Goodyear Exhilarate as a Choice for UHP All Season Tire

[BENDOU]

Interested in hearing thoughts and/or experiences of anyone who has used the Goodyear Exhilarate all season UHP tire.

As background, I bought a 2018 RS3 a month ago. It has the staggered wheel setup mounted with Michelin PS S4 in the OEM sizes for the staggered setup. At the moment I have Michelin PS PA4 winter tires (245/35 19) mounted. I would be going with summers but living in Colorado I would only be able to use them a few months of the year. So have decided to go with UHP all seasons.

In the below YouTube link, “Tire Reviews” tests 7 of the most popular ultra high performance all season tires testing them in dry handling, dry braking, wet handling, wet braking, and noise and comfort to see which is the top UHP AS tire. Their outcome ranks the Michelin Pilot A/S 4 first followed closely by the Goodyear Exhilarate.

Both of these tires score really well in dry and wet conditions with both having a nice sporty driving feel. The largest difference is with comfort and noise with the Exhilarate scoring very well while the Michelin is down the ranking in this regard. Particular comment was made as to how these two tires absorb sharp edges such as encountered with potholes. Here the Goodyear does very well and the Michelin does not. Noise and comfort were given very little weight in overall scoring for these tires. For me, I would place more weight on noise and comfort particularly over sharp edges.

So this has me thinking very seriously about choosing the Goodyear over the Michelin.

I know the Michelin PS S4 and their all season 4 are highly regarded and are used by a huge majority of RS3 enthusiasts so considering I am considering going against the grain, I thought I would seek out some guidance and opinion on this. Thanks everyone!

Here's the "Tire Reviews" link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYTSWHORbFc

[sleepy_rs3]

Interested in hearing thoughts and/or experiences of anyone who has used the Goodyear Exhilarate all season UHP tire.

As background, I bought a 2018 RS3 a month ago. It has the staggered wheel setup mounted with Michelin PS S4 in the OEM sizes for the staggered setup. At the moment I have Michelin PS PA4 winter tires (245/35 19) mounted. I would be going with summers but living in Colorado I would only be able to use them a few months of the year. So have decided to go with UHP all seasons.

In the below YouTube link, “Tire Reviews” tests 7 of the most popular ultra high performance all season tires testing them in dry handling, dry braking, wet handling, wet braking, and noise and comfort to see which is the top UHP AS tire. Their outcome ranks the Michelin Pilot A/S 4 first followed closely by the Goodyear Exhilarate.

Both of these tires score really well in dry and wet conditions with both having a nice sporty driving feel. The largest difference is with comfort and noise with the Exhilarate scoring very well while the Michelin is down the ranking in this regard. Particular comment was made as to how these two tires absorb sharp edges such as encountered with potholes. Here the Goodyear does very well and the Michelin does not. Noise and comfort were given very little weight in overall scoring for these tires. For me, I would place more weight on noise and comfort particularly over sharp edges.

So this has me thinking very seriously about choosing the Goodyear over the Michelin.

I know the Michelin PS S4 and their all season 4 are highly regarded and are used by a huge majority of RS3 enthusiasts so considering I am considering going against the grain, I thought I would seek out some guidance and opinion on this. Thanks everyone!

Here's the "Tire Reviews" link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYTSWHORbFc

I live in NYC which is pothole hell. If you're looking to protect yourself from potholes I think moving to an 18" wheel is going to be more beneficial than any tire choice. I had 2 bubbles on my original OEM front 255/30/19 Pirellis before deciding to move to an 18x9" wheel. best thing you can do is keep tire pressures high and use an 18" wheel for more sidewall. I dont know about those goodyears but these Michelins perform extremely well on public roads at high speeds in my opinion. Also I've put 25,000 miles on the michelins including 4 trips NYC-Miami and back and there is still lots of tread left.

The car rides quietly and more smoothly with the Michelin PSAS4s on 18s than with the OEM setup (even though the OEM tires include the PNCS) and the only issue I had was a cracked/bent wheel from pothole when the dealership deflated my front tires (to match the rears - SMFH) and then my gf drove the car on a roadtrip out of the city and hit some nasty potholes with the pressure too low. Even after that, only replaced the wheel and the tire was still in perfectly good condition - a good sign of the sidewall durability IMO

[arulrs3]

It's a good tyre and have very good reviews. I decided on this but bought DWS06 plus. :)

[Rod Paine]

I agree based on our fast back road experience of 23,648 nikles out of a total of 32,845 total miles to date.

The stock Pirelli 235/35/19 'SUMMER ONLY' tires died of sidewall failure within 3 days! Our current Michelin
245/40/18 A/S3+ (soon to be replaced with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S) now at 32,845 miles of which 23,648
miles have been fast bcak road runs have served us well, on our 2019 Audi RS 3.

The new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (245/40/18) are going on this month, which I'll report on after a couple
of thousand miles. I am retired and run these roads an average of 3 days a week, weather permitting.
I have a 'retired' but still viewed BMW website that shows what my automobile interests have been if
you are interested. It is here at https://www.mye28.com/tech/rods_pages/.

