New tires for my '00 GTI - Michelin?

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This Friday, I'm buying new tires for my '00 GTI. Right now, I have a set of el cheapo Douglas tires from W-M on the GTI, and I hate them. They've never balanced properly, and they make awful road noise.

I like to drive my VW fast on the interstate back & forth to work, on the deserted stretches of open road. I want an H rated tire. I'm considering a set of Michelin Pilot Exalto tires, since I can get them at Costco, where they don't try to upsell you on anything. All they do is tires. Is there any reason why the Michelin Pilot Exalto's would not be a good choice for my GTI?
 
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...in Alabama, do you need all season tires?




No; the 1 or 2 days a year that it snows here, I take off of work & wait for it to melt. If you ever saw a bunch of southerners trying to drive on snow/ice/slush, you'd understand why I don't go to work on these couple of days/year.

Do you think I would be better off buying tires labeled as "summer tires"?
 
Michelin is never a bad choice. I have them on my Civic and minivan and when my Jeep needs tires, guess what I'm putting on...
 
Sounds like Alabama does get cold enough to justify all seasons. It's not just snow, it's also the temperature. When it drops below 45F, you really don't want summer tires.
 
Exaltos are supposed to be great tires. But for the price, I'm not sure they are that much superior to General Exclaim UHPs, Toyo Proxes 4s, or Falken 912s.
 
I had a VW Jetta that came with Michellin tires from the factory. Those were the only factory tires I have ever seen that were good.

Michellin tires cost more, but I can't remember a single one that was problematic.
 
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Do you think I would be better off buying tires labeled as "summer tires"?




If you don't forsee *ANY* reason to head north in the winter months, then no.

Just go with the all season tires, to make sure you've covered all the bases.
 
Thanks for everyone's responses. I'll probably go with the Michelins, since nobody has had anything negative to report about them.

Come to think of it, my wife's Expedition (sold) had Michelins on it for 3 years. They were excellent tires & never gave us any trouble.

Another reason I'm leaning towards the Michelins at Costco is because the price you see on Costco's website includes all installation labor, warranty, everything. I like that. All you do is add sales tax & a $1.00 per old tire disposal fee, and you've got your price.
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For absolutely no reason, here is a picture of the Michelins that were on my wife's old Expedition. Those were some very good tires. Got them at Costco, FWIW.

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How about the Michelin Energy MXV4 tires. I believe some VW had those as stock tires. Plus isn't the Energy also low rolling resistance for better fuel economy?
 
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I had Energies as the OEM tire on an 01 Elantra. One of the most over rated, over priced messes I'd ever had. Went bad after about 25K on wet surfaces and were completely shot in the mid-thirties. Replaced them with some Uniroyal Tiger Paws that cost about half as much and were much better. Have Michelin tires on one car and BFG's on another so I'm not knocking the company, just the Energies...
 
The OEM Energies on my 02 Passat gripped great when the car was going straight, the pavement was dry and the temperature around 70F.
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I went to Costco today & had them install a set of Michelin Pilot Exalto tires. All I can say is WOW!!!!! These tires are sooooooo much better than the pitiful excuse for tires that my VW has always had (mostly off-brand cheapos). I've always been a cheap-skate when it's come to tires for my car, until now.

I am very pleased with these Michelins. Smooth as silk all the way up to 80+ mph on the interstate. No shimmy, no shake, and virtually zero road noise. Long term reliability is anybody's guess, but for today, I couldn't be happier with my choice.
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How about the Michelin Energy MXV4 tires. I believe some VW had those as stock tires. Plus isn't the Energy also low rolling resistance for better fuel economy?




These were the OEM tires on my wife's Acura. They went out of round (they were all defective) at about 30k miles and had to be replaced. I was pretty annoyed with this, and the local michelin dealer said they were having a ton of these problems with this tire. They were prepared to pro-rate them if I bought new tires of the same exact model. Didn't need this problem again so I bought some Toyo Proxes TXT (or something). They are pretty good, but terrible in the snow. I ended up having to buy a set of snow tires for her car as well a few months later. The michelins were excellent in the snow, but I didn't trust them as far as quality....FWIW.
 
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