[iggy]

Ok, I'm sorry if this isn't in the right area... but I want maximum exposure and... honestly this is mostly intended to be a sort of generic request for opinions or help on choosing a tire.

Now.. I have a Cruze LTZ , two of them actually... one a 2012, the other a 2013. As some of you, or most of you may know these came with 225/45-18 Michelin Pilot tires.. (I'm pretty sure that's the size). I personally am very happy with the performance of those original tires... both my cars are still on the factory tires... one has over 100,000 miles on it, the other pushing 70,000. ( I do run snow tires in the winter, so not exactly that many miles on the original tires, but pretty close to that ).

So... I need a new set of tires for one of my cars... My wife drives the car that will receive the new shoes, and she could care less about performance in dry weather, rain... well sure they should do OK in the rain. Snow... i'll be running the Blizzaks for a few more years in the winter so that's not really a issue. What I want... is a decent performing tire that will fit on the stock rims and not be as LOUD as the Michelin Pilot tires are. By LOUD, I mean like when you drive over a cracks in the highway and the sound is darn near too loud to be able to talk over. For my own personal car, I can live with the sound... but I know my wife , would LOVE some tires that aren't so noisy driving over highway roads that have a lot of little cracks.

So what is the best low profile 'performance' ( almost by definition of the size of the tire ) tire with reasonably good performance, and as quiet as possible?

Is there such a thing? I really don't want to have to buy a different set of wheels... I know a narrower tire would be quieter , but I really just want to run the stock size if at all possible... and have reasonably quiet ride.

 

[pacolino]

Ok, I'm sorry if this isn't in the right area... but I want maximum exposure and... honestly this is mostly intended to be a sort of generic request for opinions or help on choosing a tire.

Now.. I have a Cruze LTZ , two of them actually... one a 2012, the other a 2013. As some of you, or most of you may know these came with 225/45-18 Michelin Pilot tires.. (I'm pretty sure that's the size). I personally am very happy with the performance of those original tires... both my cars are still on the factory tires... one has over 100,000 miles on it, the other pushing 70,000. ( I do run snow tires in the winter, so not exactly that many miles on the original tires, but pretty close to that ).

So... I need a new set of tires for one of my cars... My wife drives the car that will receive the new shoes, and she could care less about performance in dry weather, rain... well sure they should do OK in the rain. Snow... i'll be running the Blizzaks for a few more years in the winter so that's not really a issue. What I want... is a decent performing tire that will fit on the stock rims and not be as LOUD as the Michelin Pilot tires are. By LOUD, I mean like when you drive over a cracks in the highway and the sound is darn near too loud to be able to talk over. For my own personal car, I can live with the sound... but I know my wife , would LOVE some tires that aren't so noisy driving over highway roads that have a lot of little cracks.

So what is the best low profile 'performance' ( almost by definition of the size of the tire ) tire with reasonably good performance, and as quiet as possible?

Is there such a thing? I really don't want to have to buy a different set of wheels... I know a narrower tire would be quieter , but I really just want to run the stock size if at all possible... and have reasonably quiet ride.

Good Year Assurance, good price/performance overall

Sent from my LGMS631 using Tapatalk

 

[Tomko]

It will be hard to find a more quiet tire than this one:

https://www.nokiantires.com/summer-tires/nokian-entyre-20/

 

[carbon02]

I've been happy with the Michelin Defender. I'm guessing that's a little softer than the Michelin Pilots?

 

[iggy]

Apparently Goodyear doesn't make a assurance in the 225/45R18 size...

The Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 looks interesting... when I called the local dealer who's supposed to be a Nokian dealer, he says he can't find that tire in his catalog... going to do some further research and call me back...

Meanwhile that dealer says he sells the Yokohama YK740 GTX , and says that's a relatively quiet tire... anyone know anything about those?

Also says a Falkin Pro G4 A/S is a quiet tire that he carries...

me being skeptical suspects he's just telling me a couple all season tires he has for sale, may or may not in reality be any quieter then any other all season tire.

 

[iggy]

I've been happy with the Michelin Defender. I'm guessing that's a little softer than the Michelin Pilots?

I suspect the main problem with the Michelin Pilots are that they have very little tread or sipping ... the are primarally a performance tire I think. When you go over cracks in the concrete roads and/or asphalt with a rough surface on top ( small stones embedded in the surface ), the pilots seem to echo all of that noise upward... very very annoying. My wife complained for a long long time, she's basically just grown tired of complaining. I myself don't like it, but since the tires do grip quite well, I make the sacrifice... ( I'll be putting the tires off her 2013 and running them on my 2012 until I can't possibly run them any more safely ).

