There's a been a lot of discussion of whether to order 18" vs 19"... but I think a lot are aimed at ride comfort or ordering. I've got a 2019 LR RWD with 59k miles with 19" sports. I'm running Bridgestone Quietracks which I hate. They are heavy, stiff, noisy and have caused me a 6% hit on efficiency, going from 259 Wh/mi on the factory tires to 279 Wh/mi on Quietracks. The 800 ATQ wear rating make for way too hard tire. I have 20k miles on the Quietracks. I want to switch them next spring for Conti Pure Contact LS which have had positive reviews.
I've come across someone who will sell me a set of factory Michelin MXM 4, 18" wheels with tires for about $1000 with only 100 miles on them. I will have to spend about $200 to 250 in mounting and aftermarket TPMS. I'm hoping this will restore some of my lost efficiency and perhaps improve on my original config with the 19s. Cost wise it's comparable to the price of getting a new set of Conti Pure Contact LS.
Looking further down the road, I'm not certain there are any great tires for the 18" size. Michelin MXM4 have had poor reviews and the new OEM Hankook Kinergy GT 436 cost around $240 with the same ATQ rating of 500 as the Michelins. Looking around, there are just not too many compelling options for non-performance oriented tires. After wearing out the these set of 18" michelins I will pickup from this seller, I'm not sure there is a compelling reason to keep driving on these.
My preference for tires is to last 50k miles and not take a huge hit on efficiency. I do a lot of road tripping so efficiency is pretty important to me. A lot forum posts say there's little difference in noise and comfort between the 18 and 19" sizes.. so likely I will not gain on noise and comfort between the tire sizes either. 235/45-18 doesn't seem cheaper than the 235/40-19 counterpart either.
Right now I just don't think there is much of a compelling reason to go 18" beyond the tires that will come with this set of rims.
any advice? thanks.
I've come across someone who will sell me a set of factory Michelin MXM 4, 18" wheels with tires for about $1000 with only 100 miles on them. I will have to spend about $200 to 250 in mounting and aftermarket TPMS. I'm hoping this will restore some of my lost efficiency and perhaps improve on my original config with the 19s. Cost wise it's comparable to the price of getting a new set of Conti Pure Contact LS.
Looking further down the road, I'm not certain there are any great tires for the 18" size. Michelin MXM4 have had poor reviews and the new OEM Hankook Kinergy GT 436 cost around $240 with the same ATQ rating of 500 as the Michelins. Looking around, there are just not too many compelling options for non-performance oriented tires. After wearing out the these set of 18" michelins I will pickup from this seller, I'm not sure there is a compelling reason to keep driving on these.
My preference for tires is to last 50k miles and not take a huge hit on efficiency. I do a lot of road tripping so efficiency is pretty important to me. A lot forum posts say there's little difference in noise and comfort between the 18 and 19" sizes.. so likely I will not gain on noise and comfort between the tire sizes either. 235/45-18 doesn't seem cheaper than the 235/40-19 counterpart either.
Right now I just don't think there is much of a compelling reason to go 18" beyond the tires that will come with this set of rims.
any advice? thanks.