2 other XKs with radials. But there are other differences as we knowā¦
While out walking in aquiet landscape yesterday, I heard the terrible tyre noise from a Land Rover Defender doing just 30-40 mph. I was 400m awaynand the noise was very loud and disturbing in a quiet landscapeš”
cross-plies is the old bias belts? i always used those on Healeys for ground clearance issues with oil pan and exhaust.
Michelinsā¦ā¦ā¦it will be DEAD QUIET
GTJOEY1314
I ran BF Goodrich Advantage TA. 225/60x16. V-speed rating, 98 load road rating, 560 treadwear rating. Dead quiet, no complaints, no vices, good wet traction, no apparent shortcomings, got 50k miles use. Liked 'em so much I bought a second set.
Cheers
DD
2 Likes
I have Michelins on the front of my XJR(X300) and they do like to tramline but then maybe other makes do due to the width.
The tramlining your speaking of is because of the XJR WHEEL, which were huge for the day.
The size is a little dated as well. The roads donāt help either.
BF 's are good all around good, but the Michelins are it
IMHO
driven, 135,000 in my 95 xj6 from new
96 vpd short wheelbase, 36,000
96 short wheel base XJR 50,000
Many other plus a long wheel base 1996 v12.
Michelins will transform your shot bushings as well.
Boy when an XJR trams, it can break your wrist!
gtjoey1314
The XJR/6 tramlining could indeed be severe, even downright scary. I wouldnāt let my youngest daughter drive my XJR at highway speeds because of it.
There are various ways to minimize it but Iāve not heard of anyone eliminating itā¦with the stock size tires.
When I _down_sized the tires, however, the problem disappeared.
Cheers
DD
1 Like
When I first put Tweety OTR, I had 215/50 Yokos on it, plus solid rack mounts.
It handled spectacularly, and was definitely MUCH more sticky than the 185s.
That said, it would tramline over a bobbie pin, if the pin was in the correct orientation, and with the solid rack mounts, you could squeeze your wrist to change lanes.
WAAAY too nervous for street driving, so I went back to rubber mounts, and 205/60s.
MUCH better.
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Iāve driven a number of cars that go beyond being responsive and into twitchy and nervous. After 15 minutes youāve had enough.
Cheers
DD
Yep: on the track āfor the three laps the brakes lastedā it was fuuun.
Not on the street.
Fortunately, the Yokos were gumballs, and were worn out after about 5000 miles.
This is a tough one (for me anyway). I too am not a fan of road noise, but Iām not willing to give up performance (driving) either. I have Mitchellin sport pilots on my XJR. Itās an incredible handling tire. I have Hankook Vetrius (sp) on my '96 Impala SS. Great handling tire reasonably quiet, the only negative is over little bumps like the entrance to a parking lot, where the tarmac and the concrete meet. these little bumps are jarring at low speeds. Ok, maybe not jarring, but you definitely can feel and hear it. Same with expansion joints on overpasses.
Hereās a chart from Tirerack.com
That may be useful in picking a tire. The bottom line is with quiet and comfort you give up performance to a certin extent. Continental has a good best of both worlds tire.
I tend to agreeā¦and sometimes you have to give up other qualities as wellā¦ but it depends on just how hard youāre driving. āMadman with your hair on fireā or merely ābrisk and sportyā? 
If the latter, you probably wonāt realize enough benefit from an āultra high performanceā tire to offset the disadvantages.
One of the reasons I ditched the OEM size on my XJR is that, at the time, there simply werenāt any tires in that size that offered anything resembling decent tread life. When you drive 18-20k miles per year replacing tires every 10k miles becomes a bit much.
Cheers
DD
1 Like
looks like its the Michelin, the wifes car mostly, neither of us are out slalom racing . we both like quiet. there are some pretty rough old roads in Northern Illinois farm country where this car is headed. I noticed the Vredestein never got a vote from anyone? Some guys on the E forum like them and I may put them on the E of course thatās a whole different car , weight and width not comparable. I wont buy a Chinese tire , try to find US or European. Friend of mine swears by Goodyear Comfort Tread?, but they are made in Chile. I never had a tire from down south. Thank you all for contributing , hope to hear more if possible.
Iām at the tire store right now bored senseless reading jag loversā¦ two Pirelli P7s. Not one recommendation 
Sāwhy I went to Defenders, fron Kumhos, on my Hyundai: the Kumhos were inexpensive (~$45/per) and handled GREATā¦ and lasted 20k milesāand Im not hard on tires.
The Defenders, with no appreciable change in driving patterns, give me 70k to 90k miles.
Pre-2013, I was driving ~40k/year. I agree: fast-wearing, sticky tires lose their appeal, quickly!
I have Mitchelin Premiers on my '74 XJ6. The tire provides a quiet comfortable ride, itās a bit lacking in the āsportā arena, but so is the steering - suffers from the XJ Series I yacht style input. So for this car, itās a good match.
My son also has these tires his '94 GMC Sanoma Pick up truck. The tires are quiet, wear very well, this set of tires has about 50k miles on them. I think itās about time to replace them, not because of wear as much as age.
To add one more thing, when the Michelins are installed, your wife will ask if you
Installed, New shocks
Bushings
Ball joints
Bearings and so much more. The pilots are the true tire for the old xjr but the all seasons are just as quiet if not more but donāt handle as tight.
Good years are terrible, Pirellis are ok for 6 months.
I was getting close to 40,000 on Michelins.
Good luck
GTJOEY1314