I desperately need to get at least front tires for my '07 Limited Coupe (56K miles). The right front tire has leaked air fairly slowly, but now it needs to be 'pumped up' about every three days. Not to mention there is almost no tread on the fronts.

My priorities (I'm sure not yours):
Must be quiet.
Must not bang going over SoCal's quickly repaired concrete freeways.
Must have an interesting tread.
Should at least handle wet conditions reasonably well.

I really want a set of Vredestein - Ultrac Sessanta's (one diameter up to 255/40 - 19 in the rear) - but impossible to find.
I only need Summer tires, but willing to compromise since the two picks below are All Seasons.

Questions:
Will Nito 275/35ZR - 19 fit my rear wheels okay? I really don't want to go wider, but this is the closest (without going smaller) that is available.

If any of you have used or are using Nitto NT NeoGen on your similar XF, what is your take on quietness including going over bumps?

Same question but BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2A/S?

Biba

 

I highly recommend the Kumho SPT to any SoCal resident. This is a summer tire and is very quiet on all road surfaces. I spend time on the 405,5, 10, 15 and 215 fwys in quiet bliss. Very smooth ride and grab like crazy when cornering at speed. I'm running 225x40x18 on the front and 275x35x19 on the rear. They are ok on wet streets as long as you take reasonable care. Stay away from Ice and snow. The larger tires on the rear have plenty of room and add real stability to the handling of my XF. I have a 2004 6spd coupe.
If you have any other questions give me a call. (619)276-5462. I'm in San Diego.

 

geogramps, thank you for the information. I'll be going to my long-time tire dealer and run the Kumho SPT's along with the Nitto NT NeoGen's by them. They definitely have opinions, which I assume comes from client feedback. The Kumho SPT's also have a nice tread pattern, along with other good reviews.

I also appreciate your verifying that 275's in the rear work fine.

 

Attached is a copy of an eMail I got a few years back from a dealer in Florida that handled the Vredestein tire line. I needed a specific size for a 1993 Suzuki Swift GT I owned and Vredestein was the only tire manufacturer that still produced the size. Might be worth a shot if you're really interested in Vredestein.

Later,

 

There are several XFire Owners that run the 275 width on the rears. Either a 275/35-19 or 275/30-19. Been lots of discussion on the Forum surrounding this Plus '0' rear setup. The 35 series is 0.551" larger diameter than OEM; the 30 series is 0.531" smaller diameter. I personally don't run these tire sizes, but as per feedback above, the wider tire seems to work fine on the rear of the XFire.

Later,

 

Thanks for these remarks/info. I'm driving myself nuts by looking at so many choices. The front tire for the Kuhmo Ecsta SPT is apparently a run-flat tire. I've heard nothing good about run-flats. I was also getting the feeling in my vast searches that Ecsta SPT's are no longer being made. The Nitto NT NeoGen, at least in the 19" size needed, has been discontinued. My tire guy warned me that if I did find rear tires (none in CA) most likely they are at least a couple of years old. This would be the same for Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta's since the've been discontinued. He also included that if a tire was damaged to the point of needing to replace it, I might well have to end up buying at least two new tires.

To be perfectly honest I actually need a Grand Touring Summer tires, but there aren't many choices.

I've also looked at the BFGoodrich G-force Comp-2's and that's a possibility. Another (but beginning to hit my max dollars) are the Michelin Pilot Super Sport's. Unfortunately a pretty boring looking tire.

The first thing I check for is tire noise and overall interior sound as I mentioned before. I admit that looks are important which tire guy said that tires are tires.

I'm open to suggestions on apparently (quiet) Ultra High Performance Summer tires. If All Season's are quieter, I'm willing to go that route.

I'd really like the rear tire be available in 255x40x19.

 

Every set of Summer tires have only lasted around 15K, which is why I've gone to AS tires with their higher tread ratings. I'm on my 2nd set of General G-Max on my 05 Limited after getting 42K out of the initial set. Asymmetric tread allowed me to rotate (un-mount & re-mount) the tires from side to side @ 30K for a more even wear. Quiet, smooth and great wet grip for AS tires, and I'm in Florida. I've always bought all my tire sets from TireRack and had them shipped to my installer for cheaper then any tire store. 235/40/18 & 275/35/19 on both of my XFs. Slightly taller sidewalls afford a smoother ride also!









