Originally posted by poysonivee
Bottom line is, anyone who is shopping Tire Rack is shopping for price. End of story. If they weren't shopping price, they'd go to a real high-performance tire store. :fawk: I seriously doubt that any proffessional would say that there is a tire better than the MXV4. Besides the fact that you're comparing apples to oranges. The MXV4 is a touring tire, H rated, designed for highway use and DEFINITELY not for performance. That is why it is original equipment on most german highway cruisers. The S-03 is not original equipment on any car for good reason... it is a performance tire, gets low miles, (does not replace the S-02, it is just another tire in Bridgestone's lineup- the S-02 is still in full production 
) and is usually bought by people who are shopping price. Need I go on?
The MXV4 is a piece of crap. It has about as much grip as Christopher Reeve. I tried to push its limits at Watkins Glen a couple years ago and almost died. I think I lost about a quarter of the tread the thing was squealing so much. The MXV4 is a tire designed for low rolling resistance, high tread life and a quiet ride. Those are the attributes that make it utter crap for anything but straight line driving. Not to mention the fact that it hydroplanes constantly.
Moving on, I don't understand how he can say that tirerack is only for price. It's not discounttire.com. They do their own tire reviews with a Lexus IS300 and a BMW 325i, and thousands of people have posted their own user reviews on tires. If I was shopping price, why would I lay down $140 on a Maximum Performance tire when I could get the MXV4's for 60 bucks apiece? The Potenza S-03 PP is the highest rated tire on tirerack.com and all of tirerack.com's reviewers (Dare I call them 'experts') say it's the best in the rain and almost the best in the dry and for road comfort. But I supose Butler Tire has done their own extensive testing of the Potenza S-03, from what you've said.
You could put your makeup on looking at this car. 90,000 highway miles and it still looked this good (I miss that car
):
Sorry I have no webhosting for a bigger picture, imagestation will have to do. They kind of distort quality.
My mistake on the tire sizes, the LX-V6 Coupe is 215/65/15. I forgot how damn big the sidewall is. That equates to 215/55/16.