When my car left the factory, it was equipped with Michelin Primacy 3 tyres. Assuming that the car designers and tyre designers work together to come up with the best solution, I've always kept to the same when replacing them, even though I'm not the original owner of the car.
The cheapest I can find these are £132 each (fully fitted, balanced, disposal etc), meaning a bill for £528 because I need all four replaced at the same time, which is pushing it a bit for me at the moment.
However, I've noticed that there are now new rating systems for tyres and it seems that there are some slightly cheaper ones that have better results - admittedly not much cheaper and still pushing it financially, but on the face of it, maybe better tyres? The categories are Fuel Efficience/Rolling Resistance A good to F bad; Wet Grip/Braking Performance A good to F bad; Noise emission/Exterior noise in dB - lower number better:
Michelin Primacy 3 - C A 69 £132 each or £528 Dunlop Sport Blue Response - B A 68 £121.50 each or £486 Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance B A 68 £123 each or £492
These are going on a 3.0 V6 Nissan Maxima QX (A33 series) which is an almost 2-ton (executive? lower executive?) style of car. Should I stick with the Michelins or go with one of the others - or maybe something else altogether?
Oh, and apparently, according to the new rating system, these are *not* reinforced tyres - the Michelin Premacy 3 reinforced tyres are £10 each more expensive. What's that all about? I thought all tyres were steel-reinforced since the demise of Rayon in tyres in the 60s/70s?