Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S Review

[JHZR2]

After a few thousand miles, I feel that I can review the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires that I put onto m 91 BMW 318i.

This car is more or less a DD. I have a few DD cars in the rotation, but this one gets used a lot. In all conditions, all temperatures, etc.

It has an LSD, but is not good in the snow on most tires. I have a dedicated set of snows that makes it very fine in snow conditions, but all the same, I need to have tires that can give me at least some A/S traction if worse comes to worst, and I need to be able to run the tires in cold and below freezing, non-snow conditions that I may encounter. Thus my selection for A/S tires.

The car previously had Falken Ziex Ze512 tires, in 195/65r-14, H rated. These are a very long-wearing tire. I had over 50k on them and the tread was above 50%. They never seemed to get louder with wear, but I realize now that they were loud compared to the Michelins. The main issue with the tires was that I bought the set in 2004, and so they have aged and showed a lot of cracking of the rubber on the sidewall, which I didnt like, since some of my use of the car is in high-speed interstate drives of 150 or so miles.

Here is the car with the 195/65 tires:

Now, 195/65r-14 tires are tough to find in high quality tires. I really wanted US-made tires, and the Pilot Exalto fit the bill (plus gave me a $75 rebate card). Thing is, I got them in 195/60r-14 size instead. While the load rating is slightly lower, I justified it on the following reasons, (a) the car in earlier years was fit with the 195/60 tires, (b), my car is the lightest variant being 4-cyl aluminum engine and MT, (c) typically my operating load is just myself, a laptop and a clothes bag, so it isnt that heavy, and (d), for fuel economy and life, I generally run about 4psi over the BMW suggested pressure (which is 28 front, 32 rear).

So, I got them installed...

I took before and after pictures so that folks could get a feel for the visual difference between 195/65 and 195/60 tires.

Now, the review. The E30, especially given my 4-cyl version with 4.10 rear isnt the quietest highway cruiser. It is above 3000 and more like 3500 when on the highway. Cat and muffler are OE and the sound is good, not loud. But road noise gets through. What I immediately noticed was that road noise was lower, by a little bit (tires can only do so much when there is little sound insulation). I was happy about that.

I didnt notice any outright notable differences in cruising RPMs or speed issues, and the tach needle and speedometer are still parallel.

The E30 is a car that is very light, with relatively wide tires for its small size and low weight. Because of this, the car is prone to hydroplaning. It does so on my snow tires and on other tires Ive had on this car. Running the Pilot Exalto tires, I can say confidently that hydroplaning is not an issue any more with this car. The tires do very well for clearing water on the roadway, something that when going at highway speeds was sometimes a scary feeling before.

Though the tires have the same speed rating, and have a shorter sidewall, they feel like they cushion the ride a bit more, and are a bit "squirmier" than the falkens they replaced (which had a higher sidewall). Its not that they feel bad, and its not like I drive very aggressively. But it feels to me that they give a bit more under certain circumstances.

All in all, Im very happy with the purchase, and while I prefer a stiff tire, I dont think that the slight give that I feel is a show stopper, especially for this car, so I'd buy them again.

 

[Rand]

your speedo and tach wont change because your car doesnt know you changed tires. What will change is that when you are going 60 you are actually going ~~58.

90=87.2mph

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Rand
your speedo and tach wont change because your car doesnt know you changed tires. What will change is that when you are going 60 you are actually going ~~58.

90=87.2mph


The speedo is based upon counting revolutions of the differential (the pick up is back there), and the tach is on the engine. So the end result is that for one engine rotation, the wheels will spin differently due to slightly different overall circumference (net drive ratio change).

But even using the GPS, the difference is very small, and IMO the variation compared to the inherent error in the speedometer makes everything a wash when scrutinizing it against the GPS (which has error itself).

 

[GMorg]

As long as there are no slipping clutches, the ratio of engine rotations to tire rotations is fixed for each gear. Rand is correct, your speedometer does not measure how much ground is covered per tire rotation.

 

[SteveSRT8]

^^^What?^^^

You can't be serious? The tire diameter is different, the speedo reads differently, everything (albeit slightly) is different.

Back to the OP, expect the tires to improve with a few miles. A lot of the tread squirm disappears quickly with some driving.

Terrific looking little car in great shape.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: GMorg
As long as there are no slipping clutches, the ratio of engine rotations to tire rotations is fixed for each gear. Rand is correct, your speedometer does not measure how much ground is covered per tire rotation.


I guess I was thinking of it different, but I think this is correct. Since I pick up off the diff, everything upward (one spin of the diff equals x spins of the trans which equals y spins of the engine) remain the same.

But the ground covered per spin of the diff changes a bit.

My point was that within the set error of the speedometer, and the set error of the GPS, the ground speed was still effectively the same.

I should do a 1 mile rollout when it is marked on the highway,and see what I actually get...

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

Back to the OP, expect the tires to improve with a few miles. A lot of the tread squirm disappears quickly with some driving.

Terrific looking little car in great shape.


