19" Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires

[geoff]

I ordered some 19" Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires from my local tire store back in November, and told them no rush before mid-December. The store manager ordered them anyway, and found 3 in the US. Unfortunately, I need 4 tires. I've checked with the store ever 2 weeks for the last month and keep getting the story the tires aren't being manufactured right now. These are all season mud and snow rated tires.

The manager offered to split the difference between the cost of the Latitude Tour HP and the Latitude Sport (the Sport is about $30 more per tire). The Latitude Sport is a higher performance tire, but not recommended for snow or ice (which I've only driven the Cayenne in once). Anyone here have the Latitude Sports? If yes, how do they drive in the rain (lots expected here for the next month)? I expect almost anything will be better than my original Continental tires, now with around 27K miles on. I would like to have tires I can take to the snow, but not sure when the Latitude Tour tires will be back in supply.

[Ignited]

I ordered some 19" Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires from my local tire store back in November, and told them no rush before mid-December. The store manager ordered them anyway, and found 3 in the US. Unfortunately, I need 4 tires. I've checked with the store ever 2 weeks for the last month and keep getting the story the tires aren't being manufactured right now. These are all season mud and snow rated tires.

The manager offered to split the difference between the cost of the Latitude Tour HP and the Latitude Sport (the Sport is about $30 more per tire). The Latitude Sport is a higher performance tire, but not recommended for snow or ice (which I've only driven the Cayenne in once). Anyone here have the Latitude Sports? If yes, how do they drive in the rain (lots expected here for the next month)? I expect almost anything will be better than my original Continental tires, now with around 27K miles on. I would like to have tires I can take to the snow, but not sure when the Latitude Tour tires will be back in supply.

Geoff, if you haven't already purchased, my local tire guy told me about a new Continental tire called the Extend Contact DWS. The 19" is priced right at $235 per tire here in DFW. He compares it favorably with the Michelin.

Tim in Ft Worth

Edited January 27, 2010 by Ignited

[geoff]

Geoff, if you haven't already purchased, my local tire guy told me about a new Continental tire called the Extend Contact DWS. The 19" is priced right at $235 per tire here in DFW. He compares it favorably with the Michelin.

Tim - thanks for the recommendation. I purchased the tires back in mid-November (and already received the $100 rebate). Still no tires. I've got the original Continental tires still on the Cayenne, with 26+K miles on them, and still not at the wear bars. The tires wear well, but were nothing special. I'll look into the Extend Contact DWS tires, but based on my Continental tire experience with both my Cayenne and Boxster, and compared to the Michelin Pilot Sports on my cars, I'm less than impressed with the way Porsches perform with Continental tires. The Extend Contact DWS tires aren't listed on the N-rated Cayenne tires at http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesands...tsanddownloads/ - I also drank too much punch, and am inclined to go with N-rated tires, at least as long as the car is still under warranty, based on my discussions with the head mechanic at my dealer (I also still put Mobil 1 0w40 in my cars, so what does that say about me?). I'll do some research on the tires and report back. I'm leaning away from the Michelin Latitude Sports, since they don't do great under about 40°F on the off chance the Cayenne sees cold weather any time in the next year or two

[Ignited]

Geoff, if you haven't already purchased, my local tire guy told me about a new Continental tire called the Extend Contact DWS. The 19" is priced right at $235 per tire here in DFW. He compares it favorably with the Michelin.

