Front tyre replacement 185x60x15

[Polonut]

Hi everyone
soon I will be replacing the front tyres. Presently, these are Continental Premium Contact 2's.
I find them quite noisy, and not the smoothest running tyre.
I have been a long term fan of Michelin, and wonder if forum members have done a swop from continentals to Michelin Energy.

Would be delighted to hear your take on suitable tyres of all brands. I confess to having a wish for a dream tyre that is not overly noisy, and does not have a deep low down rumble if possible

[iichel]

I've had the Conti EcoContact as factory tyres, they were not bad. Good durability, good noise.
In general, I think the labels are quite accurate in terms of loudness.

[derkie54]

Had many makes over the years Continental, Avon, Firestone and Dunlop etc, etc but must admit I'm a bit of a Michelin fan.... they've always been (for me) fairly quiet, long lasting and held the road as good as the others I've had......but they're not cheap.
Considering Michelin cross climates for my next change but I'm not sure if they cater for all sizes !

[RUM4MO]

Seeing as you have mentioned Michelin Cross Climate tyres, I considered them for my daughter's Ibiza, but her tyres size is 215/40 X 17 and Michelin does not provide a Cross Climate tyre in that size, so I needed to order in Kleber Quadraxer 2's from Germany as no one in UK holds stock of their all seasons tyre.

I also like Michelin tyres, I fitted XZXs to a car back in 1978, for quite a few years after that, I tended to only keep cars for maybe 4 years so swopped the tyres front to rear and then maybe replaced one end with what was fitted at the factory.

In late May 2000 I bought a VW Passat 4Motion 2.8V6 and it came with Goodyear Tourer 205/55 X 16 tyres, when they required to get replaced I fitted Michelin Primacy HPs and they seemed to be okay. In late September 2002 I bought my wife a VW Polo 1.4 16V SE, it came with Dunlop SP Sport 195/55 X 15 tyres,they seemed to be okay but then Dunlop dropped that tyre and so again I headed off to Michelin, this time the equivalent tyre was Michelin Exalto and they seemed okay - until a couple of years which equates to 18K, then we had a very "bad" winter and these tyres proved that they were not really fit for winter use in Scotland - so that forced me to buy in a set of steel wheels with 185/60 X 14 Michelin Alpins, that sorted things out. When I next went to my local Michelin tyre place to replace 2 of these now well worn Michelin Exaltos, the tyre guy warned me never to use them in winter locally, I told him that I had already discovered that! Round about that time, I became aware that my VW Passat 4Motion 2.8V6, was also having trouble in winter - maybe part of this was due to changing winter conditions, so once again I grabbed another set of alloys and fitted a set of Michelin Alpins 205/55 X 16, and regained grip and control in winter. When I bought my next car in 2013, I immediately bought a set of winter wheels and fitted them with Michelin Pilot Alpins and again when I bought my wife a new car in August 2015, I immediately bought a winter wheels and fitted Michelin Alpins.

So, what I am saying is, it depands on where you live, but I get the feeling that the tyres fitted to cars for use in Northern Europe - not "cold" regions, are now, or have become Summer only tyres, and in my experience, Michelin is one company that has made the most significant move towards "Summer only" tyres, which might be okay for many users in mainland Europe where local regulations require the fitting and use of Winter tyres in Winter conditions, but here in UK where it is up to personal choice, most people try to survive on Summer tyres.