 

[jblackburn]

Pirelli P7 would be my top recommendation.

A 7th gen Camry is not a very quiet car (they've cheaped out on a lot of noise insulation past models had), but these made it into one, and for that, they impress me. They also tremendously improved its ride quality, which was about that of a dump truck over rough pavement.

Good traction in wet and snow conditions as well. Handling...meh, but that's the trade-off.

 

[iggy]

Well the tire place called me back and says they can get the Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 $120 each out the door... I like the price... and as long as their even a little quieter , my wife will be happy.

I'll put these on my wife's car... maybe give the Pirellie P7 a try on my own in a year or so..

 

[winks79]

Hard to find a low profile tire that is quiet, compared to a standard tire. They all seem to be all little bit quieter when new, but as the tread wears they get noisier. This is just a characteristic I've learned to accept, or don't buy cars with 18's and up on them. On my daughter's '13 LTZ, got about 60k out of the MICH's and replaced with these Sumitomo's. www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Sumitomo&tireModel=HTR+A%2FS+P02+%28W-Speed+Rated%29
Been extremely happy with them, and will be installing them on my '08 Civic that I drive to and from work in. Think I can get even better mileage out of these than the MICH's gave me, and a lot less expensive. Seem to do really well as an all around performing tire also, and according to reviews, I'm not the only person that believes that either.

 

[iggy]

Nice price on those Sumitomo's...

I have mixed feelings about Michelin... I've had a lot of good Michelin tires... but they really can be quite expensive. With the Pilots that come on the cruze, it's hard to argue about the life span of the tire... I know for sure I've got over 70,000 miles on the set that I'm replacing now. I guess all tires last longer then the old days but still... amazing. But in general what I like, is on dry pavement, I can go around a corner faster then I should and never really even hear the tires squeal...

I'm more then happy to give the Nokian tires a try... they look like they've got a lot of interesting features. The price is about as good as I ever hoped for in a tire this size... I'll be sure and report back on how well they work...

However, I suspect it's somewhat like Winks says... probably most tires when new will be relatively quiet, but when the tread wear's down, there's little or no room for the sound to be absorbed by the tread. Even so... I'm pretty excited to give the Nokian's a try.

 

[jblackburn]

Hmm. Honestly, I'm unimpressed by the MXM4's on my new Cruze. I think they're noisy and don't ride all that well. I have similar feelings about the Premier A/S. They are good in wet weather, and corner fairly well.

 

[Tomko]

Meanwhile that dealer says he sells the Yokohama YK740 GTX , and says that's a relatively quiet tire... anyone know anything about those?

Also says a Falkin Pro G4 A/S is a quiet tire that he carries...

me being skeptical suspects he's just telling me a couple all season tires he has for sale, may or may not in reality be any quieter then any other all season tire.

I think your skepticism is well placed. In my experience the guy behind the counter at the tire shop recommends whatever gives him the best spiff (kick-back). Yokohama used to be as thick as thieves with the spiffs. No idea how they are today.

 

[iggy]

I think your skepticism is well placed. In my experience the guy behind the counter at the tire shop recommends whatever gives him the best spiff (kick-back). Yokohama used to be as thick as thieves with the spiffs. No idea how they are today.

I'm glad I specifically asked and had him research things further about availability of the Nokian eNTYRE 2.0. Not too long ago, I was not optimistic about this tire dealer ( major US chain )... Perhaps past issues were me not being very well educated and not asking for a specific tire. However in times past when I ever pressed for something not 'in stock', I felt like they didn't want to really help me that much and would rather sell something they carry to the next guy that comes along then go out of their way to help me get what I really wanted. Not sure if it's my approach in the past, or the guy I happened to get on the phone was a guy who actually cares about his job and helping people with their tire needs... Either way, I have some renewed faith in Discount Tire as a result of this... Yet... I do think this particular guy is a cut above your typical counter guy... I think I'll have to send a little note to his bosses and let him know he's a good guy.

I've never really been in business for myself , seems like it would be a tough game to be in. At some level, you have to make as much money as you can, and if certain products make you more... I can see how/why you'd need to push them as much as possible... So I don't totally fault businesses for wanting to make more money. I guess I should thank you all here at Cruzetalk too... because I tell you what, in terms of getting information about all things Cruze... there is no better place that I'm aware of...

