Michelins are great if you want to spend that much money. Well maybe not great, but for the money you can get a reasonable tire... and you will spend a lot of money for any Michelin tire.

I had Yokohama Avid T4s on my Taurus and liked em quite a bit. I'd go with the Avid H4S over the Avid Tourings on an S90.

I just got a set of Kumho Ecsta HP4 716s for my wagon. Unfortunately the wagon sill needs an alignment and strut rod bushings (ah.. if only IPD did free same day delivery). So far, they feel nice. Even in the rain the Kumhos feel a bit more planted than the D60A2s they replaced felt in dry weather. Come to think of it the Dunlop D60A2s on my friend's wagon don't feel too stable at speed either.

I'd recommend both tirerack and Discount Tire (tires.com) as places to buy your new shoes.

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alex

'89 765T, 170,8xx mi

Aren't you glad you asked? Out of the fourteen emails you now have, you now have about 14 choices! I know I've learned about newer tire models that I wasn't aware of, but that will be one my 'take a look' list when tire-buying comes around again. I'll be curious to how you've sorted all this out and what tires you ultimately end up with. Good Luck!
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John Shatzer, '97 V90 @ 105K

In November I just bought 4 Yokohama YK420's for my S90. $106 per corner, installed at Discount Tire, 60K warranty with lifetime balancing, rotation, valve stems and road hazard. They seem to work just fine in the rain here in the PacNW. The tires replaced same sized Dunlop Sport8000, or 4000, or 6000 whatever tire that didn't quite make 40K. When I replaced the tires the low speed front end shake also disappeared as if the car had been "over-tired".

Tires, thats the one area I have had lots of experience with on this car.

I buy just about all my tires from tirerack.com. Good prices, quick service. Read the ratings other folks give and try and concentrate on like vehicles (I don't put much faith in what somebody driving a chevy cavilier says about a tire I'm putting on my car, just too different).

The most expensive set of tires I put on were the first, they were pirelli p6000 sport veloce's (say that with a tongue roll), at about 106 per tire from tirerack. These lasted 35k miles. Were the only "V" rated set I ever put on it. Good handling tire.

I followed that up with a set of continental ch95's. They lasted 25k miles. Also good manners.

Getting kinda tired (pun intended) of tires lasting only 25-35k miles, I went for a set of pirelli p4000 tires. These puppy's lasted 45k miles and were decent handling tires. Would have replaced them with same, but could not find them anywhere. Bought them from discounttiresdirect.com.

Another set of conti ch95's. Another 25k miles.

Current set of tires is a set of Kuhmo ecsta hp4 716. So far, so good, probably have about 5k miles on em. Also from tirerack.com I would have tried sumitomo's, but they were out of stock and I needed a set then and there.

I've never tried Michelins or some other high end brand. I honestly don't know if they would wear past 35k miles. After spending the bucks on the first set of pirellis and not getting lots of milse out of them, I think limiting it to about 60 a tire seems to give the best payback. I attribute the short wear life to the fact that it is a 55 series tire and the car isn't light at about 3600 lbs. Good luck with what you decide on.
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97 S90 with 166K miles still going strong

I'm using a set of 205/55WR-16 Kumho ECSTA KH11 from Tire Rack on my 1998 V90. Love'em. Great 3 season tire, asymetrical and nicely sticky. I use dedicated snows in the winter.

Just to confuse the issue even further, I'll cast my vote for the Bridgestone RE950s. They're great three season tires, especially in the rain.
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John Shatzer, '97 V90 @ 105K

As I have gotten older, I'd like to think I'm getting a little wiser. I guess what that means is I value my life more. That being said, I no longer skimp on wiper blades and tires.

I RUN away from tires that say they will last 60-80,000 miles. I have driven tires good for only 20K and all the way thru 80K warranties. The 20K tire grip like stink and give you a great feeling of control but wear out way too fast for normal driving. The 80K tire might as well be made of solid nylon and don't give you that 'rides like it's on rails' feeling when the going gets tough. I split the difference and try to buy tires with about a 40K warranty. They are soft, but not too soft.

Where I live, the speed limit is 75 mph, it's rural and there are many animals (some fairly large) that like to stand in the middle of a lane and check out the latest road kill, especially at night. In the last several years, my wife and I have to make a few evasive manuevers at highway speeds for various reasons. The softer tires kept the car in check and the manuvers were made safely and instilled a feeling of confidence. The harder tires, lost adhesion easily in and the car spun out. No damage, but I couldn't get those tires off fast enough.

The colder it gets, the harder it seems those compounds get. When your already dealing with a fairly hard compund, cold weather only makes it worse.

Yes I have to change more often, but to me, it's worth my life.

I have had great experience with Michelins and highly recommend them.

My humble 2 cents.

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 068,300 and 1995 964 152,300

Last summer, I bought Yokohama Avid Touring ($42+$8 ship, 80K miles on thread warranty) from Tire Rack for my 240. Yoko Avid touring performs excellent on wet and dry road. Also the price is very good. Next year, I will buy Yoko Geolandar ($63) for my SUV.

Read up on TireRack reviews.

But if you don't feel like doing such, then Kumho 716's work very well for under $50/corner.

-- Kane
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

Wow, this post will get lots of action as asking about tires is similar to discussing religion!

In my opinion, Michelin is the only game in town! They go on with few balance weights, are round and stay round for the life of the tire, allowing you to get full life out of the tread. Several models are available to suit your driving style. Go on the Michelin site and get their recommendation for a model. Use the internet for comparing prices and then check locally using your knowledge about the price of the models you are interested in. (Performance, speed ratings, etc. usually cost $.$$ in both initial price and shorter tread life for sticky compounds.)
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'96 965 with 16' wheels at 113K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

Pirelli P6000 good prices at Discount Tires now. I am going for a pair this month. They have a $50 deal rebate at this point too.

dick

If you have a Sam's Club nearby, you can pick up the Michelin Radial X (or maybe it's just the Michelin Radial now) for ~ $105 to $110 installed (P195/65R15, I'm not sure what size the S90 uses), including lifetime rotation and roadhazard (if it is punctured, they'll give you another one, minus any prorated use). This is the exact same tire as, I believe, the Michelin Pilot, the only difference is is that Michelin puts a different name on it for Sams (when I had these tires put on my '99 Honda Accord I had called Michelin to confirm this).