Tyres - Michelin

Tyre is one of the most important component of a car. All road users should not compromised on its tyres. I learned this through some bad experiences, it almost cost me dearly. Fortunately I am still alive and no serious damages happened.

There are many brands of tyre in the market. It seemed all tyre brands claim they have good handling and can last at high mileage. My criteria is pretty basic as I want something that is cheap to run and performs satisfactory on the road like good handling, wet traction, quiet ride & max life thread.

My Vios comes with Goodyear NCT5 by default, its thread life is pretty average about 40,000km. And the ride becomes loud when the tyres aged towards the end of life. I always wanted to try Michelin Tyres but they are always priced at premium price. Then one day, I bumped into one tyre workshop who kept old stock of Michelin Vivacy 185-55-R15. They sold me the tyres for RM800 for all 4 pcs, I thought it was pretty good deal, as I remembered Michelin tyres are sold at minimum RM250 per pc. I was quite happy with the purchase, and could feel the immediate difference. The ride was good and quiet. Even the cornering is better though I still experienced little oversteer during cornering.

Eventually the tyres last me up to 80,000km at the front, but I stretched it to 90,000km thinking that it was still useable. Fortunately nothing untoward happened, as the wear was quite bad at the inner side of the tyre and it wasn't that visible until it was steered outwardly. The rear ones were fine till 100,000km, but it was a bit loud towards the end of life. The thread was still ok though. Anyway in order to maintain good ride, I was advised to replaced them after 80,000km.

I visited the same shop, hoping that they have the exact size for my car as I already knew ahead of time that Michelin already discontinued the Vivacy series. My doubt was confirmed... they didn't have the exact size, not even from their popular Energy series. Fortunately they have one that is close to my tyre size that is the new Pilot Preceda that comes with 195-50-R15. This model is catered for sports handling, though it didn't appeal much to me, I didn't mind as its cost is similar to the previous Vivacy and if it is as durable, then why not. To me I am seeking more on value for money. For the Goodyear NCT5, I am paying about RM1.25 for every 100km, where as for this new Pilot Preceda, I am paying about RM1.05, so there is a lot of savings if I worked it to 1 year of driving.

According to the chart, it does seemed that Pilot Preceda (PP2) performs well in all conditions. I placed high criteria for thread life and quiet ride, this really fits to my requirements. The ride is good and I noticed it performs much better in cornering compared to the Vivacy. I hardly experienced oversteer, probably due to its wider size.

I hope this PP2 is as durable as Vivacy series. You have to come back again in 2 years time to hear from me again. Haha... probably by then Michelin will have another new series. Anyway Michelin brand is quite reliable and known for good ride. They have their propietary technology in tyre construction and material that ensure extended thread life. I can confirm this as I have been using Vivacy for 2 years, I would expect the same from this PP2.