Preferred brand of car or truck tire?

[renovation]

just bought a set of dunlop for wifes Saturn vue today! after all rebates a little less then $350 for the set of 4. mounted, balanced and tire stems.
also filled with nitrogen.
now a new question. is nitrogen really a major improvement or just a new sales tool?

they tossed it in - but said it improved fuel economy and tire wear. and will you ever see the diffrence if you payed extra for it?

[bachviet]

Yokohama

[ramazank2]

Many race car teams use nitrogen instead of air in their tires because nitrogen has a much more consistent rate of expansion and contraction compared to the usual air. Often, a half pound of pressure will radically affect traction and handling. With track and tire temperatures varying over the duration of a race, the consistency of nitrogen is needed.
Nitrogen pressure is more consistent than normal air pressure, because air typically contains varying amounts of moisture due to changes in the relative humidity on race day. Water causes air to be inconsistent in its rate of expansion and contraction. So, a humid race in the southeast United States or a dry race in the desert western United States could make for unpredictable tire pressures if "dry" nitrogen were not used.

Nitrogen is also used in the high-pressure tires on large and small aircraft.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question594.htm

[kgsilvas]

Goodyear.

As far as nitrogen goes, I posted this on the "nitrogen in car tires" thread: http://www.getnitrogen.org

[mechmike0034]

Michelin on both cars, Continental on the motorcycle (which replaced Michelin)

[DarkFury]

Generally I prefer Michelin's for standard car tires.... however since I now run 22s... I put Cooper Tires on my 300c

For truck tires, I like BF Goodrich AT KOs... for the wintertime. However, when I'm rollin' on 22s in the Summer I have Falken Ziex S/TZ 4 tires.

[AlpineJay]

Michelin Energy MXV4 S8 for one, Michelin Cross Country for another. Michelin XCs are great, quiet, and so far awesome on wear.

[sizemic1]

I'd say it depends on their use. I love my 33" Goodyear MT/R's, but I somehow don't think they would work very well on your Saturn :)

[attgig]

i had dunlops, but the tread wore down way too quick. switched to kumho's, and i actually love them. the traction feels better than the dunlops and the tread has been awesome.

I also have goodyears, which are pretty dependable, but the cost of the kumho's have convinced me to try them again (if they have tires that size).

[Jihforce]

Dunlops suck. I had to replace two of them in less then 30k miles. They kept deflating on their own.

[thresher]

Strictly a Continental man now (trucks, of course) - very happy with them. Although Goodyears on cars all the way.

[MrGreg]

I've got dunlop wintersport m3s on my wrx, and so far I'm happy with them. I've never lost traction in snow/ice, but I've seen a LOT of people sliding around me.

[Houdini]

Strictly a Continental man now (trucks, of course) - very happy with them. Although Goodyears on cars all the way.

I've been using Contis for a couple of years as they were OEM on my car. I have had problems with peeling sidewalls, etc., though, and while handling is ok, they are kind of noisy. (Contisport Contact 225/45/r17.) They are less expensive than, say, Michelin generally.

-H