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Comments
but we've already got about 12K miles on ours.
check out tirerack. The Goodyear integritys have REALLY crappy reviews in all areas. The Michelins have very good reviews. The Michelins would cost $160 more than the Integritys brand new, so I think $200 including mounting and balancing is a GREAT deal.
Is that, by any chance, a franchise place? Name? Maybe I can try to exchange ours before winter hits.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I think I'll replace the Pilot tires no matter what. I'd rather suffer the cost now and be safe than risk letting the wife "try them out" and actually have something bad happen. Its just not worth it to save $400-$500. The deductible on an accident would cost me that much and the resulting insurance penalties would be exponentially more than that.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I've bought tires through them before. Pretty good selection, priced right, no waiting and no hassle.
Another one is Sears. If you catch the one's you want on sale their pricing isn't too bad. If it's still availabe, you may be able to open a new charge card acct and get another 10% off!
Peace.
Who is BJ by the way? National company?
http://www.bjs.com/
According to this thread, the DVD player can NOT read DVD+Rs. Guess I am going aftermarket...
http://forum.firmware-flash.com/viewtopic.php?t=12411
My kids have over 70 computer games and I burned copies for all of them and put the originals away so that when they scratch them I just have to burn a new one. But it would be ashame if this Pilot won't play DVD+R since I already burned over 30 movies for them. I guess I either have to use the original or tell them that they have to wait until we get home to "Find Nemo".
I got this free DVD+R/+RW drive for free from Dell over the summer when they were giving free DVD burners with their PCs. But I do want to verify what software people uses or for sure that DVD-R will work before I go out and buy a dual format DVD burner.
I'm not sure I'd want RSA's on a SUV, but I am curious as to your thoughts. We are considering a Pilot and MDX as a replacement for our Trooper, and I'm hoping that I'm not going to need to spend $800 on new tires to get decent performance and traction (not a problem with the "real" SUV tires on the Trooper).
In regards to the Integritys, the handling is not that great, but of course, it is on our 96 Honda Odyssey, so maybe it has more to do with the car than the tire. They also seem very noisy as well. We just moved to Oregon, so I do not have any experience with the snow traction yet. I am sure that I will shortly, though it will be with the Pilot instead of the Odyssey.
I have not read too much about actual experience with the tires for the Pilot on this board. Perhaps some of the Pilot owners can give their opinion on performance of the Integritys. I know their reputation is not the greatest. Since we have not heard too much about it, perhaps and hopefully they are performing adequately. From my experience they do fine with wet roads.
Before buying a dual format burner, try a different brand (color) of blank DVD+R. I've found that the brand seems to matter more than weather I burn them as + or -. I don't have direct experience with the Pilot's DVD since mine is without, but this is what I've seen with other players.
Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684. This is my third set of Bridgestone's (2 other vehicles). Duelers on another SUV - great mileage, good performance. RE950's on Mercedes - great performance, low mileage. 684's may be a little soft - not expecting great mileage but performance/ride so far is good. The 684's accommodate my driving style and look great.
So I tried everything and concluded it's either the Honda DVD does not like DVD+R or it's the software I used to burn the movies. That's ashamed as I have more than 30 kids movies here I can't use in the Pilot.
However the bigger issue is the TIRES. The stock GoodYear Integrity are about the most HATED tire by those who use it. Hydroplaning is a big issue. The recommended tire is the Michelin Cross Terrain SUV tire. Like night and day when it comes to Braking Power in Rain, Ice and Snow. Just we have a lot of in San Diego :-) ,, Honda knows how bad the tires are. Also used on the Acura MDX. Same reports of POOR braking power.
Just got my 2004 Consumer Report magazine on all the new 2004 cars. One thing they mentioned is stopping distance on the Pilot and MDX. Honda has a long term contract with GoodYear and keep sending cars out with these tires. ABS tweaking helps but the big issue is the tires. After 750 miles I go in on Friday to Costco and lay down $500 for a new set of tires.
