morris39

Thanks, Bias confirmed.

Spinnetti

There is no way in hades that anybody can look at a tread pattern and make any informed comment about ride/noise. Go on tire rack, read the reviews and pick one. Even asking here, we all have different expectations and may very well all give different ratings for the same tires on the same car. Generally speaking, the taller the sidewall and narrower the tire, the more comfy and quiet it will probably be. There's so many variables tho. Given that the overall tire diameter needs to be the same if you want your speedo to work right, the only way to get a smoother ride with everything else being equal is go reduce the wheel diameter. For instance, I took off the factory 19" and went down to 18" which definitely rides better.

morris39

@Spinnetti
Agree that tires are not done by graphic designers but the arrangement of the tread blocks/sipes can give a rough (very) indication For an extreme example consider off road lugged tires compared o slick on a smooth road. BridgestoneTire discusses the trad differences on their site, maybe only sales talk.
The reason I look for opinions here is b/c context is all important e.g. car used, driving style. Tire noise is isignificantly influenced by the particular car resonances.I do not know how to gauge Tire Rack rankings as real values (apart from braking distance and lap time) that translate into my perception of good performance. Owners' ratings are are a complete puzzle and something to be ignored, The same tire is the best and worst and can yield 12k or 50k miles depending who says so.So I was hoping to find opinions by others who share a somewhat similar situation ( see my previous posts). Thanks for your comment.

Spinnetti

Makes sense, but end of the day I think you'll find yourself in the same place. This platform is just a lot noisier in general than the models above it. I've probably tried 10 brands or so, and the only ones that stood out as super loud were Yokohama ES100s and they wore poorly too. Conti's have always been good, and I like Dunlop too. Michelin are great, but just too expensive. Personally, I was pretty happy with Firestone Firehawk. I'm about to spring for some General G-Max RS for the S3, And Bridgestone Potenza Re-11 for my Lexus (track car). All depends on your goals - for me its the mix of price/performance.