Good tires? 245/45/18

[MyDimeIsUp]

I'm looking for new all-season tires for my 13' allroad. I was actually looking at the Michelin AS4 as they are by far the best all-season tire out there. However I've heard that they can be a little noisy. Is this true? Also a little expensive. I'm not against spending money against the things that keep my car on the road, but all said and done my tire guy has me at $970 to mount and balance and dispose of old tires. I've seen the Continental DWS06 but they also seem like high-performance tires and can be noisy and harsh (but not as harsh as the AS4) and are $184 compared to $197.50 for AS4 (+ my tire guy could possibly get the tire $3 - $5 off for me).

I'm wondering is the AS4 still my best choice? I'm looking for all seasons that are somewhat sporty to allow me to toss the car around on a highway on-ramp or some back roads, but not to the point where I'm taking it to the track. Something with not a lot of noise on the high way and a sidewall that isn't hard causing harsh ride on holes/breaks in the road.

[ps2cho]

Cant really go wrong with AS3+ AS4, they have a good balance of noise, wear, and traction. Its a sort of "pick 2" dilemma. You cant have low noise with long life and high traction. Go to tirerack and subset your size and all season read the reviews to help figure out which is best then look for the best price around.
Costco usually has a good $150 off with free install and free 5yr road hazard once per year for a few months, so I always try to time mine with their deal.

[MyDimeIsUp]

Cant really go wrong with AS3+ AS4, they have a good balance of noise, wear, and traction. Its a sort of "pick 2" dilemma. You cant have low noise with long life and high traction. Go to tirerack and subset your size and all season read the reviews to help figure out which is best then look for the best price around.
Costco usually has a good $150 off with free install and free 5yr road hazard once per year for a few months, so I always try to time mine with their deal.

I was thinking of that, even with my Costco membership my local tire guy is cheaper + I'd trust him more + he has a road force balancer.

[4xaudi]

Never a big fan of Michelin tires once they down to 50% tread they lose lots of road grip. Never had a bad experience with Contis except replacing them every 30k miles.

[19birel]

I have the Michelin AS4 and in inclement weather they aren't ideal with 50-60% tread left. In terms of noise they have been fine and dry weather performance is the best I've seen from an all-season tyre.

I've had DWS06 before on the Audi and I just drove my dad's car with DWS06+ after swapping out his worn Michenlin AS3+ and the Contis definitely have a slightly softer sidewall providing a more compliant ride than the Michelins, but don't feel as performance oriented. My Contis were pretty good in the winter too.

Bottom-line, if you want max performance from a tyre you can run year round, the Michelin is the way to go. But if your priority is all weather performance and more comfort etc. the Conti is probably better

[MyDimeIsUp]

I have the Michelin AS4 and in inclement weather they aren't ideal with 50-60% tread left. In terms of noise they have been fine and dry weather performance is the best I've seen from an all-season tyre.

I've had DWS06 before on the Audi and I just drove my dad's car with DWS06+ after swapping out his worn Michenlin AS3+ and the Contis definitely have a slightly softer sidewall providing a more compliant ride than the Michelins, but don't feel as performance oriented. My Contis were pretty good in the winter too.

Bottom-line, if you want max performance from a tyre you can run year round, the Michelin is the way to go. But if your priority is all weather performance and more comfort etc. the Conti is probably better

Yeah I'm not looking for 100% constant track-like grip. I like to have some fun but I have to acknowledge this is an allroad, raised about 1" to 1 1/2" higher than the sedan with a 2L 4-cylinder, not something that is super sporty. On-ramps and some slight turns are the extent of my sporty drives.

[19birel]

Yeah I'm not looking for 100% constant track-like grip. I like to have some fun but I have to acknowledge this is an allroad, raised about 1" to 1 1/2" higher than the sedan with a 2L 4-cylinder, not something that is super sporty. On-ramps and some slight turns are the extent of my sporty drives.

I will say a good, cost effective alternative are Nokian Z-Line A/S. I had these on my old 5 series and my parents had them on their FronTrak B8 and they were terrific. Nokian isn't a budget brand (I'm sure you've heard of the hakkapiletta snow tyre), but they're very reasonably priced and sell a quality product. For a car that isn't driven aggressively that would honestly be my go-to choice.

[miketweedie]

The DWS-06 has been awesome to me. I have them on the Allroad and put them on my dad's BMW 550.
Solid grip in the dry and wet, and very impressive in the snow.

We get extreme cold and snow where I live, so a full winter wheel/tire setup is essential, but the shoulder seasons are always tricky. We will have patio weather one day, and 6" of snow the next morning. Timing the swap to/from winter tires is frustrating, but running high-performance summers can leave you stranded when it snows in May, so they are an awesome solution for my "summer" wheels.

[MyDimeIsUp]

I will say a good, cost effective alternative are Nokian Z-Line A/S. I had these on my old 5 series and my parents had them on their FronTrak B8 and they were terrific. Nokian isn't a budget brand (I'm sure you've heard of the hakkapiletta snow tyre), but they're very reasonably priced and sell a quality product. For a car that isn't driven aggressively that would honestly be my go-to choice.

Not that I doubt this but I wasn't able to find info on them on TireRack, PepBoys, and my tire guy (who I'd be going to no matter what) doesn't have them in stock. Seems they're few and far between.

[19birel]

Not that I doubt this but I wasn't able to find info on them on TireRack, PepBoys, and my tire guy (who I'd be going to no matter what) doesn't have them in stock. Seems they're few and far between.

I bought mine from Tireseasy.com , they're not super popular but they're pretty good

[findalex]

I have the continental purecontact ls. it's quiet enough to my ears and handles well in dry. I live in LA so we see 10 days of rains a year.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...PureContact+LS

I've found most tire places (esp. local ones) price match. So I just find the lowest price and ask my favorite shop if they would match the price w/ installation + disposal + etc.

I used to be a diehard Costco everything guy, but the local costco is so busy, it took 5 hrs to get tires installed last time.... with an appointment.