Best Tires for L-Series?

Like others here my wife and I have had the tire/road noise problems with our L-Series (2001 LW300) - dealer replaced the tires at no charge after

12K miles and added the shim kit. Now we're up to ~40K miles and the road noise has become unbearable. Dealer's service department of course said tough luck and gave a somewhat laughable quote for a set of Michelins, though they was somewhat amused when I said that on smooth pavement the car sounded like a semi.

In the past (with other vehicles) I've had great luck with Michelin, good performance and great treadwear. But thus far this car eats tires - do the Michelins last any longer? Are there any particular models of Michelins that anybody has had success with, or any other tire brands that we should consider?

Thanks much for any advice!

Orin

Reply to
Orin Day
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I can't speak for the L-series, as I only have the S-series, but I think the Michelins last, at least the X-One's, however, I found that winter driving in snow was okay for the first few years, but after that, forget it, had to get a set of winter tires, and will use the Michelins in the summer. If your tires are wearing fast, get the alignment checked, check and adjust the tire pressure every month, and watch your speeds around corners.

Reply to
Skid

You have joined the ranks of lack of pleasure with Firestone tires. My tires were replaced due to cupping. I bought more Firestone tires. Well, the noise is back. I wonder if all L series provide a way to quickly destroy tires?

Reply to
New & Improved - N/F John

Check this site out.

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Reply to
Skid

Skid, the L-series eats tires - the factory set was "chopped" after 10K miles of what I'd consider light duty driving - they were replaced under warranty along with a shim being installed that was standard on the next model year. All four tires were totally and equally ruined, and it wasn't uneven wear, they had been rotated by the dealer. The current tires have plenty of tread left but are "feathered" which makes them really loud.

[As an aside I wonder what it is about GM rear alignment, when I replaced the factory tires on my '96 S-10/ the tire folks shimmed the rear to the max and still couldn't achieve perfect alignment.]

I've had no tire problems on the 2002 LS1 that I drive - tires are still great after 20K (8K of similar use to the LW300 plus 12K from first owner).

As far as snow goes I'm in a climate that gets on average 7" of snow per year - usually two storms of 2"-5" - so snow handling isn't a big worry. Big snows mean everybody stays home until roads are passable (strange for me to deal with given my Chicago upbringing, but there just aren't the salt/plow trucks down here).

Thanks for the tirerack link, when I excluded all but Michelin it suggested the Pilot XGT H4 - that's the tire the Saturn service department recommended. But I'm not convinced that tire will wear well.

Reply to
Orin Day

Thanks for the heads-up on this Orin. I just bought the same vehicle used with 40k miles from a Saturn dealer. It had new Firestones on it, so I will watch tire wear very closely now.

Oppie

Reply to
Oppie

Gotta love the Affinity HP... we have a 2001 L300, and had all 4 tires replaced under warranty at 20-something thousand miles, and the alignment kit installed (it was more than just some shims - there was a small laundry list of stuff, iirc) - since then, we haven't had the problems with the tires cupping too badly - the affinities are junk, though... we are wearing through these at a 25-30k rate... maybe less... but the wear is reasonably even, and the tires are not cupped. We never really noticed a large increase in road noise - we had vibration issues at speed more than anything else.

For tires, we will be considering the continental contiextreme contact and the Yokohama AVS dB S2 as well as possibly some other Yokohamas. I have been happy with Michelin's in the past when I have had them, and will probably check out sears to see what they have (they were selling a T-plus radial or something like that, which was a rebadged X-one with a substantially reduced pricetag)

Reply to
David & Caroline

What is this alignment kit you are talking about? Is it a warranty item?

Reply to
New & Improved - N/F John

I'm using ContiExtremeContact on my '96 SL2. Best tires I've ever had.

Ken

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Reply to
Napalm Heart

I bought a set of Goodyear Eagle HP and have been satisfied with them for road noise. Unfortunately, they will wear faster as they have a softer rubber compound. I suggest you visit some "old tire retailer" and ask him about cupping, heel-toe wear, road noise, etc. Some of the old timers have a wealth of info. As tires age, they get noiser too as they get harder. Nothing like a new set of tires. Oh, I run about 4 psi higher too on air since I was wearing the original set out on the edges and cupping them badly. I now have an even wear pattern.

Fwiw, on motorcycles I only get around 4000 miles on a set of tires. Much softer for grip and much faster on wear (cost is twice that of car tire too!). Can't have both.

B~

Reply to
B. Peg

Absolutely

TSB# 00-T-72A JUL 02 Steering/Suspension - Alignment Spacer Update

Reply to
Dana Rohleder

Quoth snipped-for-privacy@lobsterdevil.com (Orin Day) in news: snipped-for-privacy@enews1.newsguy.com:

We're very happy with our year-old Dunlop SP Sport A2s. Great on wet and snow, as well as dry, on our 2000 LS1.

Reply to
Tom Betz

I had these on my '96 SL2 before I got the ContiExtremeContacts. The Contis made the Dunlops feel like slicks.

Ken

Reply to
Napalm Heart

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Reply to
K2NNJ

The tires on my 92SL2 looked like new after 40,000 ... they probably had more than half tread ... I figure they could have gone 60,000 ... I have been replacing them one at at time and now have 48,000 on one of them. I went with the Michelins ... and they do give a softer ride. Roy

Reply to
ProfWdesk1

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