Yes the good tires do cost. I buy from Discount Tires and have had great results from them. Tirerack might be worth looking into for a internet source. Shipping may cost about $65 but if your out of state you may not have to pay any tax. They have selected local tire stores near you that mounts the tires. I'm sure you would have to pay the installation and balance fee. You might call some other large tire stores and get a drive-out price.

I never will forget my very first michelins. I had bought a new 77 Cutlass with Goodyear OEM tires. I drove it about 20 miles to dallas to get the new tires. They knocked off about $150 for the tires off my car. The new michelins back then cost about $450. They balanced them and all. I drove out to the north loop. I headed down the entrance ramp. There was almost dead silence in the car other than some engine noise. I thought to myself, no wonder people buy michelins.

Do remember the Energy tire is probably one of the best rolling resistant tires of them all.

 

Finally I brought my car back to the dealer and they acknowledged there is a misalignment at both rear wheels. They did the alignment and now is properly alligned.
I am thinking of changing my tires too. They quoted the Michelin MXV4 S8 tires for 569.70 include tax. Surprisingly the price is so close to what I found from Tire racks (Total price plus mounting and so on, totaly of $560). Should i go for the quotation from the dealer?
Goodyear also suggested, if I want a very comfortable and quiet ride, they suggested their Assurance Comfortred, with a total of $530..
Which one would you go for?

 

I looked at the tirerack site. I pulled up a list of 4 or 5 best sellers. I list the site below.

Listed at the top was the Bridgestone Potenza G 009 tire at $84 each. Tread life is 50K. This may be a top seller but it may be a good tire but low price might have been the attraction here.

The michelin mav4 energy S8 (grand touring) tire at $115 each. tread life shows N/A

Another was the Goodyear Assurance TripleTred (all-season) at $100 each.

After looking at the direct comparison the Assurance wins. It's the would you buy this tire again column, the tripletred had the highest number. In the comparisons it shows, quieter, smoother ride also better ice traction and etc.

If I were you, be sure to select the customers reviews. Seems like I remember a few complaining of a slight buzz sound from there new triple treads. You can also type in to look only at Camry owners that have bought these tires. Discount tire show to have a customer review but it puts you back on the tire rack graphs and customer reviews.

The michelin energy tire is a oem tire. The would you buy again on the energy tire was low in comparison to the goodyear and the potenza tire. The goodyear tripletred showed highest in would you buy again.

Somehow I think a lot of oem tires don't get inflated like they should. I have had oem tires last me 40 and 50,000 miles.

If you get the tripltred, I would start out with about 35 psi cold and see how the tire rides. Some tire had stiffer sidewalls and run fine at 33 psi. Most I have owned do fine at 35 psi. I have 40 in these michelin energy tires and they seem to ride rather smooth. Being oem tires though it may not be easy to get them to 50,000 miles. I did not the tread depth is not as much as the others I mentioned here.

oem tires are designed for a nice quiet ride and good steering response to help sell the car.

Let us know how it works out for you.

below, choose, view best sellers.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Select...7&autoModClar=

 

I went from lower priced somethings to the Goodyear Tripletreads based on reviews from tirerack.com. They were costly at about $100 per tire. They were on my 2000 Camry.

They made a very big difference in road noise, handling, and highway stability (steering centering) with no change in alignment, etc. Quiet, smooth, great rain performance.

Of course, that was before I fell in love with the '07 TCH. I sold the Camry after about 10,0000 miles on the Tripletreads.

I loved the tires, but if I knew I would be selling the car, I would have put back the cheapo's I had originally.

Bottom line, I don't know about how they would be on a TCH, but on my 2000 Camry, they were "night and day"! Don't know how they would wear or if the performance dropped as the tread wore out.

Best,

Snedecor

 

Thanks alot Snedecor and rburt07 for your suggestions. I have just ordered Goodyear's ResponseEdge tires. They quoted for 600 initially and I pushed them down to $550 with nitrogen air too. I had a difficult time to decide between comforttred, tripletred and ResponeEdge. ComfortTred emphasis on comfort while tripletred emphasis on vechicle handling. RespnseEdge, based on the description and review, seems to be a combination of both tires. As a result, I made a decision on the ResponseEdge.

I will pick up my tires on the coming Tuesday and will certainly put down a word or two about the performance of the new set of tires.

Ian.

 

Looks like you have made a really good choice. This ResponsEdge tire must be rather new by Goodyear. It has high tirerack ratings thats for sure.

http://www.tirerack.com/tire-12/Good...ponsEdge.shtml

 

I am having exactly the same issue with TCH. At exactly the same mileage. Charlies Toyota told me, the original tires they put on the car are "soft" and will only get 15K - 25K miles before needing to be replaced. I am annoyed because I have rotated the tires at 7,000 and again at 15,000. At 15K I also had an alignment and told them to also balance the tires when they did the rotation. The tech insisted this was not necessary and I insisted they do it any way. I was having some drifting and attributed this to having "hit" the tire ramp at my car wash twice - You know the guy whose working there is waving you forward and then you hit something and then he point to turn the car to the right - duh!!! - so in all fairness, I think I may have knocked the car out of alignment last fall.

Ultimately, I think they are crappy tires. These are Bridgestone and I was not happy that the car came with them. I've had very bad experiences with Firestone tires in the past (40 years) and really would have preferred anything by Bridgestones.

So, the dealer tech tells me to wait until winter and buy new tires....I will ... and I am not buying them from you sweety.

What is of most interest is that the tires did not make any noise until AFTER I had them balanced, rotated and aligned. Go figure.

BTW, I talked my sister into also buying a Camry Hybrid and hers only has 5K on hers. Mine was built (assembled) in Japan and has the crappy Bridgestones. Hers was built in Kentucky and has Michelins. I'll be interested to see how her tires wear.

BTW2 - there has been a lot of discussion in this group about tire inflation and recommendations for replacements. I am reading this with interest.

 

[quote=jbrandt04330;137694]
BTW, I talked my sister into also buying a Camry Hybrid and hers only has 5K on hers. Mine was built (assembled) in Japan and has the crappy Bridgestones. Hers was built in Kentucky and has Michelins. I'll be interested to see how her tires wear.
quote]

Although Michelins are well know and reliable tires, however, based on the research from both this forum and tirerack.com, it looks like they do not have a very good traction on snow and wet pavement, and that's the biggest concern for me, especially i am living in Wisconsin.

I am expecting my Goodyear ResponseEdge to arrive tomorrow and hopefully they are what I expected for.

 

I got my Goodyear Responsedge 215/60R16 95V S2 Tires today. I have already put 10 miles of combine driving on them. Conclusion is: (without comparing with Michelin tires) it is alittle bit quieter than bridgestone on both highway and intown speed. I don't see a drop on my MPG yet (32 psi now, nitrogen). One thing I notice is the reponsivness on these tires. I am thinking my tires is still in 'break in' period which i am expecting it will be quieter after the break in.
Total price i paid is 575, which tires are $485.96, $10 for nitrogen, $42 for lifetime wheel balancing. One thing I have to mention is that i get a $10 coupon for my next visit and a $80 goodyear gift card (mail in) for this purchase.