Best Tires for the Saab Automobile 9 5 Aero Saloon

Bought 4 secondhand, 7mm left and fairly new. They wore out quickly, but the car had several alignment problems and lots of camber. And I know these are known to ware out quickly on the inside, so yeah terrible combo for my car. After 2 tires shot I got a pair of new Michelin primacy 4, the difference is huge. The Michelins have way more grip and ware much slower, if given the chance to really pick out a tire I would never ever pick a Pirelli P7 again, especially not for my tuned and lowered 9-5.

I share my first impressions, only in the dry and with 1000km on them, and having weared a full set of ps4's before. I've read from other people that they are a slight improvement over the ps4's, but I think these new ps5's are substantially better. For now, they grip even more in the dry and they are less noisy. Steering feeling and precission is also improved, now I feel much more planted and connected to the road than before, with a warming security sensation. On the bad side, i think they are crashy over certain low speed bumps. Saab 9-5 Aero 2002 (stock)

Saab 9-5 Aero 2002 Had these tires for the front wheels for around 24.000km (or 15.000 miles) until they were toast. Wear was mostly even, and they were pushed hard in corners and brakings from time to time, as I tend to drive fast, so I consider this mileage to be not great but good enough. I expected just a little more from them. They don't transmit sportiness, they feel a bit vague if they are not at the exact recommended pressure, but steering precision is good enough and I think they are, overall, recommendable , however surpassed by its successor, the PS5 which I already mounted now. Dry and wet general grip is very good, specially in dry. I only complain when moderatedly starting from still in heavy rain with not a so thick coat of water on the surface, they lose traction quickly. I even lost traction accelerating on third gear going uphill at around 70km/h full throttle. But in corners in the wet they never behaved badly and gave me confidence even within a hurry. Comfort wise they are just a bit noisy but very tolerable and not too dependant on the type of surface. I recommend this tire if you can't find the PS5 for your wheels.

Had these tires for around 5.000km already on the front and I already swapped them for others better than these.
These Hankook are too soft on corners, doesn't give any feedback of the road and don't induce you to drive fast, although when I tried to push them hard, they behaved well, with good grip in dry and relatively better in the wet, with an awesome behavior in heavy braking with heavy rain, felt like dry. Cornering in the wet is the same story as in the dry, sensory wise, (not good), but the limits are closer (logically). I just think they are not a good fit for any sporty car, because of the lack of confidence they transmit to the steering wheel.
Noise-wise, they tend to not be too rumorous. In fact, depending of the surface, they can be mostly silent even at a high speed, but run into a not-so-good asphalt and they resonate a lot in the car, which I don't think is reasonable.
Tire sidewall is not good. They look a bit deflated when inflated to the recommended pressures (even though my tires are rated XL) and I just think they need a better lateral reinforcement to be considered a decent basic sport tire.
By the way, I mounted these with new stock suspension, alignment, rubbers, etc. After swapping to other tires, the car improved a lot. Saab 9-5 Aero 2002

So after I had bought these tires second hand, they were still fairly new, I was told by some very experienced tire guys that the Pirelli tires fitted on new Volvos didn't last very long especially compered to the also factory fitted Michelin's. They said that it always was warn down on the inside, as I have a 9-5 on coilovers with way more camber than a stock 9-5 aero, especially a lot off camber on the rear wheels where I can't adjust it, I thought it was a real bummer that I had bought a tire known to be warn way too quickly on the inside and that my Saab was going to tear them upp way to quickly, and yeah this was true. I had to replace my front tires witch lasted me about a year, and they had about 6-7mm when I bought them. I then bought 2 new Michelin Primacy 4's and they have far more grip and is a far superior tire in about every way. I'm actually surprised by how much they differ in both wet and dry grip. They originally fitted the Michelin tires on the front axel, kinda cheap I know, but they had no lift... so I could really quiet feel the difference in grip with my 310hp fwd car. With the Pirelli's I can spin the wheels in second gear with a full gas and some little imperfection with the road but with the Michelins this was far more difficult. In the rain I would have to be a little bit careful to not spin in second gear, but with the Michelins this is not as big off a problem. And whit the new Michelin's in the front the back tended to almost step out while cornering hard. This got solved the second I fitted the Michelin's on the rear axel.

I bought these tires based on the good reviews here. After 20k kms or 12.5k miles I have to say these are great handling tires with decent comfort. At least as good as I expected from the tirereview.com statistics. Based on the same statistics the wear was below my expectations. The rears are at 1.7mm after 20.000KM. The fronts were mounted later, they are around 2mm after 15.000KM. You would say smoking hard accelerations and aggressive cornering would be harder on the front tires but that you won't see in the wear.

Following test reading I put a set of these tires on my SAAB 9-5 AERO in October 2016 (produced in Spain in June 2016). No complaints about handling, grip or braking - whether in the wet nor in the dry - absolutely gorgeous! HOWEVER: Michelin is boasting that these tires are to last some 12'000 km more than competitors. If this is the case, competitors may last a mere 3 - 4'000 km, as I had to throw my Pilot Sport 4's away with just 16'000 km. This is simply unacceptable. As a matter of fact, my Michelin winter tires (Alpin 4) have now run 20'000 km and look still way better than the Pilot Sport 4.
PS: I live in Switzerland, where sporty driving is regarded a capital crime, so my driving style can be considered reasonable rather than spirited..........

Overall an excellent tire - especially good on winter roads - these are winter tires after all! I've driven in the UK and across the continent to Germany and back in deepest winter. I've driven in the high hills north of Frankfurt with steep snow covered roads and tracks and found the adhesion excellent. No comparison with my usual Michelin summer tires which would be comparitely useless in these conditions. Normal driving/roadholding is good with a little less steering response than my Michelins - they feel a little softer when changing direction but nothing untoward. In the wet they are not as good as my Michelins but then I did buy them for snow/ice/winter use - especially for the Continent and Germany. They wear well for a softer compound and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

After going through a front set of Bridgestones in 5000 miles and winter approaching decided to buy these 4 season tires and am very impressed so far dry grip as good as bridgestones wet grip excellent noise level is very good and the tires give good feedback to the driver can't comment on wear as only done about 1000 miles though still look like new, no regrets in buying this tire and at £94 a pair bargain.

I just got these tires at the front yesterday. The steering feel is much much better then the Pilot Sport 3's I had at the front. I started buying Michelin Pilot Sport, with the Pilot Sport 2. For me that was the best tire I have ever owned. The Pilot Sport 3 never really convinced me, it felt like I was driving on jellyfish. The PS3's felt like they where more touring orientated. These Pilot Sport 4's give me the feeling back that I had with PS2's. I will post later more info when I have more km's.