Thanks for sharing. I'm going to need new tires soon. I think I'm sneaking up on 55k on my 2006. The grabbers seem like the way to go since I definitely need more traction here in the mountains.

 

I just had four Michelin Latitude Tour tires installed. Immediate large reduction of tire/road noise. Bridgestone Dueler tires are also known to significantly reduce tire/road noise and are low rolling resistance tires.

 

What do you estimate is the remaining tread percentage on your Grabbers after the 44,000 miles you've put on them? 25%? 50%?

I'm at 86,000 on my original Conti's so I expect I'll get similar tire wear to what you get.

Also, what tire pressure do you run?

 

I've been reading and looking around a lot as my tires have been slowly wearing out. I'm up to about 60k on the OEM contitracks. While this isn't a lot of mileage for them, I know I'm going to need new tires this winter just to be safe around here as my tires have started to slip and behave badly in wet weather even more so than usual.

I'm looking real hard at the Continental CrossContact LX20s (ecoplus) and the General Grabber HTS. I think there's about $150 difference in price for four between the two.

 

Hi again everyone. My last post was ~10K miles ago. I'm at ~62K now and looking to replace my stock Contitrac Eco+ tires soon for my '08 FEH. The last time I posted, I found a couple of reviews of LRR tires from TireRack. Base on those and from what others have said, I was debating between Michelin Latitude Tour and Bridgestone Dueler Ecopia. I browsed thru TireRack again today and did a comparison between some of their more popular options.

The Michelin LTX has the best customer ratings in just about every performance category, but is also the most expensive at $171/tire. Treadwear rated at 720, good warranty, and weighs 31 lbs.

The Latitude Tour, Dueler Ecopia, and Grabber are all rated slightly below the LTX in terms of performance. However, the Dueler has been rated as the most MPG-friendly in past TireRack testing. That's - at least partially - due to its weight, only 27 lbs. It has 10/32" tread depth (compared to the popular 12/32") and the lowest warranty. The Grabber weighs the most of all the options (33 lbs), but is the cheapest. Dueler Ecopia is the 2nd cheapest. The Latitude Tour is 2nd in cost behind the LTX, but also pretty decent customer reviews and 2nd lowest tire weight.

So it seems like if I want lowest upfront cost, I get the Grabbers. If I want best performance and tread wear, I get the LTX. If I want best MPG, I get Dueler Ecopia. Finally, the Latitude Tour seems to be somewhere in the middle of the pack. #3 in performance, #3 in cost, #2 in weight, and #2 in warranty. How do you guys feel about this assessment? Have you had a different experience? Or something else to add?

I also looked at Yokohama, Goodyear, Firestone, Kumho, and the other brands they listed, but none of them stood out to me. The current generation Continental (CrossContact Eco+) also didn't stand out to me at $140/tire and 32 lbs, but decent performance. In you guys' opinion, is the treadwear rating indicative of real world driving? Is the warranty difference a big deal? I'm leaning toward the Dueler Ecopia because it's relatively cheap and the lightest tire. The performance numbers aren't great but pretty good. The treadwear rating is lower, but I already have 62K miles - so I'm not sure how much longer my FEH will last.

 

Hey deprotinator ~ nice job on the tire research. I can add a few comments from experience.

1) I learned years ago the depth of tread on a new tire is not informative. The reason being, some rubbber (compounds) are hard wearing and some aren't. So a soft rubber tire with deep tread may last just as long as a hard rubber one with shallow tread. It's the tread wear number that's really helpful.

2) As to treadwear numbers. The dealers are always anxious to explain how they are not to be trusted (the tire# not the dealer. But read on.) I have many years of experience with lots of different tires (going back to the very first radials on a new 68 Dodge Dart) and over the years I have found those numbers to be very effective. Ronald Reagan signed an executive order doing away with them in his first administration but a federal judge said he was usurping powers he didn't have and ordered them restored. I was greatly relieved because in that "dry" period we consumers didn't have a clue which tires would wear well and which wouldn't and so it was bad times for awhile (and for quite some time Consumer Reports quit testing tires. I don't know why). Once I let my guard down and let a dealer con me into a a low treadwear tire he insisted would be long wearing. The low number was exactly correct and I got less than 1/2 the miles out of those tires I had ever gotten before or since (a good bit less than half!) Never again.

3) I'm on my second set of Latitude Tours (first on a FEH '06 and now on my FEH '10). I'm very pleased but I have nothing else to compare against on these vehicles. I had trouble with dealers doing a poor alignment on the first set. The front tires were showing bad wear after about 300 miles! Boy oh boy, is THAT irritating! They're good at apologizing and re-aligning them right -- but that's all. So the crappy wear on the front tires becomes MY problem. My rule is to never, ever have the front end aligned unless it's proven it needs it -- why mess with success? When it does need it, I shop around to find a shop known for good alignments. Where I live now I found 1/2 a dozen shops that all did realignments but on hearing my story every one of them pointed me to one specific shop (that I hadn't tried yet). Story was, the guy there is a perfection nut and had an esp. good alignment machine. So far that corrected alignment has been good. I hope the guy never quits working there!

One last thought. I chose the Latitude Tours because on the Michelin site they rate their own tires (I trust 'em, maybe I shouldn't). And the Tours got the most "10"'s with the only real downside being "off-road performance". So I thought that was a good indication. Quiet, LRR, high mileage, good braking (really, THE most important quality when you come down to it - consider the amount of reduced accident damage if you stop 15 or 20 feet sooner! Maybe you wouldn't have hit that kid running into the street.), anyway braking on wet pavement was good. (Dry pavement braking, as it turns out, doesn't matter. According to Consumer Reports he very best for that is a bald tire!) and snow/ice handling was good too. I'd do it again, but .... I'd love to hear what you choose and how it works out.

Oh, and don't ignore that many manufacturers will give you a 30-day trial. So if you get a set that's noisy or "feels funny" you have an out.

Good luck (that's actually my best advise).

 

I bought a set of Grabber tires and used them on my Hybrid for almost a year before I traded it in. The tires looked as good as new when I traded it in. They were also a significant improvement in winter and wet weather traction over the original Contis. I can't recommend the Grabbers enough; I'll buy a set for my 2012 Hybrid when the time comes.

 

I had one of the original Contis pick up a metal band, which could not be repaired. So I went to Costco, discovering on the way that the donut spare is a really bad idea. I ended up with Michelin Cross Terrain tires on the back, and moved the remaining Conti to a full time spare.

The CT is far grippier than the Contis, and I noticed an immediate change in performance, plus about a 1 MPG or so hit. But those tires are great in adverse conditions and very good at stopping. They were the ones that came up in the Costco database, although they carry the Michelin Touring tire.

I'm approaching 57K on my 2008, and I may well go to the recommended Michelin tires (or I may replace the Contis with new CTs). I'm still debating the merits of both. Even with the MPG hit my FEH still gets far better MPG than an ICE SUV, and I have AWD anyway.

 

Realize this is an old thread, but if you've eliminated the Michelin Latitude Tours from consideration you've done yourself a serious disservice.

 

Since you didn't really say what it was you were looking for... I'll just add that I recently had the chance to drive my Conti CrossContact LX20s (LRR) on snow and ice and they performed MUCH better than the stock tires. So far, I haven't had a single problem with grip/slipping in bad weather. I've been quite happy with my choice.