After contemplating for more than a week on which tyre to buy and also going through some drama with a dealer friend who said he had stock of Michelin Pilot Sport 3 (PS3) and finally confirming that it was a mistake and he misunderstood the new model from Michelin which is 3 ST
I never thought I will face a dilemma like I did in getting new tyres for the Cruze as its stock size (205/60/R16) is quite rare and comes only in few other models like Sonata and a few other cars.
Once it became clear that PS3 are indeed phased out and also not available in size i wanted ( they come only in 225 section), I finally shortlisted the following tyres :-
1. Yokohomo DB ES 501
2. Goodyear Assurance ( Premium Tyres from Bridgestone and was really being pushed by the dealer and for a moment I was tempted as price was 5500 per tyre)
3. Michelin Primacy 3 ST
Yokohomo DB ES 501
It received good reviews from users that I took feedback from but, was finally went out of my shortlist because their primary strength was low noise. Nobody seemed to speak anything apart from low noise. Besides, it had a 92 H rating which was lower than the Michelin
92 (Load Capacity) : 670kgs per tyre
H (Speed Rating) : 210kmph ( As per the dealer)
Price quoted for Yoko 205 was INR 8.9K per tyre and 215 had a different pattern and tyre ( A348) which looked like a truck tyre. Nobody had the DB in 215 size and someone even said they dont come in 215 section which I know isnt true.
Goodyear Assurance
This is stock tyre on Ford Ecosport and due to mass fitment, dealer mentioned its coming it a delicious price of 5.5K per tyre thought its a premium tyre. I was not convinced at all and quickly chucked it out of my contention
Michelin Primacy 3 ST 92 (Load Capacity) : 670kgs per tyre
V (Speed Rating) : 240kmph ( As per the dealer)
Firstly, Michelin is slowly and steadily phasing out all its models like PS3, LC, HP etc and will be only retaining two models in future. XM Series uptil 15" wheels and Primacy 3 ST which will be available from 16" and above.
3 ST is a tyre made specifically for the S.E A market and their weather and road conditions and was launched in Malaysia in July 2013. Michelin has tested these tyres for more than 1.3 Million kms in the S.E region before releasing these tyres.
Some additional information about this new model from Michelin can be found in these links :-
http://paultan.org/2013/07/03/michel...laysia-launch/ http://www.philstar.com/motoring/201...o-yai-thailand http://paultan.org/2013/06/22/michel...y-3-st-tested/
To cut a long story short, out of all options available, Michelin Primacy 3 ST in 205/60/R16 made most sense as the 215 section were coming at a ridiculous price.
Finally got them installed yesterday (Bought 5 tyres) for 9.5K per piece including alignment, balance etc and drove just 10kms till now. Tyres are 25/13 manafactured which means June 2013 manafactured. Will post a detailed report on feedback of these tyres after a few hundres kilometers.
My old 5 tyres fetched an outstanding price of Rs.500
P.S: Thanks to Karan561, Santoshbhat and Nikhil for their invaluable contribution towards my decision making
Time for some pictures to do the talking, sorry for poor quality as all taken from my blackberry :-
Best tyre from the lot of CPC2, others had lot more fade
Michelin Primacy 3 ST
Close up of the 3 ST
Yokohoma DB ES501 vs. Goodyear Assurance vs. Michelin Primacy 3ST