Got my Toyos!

[PersonaNonGrata]

I got my Toyo Proxes S/T's put on last Friday before I left town. They're 285/24-19's all around. My preliminary observations are that they are immeasurably better than my POS Pirelli Scorpion Zeros. They look narrower than the Pirellis though, even though they are both 285's. I think it is the tread pattern on the Toyos that are playing optical tricks and the fact that the shoulders are more rounded than the Pirellis. I liked the fatter look of the Pirellis and that's about all I liked. No, I liked the little yellow scorpion on the sidewall as it represented the mascot of one our local drug enforcement teams. They got a kick out my tires. The Toyo tread pattern is very similar to their Proxes T-1 and T-1S sports car tires. It kind of looks strange on an X5. I'll post a pic.

It's amazing how much tires can affect braking. The Pirellis felt like they were grinding and the pedal feel was very disconcerting under braking. It almost felt like the pads and rotors were having a very abrasive relationship. The Toyos feel so smooth and the braking is back to what it should feel like; linear, progressive, and sure. The noise is substantially reduced with the Toyos. No more Mickey Thompson mudders buzzing and "whoop whoop whoop" noises even under slow speed. The Toyos actually feel like they turn in better than the Pirellis which had a bit of a ploughing feel.

I know that I haven't had these tires for very long at all but I'm very happy to be rid of those crappy ass Pirellis. Good riddance!