I can’t find the old recommendation, but I think it was the Kuhmo or something like that. I’ve got the original Continentals on the car now, but I thought I read the ones you folks discussed was better and cheaper.
Thanks, Brian
Don’t know about the X350 but I’m happy with Kuhmos on my X300.
I have Kumho Excstas on my XJ40 too, hard-wearing and good traction most of the time, bit lively in the wet though …
I’m running Yokohama Tornantes and have no complaints about noise or wet performance.
I believe Pirelli P5’s or Continentals are what came on the car new.
Tires are tricky thing, they can transform the feel of your car which I believe is very personal. Like underwear. Before jumping out and buying tires, How do you want VDP to feel while driving. Here’s some food for thought.
- Your driving style. Spirited or conservative?
- weather conditions which roll into grip,
- Handling characteristics tread pattern can determine handling characteristics twitchy at the wheel, or heavy to steer
- Road noise tread pattern plays a huge role in road noise
- wear - how long do you want your tires to last?
- gas mileage. This more or less goes hand in hand with #5 high mileage tires have less grip
- price - how much are you willing to spend?
This is what I do. From the list above pick the top 3 in order of importance. then go to tirerack.com and check out their tire tests. / ratings, They do a wonderful job of delineating tire characteristics and then rate accordingly. If you find a brand, that you like that tire rack doesn’t have or hasn’t tested, then consumerreports.com, or tirebuyer.com, thetoptens.com. Just an FYI, Tire rack likes Bridgestone tires so they will be highly rated. I haven’t had good experiences with Bridgestone
Tires that I have on my cars
'96 Impala SS Hankook Ventus V12 Evo’s
'02 XJR-100 Michelin Sport Pilots
70 RS Camaro BF Good Rich TA’s
90 XJS convert Michelin Sport Pilots
74 XJ6 Michelin touring
86 XJ6 Dunlop Touring CS
85 XJ6 Dunlop Touring CS
88 XJS BF Goodrich TA’s
85 XJ-SC BF Good Rich TA’s
Top 3 determining tire categories
- Price
- handling (includes grip_)
- road noise
Most of My Jags have 15 inch wheels, so tire choices are limited. I would love to have the “classic” XWX or the Pirelli P5’s but I just can’t swing $1,500.00 on tires. the sport pilots are the exclusion to price being the most important. for me it’s a balance between price and performance. If the price is high (say because of branding) I won’t by that tire, I’ll by a less know brand tire, with the handling characteristics that suit my driving style and what I am willing to sacrifice for comfort and road noise.
The Hankook’s are wonderful until you get about 50% tread wear then the road noise on less prestine roads is defining. Handling, Grip off the charts
Sport Pilots - minimal road noise, handling in the wet is amazing all round it’s a fabulous tire. the only complaint is when hitting a bump like a pavement seam or pot hole, the tire has little side wall give so it’s quite jarring.
Dunlop touring CS are an amazingly nice touring tire for the money (less that $100.00 a corner). No road noise, good grip, soaks up the bumps amazingly well. Handling? Lets just say this isn’t a sport tire. Downside, when the tires lose grip, there’s little to no warning. Grip, there is it - there it goes.
BJ Goodrich. These are a cheap and cheerful sport tire that can be had for less than $150.00 a corner. Good handling, good traction (wet not so much)
Why TA’s? Back to the 15 inch wheel size my choices for under $300.00 a tire are extremely limited.
Bottom lIne think about how you want your car to drive as well as how comfortable you want to be; and where you are willing to make concessions.
My wife needed new tires for her “People’s Car” Passat. I have her the same run down. “How do you want your car to behave, and how much are you willing to spend?” I put a spreadsheet together with bar charts of the tires that she can afford and what the characteristics of the tire were along with links to the supporting videos - I get a blank stare, followed by “I JUST WANT TO BUY SOME F’NG TIRES!!!” She ended up with Bridgestone’s. LOL
I hope I didn’t muddy the waters too much
Mark
I am quite proud of some tires I bought “on the cheap” for Harlem, my '00 X-308, that turned out, IMHO, to be almost as good as the $$$ Michelins I used to buy. They are called “Neutons”, and I believe are made in Indonesia. I went with them b/c my tech has “buying privileges” through a local used car dealer at a place that sells tires wholesale to the dealers and even to some of the big name tire stores. As a result, I was able to get them for $49.00 apiece, w. no sales tax even. These are also the first tires I’ve ever owned that have that outside 1/2 of the tread pattern different from the inside 1`/2 (be sure when you have them mounted the tire shop knows to put the correct side on the outside!). They run smoothly, quiet, pretty good in rain, and I have never had to add a single lb. of air. 