[BENDOU]

Thanks for the thoughts and inputs. I should have mentioned in my first post that I had already decided to go with 18" wheels. Paul at Supreme Power has been helping out with options. So far I am really drawn to the WedSport TC105X.

As for tires, I will most likely go with the Michelin A/S 4's. While I was tempted with the Goodyear Exhilarates with there being some good reviews on their handling feel and ability to absorb sharp edged potholes, I did see a review somewhere from an A4 driver complaining about cupping in the rear tires. So while various reviews commented that the Michelins good have better refinement in comfort and noise, I am staying with Michelin. I have the Continental DWS 6 on my Q7 (22" wheels) and they are very nice riding but their on-center steering is too vague for me. When they wear out (or probably sooner), I will be putting the Michelins A/S 4's on it as well.

[allerum]

Thanks for the thoughts and inputs. I should have mentioned in my first post that I had already decided to go with 18" wheels. Paul at Supreme Power has been helping out with options. So far I am really drawn to the WedSport TC105X.

As for tires, I will most likely go with the Michelin A/S 4's. While I was tempted with the Goodyear Exhilarates with there being some good reviews on their handling feel and ability to absorb sharp edged potholes, I did see a review somewhere from an A4 driver complaining about cupping in the rear tires. So while various reviews commented that the Michelins good have better refinement in comfort and noise, I am staying with Michelin. I have the Continental DWS 6 on my Q7 (22" wheels) and they are very nice riding but their on-center steering is too vague for me. When they wear out (or probably sooner), I will be putting the Michelins A/S 4's on it as well.

I have been using a square set of 245/35/19 Goodyear Exhilarates on the factory staggered set for about 15,000 miles now. They gave me a top time at the track when it was raining and 46F. They are wearing pretty evenly for me, I haven't noticed any cupping. These are not as good as DWS in the snow for sure. But in the Wet and even the Dry have been a very good tire. Less noisy than the AS3+

[Boomerdw]

It's a good tyre and have very good reviews. I decided on this but bought DWS06 plus. :)

I have the DWS06 plus also and like the handling. They will decrease fuel mileage over a performance summer tire though. By a few mpg. Some of the loss could be attributed to Cooler weather.

My application is on 19” S3. Not sure if the tire comes in your size RS3.

[GT-R & S4]

I live in NYC which is pothole hell. If you're looking to protect yourself from potholes I think moving to an 18" wheel is going to be more beneficial than any tire choice. I had 2 bubbles on my original OEM front 255/30/19 Pirellis before deciding to move to an 18x9" wheel. best thing you can do is keep tire pressures high and use an 18" wheel for more sidewall. I dont know about those goodyears but these Michelins perform extremely well on public roads at high speeds in my opinion. Also I've put 25,000 miles on the michelins including 4 trips NYC-Miami and back and there is still lots of tread left.

The car rides quietly and more smoothly with the Michelin PSAS4s on 18s than with the OEM setup (even though the OEM tires include the PNCS) and the only issue I had was a cracked/bent wheel from pothole when the dealership deflated my front tires (to match the rears - SMFH) and then my gf drove the car on a roadtrip out of the city and hit some nasty potholes with the pressure too low. Even after that, only replaced the wheel and the tire was still in perfectly good condition - a good sign of the sidewall durability IMO

Wow, are the stock Pirelli P Zeros that bad?! I just made a deal on a '20 RS3 that has slightly less than 7,000 miles on it. I have it from the previous owner that he swapped the original tires out for another set, as he got a nail in the sidewall, and once he replaced that, decided to replace the entire set. I live in central Florida, where the roads are long and flat, very few curves, and no need for All Season tires. Like anywhere, there is a fair share of nails, metal pieces, etc. But not really any extreme inclines areas, such as a parking apron. And I would say not bad for potholes.

[signde]

Wow, are the stock Pirelli P Zeros that bad?! I just made a deal on a '20 RS3 that has slightly less than 7,000 miles on it. I have it from the previous owner that he swapped the original tires out for another set, as he got a nail in the sidewall, and once he replaced that, decided to replace the entire set. I live in central Florida, where the roads are long and flat, very few curves, and no need for All Season tires. Like anywhere, there is a fair share of nails, metal pieces, etc. But not really any extreme inclines areas, such as a parking apron. And I would say not bad for potholes.

the oem pirellis are straight trash. if you don't have worse than minor potholes you may get by longer. went through two bubbles in 10k miles, neither of which do i recall hitting anything memorable in the road. i consider myself one of the lucky ones that they lasted that long. replacing them with PS4S was one of the best things i've done to the car.

[GT-R & S4]

the oem pirellis are straight trash. if you don't have worse than minor potholes you may get by longer. went through two bubbles in 10k miles, neither of which do i recall hitting anything memorable in the road. i consider myself one of the lucky ones that they lasted that long. replacing them with PS4S was one of the best things i've done to the car.

Even though I'm in Florida, I opted for the MPS4 All Seasons, mainly just because of the sudden downpours we experience, and the roads and highways can have quite the layer on water on them. I also had MPS4S on a previously owned Cadillac ATS-V. Anyway, good to know this about the Pirellis P Zero so I can keep an eye out.