Thanks! Yeah, it is good in most spots - treated the rust underneath, so hopefully it wil go for another 70k or so...

I have over a thousand miles, for sure. I think they are getting a bit better now, but I drive enough different cars that I can't say for certain anymore really...

I like the tires though! Id buy them again!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
^^^What?^^^

You can't be serious? The tire diameter is different, the speedo reads differently, everything (albeit slightly) is different.

What is being measured is the rotations. He hasn't changed the gearing between the engine and the trans, so the relationship between speed reported by the speedometer and the RPMs reported by the tachometer will always stay the same, regardless of what size tires he uses. The only thing that will change is the difference between speed reported by the speedometer and the actual speed, aka. speedometer error.

Example:
With 195/65/14 tires, when his speedo shows 60 mph, his tachometer shows 3000 rpm, and with that tire size his speedo is 100% accurate, for the sake of simplicity.

Now, with 195/60/14 tires, when his speedo shows 60 mph, his tachometer still shows 3000 rpm, but now his actual speed is only 58 mph because the smaller diameter tires are effectively covering less ground with each rotation. He's got a 3% speedo error.

Again, that's theory and comparing tires with same construction, amount of tread, PSI, etc. In reality all these variables can make the differences more or less noticeable.

 

[Quattro Pete]

JMH, that's a sweet little DD. I wish I had space in the garage for one of these.

The wheel wells look a little more empty with the smaller tires, but maybe it's just the photos.

The new rubber is more pliable, plus most Michelins in general are geared towards comfort, plus you've got full tread as opposed to half tread on the Falkens, so that's probably why they feel softer, even though you've decreased sidewall height.

 

[pottymouth]

I've had them on 2 cars and think they are a terrific all around tire. I was impressed by how little weight was required to balance them.

Sadly, they wear fast.

 

[Whimsey]

In early March of 2010 I replaced some variation of Michelin Pilot tires that were 9 years old, not worn but just became hard and not as good gripping in wet and also became more noisey. I replaced them with Exalto A/S's. Then in mid April I drove from NJ to Key West. On the drive down they felt squirmy in the steering. Also my mpg was lower than previous trips on the old tires. I blamed the Shell gas at the time. Now with 5,000 miles on them they are great! No more squirm and my mpg, still using Shell gas, improved to it's old good mpg. It took around 3,500++ miles to notice the improvement. They are great in heavy rain and dry roads. I've only had limited snow driving, it was fine. My vehicle is a 1996 Ford Contour and the tire size is 205/60/15. This is the factory size with the optional aluminum rims in a 4 cylinder GL model. I like them a lot and look forward to going to Key West again this coming April.

Whimsey

 

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted By: pottymouth
I've had them on 2 cars and think they are a terrific all around tire. I was impressed by how little weight was required to balance them.

Sadly, they wear fast.


After 5,000 miles mine still look brand new tread wise. Your alignment specs and rotation plays a big part in tire life. Did they wear evenly across the tire? And at what mileage do you consider "fast wear"?

Thanks,

Whimsey

 

[MCompact]

I love the E30/M42 combo; a very sweet car. I remember driving a new 1991 318is at Woodcliff Lake just before BMWNA introduced the car.

 

[stephen9666]

The Pilot Exalto A/S aren't all made in the US, according to my tires. My Hyundai has 215/60VR16 Exaltos. They all have date codes from the 10th or 11th week of 2010. They're made in Mexico.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666
The Pilot Exalto A/S aren't all made in the US, according to my tires.

Yeah, it's size dependent. They're made in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

 

[pottymouth]

Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Originally Posted By: pottymouth
I've had them on 2 cars and think they are a terrific all around tire. I was impressed by how little weight was required to balance them.

Sadly, they wear fast.


After 5,000 miles mine still look brand new tread wise. Your alignment specs and rotation plays a big part in tire life. Did they wear evenly across the tire? And at what mileage do you consider "fast wear"?

Thanks,

Whimsey


Wear was even, no problems with alignment. I rotate tires twice a year and run winter tires from December until maybe March.

I didn't really notice how fast they were wearing until I had a road hazard replacement on my wife's car with about 25K on the Exaltos. They were at least half worn at that point. By 35K they were down to the wear bars.

I liked the tire, but found the BFG Traction T/A's to be nearly as good with much longer wear. It was also cheaper. The BFG's were a little louder at highway speeds but not enough to be annoying. This was on my Forester, so cabin noise comes standard.

Same goes for the Pirelli P400's I put on the wife's Taurus after the Exaltos. Much better wear, good overall but I think Pirelli has now discontinued them.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
The Pilot Exalto A/S aren't all made in the US, according to my tires.

Yeah, it's size dependent. They're made in the US, Canada, and Mexico.


Yeah, that's a great thing about tire rack - source is given.

If they were made in Mexico, I'd definitely be boycotting them, especially at Michelin prices.

 

[Capa]

I have Pilot Exalto on my Lexus GS400 and absolutely love them. They are relatively quiet and comfy and take turns very well. I'll need to replace them next year. I'll be sticking with Michelin for sure.