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I just mounted 4 new Bridgestone RE950's in the stock size (195/60-15)on my 99 9-3 base. Before I had Michelin MXV4's. The change in the car's road manners is remarkable!
With the MXV4's I could easily take off in 1st, WOT and by 3800-4000 have a good amount of wheel spin and of course, torque steer. With the Re950's its impossible for me to spin them, and the torque steer is virtually gone!
On to cornering...and you probably guessed it, the Re950 outshines the MXV4 again. These tires just plain stick! Where the MXV4 always felt I was on the edge of getting some nasty understeer, the Re950's pull the front around and complete the turn without even squealing. I took the Re950's through some turns that turned the MXV4 into a pen of distressed pigs, and they didn't even squeel once. Cornering confidence is way up! On the other hand, they do scrub faintly, perhaps this is because of the new tall tread, which may evolve into a squeal as it wears down. Because of the new tread, it does give quite a bit of tread squirm, but this is to be expected on any new tire. Some precision was lost in the trade for powerful grip.
So what bothers about these findings is that the MXV4's are what was spec'd when the SAAB was in shootouts with BMW AUDI etc.. Its obvious that having these tires on, it was at a clear disadvantage. All the bad publicity about torque steer and poor road grip could have been avoided had SAAB chose a better performing tire. Im positive it could have at least pulled a few more points on the G-scale with something other than the MXV4's.
PS .. the MXV4's (v rated) on tirerack are $131, the Re950's (H rated) $72.
Thats Michelin for ya.
posted by 63.73.71...
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