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

 

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.

 

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?

 

Check this site out.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testSearch.jsp

 

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.

 

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

=========

 

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)

 

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

 

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

Ken

 

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~

 

Absolutely

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

 

Quoth (Orin Day) in

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.

 

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

Ken

 

www.tirerack.com

 

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