Today I got a new set of radials put on our Acura MDX. I think I waited far too long to replace the old skins, based on how well the car now drives.The smoothness of the drive with the new rubber seemingly took off about 50,000 miles from the vehicle. It once again feels almost as well as when we bought it four years ago (pre-owned with a little less than 40K miles showing).
Our odometer is now pushing 100K miles, which means we got a good 60K miles out of the Michelins that were new on the vehicle when we bought it. In comparison with other cars I’ve had, that’s a lot of miles for a set of tires. In fact, I can’t recall ever actually getting 60K miles out of a set before.
So I had a very good reason to again get Michelins, which I did. This time I bought what are called “Cross-Terrain” tires (above pic), supposedly made for SUV “all-terrain” use in all four seasons. In addition, Costco was running a New Years $15-off per tire sale, and I just got in on the end of it due to the graciousness of the salesman.
Costco does a great overall job with tires, even though they are “club” tires (Brand name tires made on contract for Costco or Sam’s Club, etc.). With the sale discount, I saved almost $200 in cold cash on a set of four, than what I would have paid at Sears, Goodyear, or Les Schwab (who don’t even carry Michelins).
Costco prices their tires not only less than the competition, but their published price includes installation AND balancing. Both are commonly “add-ons” at the other stores. Plus my 65K-mile warranty covers just about any eventuality.
Next time, however, I maybe won’t wait quite so long to get new skins. I must have been lulled into an increasingly rougher ride without realizing it, as the contrast of the feel of the car with the new tires is dramatically and pleasantly better.
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