Quiet Tires for the LS

[lifer@writeme.com]

My '04 V8, 30K miles needs some new tires. Current size is stock 235/50/17. Car is a dream and I use it as my daily driver and cruiser. No racing, no fancy stuff, just living on the expressway. The stock Michelin Pilots are great tires, but they transmit all the road noise in on normal concrete and asphalt roads because the sidewalls are so short. I know the ride can be quiet. I have been on stretches of road that, due to the surface, did not send in much noise. The LS is so quiet, even at 100 mph. No wind noise, no rattles, only my Sirius radio on the THX doing channel 5. Can you experts out there suggest with experience a replacement tire that is good in the wet handling department as well as quiet, or at least quieter than what I have now? Price is no object, and a small size change (staying on the 17” rim) is a consideration. But I want a quiet tire, not a racing tire.

Second question – can the LS speedometer be recalibrated if I do change tire size? Is this a mechanical fix the dealer can do, or is it some voo-doo programming change that could be done?

 

[SoonerLS]

Second question – can the LS speedometer be recalibrated if I do change tire size? Is this a mechanical fix the dealer can do, or is it some voo-doo programming change that could be done?

It's reprogrammed in software. Your dealer can do it, or if you buy an XCal2, it can be used to change the speedo calibration. (Search on XCal or XCalibrator to learn more about the XCal; there are lots of threads on it.)

 

[eastcoastLS]

i want what lifer wants. super quiet tires. with good handling in rain. but i also want to be able to push the ls as fast as it will go

 

[Fla02LS]

I am not going to be someone who says they have the end all answer to this, i can only account for my personal experience. Last christmas i put some Yokohoma Avid-V4S on my LS and they were great. The previous tires sounded like a 4x4. In my opinion they were better than my new '05 which has the Michelin Pilots. The wet traction was really good. Here's a link to read up on them.
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireProductCategoryDetailBrnd.do?rcz=32703&rc=FLOINT&tpc=YOKHVS&tp=Passenger%2FPerformance&tc=YOKHVS

 

[black_lincoln]

i was looking at getting those same tires for my wifes deville. www.tirerack.com had them the cheapest. they look like great tires.

 

[ToddG]

When I was replacing the OEM Continentals on my 2003 LS, I had the same requirements as yours: top priority was ride comfort and quietness.

There are many possibilities out there for a good quiet tire. However, after some research, I got a set of Bridgestone Turanza LS tires. They come in various sizes as well as H, V, and Z speed ratings. On the TireRack website, the Turanza LS-Z runs away from the others in all categories according to the customer ratings. It has a 40,000 mile treadlife warranty, Z speed rating, all weather tread, excellent noise and comfort ratings.

They were a huge improvement over the Contis, and were incredibly quiet. I was very impressed with this tire, and very glad I got them. If you're looking for a quiet tire, this one should be on your list!

 

[PaulJK]

Yokohama makes a tire engineered specifically designed for a smooth quiet ride called the AVS dB - dB for decibel. I bought my 2003 LS6 with (4) brand-new looking Futura tires and immediately took them off (and gave them to the salesman who sold me the car) and put on (4) new AVS dBs. Beautiful !

The Toyo Proxes F4 tires are also very smooth and quiet; I have them on another car.

You can't go wrong with either the Yokohama AVS dB or Toyo Proxes F4. Also Jaguar sedans were factory equipped with Pirelli Touring 400 (not 4000) tires for a long time. I've had these and they aren't bad either.

 

[Celly]

New Tires

I just got the Goodyear Eagles with the "response edge" and I absolutely love them. I paid 159.00 a tire at Discount Tire (after a little haggling). The outer 1/3 is the performance and the inner 2/3 is the all season. We had about 6 inches of sloppy snow last month and they handled very well. I think that these are very quiet much better than the pilots were, and they have a cool tread pattern. Here is a link

http://www.goodyeartires.com/eagle/eagleRE_features.html

 

[dropped74]

Do not get the BFGoodrich g-force KDW. They ride finominally and handle great but certainly not the quietest tire I have owned. I would certainly say this is its biggest downfall. The tire is great. For those of you looking for a performance tire and don't mind a little extra noise this is the one.