Looking for all weather tires for my 2015 Pilot. I live in Pennsylvania. They need to be good for snow, but mostly highway driving. What do you recommend?
2015 EX-L tires
Klf1077
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I think the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza was mentioned in post#20
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It’s the dueler Alenza plus. I have the ecopias on my wife’s Volvo and these are better IMO. Had a good deal at Costco on these. I’d be willing to try something different on my next go around but I’d also happily get these again. I will say that I don’t think these will get to the warranty mark on mileage.
Which tires have held up best for you guys year round?
Which tires have held up best for you guys year round?
Michelin Defender® LTX® M/S. Michelin is the only tire I have purchased for the last 40+ years. In every case, the tread has outlasted the warranty. 70k to 80k miles.
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Need to come back and quasi retract my post earlier. Starting to get some road noise from the Dueler Alenzas so I had my yearly inspection come up here as we do in Pennsylvania and had my mechanic take a look. Was fully prepared to need a new wheel bearing and the mechanic, knowing that I was willing to spend the $, informed me that indeed these tires are cupping. No suspension or wheel bearing issues. I was hoping it was a wheel bearing rather than the tires.
When you buy tires from Costco, they simply sell and install. They do not do alignments. My previous tires were not cupping or further indicating any sort of alignment issue. I then had an alignment done when I had the compliance bushings replaced. Is it possible that not aligning right away would lead to feathering, notwithstanding the prior lack of alignment related issues?
Also, Costco now is willing to give me 60% of the value of two of the tires towards new ones. Do I just replace the worn ones with new ones (current tread is 8/32) or do I sack up and take the $ they're giving me and get Michelins? I'd consider other less expensive tires but they're giving me almost $250 towards new tires.
When you buy tires from Costco, they simply sell and install. They do not do alignments. My previous tires were not cupping or further indicating any sort of alignment issue. I then had an alignment done when I had the compliance bushings replaced. Is it possible that not aligning right away would lead to feathering, notwithstanding the prior lack of alignment related issues?
Also, Costco now is willing to give me 60% of the value of two of the tires towards new ones. Do I just replace the worn ones with new ones (current tread is 8/32) or do I sack up and take the $ they're giving me and get Michelins? I'd consider other less expensive tires but they're giving me almost $250 towards new tires.
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Have you verified that the alignment is correct?
Have you tried cross-rotating the tires to the opposite sides of the vehicle so that they will be turning in the opposite direction?
At what air pressure setting are you running your tires?
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Have not verified alignment. Have only verified by 2 separate people that front tires are cupping. They get cross rotated every 5k when I take it back to Costco for rotation. I run it at spec or 1 psi above. When Costco does put tires on they fill w Nitrogen, which is supposed to be more stable in different conditions.
"Cupping" is a description that offers a couple causes. Most common are severe imbalance/damage and worn shock absorbers. It takes a bit of misalignment to cause cupping, and most alignment issues have additional wear telltales.
Know that the compliance bushings are bonded, and play an active roll (sorry...) in managing/dampening control arm movement. WSM installation instructions are quite detailed in how they need to be installed, so they are at functionally neutral load at normal ride height. Colloquial (DIY and the rest of us) instructions often recommend that you mark the position of a nub on the rubber section relative to the control arm, and place your new bushings with those nubs in the same place before tightening the nut on the end. Honda specifies a very specific angle of the arm on the compliance bushing vs. the control arm. The install tolerance range is only a few degrees wide. Generally, manufacturers only define a method and spec like that when they really mean it. Bottom line though is that a compliance bushing that isn't done correctly may allow more control arm movement, as it isn't doing the amount of dampening that's expected. Your springs/shocks may easily pass a push-and-rebound test, yet there's still enough movement to cause the cupping.
Look also at your links from the anti-roll bar, and the bushings where that bar mounts to the front subframe. Wear in these parts is usually accompanied by noises while driving, but they should still be considered for inspection and replacement as consumables. Expected life varies on your driving conditions and the condition of the rest of the suspension.