My SRT came with Toyo Proxes when I first bought her and were great, quiet tires. Was gonna go with the newer Toyo Proxes 4 Plus until I got a sweet deal on Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position for 1/2 price, which are also very quiet and sticky, but expensive. FYI - the Toyo Proxes 4 + have a deal where you can "try before you buy" for 500 Miles / 45 Days, and come with a 50K tread warranty. Hard to beat at their price too.



One last thing...the G-Maxs appear to be a "Beefier" looking tire then the Bridgestones!

 

15K on an ultra performance summer tire in Socal is pretty good. I haven't been able to find one that will do better than 12k. When you drive our cars like a sports car here, the roads just eat tires. The Kuhmo's are holding up better than anything i've tried before, including the Mich. super sports which cost twice as much.

 

Wow! I talked to Kumho yesterday, several times. The Ecsta SPT has been replaced by the Ecsta LE Sport. I returned from my Tire shop a few minutes ago. This morning Kumho had my tire guy replace my SPT's with an identical set of LE Sports. No charge. Marked as "Tires furnished for Testing". How cool is that?
I'll keep you posted as to how they are doing. Ask your tire guy what he thinks about the LE Sport. Kumho's Socal distribution center is not far from you. They are located in Redlands.

 

My XF is strictly a daily driver to work and back. I'm not autocrossing my car but I'm a spirited driver so tire tread rating is what I look for. The Kumhos have a low UTQG of 280. The G-Max are rated at 480, and Proxes 4+ at 560, twice the tread life of the Kumhos. That's why I've gotten almost 3 times the mileage as you have, and on rough Florida highways to boot. Mind you that my dramatic mileage increase came only after I installed the DIY rear cambers and front eccentric alignment bolts, with a true 4-wheel laser alignment.

 

HIGHLY recommended !!!
I have now done the DIY rear cambers from Speedway on my roadster and on 2 other Crossfires.
Thanks for the DIY syfi.

NOTE: If you want a chuckle, watch the video from syfi's DIY sticky on youtube and turn the closed captioning on !

 

What a great exchange of tire info. My rear Kumhos (I think Ecsta LE sport model) lasted about 12,000 on the rear. I hesitated to replace the fronts that still had much tread wear so I purchased 2 rear Kumho replacements to match front. But the front wear indicated I had an alignment issue so I got that fixed. I don't drive in winter snow/ice. I have some issues with road noise using cell phone bluetooth on the highway. Seems that road noise is picked up by the microphone (Kenwood Marine 558bt) so folks on other end have background noise and I have trouble hearing them. Tire Rack reflects $591 for 4 tires OEM CF specs, not bad. I am curious to know any opinions about road noise comparing the Kumho to the G-Max AS 03. I like the tread pattern and the idea of longer life of the G-Max is desirable. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated about road noise! Thanks!!

 

syfi, I noticed the low UTQG earlier today. The SPT's were 320 and 340. Since the ratings are done by the individual manufacturer, I have found it is tough to compare actual ratings between different mfrs. It is more reliable for judging between one mfrs. tires. I had no complaints about the SPT's. They were super quiet, stuck like glue and were wearing well. I'll have to wait and see about the new tires. With a 280 rating I don't expect them to wear quite as well. When I bought my car, the dealer put a new set of Falken tires on. They looked great on the car, but they kept getting louder and louder to the point that I couldn't drive with the windows down. I didn't even get 10k out of them.

 

The little 'duh' light came on and I simply keyed in "quietest tires" on google.

Tire Rack came up with several choices. I've decided on Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06's. Somewhat for the money, but especially for the very high ratings on quietness and ride comfort, along with their being available in 255x40x19 in the rear.

There were only a few 3 star reviews, the rest being 4's and 5's. Lots of 5's.

I've seen more interesting treads, though not too bad esthetically. Those General G-Max's are very cool looking.

An aside: A bit like closing the barn door after the horse ran off - I just ordered a portable tire inflator along with a 16oz of Slime from Amazon. I'm now losing about 5 pounds a day in right front tie. Hopefully it doesn't affect the tire pressure electronic sender. I read that unused tire sealer should be replaced every year. Sound about right?

My '07 Limited Coupe came with a jack, but no inflater.