Well, I do respect Steve's opinion a lot, BUT. I have used Michelin exclusively for 25+ years. I didn't want to run Michelins on my 1996 Jetta, due to cost. I was having such a bad experience with the Continental CH95s on the car that I asked a recommedation from Luke at the Tirerack. He recommeded Bridgestone Turanza Revo H. What a transformation; they now have about 30K on them and they have been consistently quiet, round, and have stayed in balance. Then, my son needed replacements for the Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus on our 1995 C280; he really felt the Michelins were poor in the rain and didn't want another set. I did some research and reluctantly (I really didn't want to have the problems Steve talks about and cost was not a concern) bought a set of Bridgestone RE-950s. They have been excellent (much superior to the Michelins); they have about 10K on them so far. So, the next set coming due are for our E430 and I am probably 70% of the way towards installing either RE-950s or SO-3 Pole Positions. I don't know what has happened at Michelin, but I had been noticing odd wear pattern problems that I could not seem to get corrected with alignment, pressures, etc. over the past ten years or so. So far, the RE-950s on the C280 are wearing perfect. Maybe the work Bridgestone is doing with the Ferrari F-1 team is carrying over to the passenger car tires, but it appears they have equaled, or perhaps exceeded Michelin from my experience.