Will need to replace the shoes on my 08 xj vdp and am looking for something specific.

I drive this xj like a luxury cruiser not a performance car, so i am looking for a super quite and cruising tire that can handle some summer wet weather.

The car is garaged in the winter so snow/ice is not of concern.

Anybody have a tire that fits this bill??

 

Pirelli P7 Plus. Quietest, smoothest tire I've had on a XJ EVER !!

 

Tire rack has them , the plus seems to have much higher rating than the non.

Pirelli has a low mileage reputation but these " claim" to have some new compounds which get a proposed 70,000 miles . Even if i got a solid 25,000 to 30,000 i would be happy. They will likely dry rot first in the six or 7 years it takes me to do 30k

Thanks for the suggestion, just what i was looking for

 

They are not like the old p2000/6000 series that were crap, and got real loud real quick, My first set of p7's on my x302 wore like iron. This set on my x350 are wearing great, and soooo quiet.

 

Are these markedly better than the P-Zero Nero? I bought a set of the Nero (after noting they were OE on the new XJ) about 2 years ago and have be unhappy with them since day one. One was replaced after 2k miles for a defect. Another at 15k. Of course that means they're all worn at different levels. I'm at ~35k on them now and just biding my time until I trash them.

I've been considering going right back to the Conti ProContact that were OE on this car. I know they get noisy at the end of their life, but I've driven/rode in so many new cars with the Contis and I'm always amazed how smooth and quiet they are.

 

1st choice, Pirelli Cinturato P7, second choice, General Tire AltiMax RT43 (Conti owns General) Both really good traction, both wet and dry, and super quiet.

 

My SV8 came with two nearly new Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3 tires on the rear dated 2415 and 0ne Goodyear Eagle F1 and one Pirelli Pzero on the front dated 3211 and 4512 respectively. I had planned to order two Pilot Sport A/S3s from tirerack and have them installed on the front. Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus tires are $225 VS $260 for the Michelins; would you recommend mixing the front and rear tires or go with the same tires all around until next replacement?

 

interesting discussion here and other threads. I've read several with varying opinions. One poster, for example, gives the thumbs down to Pilots as being loud vs Continental's vs P-zeros etc. Another gives an opposing view. Both valid I'm sure but I'm confused as to the reason opinions vary.

I got the Pilots myself and thought they were loud (and I'm hearing impaired).

So what are the factors? The primary road surfaces we drive on? Or could it also be the speed ratings? How about wheel size? How can Pilots be noisy to me on 18" Tucana wheels and yet, quiet to someone else if we're driving the same make and model?

My XK is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Tires may or may not be on my shopping list so I'm watching this thread with interest.

 

I have had the following experiance:
XJ-40 - Michelins were the perfect tire. Smooth, quiet,great life. 50K+

X302 - Michelins were horrible, loud,stiff, poor life 25K
Pirelli P7 plus, night and day to the Michelin, Smooth,quiet,great
life. Sold it with 25K on the rubber, looked new.

X350 - Came with Kumho's, couldnt get them off soon enough. Total crap
Pirelli P7 plus, back to a smooth,quiet, long life ride. These gave me the smoothest riding Jag I've ever had.

Disclaimer : Dont plan on taking the P7's to the track. Bad things may/WILL happen. Stick with P-Zero's for the track.
It all goes to show you, different platforms will react to different tires.
My 2 cents

 

Continental PureContacts. I just had them installed.

The Pirelli P7 Cinturato seems to be a new favorite but 1) it was ~$30-50 more expensive per tire, 2) it was slightly harder to source the Plus variant, which is Pirelli's design unencumbered by OEM demands, 3) a TireRack rep's personal testimony really settled the issue:

Yikes. Particularly with El Nino coming up here in southern CA, I didn't want to risk being on the short end of tire science pioneering. If you restrict the TireRack reviews to the 30K+ ones, the chorus of praise starts to falter a bit

I mean, yeah there may be no such thing as the perfect tire, but those are severely off-putting things to read about such an expensive and vital investment. On the other hand, the only complaint about the high mileage PureContacts is noise, and those have almost 1.5 million more miles on record. The same TireRack rep has no complaints about their traction.

The one stat the Cinturatos might have over the PureContacts is treadwear: Consumer Reports reckons the Contis will last about 55K while the Pirellis might go about 10K more. But since they have questionable traction even when fairly new, that's a bit of a false victory.

