FT140 vs Michelin Premier A/S

DudeCivic

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New member here. I wanted to provide my experience with the Michelin Premier A/S vs the Firestone FT140 factory tire. I was looking for a quieter, more responsive tire. I got half of that and an extra negative. In short, the FT140 is definitely quieter and allows the car to obtain higher fuel mileage when compared to the Premier. I put about 600 mixed miles on the Premier's before going back to the tire store and getting my FT140's put back on.

FT140 positives: quieter, better fuel economy. Cons: Slightly greasy in the rain. Overall a well balanced tire.

Premier positives: More responsive steering, slightly better straight-line tracking, grippier in the rain. Also, this particular size carries a higher speed rating and the ride is firmer, which I liked. Cons: Notably noisier on all road surfaces, and the noise was at a higher pitch, especially across concrete. Also, when coming to a stop the tires made a noise like the edges had been feathered from a bad alignment for several thousand miles, kind of a knobby tire whir. The Firestones do not do this. Major con: fuel mileage dropped between 2 and 4 mpg consistently. All of the above observations were noticeable during the first tank of gas and were consistent until I took them off. I conducted several shorter known mileage/same conditions comparisons and the fuel economy was consistently lower.

My intent is not to bash Michelin. I'm usually a Michelin guy and in fact put the Premier's on our Ford Edge, with excellent results (quieter and better fuel economy than the factory Pirelli's). I also have Pilot Sports on my other "toy." I thought I would at least duplicate the road noise reduction in comparison with the FT140's. Even though the Premier's are rated as LRR, they are not as LRR as the FT140's, at least in my experience. This is not a tire I would recommend if noise levels and fuel economy are important.
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zoym

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Thanks for the information, I am having thoughts to put Premier A/S on my hatch EX.

New member here. I wanted to provide my experience with the Michelin Premier A/S vs the Firestone FT140 factory tire. I was looking for a quieter, more responsive tire. I got half of that and an extra negative. In short, the FT140 is definitely quieter and allows the car to obtain higher fuel mileage when compared to the Premier. I put about 600 mixed miles on the Premier's before going back to the tire store and getting my FT140's put back on.

FT140 positives: quieter, better fuel economy. Cons: Slightly greasy in the rain. Overall a well balanced tire.

Premier positives: More responsive steering, slightly better straight-line tracking, grippier in the rain. Also, this particular size carries a higher speed rating and the ride is firmer, which I liked. Cons: Notably noisier on all road surfaces, and the noise was at a higher pitch, especially across concrete. Also, when coming to a stop the tires made a noise like the edges had been feathered from a bad alignment for several thousand miles, kind of a knobby tire whir. The Firestones do not do this. Major con: fuel mileage dropped between 2 and 4 mpg consistently. All of the above observations were noticeable during the first tank of gas and were consistent until I took them off. I conducted several shorter known mileage/same conditions comparisons and the fuel economy was consistently lower.

My intent is not to bash Michelin. I'm usually a Michelin guy and in fact put the Premier's on our Ford Edge, with excellent results (quieter and better fuel economy than the factory Pirelli's). I also have Pilot Sports on my other "toy." I thought I would at least duplicate the road noise reduction in comparison with the FT140's. Even though the Premier's are rated as LRR, they are not as LRR as the FT140's, at least in my experience. This is not a tire I would recommend if noise levels and fuel economy are important.
 

dlee1001

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I had Michelin Premiers on my previous car, a 2014 Chevy Sonic. They were great tires for traction - excellent in dry and wet roads, and even in deep snow, the car was able to come out of it with almost no wheel spin.

Noise levels were pretty controlled too, and the ride quality was acceptable. The Sonic didn't have the softest ride quality anyway (for my tastes, at least), and these tires didn't really make that much difference in that area compared to the Sonic's stock tires.

As for gas mileage, my Sonic struggled quite a bit. The best gas mileage I've had with those tires on the car was 33 mpg. But I must note that the car never got good gas mileage even with its stock tires, struggling to get above 30 mpg most of the time.

My biggest issue with the Premiers, however, was how quickly they wore. You only get 8.5/32" to start with, but after about 1.5 years and around 19,000 miles, the tires were worn down to 4/32! For the premium price you pay for these tires, that just seemed unacceptable to me. The roads I drive on are in decent condition, and I didn't drive like a race car driver, yet the tires wore so quickly.

