I’m still liking the Continental Cross Climate tires. I’ve been to and from the Jersey shore a couple of times and it’s real good. The car feels like I just drove it off the dealer lot.

 

I’m getting Falken. I will let you know what I think after I have driven it a while.

 

Oem tires were falken no? I have falkens at 22k and they go wah wah wah all day

 

My CX-9 came with Falken Ziex tires. Absolutely. Hate. Them. They're not reviewed very well at Tirerack either. Why?

1. Balanced twice already and STILL do not ride as smoothly as ALL other the other tires I've ever had.
2. I live in the Northeast where winters can put a bad spell of flat spots on tires when sitting too long. One would assume that since it's summer, flat spots would go away faster right? No. They take way too many miles to even out in warm weather.

 

Sumitomo's Falken brand has five different Ziex tire models. Falken is generally a medium quality brand. My OE Falkens have been fine. I'll buy something else when these need replacement, but so far they run smooth with good traction.

Rough running from tires can come from other causes than just balance. A good tire shop will evaluate all these possible causes. Look for a shop with a Hunter GSP9700 road force balancing machine...and a worker who is good at using it.

 

I failed to mention earlier that one of the two alignment jobs was road force on a Hunter. Made no difference. That was actually the tipping point that resulted in the hatred. LOL. I know road force alignments often fix quirks traditional machines can't resolve but that didn't do it for my tires.

Here's some weird irony: I'm on my third set of Sumitomo HTR A/S-es on another vehicle and I love them. Too bad I can't get them for my CX-9 - they don't seem to make them in 20s.

 

When the Falkens wear out, I am going to replace them with a set of Goodyear Assurance Weather-ready. I have a set on my wife's 17 Honda CR-V. They are smooth as butter and have the snowflake rating which is nice if you don't want to swap out to winter tires. I ski 100+ days a year and will still run a winter wheel/tire combo because the canyon roads around here are very greasy in the winter.

 

"Consumer Reports" last winter had a test of all-weather tires with the 3PMSF rating (3 peaks mountain snow flake). They found that the snow traction can be very good, much better than all-season tires, but the ice traction wasn't as good as real winter tires.

 

Just bought a used CX9 Signature 32k mi. Has Ironman 255-50-20 DB-UV tires. Drove 300mi the next day on interstate. Drove like it was on rails, very comfortable and tires were exceptionably QUIET. They are probably 30% worn. Dont know how they will be in wet conditions and I live in Florida so my expectation for snow is minimal. So far I am satisfied with them and replacement is half the cost of others ($488 mounted and balance). Will add comment later when I drive in the rain

 

"Ironman is an associate brand of Hercules Tire & Rubber Company"
"The Hercules Tire & Rubber Company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, is a leading tire marketer of replacement tires in the USA, Canada and globally in more than 90 countries. Hercules offers an extensive selection in passenger, UHP, light truck, medium truck, trailer, off-the-road, industrial and specialty tires manufactured by its worldwide supplier network." This includes many tires made for Hercules by Cooper's tire factories around the world.
(From sources around the web.)