Rant on:

Pilot XGT Z4: These tires were on my car when I bought it last September... Now, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and I was pretty happy that these expensive tires were on the vette when I first drove it home but now that I've had plenty of time to feel them out, I'm not impressed.

-Dry concrete: Very tight grip on the road
-Wet concrete: Amazingly tight grip for wet conditions
-Dry asphalt: I have to go through corners with extra caution because the rear tires will slide too easily
-Wet asphalt: Look out! It's like driving on ice...

I just don't get it. Perhaps I can't judge until I've had another set of tires on there to compare it with but asphalt driving (which is 95% of the time) is simply under par. I have tested the limits of cornering/braking traction in safe conditions (i.e. no other cars near by) and driving on wet asphalt is absolutely ridiculous. Seriously, it feels like I'm driving over an eternal oil slick and I've never had it that bad with other cars.

I don't know how long the tires were on there before I bought the car but could it be that a couple of years just sitting has dried them out? They are not cracked & appear to be in very good shape (plenty of tread still too).

My ASR is disabled because I have to fix a parking brake problem so, in the meantime, I am extremely weary of handing the keys over to my wife because I haven't taught her how to steer her way out of a slide.

Perhaps in 6 months or so I'll be on here complaining about Kumho tires but I really doubt that'll be the case...

Anyone else had such big problems with Pilots or other tires?

My confidence on the road is bottlenecked by the lack of grip.

Rant off

-Edit- One more thing: When I spin the tires, they very rarely squeal & normally just spin silently... Maybe that's just an aspect of softer rubber but perhaps it's a clue to the problem.

 

I have had Michelins on other cars, and short of the super cheap ones they sold as OEM, they have been fine.

I don't know about your problem... perhaps you got bad tires? I donno.

as an aside, I have Kumho MXs. They rock. I will warn you, their wet traction is so-so. I am glad my ASR works....

 

Michelin's kumos rock , best bang for your buck
BF goodrich...cost a bit more.. but a great all season tire

 

XGT Z4s are a very old design and only a few sizes are available anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if the ones you have are dry rotted since they're probably old.

When they were a new design they were about the best all season performance tire available. Way back when the C4 was also one of the best...

 

Michelin has an excellent reputation, and the XGT Z4 is a good all season tire. However, it is an all season tire, and all season tires sacrifice dry AND wet traction to give you some traction on snow and ice. Many people believe an all season tire is better in the rain, but that is not true. Summer tires actually have better wet traction than all season tires.

That being said, you should still have decent wet and dry traction. You shouldn't feel like you're sliding around. I believe your tires may be old and the rubber may have hardened. When the rubber dries out and gets hard it just doesn't stick.

I had this happen to a set of old BFG Comp TA's that used to be on my '92. Pretty much all of the symptoms were as you describe... bad dry traction, almost no wet traction, and when I spun the rear tires they'd just make a quiet "zzzzz" noise with no smoke.

Check the small print cast into the rubber on the sidewalls; there may be a manufacture date. If it's more than 5 or 6 years ago you probably need tires.

Look very carefully for small cracks. Try pushing your fingernail and then a screwdriver (not too hard!) into the tread to feel the rubber. Compare it to the feel of the tires on your other cars. It should feel just as soft and squishy if not softer. If the rubber feels hard or has little give then it's probably time for new tires.

I replaced my old tires with a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's and I couldn't be happier. The difference in the car is night and day. These are AWESOME tires for both wet and dry traction!

 

All tires should have a build date stamped on them near rim bead, Im not familiar w/that mich. tire, I assume its directional so one side of the car may not have build dates on the outside (mouted inside). This would be a good indication of what you are dealing with, not to mention storage location length of time etc. I would bet that some fresh rubber would fix the problem.
build dates are usually printed as week year ie. 10 04 10th week of 04

 

You don't have Pilots, your have XGT Z4. I don't think you can buy XGT in our sizes anymore so yours are probably so old that the rubber is now very hard. How much tread is left?

I've got Pilot A/S on my Vette. I actually have to put effort into getting them to spin on wet roads.

 

Best damn tire ever made, they last a long time, even after a million miles of burnouts.
But as stated, they don't make them anymore.

I agree that yours may be old and maybe the UV rays have taken their toll.

 

Ok, that's good info. I didn't want to rag on Michelin because they wouldn't be around anymore if they didn't make good tires so it must have something to do with age. I'll start researching the archives for the "best" tires for the money to have down here in hot Austin, TX (obviously not winter or all season tires...).

lach

 

FYI check out TireRack's site they've got great info on tires: test results, survey results, etc ... you can look at all the factors before you make a decision.

Also FYI I have the same Michelin's you have and I think I'm running into the same problem. When I bought the car a year ago the original owner said he had just had the tires put on new the year before and they only had a couple k on them. (they looked brand new) I was at the tire shop two days ago having them mounted on my new rims when they commented that these tires are 8 years old I'm thinking WTF! that explains a lot. What it doesn't explain is why Sears is selling tires off the rack that are five or six years old ... I guess it's because no one wants to go to sears and pay over $300 a tire which is what this guy paid because I have the receipt.

 

I just put the Eagle F1 GS-D3s on my 90 and I am extremely happy.
I would reccomend them to be considered as well as the Michelin Pilots & Kuhmo's. These Eagles seem to glue you to the road in wet & dry conditions. Good Luck

 

I have BF Goodrich and Iwould not reccomend them to anyone ,they are very noisey and I had a out of round tire when new ,the rear tires are slightly out of round but not enough to get warrentied.

 

never buy Falken ZR's!!!! i have a set on my vette and they break loose too much. wet traction is horrible!

 

Spend a few dollars more and get the Goodyears they rate High ..wet or dry ..I have them on mine and love em .....