Michelin Primacy MXM4 Review

[F8L]

I decided to junk my old Kumho Ecsta ASX tires and swap to a newer LRR tire from Michelin. My Kumhos were balding and becoming unsafe in wet weather. My new tire? The Michelin Primacy MXM4. It is a new tire even though the name may be confused with the Primacy MXV4. The new tire features a fairly high treadwear rating, excellent wet traction, and a decent price. It is designed for high end touring sedans like BMW and Mercedes but since I have 17" wheels it will work just fine for the Prius. The use of sunflower seed oil is a bonus for sustainability and for wet weather traction. For more on the use of sunflower seed oil click HERE. So I went from an orange peel oil tire (dB Super E-Spec) to a sunflower seed oil tire. Go organic! lol



Michelin Primacy MXM4 (Grand Touring All-Season)
UTQG=500 AA A, 51psi, 10/32, 21lbs, 844 $132

My initial impression of the MXM4 tires (215/45/17) is they are VERY quiet and smooth riding. I drove for the first day at the Prius manufacture pressure spec (35/33?) and the ride was very comfortable and quiet. Compared to my old tires these things felt like riding in a Cadillac! Handling was solid and the car didn't feel wishy washy like it usually does at these "low" pressures. My MPG did not seem to change much but I driven very few miles on the first day but I did notice that they seem to roll much easier when gliding.

Today, I aired the tires up to 50/48psi just to see how they compared to the Kumhos.

Noise: The MXM4 is much quieter on than my Kumhos (even when new) and are nearly equal or even quieter than my dB Super E-Spec (185/65/15) tires. Over smooth surfaces and rough surfaces the tire is very quiet. The only time I notice them is when hitting expansion joints or potholes and even then they are much quieter than the Kumhos and especially the dB Super E-Spec which pings pretty hard on expansion joints. The noise increases as pressure goes up. If you want a super smooth ride with very little tire noise I would suggest keeping them below 40psi. For most people concerned with max MPG I would suggest at least 44/42psi or higher. This is an excellent tire for folks who purchased the Prius V and want it to feel like a BMW.

Handling: The tires stick like glue. They are a little softer going into a corner than my worn Kumhos but they inspire much confidence when leaning hard and they made no fuss during the hard sweeping turns on various onramps. Keep in mind these tires are not broken in yet so traction should be less now than after break-in. Freeway attitude is smooth and the tires respond well to steering input. I will say that after airing them up to 50/48psi the car became more twitchy at freeway speeds. This condition requires more steering input that I don't particularly care for so after this test phase I will likely drop the pressure to the low 40s. I'll provide an update after a 1,000 miles or so.

Traction: It's rather hard to judge traction in a car that cannot spin the tires but in terms of lateral grip through corners the car is solid with nary a squeal when pressed hard into a corner. I have lowering springs on the car so I can take corners much faster than I could on stock springs yet these tires simply held without fuss.

Mileage: I cannot comment accurately on fuel mileage just yet because I still need to break the tires in and check my alignment. The hundred miles I drove today showed an increase of about 2mpg but this could easily be due to road conditions despite this being my usual commute. The tires do feel as if they roll much easier than the Kumhos though not nearly as easy as the dB Super E-Spec or the Nokian i3 but what do you expect from a larger, wider luxury tire? I'll drive my normal commute tomorrow and compare MPG numbers from Monday. I'll update MPG numbers after break-in.

*UPDATE* - The tires are listed as LRR but I do not think they are much better than my old Kumho ASX tires. My MPG is very similar to what I used to get on the Kumhos before they were very wore down. Compared to other non-LRR high performance tires they most likely roll much easier but they do not in any way compare to any of my 15" LRR tires.

Appearance: I'm not sure how I feel about the appearance of the tire. I know this is not a concern for some people but there are those who care about how a tire looks after they spent so much money on new wheels. The tire is nice-looking despite the tread pattern being rather boring when compared to something like Pirelii or Nitto tires. The MXM4s feature a very large "rim protector" if that is what it is. It is the largest I've seen and looks rather odd at first but when viewed from a distance it makes the tire appear thinner (aspect ratio smaller) so it is kind of cool. I'll let you guys decide. See pics below.

