New Tires Recommendation - UPDATE

"MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner" (montegoman562)
11/12/2014 at 15:40 • Filed to: HELP, QUESTION, OPINION, TIRES, MERCURY, MILAN

Hey guys! Tire question time!

Well if you remember, last month I asked for advice on tires for my daily driver 2007 Mercury Milan V6.

You guys all gave great advice and I thank you for it. Not only that, I'm going to ACT on it. Unlike most of the "recommend this" or "what should I buy" that which largely goes ignored despite OPPOs recommending stuff until they're blue in the face.

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So I'm going with General AltiMAX RT43's. These are going to be year round All Season tires, and they seem to have great snow traction, which is awesome for flat as a board typically snow covered Michigan.

But I have one more question. Now this screen grab is from TireRack, but I'm probably going through Belletire, who has hooked us up on a number of occasions, so I owe them one back.

So, here's the question:

They have a T-Speed Rated and an H- or V-Speed rated tire. There's a whopping difference of 2 bucks.

The T Speed Says it's a 92T, 700 A B tire, the H/V Speed is 92H and 700 A A

Which one's better? Am I EVER going to notice the difference? No the Milan does not see track time, but it does deal with cold temps, snow, and crappy roads.

Thoughts? I mean if the T is a real improvement, why not pay 2 bucks a tire more? It's not like these things are 200$ a tire or something.

EDIT: Just found out the T spec has a 75000 mile warranty and the H/V has 65000 mile

Still interested in your thoughts though!

DISCUSSION (12)

Party-vi > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/12/2014 at 15:48

Grab the 92H tire. The AA rating means it has a traction rating of A and temperature grade of A, which means it's a better performing tire than the AB tire.

Arben72 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/12/2014 at 15:49

The second letter is temperature rating. B will perform worse in cold weather. *

*I could be wrong though.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Party-vi
11/12/2014 at 15:49

Great. I can deal with 10k less mile warranty for a better tire.

And save 8 bucks. Sounds like I should buy some beer with that money lol

JGrabowMSt > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/12/2014 at 15:50

General Altimax tires are pretty good, no complaints.

Take a look at Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval AS tires. I don't know offhand if they're in the size you need, but they're a really good tire. Came very highly recommended, and they do work great on my wagon. They're very good especially in wet weather, and as long as they get rotated every 8-10k miles, you should see 30-40k out of them.

Cooper tires are not bad, but they do have a bit of road noise, which I personally am not a huge fan of.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Arben72
11/12/2014 at 15:50

well I certainly don't want worse performance in cold weather

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > JGrabowMSt
11/12/2014 at 15:52

Hmm, actually a little cheaper, though not rated as high for snow or treadlife.

I'm thankful for the recommendation, was certainly worth checking

Arben72 > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/12/2014 at 15:55

I know the second letter is temperature rating, I'm not 100% sure what they mean by that. Maybe someone else can chime in that's more of an expert.

JGrabowMSt > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/12/2014 at 16:18

Well, from real world experience, I haven't personally driven in snow, but people are trusting the tires on RWD, 400+ HP cars all winter with no trouble.

Nothing will beat a dedicated snow tire, but I don't always trust tire reviews to be from people who even know how to drive a car well.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > JGrabowMSt
11/12/2014 at 16:20

fair point. I have a large amount of OPPO's that are encouraging the General's. I was skeptical at first having never ridden on General's before. But the treadwear rating is crazy high in comparison to even those Firestones. (75k treadlife warranty is nutty)

JGrabowMSt > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/12/2014 at 16:25

For budget tires on a non-performance car, the Altimax tires are very good. As long as you regularly keep an eye on the pressure and rotate them at whatever the normal schedule is, you shouldn't have any trouble with them at all. I wanted tires that could take a beating, but be very good all season tires that were tested. Lots of people with Magnums told me about the Firehawks, and I picked those because of that. But again, no reason to say no to the Altimax.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/12/2014 at 16:32

T speed rating is up to 118MPH, and H is up to 130MPH. V is up to 149MPH

The less heat the tire can handle, the lower the speed rating. Hence why the T rated tire has a temp rating of B.

Almost all tires that OEMs use are H rated and at least A traction and A temperature rated.

If you have a 112MPH limiter on the Milan, then you could theoretically get away with a T rated tire, but my feeling is that you should buy a tire that can handle the top speed of the vehicle.

(And that's the law....in Deutschland)

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
11/13/2014 at 09:54

While it would be fun to take the Milan up to the limiter, I wouldn't be allowed to pretty much anywhere in North America.

My highest speed limit by me is 70 mph. And I can admit I've hit 90 in it. But even 90 is a SERIOUS ticket if caught in the act. I tend to do about 75-80 on the freeway.

This car will never see 100 mph.