The Internet is LOADED with tons of resources about tires and what you need to buy for your car. Most tire sources online are only leading you to make a purchase and not really helpful. Then again, tires are boring! How exciting is bonded rubber with grooves that stick on your car? We only think about them when they go flat and most of us never check tire pressure or set reminders on our calendars to get them rotated. Tires just sort of exist and there isn’t much available by way of resources to make tire technology more interesting. Actually, I’d love to go to Goodyear or Michelin and get a tour of their factory and R&D departments because I’m really intrigued by these now that I’ve done some research and invested in a great set of tires.
A few weeks ago, I spent nearly 10 hours on a Saturday researching tires and the chatter around rubber wheels was nonexistent. There were some places I looked and I made a few calls to shops around town and to manufacturers and tried to find sites like TireRack.com that let users post reviews. For the most part, there’s no actual site that says how the tire feels. I want to know what a tire feels like when you’re driving on it because that’s what matters most to me and I was really looking for a great feeling tire, something that I can feel emotional about and a tire that I just stare at as I walk up to the car every morning to get in. Americans spend an average of 10 hours a week in their cars. Why ride on a tire that’s too soft or too hard or that slips under wet conditions? I want a tire that hugged corners and really made me smile. I found one and I’m amazed at how many people tried to talk me out of this tire.
Everyone said, “You don’t need performance tires. You drive a Corolla with a tiny engine and you live in an area that doesn’t have many potholes. Just get a tire that grips well on ice and you’re good. Don’t spend more than $400 for a set of Winter Tires.”
I spent $700 on a set of tires and another $70 to install then and another $79 to have them aligned. Driving is fun again and my MPG has dropped considerably because I want to accelerate a bit more in turns as the tires just hug each corner. Stopping the car at a red light feels lighter and passing a car on the interstate is exciting as my slight turn of a steering wheel just feels like I’m one with the road. My car and the road are glued together and we’re just coasting along in and out of every turn like I’m competing in a cross-country race in a high end luxury car. Bumps feel softer on my seat but turns feel stiffer and more in control. If I happen to go over the speed limit (which is rare), the car doesn’t feel lighter. It actually feels more in touch with the ground and my tires are completely silent. My car is now silent on the road. The tires are very rubbery because they’re made with a compound that performs well in below zero temperatures and on conditions that are very icy or snow covered roads. My car feels brand new, like I’m driving a BMW and not a Corolla. I’m starting to get the feeling that sport cars may be lending a lot of credit to the performance tires manufacturers put on the vehicles. Sure a BMW has a more finely tuned driving experience than my Corolla but I’m sure that would change a lot if you changed those factory tires for economy cheap tires at $75 each.
I’m not writing this to sell YOU on performance tires. However, a Google search for the topic of if performance tires are worth it yields almost no results aside from some old news articles written by experts about the price differences. No one really says that a set of winter and summer tires that are performance will last you for years if you change them out and will add gas mileage, enhance your safety and make driving far more enjoyable than before. No one really says that. I’m saying it now. It’s a huge difference.
The tires I picked up are the Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3 Performance Winter/Snow tires. You can view it on Michelin and TireRack. Here’s the description:
The Primacy Alpin PA3 is Michelin’s Performance Winter / Snow tire developed to meet the needs of a variety of sporty coupes, sedans, crossover vehicles and SUVs. Most Primacy Alpin PA3 tires meet Michelin’s Green X standard* for low rolling resistance that confirms the tire’s contribution to reducing vehicle fuel consumption and emissions of CO2 gases. Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3 tires are designed to deliver improved wet braking and controlled maneuverability in the cold and snow.The Primacy Alpin PA3 features a sunflower oil-enriched Helio Compound to increase traction at low temperatures for improved braking and handling in the wet, as well as better overall performance in the snow. The Helio compound is molded into a directional tread design featuring independent shoulder and intermediate blocks combined with a continuous center rib to help maintain traction in dry, wet and wintry conditions. Michelin’s StabiliGrip™ technology with bidirectional auto blocking sipes and variable geometry also provides more biting edges to improve acceleration and handling in snow and on ice. The tire’s internal structure includes a polyester cord body under twin steel belts that are reinforced by Michelin’s BAZ technology, where polyamide cord is spirally Banded At Zero degrees to the direction of travel to combine high-speed capability with ride comfort.
he Primacy Alpin PA3 winter / snow radials meet the industry’s severe snow service requirements and are branded with the mountain/snowflake symbol.
These are the tires I picked because A) They fit my vehicle B) They had the highest customer rating on TireRack in my vehicle tire size. It’s important to get tires that match what your manufacturer recommends for many reasons. Start there and then narrow down your search. The people who reviewed my tires drove BMW, Mercedes and Audi. Those are cars that are out of my price range so I set out to find why I couldn’t put a performance tire on my vehicle.The thing about tires is that they’re so unsexy. My fear was that I’d install these and wouldn’t feel a difference in driving. I thought performance tires were built for sport cars because you typically drove faster and harder and thus those tires would only be beneficial in performance conditions. Three tire install shops told me I’d be wasting my money. I didn’t listen and I’m so glad I didn’t. Performance tires last just as long as touring tires assuming you’re not driving like a maniac and they may be the single best investment you make in your car without voiding the warranty. Get a great set of tires on your car if you can afford it. I’m glad I made the investment. These tires are absolutely amazing.