One tire got screwed and was not repairable. 26,000 miles on the odometer, I was hoping to get ~30,000 miles out of the OEM set of Hankook Kinergy tires.
Did some research and found the Pirelli Scorpion Verde had good reviews on Tire Rack. Called my local tire shop and got a set installed. Initial impressions are overall very good. The positives are the tires are about as quiet as the OEM tires even though the rubber compound is much harder than the OEM tires. The tires have a bit stiffer side wall which gives the CR-V good steering characteristics, very good in the rain.
The only bad thing I can say about the Scorpion Verde is the ride is a bit more harsh, but that's the trade of of having the stiffer side wall. It's most noticeable on rough pavement, but on smooth pavement they track very well and feel really good. I've tested them up to triple digit numbers (just want to check the balance) and they felt fine.
My only complaints with OEM tires where they wore fast (soft compound and probably only started with 9/32nds tread depth) and did flex a bit when pushed. The Scorpion Verde is a better tire than the OEM tires but I can't say it was a night and day difference.
I don't live in a snowy area so snow/ice traction was no concern to me. I had narrowed the tire choices down to either the Pirelli Scorpion Verde or the Continental TrueContact, both tires are fairly new to the market so they both have the latest in rubber compounds. I chose the Pirelli tires because they were a few buck cheaper but would probably have been just as happy with the Continentals. Ironically, after I got home from getting the tires installed, I got an email from Continental that they just started offering a $70 rebate on the TrueContact. Oh well.
Here are some pictures of the root cause of needing new tires sooner than anticipated.
