Just put Pirelli Scorpion A/S Plus 3 on my Acura RDX. I got 50K on my OEM Michelin Primacy MXM4.
Driving the car out of the tire shop, I immediately felt the vibration of the road. By the time I got home 4 miles away, my driving foot was bothering me from the micro vibrations I felt as my foot sat on the pedal. I can feel the actual road texture, not just bumps. No wobbling or extremely strong vibration, but the vibrations from the road are making their way up to the steering wheel/pedal/floorboard in an uncomfortable manner.
I took it back to the shop to recheck. They said road force looked OK and checked balancing, in which they said one tire had to be slightly corrected. No improvement in the drive afterwards.
My wife doesn’t seem bothered about it, which makes me question whether it’s in my head and I’m overplaying it. Regardless, she doesn’t notice things like this in the first place and it’s making the car borderline undrivable for me in these first 72 hours we’ve had the new tires on.
Does this sound like an issue specific to the tire having a poor ride or something related to installation? I read these scorpions are made of a harder material that increases tread life.
I’m not sure if they just need to be broken in and they’ll feel considerably softer after putting some miles on them. Or if I should go ahead and return them and try to get a softer/smoother tire (might go back to the Primacys even though tread life wasn’t fantastic).
The TPMS showed the tires were not equally inflated, but they are not especially overinflated. The recommendation is 35 psi which is about where they are at. I can try letting a little air out and see how much it improves, but I also had no problem with slightly overinflated tires on this vehicle with the old Michelins.
Tests at tirerack.com show excellent results, including smooth road handling. Since this behavior is unusual for you and in a professional test, there might be a problem with the tires. Discuss it again with the tire dealer and tell them you want replacement tires. They may want you to continue using this set for a while to see if it wears off, but make sure they know the tire performance is not acceptable and you want replacements. That way they can’t say you’ve had them too long before complaining.
I second the thought that the tires need some break-in time. If they don’t smooth out in 250 to 500 miles, I would suggest having them rotated. If all that doesn’t solve it, you might need to replace them, these tires just might not be complementary to this car. It happens sometimes.
@tsb8m This is a case of you might never be happy with these tires so taking them back might be the thing to do . I call Pirelli performance tires ( we have Pirelli P6 on our V70 ) and O would not call them real soft but we like the handling.
The Michelin Primacy is a softer, better riding tire, manufactures choose this tire for OE installation.
The Pirelli Scorpion is a harder and heavier tire with a much longer wear rating. You bought less expensive tires, you won’t get the same ride quality from these tires.
You can take the tires back but trying on new tires every week will be costly.
Both old Michelins and new Pirellis are at 35 psi.
Pirellis were recommended by tire shop after I told them I liked the ride of the Primacys but didn’t like the wet traction (they slipped a lot) and wanted a little better tread life.
Discount Tire manager told me I have 30 days to swap them for something different. So I should be able to do that, will just have to argue with them on pricing, since I bought them on Black Friday discount.
My first thought was in line with @Nevada_545 . I suspected the new tires had stiffer sidewalls, which would account for what you’re feeling through the seat of your pants.
I had the MDX on our RDX and when it came time to replace them I went with Goodyear Weather Ready. Excellent snow and wet traction, quiet, and good ride. The car is stiff enough anyway without going with a stiffer tire.
It’s not you. It’s a tires. Currently going through the same thing with brand new Scorpion AS plus 3 (235/5519). Of 8 tires, they all are trash. The first set of four had three that were so out of round with road force numbers almost 40! Tire rack sent three replacement tires. Road forced and phase matched those, put them on, and it’s still a mess, albeit a slightly better mess. Tire rack has been useless. They just want to keep sending me more of the same bad tires. Pirelli has been even worse. Four phone calls to them and they have no sweet idea about any of this. They barely know that a tire is supposed to be round. So far I’m in it $1,200 for the initial rubber/mount/balance and an additional $550 in diagnostics/more mounting/balancing/road force.
I will never buy Pirelli again. Nor will I touch Tire Rack. I’m going to cut my losses at this point and live with it until my gums get sore from my teeth chattering and go buy something different.
Not to pour salt in the wound but I prefer to just use a local shop and their recommendations. I’ve priced tire rack and never thought the small savings were worth the hassle. Others love to do everything mail order though. The other thing to consider is if there is a slight bend in the wheel itself. I have had to replace several on one car. Don’t know if road force can detect that or not. Assume it can though.
I expect a lot of folks live quite far away from any good tire store. The mail order tire process can make a lot of sense for them. Even someone such as myself who lives in an urban area with a lot of tire stores nearby, the last time I purchased tires, I bought them at the local tire store, but asked the staff to put them all in the back of my truck. Sort of like mail-delivery, but no mail service involved.
The main attraction of Tire Rack for me is that I can always find the tires I want and have them shipped directly to my repair shop. It beats checking around town for tires they don’t have in stock and have to order anyway. My cars don’t wear any old shoes the tire shop happens to have around in my size. I also always get the tires mounted, balanced and the alignment done by someone I know and trust. If you already have those issues solved with your method that’s great.