As for my current Civic, I replaced the stock Firestones after I noticed some wheel spin on a lightly snow-covered parking lot; I determined that if the wheels spun like that in even light snow, the car would get completely stuck in deeper snow. Not to mention that those tires were incredibly noisy and didn't inspire confidence in the rain either. I replaced them with four General Altimax RT-43 tires, and the ride quality and noise are so much better now. I also noticed an improvement in wet traction; I can't speak for snow traction yet, but Tire Rack says it's very good for an all-season.

Give the Generals a try. They're cheaper than the Premiers if you order them on Tire Rack and they will probably provide as much traction as the Michelin tires, and they are quieter than the Firestones. I don't know how much of a difference in gas mileage you'll get, but so far in my experience, it seems about the same as when I had the Firestones, even though the Generals are not advertised as LRR.
 
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somarilnos

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Thanks for the info on the Altimax tires. I'm planning to run the FT140s down before I switch tires, particularly since Massachusetts pretty well shuts down the state when we get heavy snow, and the wife has a more snow-practical vehicle if we need to get anywhere, but will have to keep that one in mind. And to the OP, appreciate your take on the Premiers.

Anyone else have any good / bad to share about aftermarket tires that they've thrown on their Civic? Always good to hear car-specific reviews, rather than the general reviews that tire sites would have, of the different tire options out there.
 

spexicola

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I just made the same swap myself. I found the Firestones to be growing more and more noisy as I got past 20k miles. I switched to the Permier A/S, and noticed a mild improvement in noise, however I'm coming to to the conclusion that the main issue is a lack of sound insulation in the rear of the car. It does seem like the ride is more smooth, however.
 


hunter44102

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Is there a reason you didn't consider Michelin Defender tires? They are supposed to be really quiet like the Goodyear ComforTred.

The Premier gets an 8.7 score on noise. Defender gets 9.4.

Also, give them like 500 miles. My winter Michelin X-Ice were noisy for the first few hundred miles
 

dlee1001

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Is there a reason you didn't consider Michelin Defender tires? They are supposed to be really quiet like the Goodyear ComforTred.

The Premier gets an 8.7 score on noise. Defender gets 9.4.

Also, give them like 500 miles. My winter Michelin X-Ice were noisy for the first few hundred miles
The regular Michelin Defenders don't fit in our Civics in any size, but the Defender LTX for pickups and SUVs do. And they are quite good too, according to Tire Rack. It's curious that they're considered a "highway all-season" tire rather than a touring tire though.
 

VarmintCong

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New member here. I wanted to provide my experience with the Michelin Premier A/S vs the Firestone FT140 factory tire. I was looking for a quieter, more responsive tire. I got half of that and an extra negative. In short, the FT140 is definitely quieter and allows the car to obtain higher fuel mileage when compared to the Premier. I put about 600 mixed miles on the Premier's before going back to the tire store and getting my FT140's put back on.

FT140 positives: quieter, better fuel economy. Cons: Slightly greasy in the rain. Overall a well balanced tire.

Premier positives: More responsive steering, slightly better straight-line tracking, grippier in the rain. Also, this particular size carries a higher speed rating and the ride is firmer, which I liked. Cons: Notably noisier on all road surfaces, and the noise was at a higher pitch, especially across concrete. Also, when coming to a stop the tires made a noise like the edges had been feathered from a bad alignment for several thousand miles, kind of a knobby tire whir. The Firestones do not do this. Major con: fuel mileage dropped between 2 and 4 mpg consistently. All of the above observations were noticeable during the first tank of gas and were consistent until I took them off. I conducted several shorter known mileage/same conditions comparisons and the fuel economy was consistently lower.

My intent is not to bash Michelin. I'm usually a Michelin guy and in fact put the Premier's on our Ford Edge, with excellent results (quieter and better fuel economy than the factory Pirelli's). I also have Pilot Sports on my other "toy." I thought I would at least duplicate the road noise reduction in comparison with the FT140's. Even though the Premier's are rated as LRR, they are not as LRR as the FT140's, at least in my experience. This is not a tire I would recommend if noise levels and fuel economy are important.
drove our Outback in snow on our Premier A/S tires today, they're comparable to performance snows - which is good performance for an all season.
 

OpenRoads

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Very recently I put on Michelin Premier A/S 215/50R17's on my Civic touring sedan. Although they are a bit grippier than the oem Firestone FT140's, I think the Michelins are not quite up to par as the Firestones. The sidewall on the Michelin seems to me to be too flexible. Also, I notices that on a full tank of gas, I get 50 to 70 miles less with the Michelins than on the Firestones. Has anyone else experienced this?
 

