The vehicle is a 2006 S 4.2 that I've owned since new. Came with
Conti Pro Contacts; they made it to about 38,200 miles before the
wear bars required replacement. Did a lot of research keeping in
mind that my requirements were all season, low noise, excellent
wet traction, and most important, long wearing. Chose Michelin
Primacy MXV4 which had a wear rating of 620 and supposedly were
'energy saving'.

They now have a bit over 53,000 miles on them. Yesterday, I stopped
by Discount Tire (where they were purchased) and requested a tread
measurement. A new tire has 11/32 tread; mine measured 6/32. The
store's opinion was that the tires were probably good far at least
another 15,000 to 20,000 miles. The wet weather traction has been
excellent with no noticeable hydroplaning. We have a few roundabouts
in our area and I've tried to break the tires loose when going around;
close to impossible before the DSC takes over and stops the fun.

On regular roads, the tires are quieter than the Contis; they do get
noisier on the concrete interstates where the top layer of concrete has
worn down to expose the aggregate underneath. Not sure any tire could
quiet that type of pavement.

Once a tire meets my basic requirements, it all gets down to cost per
mile...an easy figure to calculate. I just divide the total cost of tires,
installation fees, tax, by the number of miles obtained. The initial
cost of the Michelins was somewhat higher, but the long term cost
will be significantly lower compared to a cheaper tire that might have
saved me $200 dollars a set but would have required replacement
already.

My driving style is pretty laid back; and, (this is my WAG theory) I'd
say at least 70% of my driving is on wet roads...hey, it's the Pacific
Northwest...leading me to think that a tire moving along a wet surface
may experience lower wear vs one driving on a dry surface. I could be
wrong. But I suspect a driver in Nevada or Arizona might experience
more tire wear per mile; something for Mythbusters to settle.

If you're not going to keep the car long, go with the cheaper tire.

 

You are absolutely correct that in most cases, treadwear improves on wet roads. I had a very interesting conversation a decade or so ago on this very subject with Dan Neil, the well-respected automotive critic who now writes for a Los Angeles-based newspaper. Depending upon the specific tire and its compound, treadwear improvement can be just marginal or it can be significant. But that extra layer of "lubrication" between the tread and the road definitely allows the tire to last longer, all other factors being equal. Interesting stuff that only tire geeks think about....

 

Do you have 53,000 on the vehicle now or the tires.
I am comtemplating the MXV4 as I have owned many sets on m y other cars. I did get 95,000 miles out of 5 (rotated all the time) of them or deduct 20% from 95,000 and I get a true 76,000 from each tire.
My second set netted 72k and my third got 66k for some unknown reason,

 

My "girls" are running Michelin Pilot Sport A/S : Daughter 2003 3.0L with 16"
Wife in 2005 3.0L 18", neither set has over 5k miles yet, but very happy so far. Quiet, smooth. Good wet-weather grip.

IMO, if the tire has "GOOD" molded on the sidewall, it likely isn't, and both variants are on my personal blacklist.

Got 16" Pirelli's on the VDP, also very happy with them. P4000 or P8000....can't remember...spare is one, running set is the other....

 

I agree with your assessment of Goodyear. So many lousy sets of very costly and supposedly high-end Goodyear Wranglers came OEM on our SUVs throughout the 90s that it caused me to completely write off the brand. Although Goodyear purchased Dunlop a number of years back, my tire industry acquaintances tell me that Goodyear has yet to contaminate Dunlop's R&D or production processes. Hope it stays that way. The next set of tires I put on our S-Type will probably be the Dunlop SP Sport Signature....

Can't speak to BF Goodrich. Never owned a set....

 

I've actually owned 1 set of "good" Goodyears. The newish Eagle GT's - they are not on the STR but on the SAAB right now, were on my X type. No complaints with them, for the price I'd buy them again for sure. All other GY's I've had I have disliked for one reason or another.

I had a set of BFG G-Force Sport on my Saab 9000 Aero. Nice tires, wear kinda fast but great grip on dry and wet. Crappy in the snow. You could do better, you could do worse.

I've had the BFG TA/KO all-terrain tires on various Jeeps and Rovers. The benchmark tire for all terrains for many many years (although being challenged now quite hard).