Hey all, Posted to this group a short time ago about tires for a '98 GT Convert. I got back some great responses and great advice. Thanks to all who responded. Some folks responded and wanted more information on what the deal was with my current tires, so here it is for everyone - if you are interested.
The last set of tires I bought were Goodyear Eagle HP Ultra Plus in a
245/45ZR17 size. For my taste they had a little too much grab on dry pavement, not enough on wet or snow. They had some road noise that I expected based on the kind of performance tire that it is - so that was okay and understood. The car sits around a little bit but not so much that the tires should start to get choppy after only 5K miles or so (that's 8 or 9 months of driving for me). Of course, that increased the road noise and added a grinding sound to boot. Having a convert - that's not an acceptable level of noise. Wondering if it was something else mechanical. The balance and alignment were rechecked and were fine. I had the dealer put it up on a hoist and run the wheels to eliminate the tire noise as a factor. It was relatively quiet up there in the air, so that pretty much proved it was the tires and not the brakes or other various parts that could have been causing the new sounds.That said, currently looking at purchasing the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S in a
245/45ZR17. Ratings seem pretty good for most things including low noise when compared to others in the category. It has a Y rating for speed, so I guess I'll have to slow down to under 150 MPH (especially in the parking lots . . . ha.). Anybody with good or bad experiences on these tires, I'd love to hear them.Just so you know, I'm not ripping on Goodyear. I've had them on other cars and have always been satisfied. But based on recent performance on this type of car, I just can't afford to buy them again and take that chance. Later.