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Very recently I put on Michelin Premier A/S 215/50R17's on my Civic touring sedan. Although they are a bit grippier than the oem Firestone FT140's, I think the Michelins are not quite up to par as the Firestones. The sidewall on the Michelin seems to me to be too flexible. Also, I notices that on a full tank of gas, I get 50 to 70 miles less with the Michelins than on the Firestones. Has anyone else experienced this?
give it a thousand miles to break in the tires
 


OpenRoads

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New member here. I wanted to provide my experience with the Michelin Premier A/S vs the Firestone FT140 factory tire. I was looking for a quieter, more responsive tire. I got half of that and an extra negative. In short, the FT140 is definitely quieter and allows the car to obtain higher fuel mileage when compared to the Premier. I put about 600 mixed miles on the Premier's before going back to the tire store and getting my FT140's put back on.

FT140 positives: quieter, better fuel economy. Cons: Slightly greasy in the rain. Overall a well balanced tire.

Premier positives: More responsive steering, slightly better straight-line tracking, grippier in the rain. Also, this particular size carries a higher speed rating and the ride is firmer, which I liked. Cons: Notably noisier on all road surfaces, and the noise was at a higher pitch, especially across concrete. Also, when coming to a stop the tires made a noise like the edges had been feathered from a bad alignment for several thousand miles, kind of a knobby tire whir. The Firestones do not do this. Major con: fuel mileage dropped between 2 and 4 mpg consistently. All of the above observations were noticeable during the first tank of gas and were consistent until I took them off. I conducted several shorter known mileage/same conditions comparisons and the fuel economy was consistently lower.

My intent is not to bash Michelin. I'm usually a Michelin guy and in fact put the Premier's on our Ford Edge, with excellent results (quieter and better fuel economy than the factory Pirelli's). I also have Pilot Sports on my other "toy." I thought I would at least duplicate the road noise reduction in comparison with the FT140's. Even though the Premier's are rated as LRR, they are not as LRR as the FT140's, at least in my experience. This is not a tire I would recommend if noise levels and fuel economy are important.
I
 

OpenRoads

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I too bought the Michelin premier a/s, 215/50/17's for my 2017 Civic Touring. They came highly rated from several sources, so I figured I would give the set a try. Needless to say, I'm disappointed in the Miche's. First off, I immediately noticed a 50 to 60 mpg drop on a tank full of gas. With the oem Firestones, I was able to consistently get 400+ miles per tank, but with the Miche's, it's a mere 350 miles per tank. Huge negative for me since I use the car quite extensively. Furthermore, I find the Miche's to be quite more jittery on the freeway than the Firestones. The car seems nervous and darts about when driving on freeways with the rain grooves built into the pavement. It's like you are minutely moving the steering wheel from left to right, causing the car to sway from side to side. The oem Firestones did not do this. Unfortunately I cannot take the Miche's back since I have over 5k miles on them already. Ultimately, I will be going back to the Firestone FT 140's when these Miche's are worn - maybe in another 50k miles.
 

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Another comparison of these 2 tires. Removed the FT140 with 55K miles and now have about 900 miles on the Michelin Premier A/S (H rating).

The Michelin are better in rain. In fact they are fantastic. Very wet roads at 70+ mph. And no traction control light.

They are better over bumps. Around corners with bumps they make the car easier to control. In general they feel capable and safe even on uneven surfaces. The Civic has a nice suspension and these really just improve it.

They are slightly noisy. It is a higher frequency than usual tire noise. I don't think it's bad and is obviously dependent on the road surface. The car does have insufficient tire noise blocking and on a luxury car it may not even be noticeable.

I would not say they feel sporty or grippy. But they do a good job stopping the car. And I'd imagine they can handle some twisty roads ok for touring tires.

The tread pattern makes the car weave about a little on the roads that have been ground down with narrow lengthwise grooves (usually concrete roads I believe).

Fuel economy. It's about the same for me. Just drove 300 miles in one trip and averaged 40 mpg. It could be down 1-2 mpg of the FT140, but it is very hard to be sure about mpg without doing a (semi) controlled test.

Now if they will just last 50K I'll be happy.
 
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tacthecat

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It's been my experience that new tires, of the same brand, etc, as a reference, give lower initial gas mileage and slowly increase over their tread life.
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