Price: The price of the MXM4 is comparable or less than a lot of other high performance tires. I paid $139/ea. at Costco. TireRack.com sells them for $132/ea. Because they are Michelin there is always a $70 rebate floating around. Costco takes care of the rebate for you. Total out the door was $607 for the tires plus mounting, balancing, environmental fee etc..

Summary: Despite having driven just shy of 200 miles on these tires, I think I made a great choice and am enjoying the ride. As a bonus, the new tires now make my speedometer read accurately. No more 2mph off business. The confidence inspired by these tires is worth every penny. Especially after starting to hydroplane on my old tires during a freak thunderstorm yesterday.

*UPDATE* - With nearly 10,000 miles on the tires I can say I am very pleased with them and would purchase them again. There are no other tires in this size that I would even consider.


For more information on the tire and to see TireRack.com tests (video) click the links below.

Michelin Primacy MXM4

Testing New Grand Touring All-Season Tires

[LIPriusFreak]

Interesting review........For me and my road conditions, the michelins are a bad choice...I have them on my 1995 Acura Legend and I cannot stand them. They are quiet, yes......they are GREAT in snow and rain, yes.......they also have incredible treadwear life (my friend had them on his 06 Sonata and replaced them at 80k!)

where they suck is the ride quality...I have always found michelins to enhance road feel and make every single pebble and nook and cranny in the road much more felt in the steering wheel....and for a guy like me with carpal tunnel in both wrists, it makes for an uncomfortable ride.

the price is also a compelling reason to look elsewhere, but the treadwear rating might make the price more reasonable.

[F8L]

Interesting. I find the ride quality quite nice. Much better than with my old Kumhos. Which model tire were you running and what was the size?

The price is close to what other comparable tires run. The wildcard is the Kumho Ecsta ASX which is $30/ea. cheaper. lol

[LIPriusFreak]

Originally Posted by F8L

Interesting. I find the ride quality quite nice. Much better than with my old Kumhos. Which model tire were you running and what was the size?

The price is close to what other comparable tires run. The wildcard is the Kumho Ecsta ASX which is $30/ea. cheaper. lol

mine are the Michelin Primacy MXV4 215/55/16 V rated.

and $30/each is a $120/all 4 savings...that's substantial (even though I wouldn't recommend Kumho to my worst enemy lol)

[F8L]

Originally Posted by LIPriusFreak

mine are the Michelin Primacy MXV4 215/55/16 V rated.

and $30/each is a $120/all 4 savings...that's substantial (even though I wouldn't recommend Kumho to my worst enemy lol)

LOL

Sometimes the savings do not justify having to suffer through crummy tires.

[LIPriusFreak]

Originally Posted by F8L

LOL


Sometimes the savings do not justify having to suffer through crummy tires.

agreed....two sayings that I firmly believe in and go by:

"Gotta pay to play"

and

"Pay for the best and cry once"

[F8L]

I completely agree.

My mileage has been horrid lately. If I really try for MPG and slow down to 65mph I can average 43mpg per tank. If I just drive with the A/C on and at 70mph my mileage drops to 39-40mpg. This was the case with my old tires as well. I think the lowering springs have affected my alignment or something because I used to be able to get 45-47mpg on the old 17s in these conditions and they were not LRR like the new tires are.

I've already put 2,000+ miles on these new tires so they should be broke in. I dropped the car off at the dealer for an alignment today so we'll see how that goes. I'm praying that the alignment was way out of spec and this is why my mpg is suffering.

[uart]

Nice review F8L.

As for the price, if you get longer tread wear AND better MPG then it's certain to pay off in the long run.

Say you get in an increase of just 2 MPG over the 80000 mile life of the car, then it works out to over 300 dollars saved in gas!

Also if you got an increase in treadwear from say 65000 miles to 80000 miles, then that alone would pay for the $30/tire difference.

[F8L]

I got the car aligned and was hoping someone could help me figure out if my old alignment was bad.

I've attached the data sheet.

[brick]

Front toe was way out of whack, looks like. Overly negative on both sides. Wouldn't surprise me if it wanders less now.