Know that the compliance bushings are bonded, and play an active roll (sorry...) in managing/dampening control arm movement. WSM installation instructions are quite detailed in how they need to be installed, so they are at functionally neutral load at normal ride height. Colloquial (DIY and the rest of us) instructions often recommend that you mark the position of a nub on the rubber section relative to the control arm, and place your new bushings with those nubs in the same place before tightening the nut on the end. Honda specifies a very specific angle of the arm on the compliance bushing vs. the control arm. The install tolerance range is only a few degrees wide. Generally, manufacturers only define a method and spec like that when they really mean it. Bottom line though is that a compliance bushing that isn't done correctly may allow more control arm movement, as it isn't doing the amount of dampening that's expected. Your springs/shocks may easily pass a push-and-rebound test, yet there's still enough movement to cause the cupping.
Look also at your links from the anti-roll bar, and the bushings where that bar mounts to the front subframe. Wear in these parts is usually accompanied by noises while driving, but they should still be considered for inspection and replacement as consumables. Expected life varies on your driving conditions and the condition of the rest of the suspension.
Ooh, nitrogen. Sounds expensive . 😃
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Their margins are low so they need to make up w the nitrogen.
Stupid science stuff:
The "dry" nitrogen fill is a gimmick. A good one and popular. But the real benefit comes from "dry". The two major components of air we breathe are nitrogen and oxygen, and all but a tiny fraction of the rest (maybe 1% of total by mass) are all considered "perfect gasses", which expand and contract in perfect proportion with changes in their (absolute) temperature. Moisture/water vapor (tiny fraction of that one percent...) is the major not-perfect gas component, as it expands and contracts in a much smaller temperature range. Get the moisture out of the air in the tires, and they change pressure less than a more humid charge in the tires.
Consider that the tires get "filled" with your local air when they are mounted, to a pressure of about 14.5 PSI absolute. Then approximately two more atmospheres of air pressure are added. It's only the air added after the bead is seated that will be "dry" nitrogen. You have an initial charge of 78% nitrogen with the air inside during mounting, then two more atmospheres of pure dry nitrogen added, leaving you with net about 7% other gasses and still way under 1% moisture under the best circumstances. Only about 1/3 of the moisture you would expect with a fill of ambient air. Amazingly, that fraction of moisture, although smaller, still has an almost identical effect on hot tire pressure increase. Gimmick...
The "dry" nitrogen fill is a gimmick. A good one and popular. But the real benefit comes from "dry". The two major components of air we breathe are nitrogen and oxygen, and all but a tiny fraction of the rest (maybe 1% of total by mass) are all considered "perfect gasses", which expand and contract in perfect proportion with changes in their (absolute) temperature. Moisture/water vapor (tiny fraction of that one percent...) is the major not-perfect gas component, as it expands and contracts in a much smaller temperature range. Get the moisture out of the air in the tires, and they change pressure less than a more humid charge in the tires.
Consider that the tires get "filled" with your local air when they are mounted, to a pressure of about 14.5 PSI absolute. Then approximately two more atmospheres of air pressure are added. It's only the air added after the bead is seated that will be "dry" nitrogen. You have an initial charge of 78% nitrogen with the air inside during mounting, then two more atmospheres of pure dry nitrogen added, leaving you with net about 7% other gasses and still way under 1% moisture under the best circumstances. Only about 1/3 of the moisture you would expect with a fill of ambient air. Amazingly, that fraction of moisture, although smaller, still has an almost identical effect on hot tire pressure increase. Gimmick...
To make it more effective, you should drain and fill the tires several times with that dry nitrogen, each time reducing the remaining moisture fraction. Kinda like the way we change our ATF. We manage to replace almost but never quite all of the old 'fluid' with each drain-and-fill.
ROFL!
I'm laughing so hard right now. Lol!
Not laughing at you @dr bob , just the thought of going to so much trouble for N2 or making a special trip to get it. I guess if I were driving a Ferrari or on a racetrack.
Was just looking at tires too. Like $900-$1000 total between Costco and Discount Tire. Costco isn't that much cheaper plus I hear you have to make an appointment. The Discount Tire where I live is amazing. Even when they are busy I can be out of there in 30-45 minutes. Plus they have a good warranty.
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