Tim - thanks for the recommendation. I purchased the tires back in mid-November (and already received the $100 rebate). Still no tires. I've got the original Continental tires still on the Cayenne, with 26+K miles on them, and still not at the wear bars. The tires wear well, but were nothing special. I'll look into the Extend Contact DWS tires, but based on my Continental tire experience with both my Cayenne and Boxster, and compared to the Michelin Pilot Sports on my cars, I'm less than impressed with the way Porsches perform with Continental tires. The Extend Contact DWS tires aren't listed on the N-rated Cayenne tires at http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesands...tsanddownloads/ - I also drank too much punch, and am inclined to go with N-rated tires, at least as long as the car is still under warranty, based on my discussions with the head mechanic at my dealer (I also still put Mobil 1 0w40 in my cars, so what does that say about me?). I'll do some research on the tires and report back. I'm leaning away from the Michelin Latitude Sports, since they don't do great under about 40°F on the off chance the Cayenne sees cold weather any time in the next year or two

Geoff, I understand your hesitation at repeating a mistake with Continental but the guy assures me this is a new design with reinforced sidewalls to handle the weight of the Cayenne and a 40,000 mi warranty (very unusual for any tire that will fit our car). So I'm inclined to listen to the pro and consider it. He will take the tires back if after 30 days I don't like them. He also assures me they are great in snow and mud. I don't think the tire is listed because it was just released into the market. I 'll keep you posted on my decision as well.

Tim in Ft Worth

[aaronliu]

I am on my second set of Latitude Sports. The Latitude sports pattern are identical to PS2 tires, which were made for high performance sports car. This tires perform outsdanding feel on both dry/wet road. very quiet as well. They last about 25000-30000KM (25% highway, 75% local).

If you plan to drive in snow, I guess you want to go with some other brands, because Latitudes Sports doesn't run on snow!!!

[Ignited]

Geoff, I ordered a set of the Michelins today coming from Tennessee to DFW, should be here by Friday. Will let you know if they materialize. Thanks for the positive input. I talked to my local tire guy for a while about both brands and ultimately decided to pay the extra based on what I read of experiences here in the forum. They did come very close to matching Tirerack's online price.

My tires came in today, exactly as I ordered them, so they are out there. I got mine from Discount Tire. They told me there are two more sets of the 275/45-19 somewhere in the US according to the Discount guy. I just got back from having them mounted and feel a lot more confident about driving in rain/mud/snow. Now I can plan my next trip!!

Tim in Ft Worth

Edited February 6, 2010 by Ignited

[geoff]

I finally got new tires - not from where I ordered them, but from my Porsche dealer. Many thanks to Tim (@Ignited) for all his words of encouragement, advice and personal experience with Discount Tires.

Here's the saga - I ordered 19" N-rated Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires last November and said I wanted them before Christmas. The holidays came and went and still no tires. Americas Tires (same as Discount Tires) called Michelin national management and was given the run around. Ignited got a set from Discount Tires during this time. My local Americas Tires still couldn't get a set for me. I started looking at alternatives (the Continental DWS look really nice, even if they aren't N-rated) and talked to my service guy at the dealer. He said he could get them no problem. TireRack has 2 divisions - consumer retail and industry. TireRack is the exclusive Michelin distributor in the US for Porsche dealers, and is able to get Michelin tires for Porsche dealers even when nobody else seems to be able to. A week later when I was back in town, I had new tires. (Unfortunately, the parts guy wasn't in when I got the new tires, so the tire tech grabbed the wrong Michelin tires for my Cayenne - the summer tires. They sure drove great! The next morning my service guy called about their mistake and put on the all season Michelins I ordered, which also drive great, just not quite as good as the Latitude Sports)

Apparently, Infiniti SUVs use the same Michelin 19" tires and that's where all the N-rated Michelin tires like I ordered went off to. TireRack's web site is still showing the tires as backordered. Americas Tires refunded my order with no questions, and despite all the problems with this order, I'll continue to buy tires from them since their prices are unbeatable

My original Continental tires that came on the car were just about down to the wear bars all around. I got just a hair over 30K miles on them, which includes LOTS of fast canyon driving. The tires were just OK to begin with, but I was amazed and impressed with how long they lasted. I did rotate them every 6K miles and checked the tire pressure regularly.

[Ignited]

Did they let you keep the rebate check for your trouble?

I'd love to drive a CTT with the Sport Michelins. I can't imagine a better ride than what I have now.

Tim