So thank you all for your help... and by all means , if others have opinions about good quiet tires and such... carry on. Hopefully early next week I can give you a report on the Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 in the 225/45R18 size...

 

[iggy]

By the way... what the counter guy told me when he called me back, was that he was looking for the Nokian in a winter tire area of his computer, and that after he started looking in All Season category he found it.. The only Noikian they typically stock is the Hakkapeliitta 7. Who knows, now that I had them order me some eNTYRE 2.0 tires, maybe they'll try to sell some of those too to other customers...

 

[iggy]

So, I did get my Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 tires mounted and such... for sure a much quieter tire then the old Michelin Pilots.

The first day I drove it with the new tires, it was raining very hard, the tires worked quite nicely in the rain. Later that day, as the roads started to dry out, I tried to see if they had any sort of performance they ad in the drying conditions... probably totally my fault and/or expected, but I took one 85 degree corner at a rate of speed that was a bit to fast... experienced a bit of under steer , fortunately I was not pushing any harder and did managed to make the turn.

I haven't really had much of a chance to push the limits on truly dry roads yet... However, I'm confident that they will do respectably under those conditions, and since I really didn't buy these tires with any thoughts of them being dry weather high performance, so I'm sure they are acceptable.

Meanwhile, I put the old Michelin Pilots back on my own car... OMG... noisy as all get out. After knowing how much better a new set of Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 tires are, I'm not sure how much longer I can put up with the noise levels of the old Pilot tires. There's about 15 miles of this one road that I have to drive every day, and it's obnoxiously loud... have to turn the radio up quite a bit just to hear it. I honestly don't know if I can stand it for the whole summer, after knowing how much better a different set of tires can be. But still... I really do want some relatively high performance dry weather tire on my own car.. so I may be looking at some other tires that strike a balance between comfort/noise and performance.

 

[jblackburn]

Oh good, it's not just me that think they're loud.

The PureContact sound like they are right up your alley for what you want out of a tire on your own car.

 

[Cruzen Vegas]

I have a LTZ too, The Noise I think I just the nature of low-profile tires inability to soak up the small cracks/bumps, That's why the Factory recommended air pressure is 30 psi, if you go higher that about 32 PSI the noise is super amplified and you don't get and better gas milage by doing so... Personally, I like to run them at 30 PSI in the winter and 32 in the summer, reason why is at 30, they are liitle squeamish on high speed canyon road around here and 32 psi is perfect.... Anyway ley us know how you like them in a few weeks or so too...

Also Old tires are always going to be louder them new ones because they are hard as rocks...

 

[iggy]

I have a LTZ too, The Noise I think I just the nature of low-profile tires inability to soak up the small cracks/bumps, That's why the Factory recommended air pressure is 30 psi, if you go higher that about 32 PSI the noise is super amplified and you don't get and better gas milage by doing so... Personally, I like to run them at 30 PSI in the winter and 32 in the summer, reason why is at 30, they are liitle squeamish on high speed canyon road around here and 32 psi is perfect.... Anyway ley us know how you like them in a few weeks or so too...

Also Old tires are always going to be louder them new ones because they are hard as rocks...

I'm not sure it's all low profile... the Michelin Pilot tires that were original equipment on the 2012/13 Cruze LTZ have a tread pattern that is, well it has very few deep grooves in it, it's very flat and also wide... they seem to have a resonance that just makes them ring out on every crack you cross. If I take a breaker bar or something and slap it against the surface of the tire, they just ring with this rather loud 'tonk' sound... I can tell you for sure that when I hit one of these Nokian eNTYRE 2.0, the sound is noticeably different, whatever 'tonk' sound that was generated seems to be absorbed pretty quickly , either by the tire tread, or possibly by the sidewall design as they say.

I'm sure that any new tire with a bit more sipping

 

[295330]

I bought some Dunlops from WalMart little over $100 a tire. Was a bit skeptical because they were so cheap. But are wearing great and very little road noise. I do think they are a bit stiffer which on my LTZ means ride is a bit more harsh. Typically Tire Rack has really good tests on tires and plenty of owner reviews. Might help you decide.

 

[Cruzen Vegas]

I bought some Dunlops from WalMart little over $100 a tire. Was a bit skeptical because they were so cheap. But are wearing great and very little road noise. I do think they are a bit stiffer which on my LTZ means ride is a bit more harsh. Typically Tire Rack has really good tests on tires and plenty of owner reviews. Might help you decide.

The Problem with Tire rack tests are they are reviews for every tire size on that particular tire bunched together, so its useless..