For more information go to TireRack.com , put in your make and model, ask for New Tires for your car and up will come 3 choices. Click on the choices and read the reviews on the bottom of the page. They put these OEM tires on lots of different cars, everyone has the same issues. Love of Life.
With all that said the GoodYear is an OK tire. On a scale of 1 to 10 they rate it a 4.8 compared to the Michelin that are rated at a 8.5 . The Good year is rated as a SR speed so it is a STRONG tire and won't blow out at 112 MPH.
We all purchased our Pilots becouse we understand what Advanced Engineering is compared to a Saturn VUE, Michelin just makes a Superior tire but they are expensive. BMW X5 and Mercedes uses this brand on the car. My wifes 2000 Accord V6 uses high performance Michelin tires. No wonder they BRAG at the dealers how the Accord will stop in ashorter distance then a Toyota Camery. Great Breaks, SOFT break pads and Great tires.
Have fun, Drive Safe and keep the 10 feet for every 10 MPH between you and the car in front. Might want to keep 20 feet until you change your tires...
I think they're good tires, but they're not going to resolve the braking issues. They may even make it worse -- in the "Bradshear Bunch" SUV comparo by Car and Driver a while ago, the three SUV's with the worse braking distances were all shod in Cross Terrains. Not sure if it was the tires, though.
The Pilot seems like an incredible car. It is amazing how technologically advanced they are making the cars every year. The console and controls of the Pilot make my 2000 I30 already seem dated. I am looking forward to making the the 380 mile drive to see my family over Thanksgiving weekend.
Based on Tire Rack, I would go for the Yokohama Geolander G051's. Better price than the Michelins.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
But the key is, is it even going to give you 10 feet? The Cross Terrain tires are very good, but given that the MDX has been tested multiple times with the Cross Terrains and the braking distances have been long, will he even get 10 feet?
Remember that Consumer Reports actually reported longer braking distances with an MDX equipped with Cross Terrains, versus a Pilot equipped with Integrity's (151 feet to 143 feet). Now, comparing two braking performances in separate comparisons may mean the difference is not as large as implied.
So perhaps the difference is not 8 feet (and the MDX tested was about 95 pounds heavier, which probably accounts for some of the difference). But, even so, those test results do not seem to imply that the Cross Terrains would improve braking performance 10 feet!
There is one theory floating around that the silica-impregnated treads of the Cross Terrains may be good for control, but may not be optimal for braking.
I won't believe that they help Pilot braking until someone does an instrumented test, and not just do it by the seat of their pants.
I'm not against upgrading to the Cross Terrains though -- even if they don't help (and even hurt braking slightly, which is possible), they have a lot of other benefits.
An emergency stop in our Isuzu Trooper is like a amusement park ride. I've driven a BMW X5 and it stopped more like my S2000 than the Trooper, with little body pitch. It was as "flat" as any SUV and most sedans I've driven.
I am going to put both the Pilot and MDX through the paces. The biggest reason I want to dump our Trooper is that it just isn't pleasant to drive and I really don't want to find out what it's stopping distance is when the vehicle is upside down. Too bad the X5 is just too small.
I frankly do not know much about Yokohama aside from what I have read on Tire Rack. They must not spend much on television advertising as I cannot recall ever seeing a Yokohama commercial. Let me know where to find information about their loss of effectiveness at 35k/3 years. I would be interested in reading about it. That would certainly be a factor in the buying decision.
It doesn't have to be 10 feet or even 8 feet of improvement. If I were to get into an accident that could have been avoided by a matter of inches, then I'd REALLY regret not having spent a few hundred bucks to upgrade the tires.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Check again, 235 is the width of the tire. 65 is the height of the tire (percentage wise) in comparison to the width and 17 is the wheel size.
So the 235-65-17 tires will look more low profile and sporty but definitely NOT WIDER.
But what if the upgraded tires you bought actually lengthened your braking distance by a matter of inches? The bottom line here is that there is no proof here that switching to the Cross Terrains will shorten your braking distance.
There is only some inconclusive information that isuggests that the Cross Terrains may have longer braking distances than the Integrity's. I think it's safe to say that it won't be 10 feet of improvement as previously claimed. But I couldn't even say that there'd be any improvement (though I hope there would be).
