'11 Buick Regal @ 64K miles: time to shop?

[dtownfb]

Benzadmiral - Since you have time, take a look at the Cooper CS5. Good tire, quiet, good traction. Same price range as the Generals. When you're ready to buy, use Discount tire direct to get pricing. Most chain tire shops will match online prices for tires.

Good luck.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
If it were mine I would buy these http://www.walmart.com/ip/Continental-PureContact-Tire-235-50R18SL/33074833

Free in store pickup..have them mount/balance and warranty.

70000 mile tires.



+1 I also would consider the Cooper CS5 ultras. Also a nice tire from what I hear around BITOG.

 

[novadude]

Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
or could I go to 17" wheels and higher-profile tires, even though the car was designed to wear 18" or 19" tires?


Sorry I am late to this party. Lacrosse 17" wheels (2011-2015 era) are a perfect fit on the regal, and a 235/55R17 is the exact same diameter as the stock 18" tire if you want 17 inch wheels. This is what we run on my wife's 2011 Regal in the winter.

In the Summer, we use Continental Pure Contacts in a stock size (235/50R18) on stock 18"wheels. They seem to handle and wear well.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?...Plus+Technology

EDIT: An example of the Lacrosse wheel we run in the winter on our 2011 regal. Perfect fit:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-11-LACROSSE-WHEEL-17X7-ALUMINUM-OPT-Q04-362901-/321975026257?hash=item4af7350251:g:atkAAOSwwPhWlkm1&vxp=mtr

 

[Benzadmiral]

Hello, all,

Something on one of our lovely roads cut my RF tire last night, incidentally converting me to a strong belief in the TPMS, which warned me in time to get off the road. The cut is on the inner shoulder of the tire -- not repairable, as far as I know. I'm running on the compact spare for now. It's rated for up to 65mph for up to 3000 miles, so I'm not in a panic situation. But at 67K miles, I think it's about time to replace all 4 anyway.

My regular mechanic is collecting some prices on the General Altimax and 1 or 2 others you all have mentioned here. Quiet and smooth is what I'm looking for, followed by good traction, followed by price. If anybody has a new suggestion, please chime in!

 

[Benzadmiral]

Update: My mechanic said a lot of his customers order tires from Tire Rack, have them shipped to him, and he puts 'em on . . . so I went with the General Altimax. Vastly less expensive than the Michelins; we'll see how they ride and last.

 

[Nick1994]

They're not bad, I've had a set on my Camry for almost 20k miles. Very smooth, but handling is mushy and they could be quieter now that the tread is going down.

But they're also on an old Camry.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Very smooth, but handling is mushy

I think that's always the trade off. If you want a comfy/cushy ride, then this will come at the expense of slower steering response.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Very smooth, but handling is mushy

I think that's always the trade off. If you want a comfy/cushy ride, then this will come at the expense of slower steering response.

Maybe an extra couple of lbs. pressure will sharpen it up a bit. The Regal is rated to have 33 lbs. both front and back; I've been running 34, 35 if I anticipate a lot of highway travel.

 

[Nick1994]

My car calls for 29 psi if unloaded, 32 psi if loaded with passengers. I run them at 37-38 psi. Have had them down to 32 as well.

 

[novadude]

I should have seen this sooner....

We just put some Firestone Firehawk AS tires on my Wife's 2011 Regal Turbo. I am pretty happy with them so far. Seems like a good tire for the price, and made in the USA (in the 235/50R18 size).

 

[marine65]

I waited for black Friday and got $50 off a set of 4 tires at Discount Tire.
$220 out the door for the Sentra.

 

[Benzadmiral]

All done: 4 General Altimax RT43s, P235/50R18s. The total from Tire Rack was $630; my mechanic mounted, balanced, and reset the TPMS for about $80. And these tires do seem to give a smoother ride, especially compared to the somewhat worn Michelins -- and extra especially compared to how the car drove with the compact spare!

During the car's weekly bath tomorrow, I'll clean these up and give 'em a good Meguiar's Natural Shine treatment.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
All done: 4 General Altimax RT43s, P235/50R18s. The total from Tire Rack was $630; my mechanic mounted, balanced, and reset the TPMS for about $80. And these tires do seem to give a smoother ride, especially compared to the somewhat worn Michelins -- and extra especially compared to how the car drove with the compact spare!

During the car's weekly bath tomorrow, I'll clean these up and give 'em a good Meguiar's Natural Shine treatment.
Glad to hear you like them. They are very smooth, I've gone down a hill and hit over 100 mph in my Camry and it was buttery smooth. I've also set the cruise at 80-85 mph for hours on a road trip and I have no complaints with smoothness.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
All done: 4 General Altimax RT43s, P235/50R18s. The total from Tire Rack was $630; my mechanic mounted, balanced, and reset the TPMS for about $80. And these tires do seem to give a smoother ride, especially compared to the somewhat worn Michelins -- and extra especially compared to how the car drove with the compact spare!
Glad to hear you like them. They are very smooth, I've gone down a hill and hit over 100 mph in my Camry and it was buttery smooth. I've also set the cruise at 80-85 mph for hours on a road trip and I have no complaints with smoothness.

After a weekend of driving, I find they are reasonably quiet and smooth on slightly rough pavement, weirdly silent on really good paved surfaces, and (the majority of the time around here) tolerable on the broken stuff.

 

[4WD]

Had those same Mich's almost that long. Felt they were starting to hydroplane. 80k tires are not magic - they get there with mild tread designs and firm rubber - I find they might still look good at high mileage - but the physics change in water at speed.
Personally I would rather have new 50k tires with deep treads open enough to expel water.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I just compared warranties on the two, the Michelin Pilots and the Generals. The Michelins were rated for 6 yrs./50K miles; the Generals for 6 yrs./65K miles, both for V-rated tires. So the Michelins went way beyond their rating, and the Generals are rated longer than the OEMs to begin with. I probably won't keep this car 6 more years, but of course, you never know. . . .

 

[Darris]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
...Had those same Mich's almost that long. Felt they were starting to hydroplane. 80k tires are not magic - they get there with mild tread designs and firm rubber - I find they might still look good at high mileage - but the physics change in water at speed.
Personally I would rather have new 50k tires with deep treads open enough to expel water.


Exactly. But I'd also ad that old tires that have more than enough tread depth to prevent hydroplaning can still be very slippery during hard stops or launches or any other major change in wheel speed on wet pavement. Tread depth is overrated and overly relied upon as criteria for tires' road worthiness.

The damaged tire was a blessing in disguise that helped Benzadmiral do the right thing and get rid of the older tires now.

It's possible to "acclimate" to diminished grip in small increments over time where you're subconsciously giving the tires more and more margin, but eventually the grip will degrade beyond what you've compensated for. Who knows how many of the accidents described as "lost control of the vehicle" or "failed to stop" were largely the inability of tires to turn inputs into action but not classified that way because the tires were well within "legal" measurements.