No noise - in fact, after they were installed I noticed more engine noise and wind noise on the highway, suggesting that the tires are quieter than the Dunlops (I am running 20s).

I think this may go counter some others experience, but I switched from my second set of Michelin Lattitides to Conti Contact DSW's on my last X5 and was very pleased with the improvement. The light snow driving performance was the big difference I noticed, but as I recall the road noise was also reduced. These were standard symetrical tires on 18" rims.

These tires were not particularly cheap, but I got a good price from Tire Rack and had them installed by my dealer. On that topic, I concur with some of the previous statements in this thread. I think anyone should shop around for the best price, but going cheap on tires is the wrong place to save money. I can think of a lot of other things I'd be willing to cut corners on before buying a lower price tire. My advice to anyone looking for new tires is; do your resarch here and on other blogs, at retailers, and sources like Tire Rack. But at the end of the day, don't buy crappy tires just to save a few bucks.

New tires will almost always be quieter and ride better than old, worn tires regardless of brand/tread. Kind of like buying new shoes for yourself.

To assume that the "old tires were crap" isn't always right.

Bingo.

Same as "I changed my tranny fluid to Royal Purple after 120k miles on the OE, and it is WAY better".

Old, old tires and old, old fluid are usually crap. But the old tires, when new- and the old fluid, when new- was probably pretty good....http://www.xoutpost.com/images/smilies/thumbup.gif

Not always, but folks need to keep this in mind, IMO

To assume that "old tires" were replaced isn't always right, either.

I was actually comparing performance experienced during the entire lifecyle, but point well taken. New anything generally performs better.

My two cents.
Always bought Michelin for my cars, but this time I tried a set of Toyo Versado CUV's. Nice smooth, stable ride. Ok with passing on the "Michelin punch" this time around.;)

FWI worth I believe the Bridgestones were a great tire. I squeezed 33k out of my original set and they handled everything I threw at them. Snow, rain, curves and they were alwayss sure footed. They were on the other loud as many can attest. I hunted and hunted for new ones and at the time Bridgestone must have been re-engineering or something because no had them and I wasnt about to give Tire Rack a bunch of money. Hence I ended up going with the Michelins and they have urned out so far ok. The X is my wifes driver and she wasnt about to go with a non runflat. We will see how many miles we get out of these and that will help me decide which way to go for he next set.
And by the way--I was speaking to a BMW SA the other day and he seems to thing our good ole Government will mandate that all cars have RFT's on them within the next three years. Get used to them now!

How do you like the Versado's now that you have some time & mileage on them?

I replaced the original Bridgestone Dueler RTF's with Dunlop SP Sport Signature about 3,000 miles ago. What a difference! The car feels a lot more comfortable, it is much quieter, it does not hydroplane and it is actually drivable in the snow. They really transformed the car. That's not because the Dunlops are so great but because the Bridgestone RTF's are so lousy. Ditch the RTF's and with the money you saved buy a donut spare.