Again, I'd still buy the Cross Terrains for other benefits, but I question whether you're going to shorten your braking distance.
The tirerack.com site says there are 16, 17 and even 18 inch wheels available. Noticed that the MDX comes with 17" wheels.
Has anyone put a larger diameter wheel/tire on a Pilot??
Was curious about the impact to handling, mileage, noise, ride characteristics.
We have so many DVD's that the thought of backing every one up seems like a waste of time. I just keep a few in the car and rotate when they've lost their magic.
Just curious, who will be sitting in the back seat?
You will also probably notice a slight decrease in acceleration as you'll be adding more un- sprung rotating mass for the drive train to start moving, every time you start from a stop.
This will also typically reduce your gas mileage a bit, especially if you have a lot of in town stop and go type driving.
Other than looks, there's not a lot to gain by going to a larger wheel tire package, especially on a family hauler like the Pilot.
You can see an increase in handling (if the vehicles suspension is up to it) because you'll get a quicker reaction by having less of the pliable rubber tire sidewall and more of hard wheel reacting to the steering wheel input.
I admit, the Pilot is a bit on the boring side, but we shopped around and couldn't find anything better out there. Some with more flash, but things felt cheap (door handles, etc.) AND many were more expen$ive. About 2 months ago we were already starting to feel the growing pains of our family and I was feeling that the Pilot was too small for us (3 kids- 2 are still in booster seats). The back seat on the Pilot seemed okay when we purcahsed it in February, but since then, my 12 year old has grown and so has her friends. The back seat is a joke, so we only put it up if we have tag-alongs. Anyway, we went to see what else is out there to maybe trade in for a larger vehicle. Argh! We must be the pickiest people cause I didn't like anything else. Considering reliability, build, and safety, we decided to hold on to the Pilot until something better comes along. Just curious, what else have you considered and/or have you gotten something already?
My accountant advised me that neither the Pilot or MDX qualify for the significant tax write-offs available for business owners who purchase SUV's wiith a GVW of over 6,000 lbs. I have been trying to figure out the best alternative that does. The GX470 is quite a bit smaller than the Pilot in interior dimensions, but just makes the cut on GVW. The Toyota Sequoia is probably the best choice if I want to go "big", which I really don't.
My idea of installing a two hundred pound roof rack on the Pilot doesn't appear to have much of a chance with the IRS.
Any other ideas / suggestions out there? I may end up getting a Pilot anyway and foregoing the tax deduction; but just for comparison, it appears to be worth $11,000 in after tax savings on a $45,000 vehicle. There is no way I could justify an MDX, when a Land Cruiser might actually cost less after tax.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
If one has a need for that extra seating all the time and for long trips, than a mini van or larger vehicle would be a better choice.
The new 8 passenger LE Sienna attracted us (though its looks definitely did not!) but we can't even find one to look at (other than surreptiously peering in the windows of a one or two spotted in parking lots). As for a test drive, well, fugedaboutit.
So, we fell for a year-end close-out on a 2003 Yukon XL SLE. It has the cloth seats I prefer (I've never seen more than 3-year-old leather seats that looked good and I can't stand a sweaty butt), 8 passenger seating (you can even get 9 passenger seating!), plus enough cargo room behind the third seat to haul luggage and the inevitable vacation "finds."
As for reliability, from what I've seen in lurking around these boards for 5 years now, the bigger "imports" (non-domestics? foreign-owned companies? They're pretty much all built in North America any more) haven't carried on the more stellar reputations of their passenger car siblings. What's more, the domestic trucks have improved dramatically in the last decade (though their passenger car siblings haven't kept pace).
So, you might want to check to see if you are relying on outdated information, no-longer-valid-biases, or data that doesn't apply to the vehicle class before you rule out what might be your best choice. As always, this is JMHO.
Happy car buying and driving.
If it looks like the Pilot is the right vehicle for you, get it. Don't compromise with the Toyota simply for the accelerated write off, it's just not worth it IMHO.
-Pete