Sorry for sounding like a Conti rep, but I just went through some months of researching before installation. One thing that really surprised me about the PureContacts: The steering rack is so much lighter now. The OEM ProContacts were always fairly reliable (I drove them all the way down to 2/32, 0/32) until near the end when the traction noticeably dropped off and I could do squealing launches in parking lots if I felt like it. They were never very supple or quiet, and the steering was quite heavy. I used to think that was just the "Jaguar way", but with the PureContacts, it's remarkable how much less effort it takes just to get into a parking spot. I gotta believe that also means there's less mechanical strain on the drivetrain.

Whatever tire you spring for, don't forget to get them aligned. Good luck.

In general, it's not a great idea to mix tires; imagine Usain Bolt with a rubber boot on one foot and crocs on the other. However, it might be passable if you're in good weather since this isn't really a sporty car. One thing you should NEVER NEVER DO is have differing tires on the drive wheels, the rears in this case; that's just asking for trouble. Since the A/S3s are performance all-seasons, it doesn't make much sense to shop grand touring tires; I'd stay in the Ultra High Performance All Season category, g-Force COMP-2 A/S, ExtremeContact DWS, that sort of thing. Bonus: they're cheaper and higher rated than the A/S3s. (Who's quoting you $260 for those? That's robbery)

 

$259.90 is tirerack's price plus shipping. The local tire shops say that is below their cost and the one I usually use priced them at $331 plus tax. I'd need Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, P255/40ZR19 100Y Extra Load to match the rears. Do you know of a better source for these? Tirerack is the lowest on-line price I've found.

Edit: I just checked discounttiredirect and they are $275.13 each with free shipping or about $5 less for the pair. Anyone have an opinion of tirerack VS discounttiredirect for customer service and overall satisfaction?

 

The tire rack tester is probally right in his opinion. But he tested them on a bimmer. As my post states above, differnt outcome on different platforms. (XJ-40 vs X302)

 

Ahh, my mistake, I was going by the 235/50R18 prices. The 19" are a good $60 more.

Both TireRack and DiscountTire are very reputable, people usually just switch between the two based on tax and availability.

Based on what I'm reading, it doesn't make sense to invest in further A/S3s, they're the lowest rated tire in the category, the reviews are littered with complaints about their pitiful longevity (~15k!!!), and they're stupidly expensive. I'd say buy 2 new, different tires, keep the 2 A/S3s you've got until they wear out (which won't be long) and then buy 2 more of the other tire and just rotate as usual.

Since the PureContacts aren't an option for this size, I'd stick with my original recommendation: stay in the UHPA/S category and go with the BFGoodrich g-Force COMP-2 A/S or Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06. They're both around ~$200 and while new designs (the DWS 06 is an update of a proven tire), they're the leaders in the category. If you're concerned about treadwear, probably lean towards the Contis as they have a bit more data so far, they seem to be reaching 35k+ without issue.

Another option if you want a Grand Touring tire is the Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season Plus that some folks here advise. I've already given my reasons against it, but everyone's situation is different; those are ~$225.


When you make a decision, you'll probably want to move the A/S3s to the front and put the new tires on the rear: The reason for this is simple, you want the lower grip tires on the front so that if you lose traction, all you get is mild understeer which is fairly easy to resolve with braking. On the other hand, if your rears lose grip, it could create catastrophic oversteer, swinging the car around violently...very few drivers are skilled enough to deal with that, better not to tempt fate. Since I don't know how old the A/S3s are, definitely bring this up with your tire installer. Good luck.

 

The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3 tires on the rear are dated 2414 (week of June 9, 2014) and an Autocheck report said the mileage on the car was 111,105 when it passed inspection on 6/3/14 so the tires have run 17,895 (or fewer) miles and the tread depth is 6/32 on the left rear and 5/32 on the right rear so they are half worn out. I have no way of knowing the mileage at which they were actually installed or what kind of driving the PO did before trading it in at 125,920 miles, but at 129K miles now I'd have to guess the tread life might be 30K miles or so.

I don't do track days and generally drive close to the speed limit so I suppose I should consider lower performance tires, but the glowing reports here on the Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season Plus tires make them tempting at about $65 less than the Michelins for a pair and a 700 wear rating VS 500, although at a slight reduction in wet traction according to tirerack's tests (assuming the Premier A/S is similar to the Pilot Sport A/S3) and the UTQG ratings. Then there's the **** aspect of having different front and rear tires VS all the same. Right now, though, I am tempted to ignore my **** side and consider the Pirellis or the Continental extremecontact DWS 06s.