I'm in central Florida - normal driving - no racing but the toad drowning storms on hot oiled roads are frequent in summer - avoid driving in snow like a plague.
Have 32K on GY's with some tread left and evenly on all tires. But I desire better ride and quieter ride.
What do you recommend? Firestone or Michelin?

 

Hey Matt!

This time of year I would suggest the Goodyear EMT snow tires! ;)
:chevy :flag

 

I bought a set of Firestone RFTs from Luke at the Tire Rack and had Discount Tire install them last week. I had hear that the Firestones were quieter than the Goodyears, but had not seen any hard data so I borrowed a sound level meter from work and recorded noise levels.
Prior to removing the Goodyears, I ran it around town on various road surfaces at various speeds. I reran the same roads after having the Firestones installed.

The Firestones were at least 3 dba quieter than the Goodyears at any speed and on any road surface.
There is still a freeway road roar with the Firestones, but it is comparitively subdued and of a less irritating frequency.
Around town on smooth asphalt the grinding roar that I have tolerated for the last five years is gone. At speeds under 40, there is no noticable tire noise.
I can now hear the whine of the fuel pump at any speed where before it was drowned out at anything above idle before.
The steering feels lighter and there is more compliance in the suspension. The sharp edge has been taken off bumps and the rearend no longer crowhops over manhole covers and pavement cracks hit while hard cornering.
The Firestones seem to catch and toss up more gravel. There is definitly more stone pecking noises coming from the wheelwells. Occasionally at very slow speeds and tight turns, the Firestones make a sort of ratcheting noise.
The Firestones do not fill the wheel wells as nicely as the Goodyears.
The Firestones break loose in a much more controlled fashion than the all or nothing Goodyears. I have an A4 and when the transmission shifted down to first at 35 or 40mph the Goodyears always broke loose if the road was wet and then the backend would try to pass the front. The Firestones have yet to break loose during kickdown so I am going to say that they appear to have better wet weather traction.
On a long trip on the rough concrete freeways that we have around Portland and Seattle, the Firestones are going to be a big improvement. The car is now quiet enough that I want to add a little more sound proofing in the rear and take it on a long trip.
I posted the actual db ratings on the Wheel and Tire Forum.
Dennis




[Modified by Dennis Rech, 8:51 PM 3/2/2003]

 

I would recommend the Firestones. Great ride, less noise, handling is better than Goodyear and less expensive to buy. Only drawback is you can only go 50 miles with 0 air pressure instead of the 200 with the Goodyears. Most of the time, this will not be an issue since you can usually find a repair shop within 50 miles.

 

Then I'm going with the gy's you never know when the cops are going to throw down the spike strips on you. :lol: :lol:

 

Here's some customer survey data from Tirerack

(I've included the BFG g-force, Michelin Pilot Sport & Pilot Sport A/S non-runflats for comparison with the runflats):

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...=2&sortValue=1

For me, there seems to be no other choice in runflats other than Michelin.


[Modified by SFVetteman, 12:40 PM 3/4/2003]