My XV has four Bridgestone Potenza RE003s (225/55/R17) for around 2.5 years and I've noticed that they have been wearing out quite quickly. The car is only driven around Sydney suburbia (probably less than 10,000km/yr), and rarely on freeways. I knew when I bought them that the RE003s are performance tyres and would likely wear out quicker, and this has largely turned out to be true. The RE003s were certainly very grippy when they were first installed, but over time the grippyness seems to have diminished somewhat.
I've been checking the tyre pressures fairly regularly and keep them all at 38 PSI. When I went for a regular maintenance tyre check at the local Bridgestone centre the guy said that two of the tyres are below the legal limit of 1.5mm tread, while the other two are very close to it. As rego/pink slip is coming up soon, I'll probably need to replace all 4 to pass pink slip.
The two tyres that seems highly regarded are the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus and Michelin Primacy 4 (or 3 ST). Which one would people recommend and why? If there's another alternative, please advise! My main concerns are tyre noise, longevity of the tyre and of course grip (i.e. safety in dry and wet).
The Bridgestone guy told me that the Turanzas will be on sale with the buy-3-get-1-free promo in June, and gave me a quote of $750 for 4 (assuming b3g1f). Does that sound reasonable or should I shop around with KTAS/Jax/BJ/Costco/Tyresales?
If you want longevity, go with Cooper - guaranteed to last from 50,000 to 80,000km and guaranteed against manufacturing faults for a period of 72 months from date of purchase. Tempe Tyres lists them as $185 each , so that's $740 for 4 which is comparable to the Turanzas