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Looking For An Avid H4S Replacement

by Ghost, June 13, 2011



My two front tires need replacing - rears are fine. Apparently my car has an alignment issue and the outmost tread is pretty worn. What tires would best complement the Yokohama Avid H4ses I currently have? The H4s model has been discontinued so I'm looking for a similar performance all-season replacement. Something above "touring" class yet not ultra-high-performance like the AVS ES100. I'm thinking I could use a stiffer sidewall than my current set.

Size: 195/60R-14

 

Brands I shy away from : Falken, Kumho, Bridgestone/Fuzion

 

 

I welcome your comments, suggestions, personal experience.

I've had the best experience by far with bf goodrich t/a's, much longer lasting than those yoko's or any other brand I've had. They're all season and they corner well. I've hit tons of pot holes and not had one sidewall bubble like I did with several other brands. Thanks to the deep treads I don't slide in the rain like I did with others too.

Ran into the exact same boat - looking to replace my 195/60R14 Yokohama AVID H4S with a comparable tire, since they are discontinued. I've recently tried on some Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position tires. I too, am not a big fan of Bridgestone/Firestone from past experience - but decided to try them again due to good reviews and advice from others.

So far, about 5K miles on them, and they have greatly impressed me. Ride is smoother and quieter than the AVID H4S and light snow traction was superb - was able to through that "thunder snow/sleet" storm we had in February this year with no issues at all - didn't get stuck at all. They are rated as a ultra high-performance all-season tire by Tirerack - UTQG rating is 400 AA A compared to the H4S 500 AA A rating. Though cannot directly compared the UTQG ratings, it does give you a sense of lifespan and traction the tire could give you.

I had BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S tires (215/45R18) on the Matrix - they have decent ratings and a UTQG rating of 400 AA A, but I got less than 14K miles from a set. Alignment was OK, but the BFGs didn't like the 38-40PSI I was running in them. Temperature wise, the pressure was good, but wear wise, it was really bad. Recently replaced those with Pirelli PZero Nero A/S - night and day difference. Traction levels are much higher and ride quality greatly improved, without any loss of quick transient control. But they don't make fitments for them in anything smaller than a 17" wheel.

Thanks for the input. Just what I was looking for.

Oddly the BFGoodrich site shows nothing in my size: 195/60R14. ?? Which BF Goodrich T/A tires are you referring to, 01loadedLE? The Advantage, Touring, Traction, etc? I had the BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S tires on my short list, but overall user ratings are on the low side. The price is right however.

Currently I'm leaning toward the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S, based on reviews. Apparently $96 is a good price on those. >_>

Other than those two I'm not seeing any other viable options at TireRack or DiscountTire. Once you filter out the Kumho, Sumitomo, Falken, and Bridgestone that is.

I'll be driving on mismatched tires for a while no doubt, so ideally tires similar to the H4ses. I'm hoping for a stiffer sidewall, but I don't know how to gauge that from specs.

I have to decide right away.

Very difficult to determine sidewall "stiffness" without first installing them on your car. Tire pressures have a strong influence on the overall compliancy of the tires. Generally speaking, higher performance rated tires tend to have stiffer sidewalls than tires intended for touring all-season duty. Even in that regard, a tire that has a "soft" sidewall, may ride very stiffly, until you push the tire to its handling limit / same with the tires with stiff sidewalls, their overall ride could be very good. Personal example - ran Yokohama ES100 tires on my old 16" wheels, 45-series tires - actually rides as smoothly as the OEM Goodyear Integrity GL tires on 65-series sidewalls and 14" steelies, with comparable tire pressures.

Best list I found so far on various tire makes is here: http://www.club4ag.com/faq_and_tech_pages/Tire%20Selection.htm Wouldn't take this as absolute truth, but better than just taking a stab in the dark.

.......................Currently I'm leaning toward the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S, based on reviews....................

Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S Those do look like the best. I may very well try them next time.

General Altimax HP It looks like these are a very close 2nd to those based on the surveys and reviews but they have more complaints and they're the same price so I'd just go with the Exaltos for the least risk.

I did go with the Exalto A/S tires. They are on order, as of last Friday. I'm in a hurry to get the state inspection and leave on vacation.

The guy at the tire place called them the "best" he had in that size.

Fishexpo's link says they're soft in the sidewall department. Yay. Guess I'll continue to over-inflate.

I'd say just start around 40psi to start off with and see how that goes, then add a little more pressure if it's needed but I wouldn't over inflate them. It's showing their max is 44psi.

Let us know how they work out when you get them installed. I have problems every time I get new tires with at least one of them being out of round or having tread pull, or a place not balancing them right the first time. So I'm dreading having to change mine again but it will need to happen soon.

Well, vacation intervened so the two Pilot Exaltos were mounted this morning finally. They insisted on putting them in the rear, stating "it's safer that way." The tread pattern is remarkably similar to the Avid H4ses up front, so I'm pretty pleased with the match. I've only driven 6 miles or so on them though. hehe

Also have brand new tie rods on all 4 corners now, plus new wheel bearings on the fronts. I was having toe-in issues and the tie rods had rusted up, barring adjustment. I probably just put more money into the car than it's worth.

I just checked max sidewall pressure on the Avids and it turns out it's 44psi not 40 like I thought. Guess I'm not over-inflating after all. BTW I have two pressure gauges and each read differently, so the dilemma is which one to believe. default_unsure You know how it is...

How did it ride in those 6 miles though? Any unbalanced wheels, out of round vibrations, or tire pull?

Well I went ahead and bought the exaltos on tirerack since they have the $70 rebate until the 13th. They'll probably get here by the middle/end of the week. Hopefully they will be the best set of tires I've had on here yet. We'll see.

If anyone has 15's or larger on their corolla then these are worth checking out. They have a $80 rebate until the 30th. http://www.tirerack....forTred+Touring

I have had this car for *10yrs* now and it has never driven nice even when it was brand new, until just now thanks to these Exaltos and a good installer. On this car I have had 4 sets of tires and 2 sets of wheels. In all of these years my car had vibration at mid to high speeds and the wheels and tires were balanced at least 12 times on multiple trips to various installers who never got it right even the third time.

I can not express how grateful I am to have a new set of tires that were finally installed right the first time without having any vibration or tags remaining between the wheels and tires that would not come off and without cheap wheel weights that fly off the wheels when driving at high speed. I changed to these tires from BF Goodrich Traction T/A T tires. They lasted 27k miles and one tire had tread pull while the other was out of round, plus they are just ugly tires so although I know these problems can occur with many other tire brands I would not buy these again.

I can't say how these tires perform yet with so few miles on them but right now I can tell you that these tires are made well so don't do like I did for years and settle for cheaper tires to save money which are often out of round and have tread pull because they will cost you a lot of stress time and money in the end with return trips to installers trying to fix your problems who never can.



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