Can anyone give me some advice for buying new tires for my 2008 Honda CR-V EX? I’ve been looking at Michelin, Continental, and Yokohoma (these were the tires mentioned to me by the tire places I’ve been visiting for quotes), but when I looked at reviews for these tires, a lot of them were bad! Even for Michelin which I know is considered to be top of the line. I went from a very smooth, comfortable drive with the Honda’s original tires to my current noisy, vibrating Hercules tires which I hate and which drive me nuts. So basically low noise and a smooth ride are important to me. And of course long tread life. I don’t do a lot of driving (12,000-13,000 year) and not much expressway driving. I know I need an all weather tire, but beyond that I have NO idea what to look for. Yesterday I went to the local tire place in town and the guy there recommended Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires (70,000 all weather), which surprisingly were the least expensive compared to the other tire places (NTB, Mr. Tire) and which also surprisingly got pretty good reviews. So right now I’m really leaning toward those. Everyone’s thoughts are appreciated!
Rather than taking random suggestions from strangers with unknown agendas, I think that your best bet is to use the Tire Rack and 1010 tires websites for information regarding the many choices that are out there.
Many people here will give well-meaning advice, but inevitably whatever recommendations you get here will only scratch the surface. Going to those websites will give you ratings and reviews from both the professionals and from people who have used all the available tires themselves.
Have you checked out the reviews at tirerack.com. I had Uniroyal Tiger PAW tires on my 1998 Ford Windstar. The tires were smooth and quiet, but rain and snow traction was average at best. I had Uniroyal Cross Country SUV tires on my 2000 Blazer, again smooth and quiet, but rain and snow traction was not good at all.
I replaced the horrible OEM Continental Touring Contact AS tires on a 2010 Cobalt with Goodyear Assurance Comfortreds. Quiet and great rain and snow traction. Expensive but the $160 rebate brought the price in line with other tires I was looking at.
The Yokohama Touring S tires on my wife’s 06 Sienna are quiet, decent traction, and are wearing well.
Ed B.
What tire make model was original equipment? Why not buy it (or its nearest model) again?
You have to be careful with user reviews. I assume 10% will hate it, regardless of whether it’s tires or a restaurant. It’s the other 90% I look at. I also put more weight on the Tire Rack tire comparison tests, where they measure the important stuff and give you what I consider an objective opinion. Finally, have you checked the latest Consumer Reports? They have a tire test article that may apply to your CR-V.
6 yr old car. 60k miles. You have new Hercules tires? So u will junk new tires and buy another set? Why not buy some more oem tires u seemed to like before? Can I have the Hercules tires?
Uniroyal Tiger paw is junk.
Go read tire reviews on tirerack.com. I suggest the Hankook Optimo H727. These are good all-season tires with excellent winter traction. Read the reviews there from other buyers. Also read the survey/ranking charts that show relative rankings of all tires of each type.
Tire stores are a business, and the best thing for them is to sell you tires that they have in stock. They have already paid for the tires in stock and if they don’t sell them, they take a loss. They can and will order tires for you, but they would prefer to sell you the ones they already have. So their advice is jaded by this.
I like the Consumers Reports and the test results at tirerack.com because they are a head to head comparison. The other reviews by users are good for looking at the trends, but the actual review by any one consumer is a comparison of the new tire to the one the just replaced. If the new tire is better, it gets a high score, if it is not, it gets a low score. But when a lot of reviews are accumulated for a particular tire, you get a trend that is pretty accurate.
To be honest my dad just went into the Costco and looked at what they offered for his 2007 CRV and went with the ones with the longer warranty. Might be the Michelin’s but I won’t be over there to check until Sunday. He only drives 10K a year or so himself now. Even for a particular tire on Tirerack and others you will find reviews that are all over the map. Some more satisfied than others. Went through this journey with Mom’s prius and eventually she got the Michelin Defender XT’s from the local Costco on sale. Dad has been blown away by Costco’s customer service so it’s his first stop when shopping for Tires and other things.
I have had good results with Cooper Tires. I also have Pirelli P6 low profile and they ride and handle just fine. I would almost suspect a balancing problem or suspension problem rather than the tires.
Interesting that you find the OEM tires on the CRV quiet, most complain that they are noisy. As you see everything is subjective, that is why we are sending you to tirerack.
On a different note, tires usually are good for around 5 years, so if you are going to be at 5 yrs before the mileage warranty, you are wasting your money. Also, the tires that have long thread-wear, in my experience, end up being more noisy. I really like a quiet ride, so settle for the middle of the pack and accept that I will pay less upfront but need new tires sooner than later.
The Michelin Defender seems to get pretty good comments here. I have Uniroyal on my Ford truck and Michelin on my Corolla, and I think the Michelin wears a little better. But both have been good tires for me. One of my co-workers says he gets good results on his Yoko tires.